Dynamically generating a vocal help prompt in a multimodal application

Abstract

Dynamically generating a vocal help prompt in a multimodal application that include detecting a help-triggering event for an input element of a VoiceXML dialog, where the detecting is implemented with a multimodal application operating on a multimodal device supporting multiple modes of interaction including a voice mode and one or more non-voice modes, the multimodal application is operatively coupled to a VoiceXML interpreter, and the multimodal application has no static help text. Dynamically generating a vocal help prompt in a multimodal application according to embodiments of the present invention typically also includes retrieving, by the VoiceXML interpreter from a source of help text, help text for an element of a speech recognition grammar, forming by the VoiceXML interpreter the help text into a vocal help prompt, and presenting by the multimodal application the vocal help prompt through a computer user interface to a user.

1 . A method for dynamically generating a vocal help prompt in a multimodal application, the method comprising:
 detecting a help-triggering event for an input element of a VoiceXML dialog, wherein the help-triggering event is selected from the group consisting of a request by a user for help, speech input that does not match any active grammar, and no speech input being received for a specified period of time, the detecting implemented with the multimodal application operating on a multimodal device supporting multiple modes of interaction including a voice mode and one or more non-voice modes, the multimodal application operatively coupled to a VoiceXML interpreter;   retrieving, by the VoiceXML interpreter from a source of help text, retrieved help text, wherein the retrieved help text includes first help text associated with at least one non-terminal element of a speech recognition grammar and second help text associated with at least one terminal element of the speech recognition grammar;   generating, by the VoiceXML interpreter, a vocal help prompt based, at least in part, on the first help text and the second help text; and   presenting by the multimodal application the vocal help prompt through a computer user interface to a user.   
     
     
         2 . The method of  claim 1 , wherein generating the vocal help prompt further comprises:
 concatenating the first help text associated with the at least one non-terminal element of the grammar with the second help text associated with the at least one terminal element of the grammar.   
     
     
         3 . The method of  claim 1 , wherein:
 the grammar includes two or more alternative terminal elements; and   retrieving help text further comprises retrieving, for use as help text, text from a number of the alternative terminal elements, the number limited by a predefined maximum.   
     
     
         4 . The method of  claim 1 , further comprising iteratively carrying out the steps of the method upon occurrence of additional help-triggering events, generating multiple levels of help. 
     
     
         5 . The method of  claim 1 , wherein:
 the grammar includes words that can be recognized by the VoiceXML interpreter; and   the source of help text further comprises the words of the grammar.   
     
     
         6 . The method of  claim 1 , wherein:
 the speech recognition grammar was previously dynamically generated using text stored in a computer database; and   the source of help text further comprises additional text in the computer database from which the speech recognition grammar was generated.   
     
     
         7 . An apparatus for dynamically generating a vocal help prompt in a multimodal application, the apparatus comprising:
 a computer processor; and   a computer memory operatively coupled to the computer processor, the computer memory having disposed within it computer program instructions that, when executed by the computer processor, perform a method comprising:   detecting a help-triggering event for an input element of a VoiceXML dialog, wherein the help-triggering event is selected from the group consisting of a request by a user for help, speech input that does not match any active grammar, and no speech input being received for a specified period of time, the detecting implemented with the multimodal application operating on a multimodal device supporting multiple modes of interaction including a voice mode and one or more non-voice modes, the multimodal application operatively coupled to a VoiceXML interpreter;   retrieving, by the VoiceXML interpreter from, retrieved help text, associated with at least one non-terminal element of a speech recognition grammar and at least one terminal element of the speech recognition grammar, wherein the at least one non-terminal element includes a reference to at least one other element of the speech recognition grammar;   forming, by the VoiceXML interpreter, the retrieved help text into a vocal help prompt; and   presenting by the multimodal application the vocal help prompt through a computer user interface to a user.   
     
     
         8 . The apparatus of  claim 7 , wherein forming the help text into a vocal help prompt further comprises concatenating help text associated with the at least one non-terminal element of the grammar with help text associated with the at least one terminal element of the grammar. 
     
     
         9 . The apparatus of  claim 7 , wherein:
 the grammar includes two or more alternative terminal elements; and   retrieving help text further comprises retrieving, for use as help text, text from a number of the alternative terminal elements, the number limited by a predefined maximum.   
     
     
         10 . The apparatus of  claim 7 , further comprising iteratively carrying out the steps of the method upon occurrence of additional help-triggering events, generating multiple levels of help. 
     
     
         11 . The apparatus of  claim 7 , wherein:
 the grammar includes words that can be recognized by the VoiceXML interpreter; and   the source of help text further comprises the words of the grammar.   
     
     
         12 . The apparatus of  claim 7 , wherein:
 the speech recognition grammar was previously dynamically generated using text stored in a computer database; and   the source of help text further comprises additional text in the computer database from which the speech recognition grammar was generated.   
     
     
         13 . A non-transitory computer-readable recordable medium encoded with a plurality of instructions that, when executed by a computer perform a method of dynamically generating a vocal help prompt in a multimodal application, the method comprising:
 detecting a help-triggering event for an input element of a VoiceXML dialog, wherein the help-triggering event is selected from the group consisting of a request by a user for help, speech input that does not match any active grammar, and no speech input being received for a specified period of time, the detecting implemented with the multimodal application operating on a multimodal device supporting multiple modes of interaction including a voice mode and one or more non-voice modes, the multimodal application operatively coupled to a VoiceXML interpreter;   retrieving, by the VoiceXML interpreter from a source of help text, retrieved help text, wherein the retrieved help text includes first help text associated with at least one non-terminal element of a speech recognition grammar and second help text associated with at least one terminal element of the speech recognition grammar;   generating, by the VoiceXML interpreter, a vocal help prompt based, at least in part, on the first help text and the second help text; and   presenting by the multimodal application the vocal help prompt through a computer user interface to a user.   
     
     
         14 . The computer-readable recordable medium of  claim 13 , wherein generating the vocal help prompt further comprises concatenating the first help text associated with the at least one non-terminal element of the grammar with the second help text associated with the at least one terminal element of the grammar. 
     
     
         15 . The computer-readable recordable medium of  claim 13 , further comprising:
 iteratively carrying out the steps of the method upon occurrence of additional help-triggering events, generating multiple levels of help.