Location-based services

A method of providing location-based services in a communication system that includes a plurality of remote terminals, the method comprising:

• transmitting an open-ended prompt for receipt by the remote terminal;
• a location-based services system receiving from a remote terminal an extemporaneous verbalization in response to the open-ended prompt, wherein the extemporaneous verbalization is a plurality of spoken words chosen by the speaker to convey an intended meaning;
• receiving a geographic indicator indicative of a geographic position;
• recognizing one or more words contained in the extemporaneous verbalization;
• determining a context of the recognized one or more words based on the extemporaneous verbalization;
• creating a structured request for information based on the recognized one or more words and the determined context;
• and
• generating a structured response to the extemporaneous verbalization with the location-based services system that is responsive to the structured request and is based on the geographic indicator.

A location-based services system, comprising:

• a voice recognition server configured to receive a plurality of extemporaneously spoken words from a remote terminal in response to an open-ended prompt transmittable for receipt by the remote terminal;
• wherein the voice recognition server is configured to recognize terms from among the extemporaneously spoken words;
• a natural language processing server in communication with the voice recognition server, wherein the natural language processing server is configured to determine a context of the terms recognized by the voice recognition server and further configured to transform the terms and the determined context into a structured request;
• and
• a location-based application server in communication with the natural language processing server, wherein the location-based application server is configured to receive a geographic indicator and the structured request,
• the location-based application server is further configured to generate a structured response to the extemporaneously spoken words based on the geographic indicator and the structured request.

A method of providing location-based services in a communication system that includes a plurality of remote terminals, the method comprising:

• transmitting an open-ended prompt related to at least one of location-based goods or services or combinations thereof to a remote terminal;
• receiving from the remote terminal a verbalization in response to the open-ended prompt, wherein the verbalization is a plurality of spoken words that would be recognized by a listener as some form of a response to the open-ended prompt;
• receiving a geographic indicator indicative of a geographic location;
• analyzing the verbalization to selectively identify a plurality of predetermined words that are included in the verbalization;
• determining a meaning of each of the identified words based on the context of the verbalization;
• transforming the identified words into a structured request that includes a predetermined structured request parameter based on the determined meaning of each of the identified words;
• and
• generating a structured response to the verbalization, wherein the structured response is generated based on the structured request and the geographic indicator.

A location-based services system, comprising:

• a remote terminal configured to receive and provide an open-ended prompt to a user of the remote terminal, wherein the open-end prompt is related to at least one of location-based goods or services, or combinations thereof;
• the remote terminal further configurable to transmit a verbalization in response to the open-ended prompt, wherein the verbalization is a plurality of extemporaneously spoken words that convey a question or a statement;
• a voice recognition server configured to receive the verbalization and further configured to selectively identify terms from among the extemporaneously spoken words;
• a natural language processing server in communication with the voice recognition server, wherein the natural language processing server is configured to determine a context of the terms identified by the voice recognition server and further configured to transform the terms and the determined context into a structured request;
• and
• a location-based application server in communication with the natural language processing server, wherein the location-based application server is configured to receive a geographic indicator and the structured request,
• the location-based application server is further configured to generate a structured response to the verbalization based on the geographic indicator and the structured request.