EP1457029A1 - Procede d'echange vocal d'informations a travers un reseau oriente paquets - Google Patents

Procede d'echange vocal d'informations a travers un reseau oriente paquets

Info

Publication number
EP1457029A1
EP1457029A1 EP02795091A EP02795091A EP1457029A1 EP 1457029 A1 EP1457029 A1 EP 1457029A1 EP 02795091 A EP02795091 A EP 02795091A EP 02795091 A EP02795091 A EP 02795091A EP 1457029 A1 EP1457029 A1 EP 1457029A1
Authority
EP
European Patent Office
Prior art keywords
structured document
instructions
packet
prx
information
Prior art date
Legal status (The legal status is an assumption and is not a legal conclusion. Google has not performed a legal analysis and makes no representation as to the accuracy of the status listed.)
Withdrawn
Application number
EP02795091A
Other languages
German (de)
English (en)
Inventor
Stuart Goose
Stefan Holz
Timothy Miller
Wei-Kwan Vincent Su
Current Assignee (The listed assignees may be inaccurate. Google has not performed a legal analysis and makes no representation or warranty as to the accuracy of the list.)
Siemens AG
Original Assignee
Siemens AG
Priority date (The priority date is an assumption and is not a legal conclusion. Google has not performed a legal analysis and makes no representation as to the accuracy of the date listed.)
Filing date
Publication date
Application filed by Siemens AG filed Critical Siemens AG
Publication of EP1457029A1 publication Critical patent/EP1457029A1/fr
Withdrawn legal-status Critical Current

Links

Classifications

    • H—ELECTRICITY
    • H04—ELECTRIC COMMUNICATION TECHNIQUE
    • H04M—TELEPHONIC COMMUNICATION
    • H04M3/00—Automatic or semi-automatic exchanges
    • H04M3/42—Systems providing special services or facilities to subscribers
    • H04M3/487—Arrangements for providing information services, e.g. recorded voice services or time announcements
    • H04M3/493—Interactive information services, e.g. directory enquiries ; Arrangements therefor, e.g. interactive voice response [IVR] systems or voice portals
    • H04M3/4938—Interactive information services, e.g. directory enquiries ; Arrangements therefor, e.g. interactive voice response [IVR] systems or voice portals comprising a voice browser which renders and interprets, e.g. VoiceXML
    • H—ELECTRICITY
    • H04—ELECTRIC COMMUNICATION TECHNIQUE
    • H04L—TRANSMISSION OF DIGITAL INFORMATION, e.g. TELEGRAPHIC COMMUNICATION
    • H04L67/00—Network arrangements or protocols for supporting network services or applications
    • H04L67/01—Protocols
    • H04L67/02—Protocols based on web technology, e.g. hypertext transfer protocol [HTTP]
    • H—ELECTRICITY
    • H04—ELECTRIC COMMUNICATION TECHNIQUE
    • H04M—TELEPHONIC COMMUNICATION
    • H04M7/00—Arrangements for interconnection between switching centres
    • H04M7/006—Networks other than PSTN/ISDN providing telephone service, e.g. Voice over Internet Protocol (VoIP), including next generation networks with a packet-switched transport layer

