Patents by Inventor William F. Ganong
William F. Ganong has filed for patents to protect the following inventions. This listing includes patent applications that are pending as well as patents that have already been granted by the United States Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO).
-
Patent number: 10522133Abstract: Techniques for error correction using a history list comprising at least one misrecognition and correction information associated with each of the at least one misrecognitions indicating how a user corrected the associated misrecognition. The techniques include converting data input from a user to generate a text segment, determining whether at least a portion of the text segment appears in the history list as one of the at least one misrecognitions, if the at least a portion of the text segment appears in the history list as one of the at least one misrecognitions, obtaining the correction information associated with the at least one misrecognition, and correcting the at least a portion of the text segment based, at least in part, on the correction information.Type: GrantFiled: May 23, 2012Date of Patent: December 31, 2019Assignee: Nuance Communications, Inc.Inventors: Martin Labsky, Jan Kleindienst, Tomas Macek, David Nahamoo, Jan Curin, William F. Ganong, III
-
Patent number: 10229701Abstract: A mobile device is adapted for automatic speech recognition (ASR). A user interface for interaction with a user includes an input microphone for obtaining speech inputs from the user for automatic speech recognition, and an output interface for system output to the user based on ASR results that correspond to the speech input. A local controller obtains a sample of non-ASR audio from the input microphone for ASR-adaptation to channel-specific ASR characteristics, and then provides a representation of the non-ASR audio to a remote ASR server for server-side adaptation to the channel-specific ASR characteristics, and then provides a representation of an unknown ASR speech input from the input microphone to the remote ASR server for determining ASR results corresponding to the unknown ASR speech input, and then provides the system output to the output interface.Type: GrantFiled: June 12, 2017Date of Patent: March 12, 2019Assignee: Nuance Communications, Inc.Inventors: Daniel Willett, Jean-Guy E. Dahan, William F. Ganong, III, Jianxiong Wu
-
Patent number: 10032454Abstract: Techniques disclosed herein include systems and methods for open-domain voice-enabled searching that is speaker sensitive. Techniques include using speech information, speaker information, and information associated with a spoken query to enhance open voice search results. This includes integrating a textual index with a voice index to support the entire search cycle. Given a voice query, the system can execute two matching processes simultaneously. This can include a text matching process based on the output of speech recognition, as well as a voice matching process based on characteristics of a caller or user voicing a query. Characteristics of the caller can include output of voice feature extraction and metadata about the call. The system clusters callers according to these characteristics. The system can use specific voice and text clusters to modify speech recognition results, as well as modifying search results.Type: GrantFiled: June 25, 2015Date of Patent: July 24, 2018Assignee: Nuance Communications, Inc.Inventors: Shilei Zhang, Shenghua Bao, Wen Liu, Yong Qin, Zhiwei Shuang, Jian Chen, Zhong Su, Qin Shi, William F. Ganong, III
-
Publication number: 20180197545Abstract: Methods and apparatus for selectively performing speech processing in a hybrid speech processing system. The hybrid speech processing system includes at least one mobile electronic device and a network-connected server remotely located from the at least one mobile electronic device. The mobile electronic device is configured to use an embedded speech recognizer to process at least a portion of input audio to produce recognized text. A controller on the mobile electronic device determines whether to send information from the mobile electronic device to the server for speech processing. The determination of whether to send the information is based, at least in part, on an analysis of the input audio, the recognized text, or a semantic category associated with the recognized text.Type: ApplicationFiled: January 11, 2017Publication date: July 12, 2018Applicant: Nuance Communications, Inc.Inventors: Daniel Willett, Joel Pinto, William F. Ganong, III
-
Publication number: 20180158448Abstract: In some embodiments, recognition results produced by a speech processing system (which may include two or more recognition results, including a top recognition result and one or more alternative recognition results) based on an analysis of a speech input, are evaluated for indications of potential errors. In some embodiments, the indications of potential errors may include discrepancies between recognition results that are meaningful for a domain, such as medically-meaningful discrepancies. The evaluation of the recognition results may be carried out using any suitable criteria, including one or more criteria that differ from criteria used by an ASR system in determining the top recognition result and the alternative recognition results from the speech input. In some embodiments, a recognition result may additionally or alternatively be processed to determine whether the recognition result includes a word or phrase that is unlikely to appear in a domain to which speech input relates.Type: ApplicationFiled: October 23, 2017Publication date: June 7, 2018Applicant: Nuance Communications, Inc.Inventors: William F. Ganong, III, Raghu Vemula, Robert Fleming
