Abstract: A system and method for managing workflow of a medical procedure, including a control and at least one detector such as a sensor, where the control interprets a user input to control the workflow of the medical procedure. The system and method include multiple input modalities and hazard mitigation measures to control the medical procedure and/or control various medical devices in an operating room.

Abstract: Methods and systems are provided for pairing a command device to a remotely controlled medical system. A command device is paired to a remotely controlled system, to control one or more medical devices from the command device. Registering the command device is done at a registration component at a designated location in an operating area, with an identifier for the operating area. While registered, the command device is able to transmit commands for controlling the medical equipment. The command device location is repeatedly estimated from its sensors based on markers or beacons in the operating area, to determine if it has left the area. Upon leaving, it is deregistered.

Abstract: A voice controlled medical system with improved speech recognition includes a first microphone array, a second microphone array, a controller in communication with the first and second microphone arrays, and a medical device operable by the controller. The controller includes a beam module that generates a first beamed signal using signals from the first microphone array and a second beamed signal using signals from the second microphone array. The controller also includes a comparison module that compares the first and second beamed signals and determines a correlation between the first and second beamed signals. The controller also includes a voice interpreting module that identifies commands within the first and second beamed signals if the correlation is above a correlation threshold. The controller also includes an instrument control module that executes the commands to operate said medical device.

Abstract: A voice controlled medical system with improved speech recognition includes a microphone in an operating environment and a medical device. The voice controlled medical system further includes a controller in communication with the microphone and the medical device that operates the medical device by executing audio commands received by the microphone. The voice controlled medical system further includes a calibration signal indicative of distortion in the operating environment which is generated by comparing an audio signal played in the operating environment with a sound signal received by the microphone. The controller uses the calibration signal to interpret audio commands received by the microphone.

Abstract: Methods and systems are provided for pairing a command device to a remotely controlled medical system. A command device is paired to a remotely controlled system, to control one or more medical devices from the command device. Registering the command device is done at a registration component at a designated location in an operating area, with an identifier for the operating area. While registered, the command device is able to transmit commands for controlling the medical equipment. The command device location is repeatedly estimated from its sensors based on markers or beacons in the operating area, to determine if it has left the area. Upon leaving, it is deregistered.

Abstract: A voice controlled surgical system including a wireless command microphone receiving audio input, a voice control module for generating commands from the audio input received by said wireless command microphone, a detection module for generating signals indicative of a proximity of said wireless command microphone, a switch module for disabling the commands in response to one or more of the signals, and an alarm module activated in response to the one or more of the signals.

Abstract: A system and method for managing workflow of a medical procedure, including a control and at least one detector such as a sensor, where the control interprets a user input to control the workflow of the medical procedure. The system and method include multiple input modalities and hazard mitigation measures to control the medical procedure and/or control various medical devices in an operating room.

Abstract: A voice controlled medical system with improved speech recognition includes a microphone in an operating environment and a medical device. The voice controlled medical system further includes a controller in communication with the microphone and the medical device that operates the medical device by executing audio commands received by the microphone. The voice controlled medical system further includes a calibration signal indicative of distortion in the operating environment which is generated by comparing an audio signal played in the operating environment with a sound signal received by the microphone. The controller uses the calibration signal to interpret audio commands received by the microphone.

Abstract: A voice controlled medical system with improved speech recognition includes a first microphone array, a second microphone array, a controller in communication with the first and second microphone arrays, and a medical device operable by the controller. The controller includes a beam module that generates a first beamed signal using signals from the first microphone array and a second beamed signal using signals from the second microphone array. The controller also includes a comparison module that compares the first and second beamed signals and determines a correlation between the first and second beamed signals. The controller also includes a voice interpreting module that identifies commands within the first and second beamed signals if the correlation is above a correlation threshold. The controller also includes an instrument control module that executes the commands to operate said medical device.

Abstract: The system includes a controller having first and second speech recognition modules and a decision module. The system includes at least one medical device operable by the controller. The system includes a first microphone in communication with the first speech recognition module, and a second microphone in communication with the second speech recognition module. The first speech recognition module generates a first set of commands from voice signals it receives from the first microphone. The second speech recognition module generates a second set of commands from voice signals it receives from the second microphone. The decision module receives the first and second sets of commands, accepts a subset of the commands in the first and second sets, rejects the remainder of the commands, and assembles a third set of commands comprising the accepted commands. The controller executes the third set of commands to operate the at least one medical device.