Definitions

  • the present invention relates to a data processing information system for communication with a subscriber based on natural language.
  • Packet-oriented networks such as the WWW (World Wide Web), local area networks (LAN) e.g. In the form of an "intranet”, etc., it is increasingly becoming the main source of information exchange for users in many areas of application.
  • WWW World Wide Web
  • LAN local area networks
  • information-transmitting networks in the following with the term WWW.
  • a main component of such information is data in text format, which also contains graphics, cross-references to related information - also known to the person skilled in the art as "links" - etc.
  • This information is usually exchanged between a WWW server and an associated communication endpoint - also called a client in the specialist world, for example in the form of a browser - in the form of structured documents.
  • This is to be understood as an organization of data of a definable amount, which in addition to the actual lent, the information to be presented to the user also contain computer-readable instructions about their structure.
  • the HTML format Hypertext Markup Language
  • HTML format Hypertext Markup Language
  • HTML format In view of the widespread use of the HTML format, numerous software packages such as Microsoft Word from Microsoft Corp. the ability to convert formatted documents to HTML code for structured documents. The HTML code generated by this software package can then be edited by the user. On such software packages, which i.A. does not require any special knowledge of the code conventions in HTML, is referred to below with the term "format-based editor" for structured documents.
  • Linguistic-based navigation and information transmission on the WWW is referred to as an interactive voice dialog procedure - also known to the person skilled in the art as Interactive Voice Response (IVR).
  • the IVR process has its roots in dialog-oriented speech systems for relieving routine tasks and for queue management in call centers.
  • the IVR method generally has an implementation of a voice-guided menu, in which a user has a choice between various options by means of language or by pressing telephone number keys.
  • a standard for realizing IVR-based WWW navigation is VoiceXML (Voice Extensible Markup Language), standardized by the "World Wide Web Consortium", currently version 1.0, published on May 5, 2000 (http: // www .w3.org / TR / voicexml /). This standard permits the design of structured documents in which information is retrieved using voice communication. This linguistic communication takes place on the one hand by outputting text contained in a VoiceXML script to a user as speech, on the other hand by processing a command spoken by the user.
  • VoiceXML VoicesXML
  • a user is restricted to information that is defined in this format on a WWW server; in particular, he cannot access HTML documents.
  • This configuration corresponds to server-side support for the IVR procedure.
  • VoiceXML has a disadvantageously higher use of the WWW server computing power for the speech generation and analysis.
  • transmission capacities of the data networks transmitting the information are heavily used, since voice information required or output in the data network is generally required for control purposes.
  • a central component of this system is a Host computer system with a modem and a telephone-controlled audio WWW browser (TAWB).
  • TAWB telephone-controlled audio WWW browser
  • a subscriber dials into this system by dialing a number assigned to the modem in a telephone network.
  • the modem of the host computer system acts as an interface between the TAWB and the telephone network.
  • the subscriber can transmit commands for navigation or control in spoken form or in the form of DTMF signals (Dual Tone Multi Frequency) to the TAWB by pressing telephone number keys.
  • This interprets the commands loads the corresponding WWW documents and converts the information they contain into an audio format.
  • the information is then sent over the phone network to the phone where the subscriber can hear it.
  • TTS Text to Speech
  • a method is known from US Pat. No. 6018710 for converting structured documents into audio signals by means of the TTS method, with particular attention to the structural instructions contained therein.
  • both of the methods and arrangements disclosed in the above publications work with a client-side implementation of the IVR method, so that a user can contribute to any structured document without the aforementioned use of transmission capacities Search VoiceXML for information.
  • a client-side implementation of a structured document which may have a complex structure, in speech information has the disadvantage of confusing a user who navigates in this document using linguistic means due to the visual structuring of the document which has been lost in the course of the conversion.
  • the object of the invention is to provide a method which enables the development of structured documents based on format-based editors for structured documents without the need for expert knowledge for the simultaneous accessibility of these structured documents by a visual browser and by an IVR-based browser - - ensures.
  • a structured document with a format-based editor for example Microsoft Word or Microsoft Frontpage from Microsoft Corp. generated.
  • Access information is stored in the structured document, which identifies the document as being suitable for the method according to the invention.
  • This access information can be stored, for example, in a data field that characterizes properties of the document. In this data field, the access information can, for example, be in a Boolean, numeric or alphanumeric format.
  • a user accesses this structured document with a voice-based browser - that is, software designed for navigation in structured documents and for displaying them according to the IVR method - for example by specifying an address that characterizes the storage location of the structured document
  • the presence of the access information is checked.
  • the presence of the access information can be characterized as a function of a numerical or alphanumeric value stored in the structured document.
  • this access information is passed on to an information control computer, in which an analysis of the structured document is carried out.
  • Subject of the analysis are especially instructions in the source code of the structured document.
  • the term instructions is to be understood as computer-readable areas or character strings which control the presentation of the document and are therefore not part of the information intended for the user in this document.
  • these instructions are modified for presentation on a browser operating according to the IVR method, in that instructions that control a graphic structuring of the structured document are expanded and / or replaced by instructions that support acoustic output.
  • This analysis and modification of the source code takes place at runtime, ie when a browser working according to the IVR procedure accesses the structured document stored on the WWW server.
  • An essential advantage of the method according to the invention is that after the development of a document structured for a visual browser, this document can also be accessed with a browser that works according to the IVR method. This eliminates the time-consuming development and maintenance of structured documents in two different protocols.
  • the analysis and modification of the structured document stored on the WWW server at runtime which does not require additional storage capacity on the WWW server, is particularly advantageous.
  • the information control computer advantageously has functions of a proxy server.
  • a proxy server (proxy stands for authorized representative, deputy) does not allow direct access to the WWW-based systems and indirect access.
  • a proxy can filter out individual data packets from the data stream between the WWW and a local network and thus contribute to increasing security.
  • Proxy servers are also used to limit access to certain servers.
  • the design of the information control computer as a proxy server is advantageous in the method according to the invention in that it enables processing of the structured document based on the division of labor. If the structured document is called up, the WWW server is released from a resource-intensive analysis and modification of the source code by a browser working according to the IVR procedure. In the case of a call from a conventional browser based on visual representation, the structured document is passed directly to the browser without the intermediary of the information control computer.