-
Patent number: 9971765Abstract: Techniques for improved speech recognition disclosed herein include applying a statistical language model to a free-text input utterance to obtain a plurality of candidate word sequences for automatic speech recognition of the input utterance, each of the plurality of candidate word sequences having a corresponding initial score generated by the statistical language model. For one or more of the plurality of candidate word sequences, each of the one or more candidate word sequences may be analyzed to generate one or more hypotheses for a semantic class of at least one token in the respective candidate word sequence. The initial scores generated by the statistical language model for at least the one or more candidate word sequences may be revised based at least in part on the one or more hypotheses for the semantic class of the at least one token in each of the one or more candidate word sequences.Type: GrantFiled: May 13, 2014Date of Patent: May 15, 2018Assignee: Nuance Communications, Inc.Inventors: Weiying Li, William F. Ganong, III
-
Patent number: 9940936Abstract: According to some aspects, a method of monitoring an acoustic environment of a mobile device, at least one computer readable medium encoded with instructions that, when executed, perform such a method and/or a mobile device configured to perform such a method is provided. The method comprises receiving, by the mobile device, acoustic input from the environment of the mobile device, detecting whether the acoustic input includes a voice command from a user without requiring receipt of an explicit trigger from the user, and initiating responding to the detected voice command.Type: GrantFiled: July 30, 2015Date of Patent: April 10, 2018Assignee: Nuance Communications, Inc.Inventors: Vladimir Sejnoha, Paul Adrian Van Mulbregt, Glen Edward Wilson, William F. Ganong, III
-
Patent number: 9886944Abstract: A mobile device is described which is adapted for automatic speech recognition (ASR). A speech input receives an unknown speech input signal from a user. A local controller determines if a remote ASR processing condition is met, transforms the speech input signal into a selected one of multiple different speech representation types, and sends the transformed speech input signal to a remote server for remote ASR processing. A local ASR arrangement performs local ASR processing of the speech input including processing any speech recognition results received from the remote server.Type: GrantFiled: October 4, 2012Date of Patent: February 6, 2018Assignee: Nuance Communications, Inc.Inventors: Daniel Willett, Jianxiong Wu, Paul J. Vozila, William F. Ganong, III
-
Patent number: 9818398Abstract: In some embodiments, recognition results produced by a speech processing system (which may include two or more recognition results, including a top recognition result and one or more alternative recognition results) based on an analysis of a speech input, are evaluated for indications of potential errors. In some embodiments, the indications of potential errors may include discrepancies between recognition results that are meaningful for a domain, such as medically-meaningful discrepancies. The evaluation of the recognition results may be carried out using any suitable criteria, including one or more criteria that differ from criteria used by an ASR system in determining the top recognition result and the alternative recognition results from the speech input. In some embodiments, a recognition result may additionally or alternatively be processed to determine whether the recognition result includes a word or phrase that is unlikely to appear in a domain to which speech input relates.Type: GrantFiled: May 15, 2015Date of Patent: November 14, 2017Assignee: Nuance Communications, Inc.Inventors: William F. Ganong, III, Raghu Vemula, Robert Fleming
-
Publication number: 20170278511Abstract: A mobile device is adapted for automatic speech recognition (ASR). A user interface for interaction with a user includes an input microphone for obtaining speech inputs from the user for automatic speech recognition, and an output interface for system output to the user based on ASR results that correspond to the speech input. A local controller obtains a sample of non-ASR audio from the input microphone for ASR-adaptation to channel-specific ASR characteristics, and then provides a representation of the non-ASR audio to a remote ASR server for server-side adaptation to the channel-specific ASR characteristics, and then provides a representation of an unknown ASR speech input from the input microphone to the remote ASR server for determining ASR results corresponding to the unknown ASR speech input, and then provides the system output to the output interface.Type: ApplicationFiled: June 12, 2017Publication date: September 28, 2017Inventors: Daniel Willett, Jean-Guy E. Dahan, William F. Ganong, III, Jianxiong Wu
