Tracking time using portable recorders and speech recognition
AssigneeNuance Communications, Inc.
InventorsJames William Cooper, Donna Karen Byron
Life of this patent
Estimating the term…
Abstract
In general, the present invention converts speech, preferably recorded on a portable recorder, to text, analyzes the text, and determines voice commands and times when the voice commands occurred. Task names are associated with voice commands and time segments. These time segments and tasks may be packaged as time increments and stored (e.g., in a file or database) for further processing. Preferably, phrase grammar rules are used when analyzing the text, as this helps to determine voice commands. Using phrase grammar rules also allows the text to contain a variety of topics, only some of which are pertinent to tracking time.
Claims17
A method, performed on a computer system, for tracking time using speech recognition, the method comprising the acts of:
- accessing speech data;
- recognizing at least two voice commands from the speech data, each voice command occurring at a different time;
- determining a first time, indicative of a first time of day, associated with a speaking of a first of the voice commands, wherein said first voice command identifies a start of a time interval;
- determining a second time, indicative of a second time of day, associated with a speaking of a second of the voice commands, wherein said second voice command identifies an end of said time interval;
- and
- storing data identifying said time interval and data identifying one or more of said first voice command and second voice command, wherein
- the speech data comprises a time stamp that indicates a third time of day;
- and
- the act of determining a first time comprises:
- determining an offset time that is a time difference between the time stamp and a time when the first voice command is spoken;
- and
- determining the first time through reference to the time stamp and the offset time.
A system for tracking time using speech recognition, the system comprising:
- a computer system comprising:
- a memory that stores computer-readable code;
- and
- a processor operatively coupled to the memory, the processor configured to implement the computer-readable code, the computer-readable code configured to:
- access speech data;
- recognize at least two voice commands from the speech data, each voice command occurring at a different time;
- determine a first time, indicative of a first time of day, associated with a speaking of a first of the voice commands, wherein said first voice command identifies a start of a time interval;
- determine a second time, indicative of a second time of day, associated with a speaking of a second of the voice commands, wherein said second voice command identifies an end of a time interval;
- convert each of the at least two voice commands to text;
- determine text versions of the at least two voice commands by comparing words in the text with phase grammar rules;
- and
- storing data identifying said time interval and data identifying one or more of said first voice command and second voice command, wherein
- the speech data comprises a time stamp that indicates a third time of day;
- and
- the act of determining a first time comprises:
- determining an offset time that is a time difference between the time stamp and a time when the first voice command is spoken;
- and
- determining the first time through reference to the time stamp and the offset time.
An article of manufacture comprising:
- a computer readable medium having computer readable code means embodied thereon, the computer readable program code means comprising:
- an act to access speech data;
- an act to recognize at least two voice commands from the speech data, each voice command occurring at a different time;
- an act to determine a first time, indicative of a first time of day, associated with a speaking of a first of the voice commands, wherein said first voice command identifies a start of a time interval;
- an act to determine a second time, indicative of a second time of day, associated with a speaking of a second of the voice commands, wherein said second voice command identifies an end of a time interval;
- an act to convert each of the at least two voice commands to text;
- an act to determine text versions of the at least two voice commands by comparing words in the text with phrase grammar rules;
- and
- storing data identifying said time interval and data identifying one or more of said first voice command and second voice command, wherein
- the speech data comprises a time stamp that indicates a third time of day;
- and
- the act of determining a first time comprises:
- determining an offset time that is a time difference between the time stamp and a time when the first voice command is spoken;
- and
- determining the first time through reference to the time stamp and the offset time.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.