  • software libraries are used, which are either integrated into the structured document or referenced in the structured document.
  • This use of software libraries which are usually in the form of files for defining a scripting environment, advantageously releases an author of structured documents from editing the source code of the structured document.
  • the format-based editor converts the format elements defined by the author of a structured document into instructions for a structured display in a browser. This implementation is carried out using a defined procedure that ensures a reproducible structure of the generated source code. guaranteed.
  • cross-references - for example to other structured documents, other areas of the structured document or also to a file to be loaded and output and / or executed - it is advantageous to observe conventions that analyze and modify the source code for "presentation" enable in a browser working according to the IVR procedure.
  • 1 a structure diagram for the schematic representation of communication end points connected to a packet-oriented network.
  • FIG. 1 shows a communication terminal KE which, via a browser WTE working according to the IVR (Internet Voice Response) method - hereinafter simply referred to as "IVR browser" WTE - with a packet-oriented network NW, for example the Internet or a local network.
  • IVR browser Internet Voice Response
  • NW packet-oriented network
  • the connection of the IVR browser WTE to the packet-oriented network NW is understood in particular to mean that the software of the IVR browser WTE works on a computer system (not shown) which does not have the appropriate software and hardware components to provide data exchange with one - so-called Internet Service Provider.
  • Data packets (not shown) are exchanged between the packet-oriented network NW and the browser WTE, which works according to the IVR method, either - shown in the drawing with a circled number "1" - directly, or - in the drawing with a circled one Number "2" shown - including an information control computer PRX.
  • a WWW server World Wide Web
  • SRV World Wide Web
  • the packet-oriented network NW can also be designed as a local network, in which case the WWW server SRV works as an intranet information server.
  • connection for example, of the IVR browser WTE to the packet-oriented network NW, which is inherently connectionless, is to be understood as the source or destination of data packets between two communication end points connected to the packet-oriented network NW.
  • connection continues to be used.
  • data packets exchanged with the packet-oriented network NW are shown with solid lines in the drawing.
  • the IVR browser WTE has software layers for executing voice-based navigation, which are explained below.
  • received data is received, processed and passed on to a SAPI voice application.
  • This SAPI language application processes the data in the sense of speech recognition and synthesis.
  • an interface application "SAPI” Sound Application Programming Interface
  • the data processed by the SAPI voice application are forwarded to a TAPI telephony application, which processes data received by the SAPI voice application for connection to the KE communication terminal.
  • the interface application "TAPI" Telephony Application Programming Interface
  • TAPI Telephony Application Programming Interface
  • the IVR browser is controlled by the communication terminal by means of spoken key words or by pressing a telephone number key (not shown) on the communication terminal KE.
  • a telephone number key is pressed, the communication terminal KE sends a DTMF signal (Dual Tone Multifrequency), which is received and decoded by the TAPI telephone application.
  • DTMF signal Dual Tone Multifrequency
  • the structured document SD is created using a format-based editor, for example Microsoft Word or Microsoft Frontpage from Microsoft Corp. generated.
  • Access information is stored in the structured document SD, which identifies the structured document SD as suitable for transformation and reproduction in the IVR browser WTE.
  • This access information is, for example stored in a data field characterizing properties of the document, the so-called "Document Properties".
  • the access information in this data field is, for example, in a Boolean, numeric or alphanumeric format.
  • the information control computer PRX is designed as a proxy server which, depending on the access information contained in the structured document SD, processes the content of this structured document SD. If the structured document SD is accessed with the IVR browser WTE, specifying an address that characterizes the storage location of the structured document, the presence of the access information is checked. If this access information is available, it is forwarded to the information control computer PRX. If the access information is missing or if it does not correspond to the intended parameters, the structured document SD is not processed by the information control computer PRX, which is indicated in the drawing by a circled "1" due to a direct "connection" between the IVR browser WTE and the packet-oriented network NW is symbolized.
  • a structured document SD stored in the memory M of the WWW server SRV, which has such access information.
  • this structured document SD is loaded into the browser interface of the IVR browser WTE via the processing path depicted symbolically — with a circled “2” —including the information control computer PRX.
  • the information control computer PRX has a first and a second HTML client HC1, HC2, which receive and transfer the structured document SD.
  • the first HTML client HC1 forwards received requests for structured documents to the second HTML client HC2, which forwards them to the WWW server SRV connected via the packet-oriented network NW.
  • the corresponding structured document SD having access information is then sent from the WWW server to the second HTML client HC2, where it is passed on to an analysis device ANL.
  • the analysis device ANL carries out a syntactical analysis of the HTML source code in the structured document using functionalities of an HTML DOM programming interface HTMLDOM (Document Object Model).
  • HTMLDOM HTML e.g. one from Microsoft Corp. developed object-oriented library based on the principle of a COM (Component Object Model) interface, which enables object-oriented client-server-based communication between several software applications.
  • COM Component Object Model
  • HTMLDOM e.g. one from Microsoft Corp. developed object-oriented library based on the principle of a COM (Component Object Model) interface, which enables object-oriented client-server-based communication between several software applications.
  • COM Component Object Model
  • the analysis particularly focuses on instructions in the source code of the structured document.
  • the term instructions is to be understood to mean areas or character strings which control the presentation of the document and are therefore not part of the information to be displayed to the user contained in this structured document SD.
  • a transformation device TRF uses the objects generated by the analysis device ANL to generate a modified structured document SD in the XML (Extended Markup Language) format.
  • the objects are transformed into the XML source code using the functionalities of an XML-DOM programming interface XMLDOM.
  • Library files XSL are used, for example in the form of so-called "style sheets", which enable the objects defined by the XMLDOM programming interface to be expanded.
  • style sheets which enable the objects defined by the XMLDOM programming interface to be expanded.
  • objects and / or methods are defined in the form of a script which is available, for example, in the form of the "Extended Style Language”.
  • the use of the XML source code permits an extension and / or replacement of instructions of the HTML source code that control a graphic structuring of the structured document SD into instructions that support the acoustic output form, with which the structured document can be "read" by the IVR browser WTE.
  • This library-based processing also makes it easy to transform the HTML source code of a structured document SD into other XML variants, such as VoiceXML or WML (Wireless Markup Language) possible.
  • HTML source code and modification into an XML source code takes place at runtime, i.e. when the IVR browser accesses the structured document SD stored on the WWW server SRV.