Abstract: The system includes a controller having first and second speech recognition modules and a decision module. The system includes at least one medical device operable by the controller. The system includes a first microphone in communication with the first speech recognition module, and a second microphone in communication with the second speech recognition module. The first speech recognition module generates a first set of commands from voice signals it receives from the first microphone. The second speech recognition module generates a second set of commands from voice signals it receives from the second microphone. The decision module receives the first and second sets of commands, accepts a subset of the commands in the first and second sets, rejects the remainder of the commands, and assembles a third set of commands comprising the accepted commands. The controller executes the third set of commands to operate the at least one medical device.

Abstract: A voice controlled surgical system including a wireless command microphone receiving audio input, a voice control module for generating commands from the audio input received by said wireless command microphone, a detection module for generating signals indicative of a proximity of said wireless command microphone, a switch module for disabling the commands in response to one or more of the signals, and an alarm module activated in response to the one or more of the signals.

Abstract: Unstructured voice information from an incoming caller is processed by automatic speech recognition and semantic categorization system to convert the information into structured data that may then be used to access one or more databases to retrieve associated supplemental data. The structured data and associated supplemental data are then made available through a presentation system that provides information to the call center agent and, optionally, to the incoming caller. The system thus allows a call center information processing system to handle unstructured voice input for use by the live agent in handling the incoming call and for storage and retrieval at a later time. The semantic analysis system may be implemented by a global parser or by an information retrieval technique, such as latent semantic analysis. Co-occurrence of keywords may be used to associate prior calls with an incoming call to assist in understanding the purpose of the incoming call.

Abstract: A user authentication system includes a dialogue manager adapted to prompt the user with multiple, selectable pass-phrases. A selection recognizer recognizes user selection of at least one of the multiple, selectable pass-phrases. A user identity analysis module analyzes one or more potential user identities based on adherence of user selection of the pass-phrase to predetermined pass-phrase selection criteria assigned one or more enrolled users.

Abstract: A speaker authentication system includes an input receptive of user speech from a user. An extraction module extracts acoustic correlates of aspects of the user's physiology from the user speech, including at least one of glottal source parameters, formant related parameters, timing characteristics, and pitch related qualities. An output communicates the acoustic correlates to an authentication module adapted to authenticate the user by comparing the acoustic correlates to predefined acoustic correlates in a datastore.

Abstract: An indexing system for tagging a media stream is provided. The indexing system includes a plurality of inputs for defining at least one tag. A tagging system assigns the tag to the media stream. A tag analysis system selectively distributes tags for review and editing by members of the collaborative group. A tag database stores the tag and the media stream. Retrieval architecture can search the database using the tags.

Abstract: Unstructured voice information from an incoming caller is processed by automatic speech recognition and semantic categorization system to convert the information into structured data that may then be used to access one or more databases to retrieve associated supplemental data. The structured data and associated supplemental data are then made available through a presentation system that provides information to the call center agent and, optionally, to the incoming caller. The system thus allows a call center information processing system to handle unstructured voice input for use by the live agent in handling the incoming call and for storage and retrieval at a later time. The semantic analysis system may be implemented by a global parser or by an information retrieval technique, such as latent semantic analysis. Co-occurrence of keywords may be used to associate prior calls with an incoming call to assist in understanding the purpose of the incoming call.

Abstract: A phoneticizer converts spelled words or names into one or an n-best number of phonetic transcriptions. The n-best transcriptions may be generated from a single transcription using a confusion matrix. These n-best transcriptions are then transformed into hybrid units. Preferably only the most frequently encountered units are stored as syllables, with the remainder being stored as smaller units such as demi-syllables or phonemes. Voice input is then used to rescore the n-best transcriptions and these are stored preferably as speaker-independent, similarity-based hybrid units concatenated into a string representing the spelled word.

Abstract: The acoustic speech signal is decomposed into wavelets arranged in an asymmetrical tree data structure from which individual nodes may be selected to best extract local features, as needed to model specific classes of sound units. The wavelet packet transformation is smoothed through integration and compressed to apply a non-linearity prior to discrete cosine transformation. The resulting subband features such as cepstral coefficients may then be used to construct the speech recognizer's speech models. Using the local feature information extracted in this manner allows a single recognizer to be optimized for several different classes of sound units, thereby eliminating the need for parallel path recognizers.