Microsoft Technology Licensing, LLC

Oliver Scholz

David Mowatt

Robert L Chambers

Oscar E Murillo

Julian James Odell

Daniel B Cook

Ryan T Bickel

Robert Edward Dewar

Bongshin Lee

Lisa Joy Stifelman

Bo Thiesson

Alice Jane Bernheim Brush

Tim Paek

Felix G T I Andrew

Felix Gerard Torquil Ifor Andrew

Hisami Suzuki

Alex G Snitkovskiy

Gary Voronel

James Francis Gilsinan, Iv

Robert Juan Miller

Karl Rolando Henderson, Jr

Nikhil Rajkumar Jain

Hanjiang Zhou

A primary virtual assistant and local virtual assistant herein can provide secondary information, including, without limitation, user-specific information, without having direct access to such information. For example, a user may invoke a secondary virtual assistant, through the local virtual assistant connected to a primary virtual assistant system. This invocation may be sent through the primary virtual assistant to the third party provider, i.e., the secondary virtual assistant. The secondary virtual assistant has access to the secondary information, for example, email, calendars, other types of information specifically associated with the user or learned from past user actions while this information is not directly available to the primary virtual assistant. This secondary information is then provided to the local virtual assistant in response to the invocation to be provided to the user.

Personalized updates upon invocation of a service

Real-time query expansion (RTQE) is a process of supplementing an original query with addition terms or expansion choices that are ranked according to some figure of merit and presented while users are still formulating their queries. As disclosed herein, phrases may be presented and one or more terms of a focused-on phrase may be pinned (as desirable to the user). Subsequent lists may be presented as a function of pinned terms and/or user input. In one embodiment, a placeholder may be substituted for one or more pinned terms if less than some predetermined threshold of phrases is able to be presented based upon the pinned terms and/or user input, and another list of phrases may be presented as a function of a query using fewer than all the pinned terms. The placeholder may allow out-of-index phrases to be formed, for example, based upon two or more phrases and/or terms input by the user.

Phrase generation using part(s) of a suggested phrase

Semantically distinct items are extracted from a single utterance by repeatedly recognizing the same utterance using constraints provided by semantic items already recognized. User feedback for selection or correction of partially recognized utterance may be used in a hierarchical, multi-modal, or single step manner. An accuracy of recognition is preserved while the less structured and more natural single utterance recognition form is allowed to be used.

Recognizing multiple semantic items from single utterance

A voice-activated user interface for an application is described. The voice activated user interface invokes a speech recognition component to recognize audio input from a user. If the audio input is a command, then a validation component is invoked to determine whether to validate the command prior to execution.

Selective confirmation for execution of a voice activated user interface

Upon selection of a displayed word, a list of alternatives for the selected word is displayed. Each alternative in the list has an associated symbol. A speech signal is then decoded to identify a list of possible words and the list of possible words is displayed with each possible word having an associated symbol.

Redictation of misrecognized words using a list of alternatives

A method, program storage device and mobile device provide speech disambiguation. Audio for speech recognition processing is transmitted by the mobile device. Results representing alternates identified to match the transmitted audio are received. The alternates are displayed in a disambiguation dialog screen for making corrections to the alternates. Corrections are made to the alternates using the disambiguation dialog screen until a correct result is displayed. The correct result is selected. Content associated with the selected correct result is received in parallel with the receiving of the results representing alternates identified to match the transmitted audio.

Speech recognition disambiguation on mobile devices

A numbering scheme is disclosed for implementation in the context of an application display. A user is able to select an item on the display by speaking a number corresponding to a desired control item. In some cases, the screen can include so many numbers that the user loses context and is unable to identify which number they want to select. For this reason, in one embodiment, a temporal switching mechanism is implemented wherein periodic switches (e.g., second-long intervals) occur between showing numbered items and showing a non-numbered screen. In one embodiment, an optional secondary confirmation step is implemented wherein the user sees only the item they just selected and has the chance to (a) learn the programmatic name of the item they selected and/or (b) either confirm and proceed with their selection, or cancel. In one embodiment, the optional secondary confirmation step is omitted if the user speaks a number followed by a predetermined command word.

Graphic user interface schemes for supporting speech recognition input systems

A portable wireless-enabled system includes an input transducer (for example, a microphone), an output transducer (for example, a speaker) and a wireless transceiver system. Also included, is a memory having a programmable user speech profile. A processor system controls operation of the input transducer, the output transducer, the wireless transceiver system and the memory.

Wireless speech recognition

A system and method for positioning a software User Interface (UI) window on a display screen is provided, wherein the method includes displaying the software UI window on the display screen and identifying at least one suitable location on the display screen responsive to an active target window area of a target application UI window. The method further includes determining whether the software UI window is disposed at the at least one suitable location on the display screen and if the software UI window is disposed in a location other than the at least one suitable location on the display screen, positioning the software UI window at the at least one suitable location on the display screen.

Microphone feedback and control

A method of interacting with a speech recognition (SR)-enabled personal computer (PC) is provided in which a user SR profile is transferred from a wireless-enabled device to the SR-enabled PC. Interaction with SR applications, on the SR-enabled PC, is carried out by transmitting speech signals wirelessly to the SR-enabled PC. The transmitted speech signals are recognized with the help of the transferred user SR profile.

Growing community of inventors

Kirkland, WA, United States of America

Oliver Scholz