Landscapes

  • Engineering & Computer Science (AREA)
  • Signal Processing (AREA)
  • Computer Networks & Wireless Communication (AREA)
  • Information Transfer Between Computers (AREA)
  • Computer And Data Communications (AREA)
  • Information Retrieval, Db Structures And Fs Structures Therefor (AREA)

Abstract

L'invention concerne un procédé d'échange vocal d'informations à travers un réseau orienté paquets (NW) avec un serveur WWW (SRV) relié au réseau orienté paquets (NW), un ordinateur pilote (PRX) relié au réseau orienté paquets et un navigateur vocal (WTE) relié à l'ordinateur pilote (PRX). Selon ce procédé, un document structuré (SD), créé à l'aide d'un éditeur de format (FE), est transmit au serveur WWW (SRV) et mémorisé à cet emplacement avec une information d'accès (DP). Lors d'un accès par le navigateur vocal (WTE) à des documents structurés (SD), dans lesquels cette information d'accès (DP) est présente, un transfert à l'ordinateur pilote (PRX) est réalisé, ordinateur dans lequel le document structuré (SD) est analysé. Après une analyse réussie, des instructions de structuration graphique, présentes dans ce document structuré (SD), sont converties en instructions de sortie acoustique.
EP02795091A 2001-12-20 2002-12-03 Procede d'echange vocal d'informations a travers un reseau oriente paquets Withdrawn EP1457029A1 (fr)

