# US 2017/0256261 A1 · Speech Recognition > Agents: this data is available as JSON from the patentgrep API and MCP server — see https://patentgrep.com/llms.txt - Number: US 2017/0256261 A1 - Document ID: US20170256261A1 - Status: Published application - Kind: A1 - Application number: 15/229,978 - Filed: 2016-08-05 - Published: 2017-09-07 - Earliest claimed: 2016-03-01 - Assignees: Microsoft Technology Licensing, LLC - Applicants: Microsoft Technology Licensing, LLC - Inventors: Raymond J. Froelich - Web page: https://patentgrep.com/patent/US20170256261A1 ## CPC - G10L 15/222: {Barge in, i.e. overridable guidance for interrupting prompts} - G10L 15/02: Feature extraction for speech recognition; Selection of recognition unit - G10L 15/063: {Training} - G10L 15/22: Procedures used during a speech recognition process, e.g. man-machine dialogue - G10L 15/26: Speech to text systems (G10L15/08 takes precedence) - G10L 25/87: Detection of discrete points within a voice signal - G06F 40/30: Semantic analysis - G10L 2015/0635: {updating or merging of old and new templates; Mean values; Weighting} - G10L 2015/221: {Announcement of recognition results} - G10L 2015/225: {Feedback of the input speech} - G10L: SPEECH ANALYSIS TECHNIQUES OR SPEECH SYNTHESIS; SPEECH RECOGNITION; SPEECH OR VOICE PROCESSING TECHNIQUES; SPEECH OR AUDIO CODING OR DECODING - G06F: ELECTRIC DIGITAL DATA PROCESSING (computer systems based on specific computational models G06N) ## Abstract A computer system comprises an input configured to receive voice input from a user, the voice input having speech intervals separated by non-speech intervals; an ASR system configured to identify individual words in the voice input during speech intervals of the voice input, and store the identified words in memory; a speech overload detection module configured to detect at a time during a speech interval of the voice input a speech overload condition; and a notification module configured to output to the user, in response to said to detection, a notification of the speech overload condition. ## Claims ### Claim 1 A computer system comprising: an input configured to receive voice input from a user, the voice input having speech intervals separated by non-speech intervals; an ASR system configured to identify individual words in the voice input during speech intervals of the voice input, and store the identified words in memory; a speech overload detection module configured to detect at a time during a speech interval of the voice input a speech overload condition; and a notification module configured to output to the user, in response to said to detection, a notification of the speech overload condition. ### Claim 2 (depends on 1) A computer system according to claim 1, wherein the speech overload condition is detected based on a number of words that the ASR system has identified so far in that speech interval. ### Claim 3 (depends on 1) A computer system according to claim 1, wherein the speech overload condition is detected based on a rate at which words are being identified by the ASR system in that speech interval. ### Claim 4 (depends on 1) A computer system according to claim 1, wherein the speech overload condition is detected based on a state of an AI tree being driven by the voice input. ### Claim 5 (depends on 1) A computer system according to claim 1, wherein the notifications is outputted during the speech interval whilst the user is still speaking. ### Claim 6 (depends on 5) A computer system according to claim 5, wherein the notification comprises an audible notification for interrupting the user. ### Claim 7 (depends on 1) A computer system according to claim 1, comprising a video generation module, wherein the notification comprises a visual notification outputted to the user by the video generation module. ### Claim 8 (depends on 7) A computer system according to claim 7, wherein the video generation module is configured to generate and output to the user a moving image of an avatar, wherein the visual notification is a visual action performed by the avatar. ### Claim 9 (depends on 1) A computer system according to claim 1, comprising a speech detection module configured to detect the speech and non-speech intervals. ### Claim 10 (depends on 9) A computer system according to claim 9, wherein the speech detection module is configured to monitor the set of identified words in the memory as it is updated by the ASR system. ### Claim 11 (depends on 1) A computer system according to claim 1, wherein each word of the set is stored in the memory as a string of one or more characters. ### Claim 12 (depends on 1) A computer system according to claim 1, further comprising: a response module configured to generate and output a response to the user based on the words identified in the speech interval. ### Claim 13 (depends on 12) A computer system according to claim 12, wherein the response is outputted during the next non-speech interval is no speech overload condition is detected in the speech interval. ### Claim 14 A computer-implemented method of effecting communication between a user and an artificial intelligence software agent executed on a computer, the method comprising: receiving at an ASR system voice input from a user, the voice input having speech intervals separated by non-speech intervals; identifying, by the ASR system, individual words in the voice input during speech intervals of the voice input, and storing the identified words in memory; detecting at a time during a speech interval of the voice input a speech overload condition; and outputting to the user, in response to said to detection, a notification of the speech overload condition. ### Claim 15 (depends on 14) A method according to claim 14, wherein the voice input is received from a user device via a communication network, wherein the outputting step is performed by the software agent transmitting the notification to the user device via the network so as to cause the user device to output the notification to the user. ### Claim 16 (depends on 15) A method according to claim 15, wherein the voice input is received from and the notification is outputted to the user in real-time, thereby effecting a real-time communication event between the user and the software agent via the network. ### Claim 17 (depends on 14) A method according to claim 14, the method being implemented in a communication system, wherein the communication system comprises a user account database storing, for each of a plurality of users of the communication system, a user identifier that uniquely identifies that user within the communication system; wherein a user identifier of the software agent is also stored in the user account database so that the software agents appears as another user of the communication system. ### Claim 18 (depends on 14) A method according to claim 14, further comprising: monitoring the set of identified words in the memory as it is updated by the ASR system, wherein the speech overload condition is detected based on the monitoring of the set of identified words. ### Claim 19 A computer program product comprising an artificial intelligence software agent stored on a computer readable storage medium, the software agent for communicating with a user based on the output of an ASR system, the ASR system for receiving voice input from the user and identifying individual words in the voice input during speech intervals thereof, the software agent being configured when executed to perform operations of: detecting at a time during a speech interval of the voice input a speech overload condition; and outputting to the user, in response to said to detection, a notification of the speech overload condition. ### Claim 20 (depends on 19) A computer program product according to claim 19, wherein the notification is outputted to the user by transmitting it to a user device available to the user via a network so as to cause the user device to output the notification to the user.