-
Patent number: 9734828Abstract: In many speech-enabled applications, adaptation of speech recognition and language understanding tools for different users are employed. With such adaptation, identifying the particular user precedes applying the speech recognition and language understanding tools. According to at least one example embodiment, a method and corresponding apparatus of identifying a user includes comparing personal information data received from a user network device against personal information accessible by the server; and identifying a speech profile specific to the user based on the results of comparing the personal information data retrieved from the first user network device against the personal information accessible by the server. The identified speech profile is used in processing a speech of the user. Through use of the method or corresponding apparatus, a user can proceed directly to the use of the speech recognition or other applications and bypassing a login sequence.Type: GrantFiled: December 12, 2012Date of Patent: August 15, 2017Assignee: Nuance Communications, Inc.Inventors: Jean-Guy E. Dahan, William F. Ganong, III, Jianxiong Wu
-
Patent number: 9685153Abstract: In some embodiments, the recognition results produced by a speech processing system (which may include a top recognition result and one or more alternative recognition results) based on an analysis of a speech input, are evaluated for indications of potential significant errors. In some embodiments, the recognition results may be evaluated to determine whether a meaning of any of the alternative recognition results differs from a meaning of the top recognition result in a manner that is significant for the domain. In some embodiments, one or more of the recognition results may be evaluated to determine whether the result(s) include one or more words or phrases that, when included in a result, would change a meaning of the result in a manner that would be significant for the domain.Type: GrantFiled: May 15, 2015Date of Patent: June 20, 2017Assignee: Nuance Communications, Inc.Inventors: William F. Ganong, III, Raghu Vemula, Robert Fleming
-
Patent number: 9679560Abstract: A mobile device is adapted for automatic speech recognition (ASR). A user interface for interaction with a user includes an input microphone for obtaining speech inputs from the user for automatic speech recognition, and an output interface for system output to the user based on ASR results that correspond to the speech input. A local controller obtains a sample of non-ASR audio from the input microphone for ASR-adaptation to channel-specific ASR characteristics, and then provides a representation of the non-ASR audio to a remote ASR server for server-side adaptation to the channel-specific ASR characteristics, and then provides a representation of an unknown ASR speech input from the input microphone to the remote ASR server for determining ASR results corresponding to the unknown ASR speech input, and then provides the system output to the output interface.Type: GrantFiled: February 28, 2013Date of Patent: June 13, 2017Assignee: Nuance Communications, Inc.Inventors: Daniel Willett, Jean-Guy E. Dahan, William F. Ganong, III, Jianxiong Wu
-
Patent number: 9626969Abstract: A method is described for improving the accuracy of a transcription generated by an automatic speech recognition (ASR) engine. A personal vocabulary is maintained that includes replacement words. The replacement words in the personal vocabulary are obtained from personal data associated with a user. A transcription is received of an audio recording. The transcription is generated by an ASR engine using an ASR vocabulary and includes a transcribed word that represents a spoken word in the audio recording. Data is received that is associated with the transcribed word. A replacement word from the personal vocabulary is identified, which is used to re-score the transcription and replace the transcribed word.Type: GrantFiled: April 13, 2015Date of Patent: April 18, 2017Assignee: NUANCE COMMUNICATIONS, INC.Inventors: George Zavaliagkos, William F. Ganong, III, Uwe H. Jost, Shreedhar Madhavapeddi, Gary B. Clayton
-
Patent number: 9613641Abstract: Described herein are techniques for determining corresponding positions between different representations of a textual work. In some of the techniques, portions of one or more representations may be processed. A determination of a corresponding position may be made in response to a request received from a user, such as a reader that desires to switch between representations. The request may indicate a position in one representation and the representation to which the user would like to switch. In response to receiving the request, one or more portions of one or more representations of a textual work may be processed. In some techniques, a corresponding position between different representations may be determined without processing the entirety of one or more representations of the textual work. For example, a corresponding position may be determined without processing an entire audio representation.Type: GrantFiled: March 13, 2013Date of Patent: April 4, 2017Assignee: Nuance Communications, Inc.Inventor: William F. Ganong, III