Applications Claiming Priority (3)

Application Number Priority Date Filing Date Title
US37155 1998-03-09
US10/037,155 US20030121002A1 (en) 2001-12-20 2001-12-20 Method and system for exchanging information through speech via a packet-oriented network
PCT/EP2002/013674 WO2003055189A1 (fr) 2001-12-20 2002-12-03 Procede d'echange vocal d'informations a travers un reseau oriente paquets

Publications (1)

Publication Number Publication Date
EP1457029A1 true EP1457029A1 (fr) 2004-09-15

Family

ID=21892731

Family Applications (1)

Application Number Title Priority Date Filing Date
EP02795091A Withdrawn EP1457029A1 (fr) 2001-12-20 2002-12-03 Procede d'echange vocal d'informations a travers un reseau oriente paquets

Country Status (6)

Country Link
US (1) US20030121002A1 (fr)
EP (1) EP1457029A1 (fr)
JP (1) JP2005513662A (fr)
CN (1) CN1606862A (fr)
CA (1) CA2471133A1 (fr)
WO (1) WO2003055189A1 (fr)

Families Citing this family (6)

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Publication number Priority date Publication date Assignee Title
US7406658B2 (en) * 2002-05-13 2008-07-29 International Business Machines Corporation Deriving menu-based voice markup from visual markup
FR2848312B1 (fr) * 2002-12-10 2005-08-05 France Telecom Procede et dispositif de conversion de documents hypertextes en signaux vocaux, et portail d'acces au reseau internet utilisant un tel dispositif.
US8396973B2 (en) 2004-10-22 2013-03-12 Microsoft Corporation Distributed speech service
US8117538B2 (en) * 2008-12-19 2012-02-14 Genesys Telecommunications Laboratories, Inc. Method for dynamically converting voice XML scripts into other compatible markup language scripts based on required modality
US11489962B2 (en) 2015-01-06 2022-11-01 Cyara Solutions Pty Ltd System and methods for automated customer response system mapping and duplication
US10291776B2 (en) * 2015-01-06 2019-05-14 Cyara Solutions Pty Ltd Interactive voice response system crawler

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US5884262A (en) * 1996-03-28 1999-03-16 Bell Atlantic Network Services, Inc. Computer network audio access and conversion system
GB2317070A (en) * 1996-09-07 1998-03-11 Ibm Voice processing/internet system
US6018710A (en) * 1996-12-13 2000-01-25 Siemens Corporate Research, Inc. Web-based interactive radio environment: WIRE
US6356920B1 (en) * 1998-03-09 2002-03-12 X-Aware, Inc Dynamic, hierarchical data exchange system
AU2633601A (en) * 2000-01-07 2001-07-24 Informio, Inc. Methods and apparatus for prefetching an audio signal using an audio web retrieval telephone system
JP3862470B2 (ja) * 2000-03-31 2006-12-27 キヤノン株式会社 データ処理装置及び方法、ブラウザシステム、ブラウザ装置、記録媒体
JP3943830B2 (ja) * 2000-12-18 2007-07-11 株式会社東芝 文書合成方法および文書合成装置
US6801604B2 (en) * 2001-06-25 2004-10-05 International Business Machines Corporation Universal IP-based and scalable architectures across conversational applications using web services for speech and audio processing resources
US20030025732A1 (en) * 2001-07-31 2003-02-06 Prichard Scot D. Method and apparatus for providing customizable graphical user interface and screen layout

Non-Patent Citations (1)

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Also Published As

Publication number Publication date
CA2471133A1 (fr) 2003-07-03
US20030121002A1 (en) 2003-06-26
WO2003055189A1 (fr) 2003-07-03
JP2005513662A (ja) 2005-05-12
CN1606862A (zh) 2005-04-13

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