# US 8,751,229 B2 · System and method for handling missing speech data > Agents: this data is available as JSON from the patentgrep API and MCP server — see https://patentgrep.com/llms.txt - Number: US 8,751,229 B2 - Document ID: US8751229B2 - Status: Granted - Kind: B2 - Application number: 12/275,920 - Filed: 2008-11-21 - Published: 2010-05-27 - Granted: 2014-06-10 - Earliest claimed: 2008-11-21 - Assignees: AT&T Intellectual Property I, L.P. - Applicants: Andrej Ljolje; Alistair D. Conkie - Inventors: Andrej Ljolje; Alistair D. Conkie - Web page: https://patentgrep.com/patent/US8751229B2 ## CPC - G10L 15/20: Speech recognition techniques specially adapted for robustness in adverse environments, e.g. in noise, of stress induced speech (G10L21/02 takes precedence) - G10L 13/027: Concept to speech synthesisers; Generation of natural phrases from machine-based concepts (generation of parameters for speech synthesis out of text G10L13/08) - G10L 15/02: Feature extraction for speech recognition; Selection of recognition unit - G10L 15/04: Segmentation; Word boundary detection - G10L 15/1815: {Semantic context, e.g. disambiguation of the recognition hypotheses based on word meaning} - G10L 15/187: Phonemic context, e.g. pronunciation rules, phonotactical constraints or phoneme n-grams - G10L 15/19: Grammatical context, e.g. disambiguation of the recognition hypotheses based on word sequence rules - G10L 25/87: Detection of discrete points within a voice signal - G10L 2015/025: {Phonemes, fenemes or fenones being the recognition units} - G10L: SPEECH ANALYSIS TECHNIQUES OR SPEECH SYNTHESIS; SPEECH RECOGNITION; SPEECH OR VOICE PROCESSING TECHNIQUES; SPEECH OR AUDIO CODING OR DECODING ## Abstract Disclosed herein are systems, computer-implemented methods, and tangible computer-readable media for handling missing speech data. The computer-implemented method includes receiving speech with a missing segment, generating a plurality of hypotheses for the missing segment, identifying a best hypothesis for the missing segment, and recognizing the received speech by inserting the identified best hypothesis for the missing segment. In another method embodiment, the final step is replaced with synthesizing the received speech by inserting the identified best hypothesis for the missing segment. In one aspect, the method further includes identifying a duration for the missing segment and generating the plurality of hypotheses of the identified duration for the missing segment. The step of identifying the best hypothesis for the missing segment can be based on speech context, a pronouncing lexicon, and/or a language model. Each hypothesis can have an identical acoustic score. ## Claims ### Claim 1 A method comprising: receiving speech with a missing segment; generating, via a processor, a plurality of hypotheses for the missing segment based at least in part on an acoustic feature of the received speech; generating possible options for the missing segment, each possible option comprising the speech and a hypothesis of the plurality of hypotheses at a location of the missing segment; assigning a same acoustic score to each hypothesis of the plurality of hypotheses; and evaluating the possible options using the same acoustic score to identify a possible option that represents the speech. ### Claim 2 (depends on 1) The method of claim 1, the method further comprising: identifying a duration for the missing segment; and generating the plurality of hypotheses having a length equal to the duration. ### Claim 3 (depends on 1) The method of claim 1, wherein evaluating the possible options is based on speech context. ### Claim 4 (depends on 1) The method of claim 1, wherein evaluating the possible options is based on a pronouncing lexicon. ### Claim 5 (depends on 1) The method of claim 1, wherein evaluating the possible options is based on a language model. ### Claim 6 (depends on 1) The method of claim 1, wherein the same acoustic score reflects a certainty of the plurality of hypotheses. ### Claim 7 A computer-readable storage device storing instructions which, when executed by a computing device, cause the computing device to perform operations comprising: receiving speech with a missing segment; generating a plurality of hypotheses for the missing segment based at least in part on an acoustic feature of the received speech; generating possible options for the missing segment, each possible option comprising the speech and a hypothesis of the plurality of hypotheses at a location of the missing segment; assigning a same acoustic score to each hypothesis of the plurality of hypotheses; and evaluating the possible options using the same acoustic score to identify a possible option that represents the speech. ### Claim 8 (depends on 7) The computer-readable storage device of claim 7, the steps further comprising: identifying a duration for the missing segment; and generating the plurality of hypotheses having a length equal to the duration. ### Claim 9 (depends on 7) The computer-readable storage device of claim 7, wherein evaluating the possible options is based on speech context. ### Claim 10 (depends on 7) The computer-readable storage device of claim 7, wherein evaluating the possible options is based on a pronouncing lexicon. ### Claim 11 (depends on 7) The computer-readable storage device of claim 7, wherein evaluating the possible options is based on a language model. ### Claim 12 (depends on 7) The computer-readable storage device of claim 7, wherein the identical acoustic score reflects a certainty of the plurality of hypotheses. ### Claim 13 A system comprising: a processor; and a computer-readable storage device storing instructions which, when executed on the processor, perform a method comprising: receiving speech with a missing segment; generating a plurality of hypotheses for the missing segment based at least in part on an acoustic feature of the received speech; generating possible options for the missing segment, each possible option comprising the speech and a hypothesis of the plurality of hypotheses at a location of the missing segment; assigning a same acoustic score to each hypothesis of the plurality of hypotheses; and evaluating the possible options using the same acoustic score to identify a possible option that represents the speech. ### Claim 14 (depends on 13) The system of claim 13, the computer-readable storage device stores further instructions, which, when executed by the processor, cause the processor to perform further operations comprising: identifying a duration for the missing segment; and generating the plurality of hypotheses having a length equal to the duration. ### Claim 15 (depends on 13) The system of claim 13, wherein evaluating the possible options is based on speech context. ### Claim 16 (depends on 13) The system of claim 13, wherein evaluating the possible options is based on a pronouncing lexicon. ### Claim 17 (depends on 13) The system of claim 13, wherein evaluating the possible options is based on a language model. ### Claim 18 (depends on 13) The system of claim 13, wherein the same acoustic score reflects a certainty of the plurality of hypotheses.