-
Patent number: 9576580Abstract: Described herein are techniques for determining corresponding positions between different representations of a textual work. In some of the techniques, portions of one or more representations may be processed. A determination of a corresponding position may be made in response to a request received from a user, such as a reader that desires to switch between representations. The request may indicate a position in one representation and the representation to which the user would like to switch. In response to receiving the request, one or more portions of one or more representations of a textual work may be processed. In some techniques, a corresponding position between different representations may be determined without processing the entirety of one or more representations of the textual work. For example, a corresponding position may be determined without processing an entire audio representation.Type: GrantFiled: May 2, 2016Date of Patent: February 21, 2017Assignee: Nuance Communications, Inc.Inventor: William F. Ganong, III
-
Patent number: 9564126Abstract: In some embodiments, a recognition result produced by a speech processing system based on an analysis of a speech input is evaluated for indications of potential errors. In some embodiments, sets of words/phrases that may be acoustically similar or otherwise confusable, the misrecognition of which can be significant in the domain, may be used together with a language model to evaluate a recognition result to determine whether the recognition result includes such an indication. In some embodiments, a word/phrase of a set that appears in the result is iteratively replaced with each of the other words/phrases of the set. The result of the replacement may be evaluated using a language model to determine a likelihood of the newly-created string of words appearing in a language and/or domain. The likelihood may then be evaluated to determine whether the result of the replacement is sufficiently likely for an alert to be triggered.Type: GrantFiled: December 1, 2014Date of Patent: February 7, 2017Assignee: Nuance Communications, Inc.Inventors: William F. Ganong, III, Raghu Vemula, Robert Fleming
-
Publication number: 20160358605Abstract: According to some aspects, a method of monitoring an acoustic environment of a mobile device, at least one computer readable medium encoded with instructions that, when executed, perform such a method and/or a mobile device configured to perform such a method is provided. The method comprises receiving acoustic input from the environment of the mobile device while the mobile device is operating in the low power mode, detecting whether the acoustic input includes a voice command based on performing a plurality of processing stages on the acoustic input, wherein at least one of the plurality of processing stages is performed while the mobile device is operating in the low power mode, and using at least one contextual cue to assist in detecting whether the acoustic input includes a voice command.Type: ApplicationFiled: August 16, 2016Publication date: December 8, 2016Applicant: Nuance Communications, Inc.Inventors: William F. Ganong, III, Paul Adrian Van Mulbregt, Vladimir Sejnoha, Glen Edward Wilson
-
Patent number: 9514740Abstract: Training speech recognizers, e.g., their language or acoustic models, using actual user data is useful, but retaining personally identifiable information may be restricted in certain environments due to regulations. Accordingly, a method or system is provided for enabling training of a language model which includes producing segments of text in a text corpus and counts corresponding to the segments of text, the text corpus being in a depersonalized state. The method further includes enabling a system to train a language model using the segments of text in the depersonalized state and the counts. Because the data is depersonalized, actual data may be used, enabling speech recognizers to keep up-to-date with user trends in speech and usage, among other benefits.Type: GrantFiled: March 13, 2013Date of Patent: December 6, 2016Assignee: Nuance Communications, Inc.Inventors: Uwe Helmut Jost, Philip Charles Woodland, Marcel Katz, Syed Raza Shahid, Paul J. Vozila, William F. Ganong, III
-
Patent number: 9514741Abstract: Training speech recognizers, e.g., their language or acoustic models, using actual user data is useful, but retaining personally identifiable information may be restricted in certain environments due to regulations. Accordingly, a method or system is provided for enabling training of an acoustic model which includes dynamically shredding a speech corpus to produce text segments and depersonalized audio features corresponding to the text segments. The method further includes enabling a system to train an acoustic model using the text segments and the depersonalized audio features. Because the data is depersonalized, actual data may be used, enabling speech recognizers to keep up-to-date with user trends in speech and usage, among other benefits.Type: GrantFiled: March 13, 2013Date of Patent: December 6, 2016Assignee: Nuance Communications, Inc.Inventors: Uwe Helmut Jost, Philip Charles Woodland, Marcel Katz, Syed Raza Shahid, Paul J. Vozila, William F. Ganong, III