Managing application interactions using distributed modality component

Abstract

A method for managing multimodal interactions can include the step of registering a multitude of modality components with a modality component server, wherein each modality component handles an interface modality for an application. The modality component can be connected to a device. A user interaction can be conveyed from the device to the modality component for processing. Results from the user interaction can be placed on a shared memory are of the modality component server.

1 . A method for managing distributed multimodal interactions comprising:
 registering a plurality of distributed modality components with a modality component server, wherein each modality component handles an interface modality for one or more applications, wherein each modality component places a set of activation conditions in a shared memory area of the modality component server, wherein the set of activation conditions defines how the modality component is activated and how input and output between the modality component and a client device is started and stopped, wherein activation conditions are added and/or removed by an application module;   receiving, from a first multimodal application, activation conditions for at least one of the modality components that the first multimodal application supports;   matching the activation conditions submitted by the first multimodal application with activation conditions stored in the shared memory area by an inference engine of the modality component server;   activating a modality component, by a modality activator of the modality component server, when the set of activation conditions for said modality component is satisfied by the activation conditions submitted by the first multimodal application;   connecting said activated modality component to a client device on which the first multimodal application is executing; and   disconnecting the activated modality component from the client device and deactivating the modality component by the modality activator upon completion of an interaction response.   
     
     
         2 . A system comprising:
 a plurality of modality components comprising at least a first modality component and a second modality component, wherein the first modality component handles interactions relating to a first modality and wherein the second modality component handles interactions relating to a second modality that is different from the first modality, wherein each of the first and second modality components is implemented in a device-independent way that supports client devices of different types; and   a modality component server that is accessible to a plurality of client devices, wherein each client device comprises a multimodal application executing thereon, wherein the modality component server provides access for the plurality of client devices to the plurality of modality components.   
     
     
         3 . The system of  claim 2 , wherein each of the first and second modality components is implemented in an application-independent manner that supports multimodal applications of different types. 
     
     
         4 . The system of  claim 2 , wherein the first modality component provides a speech based modality. 
     
     
         5 . The system of  claim 2 , wherein the modality component server comprises an interface that converts data conveyances from a format compatible with the first modality component to formats compatible with the multimodal applications executing on the plurality of client devices. 
     
     
         6 . The system of  claim 2 , wherein the first modality component provides a speech input modality. 
     
     
         7 . The system of  claim 2 , wherein the first modality component provides a synthetic speech generation modality. 
     
     
         8 . The system of  claim 2 , wherein the plurality of client devices comprise a plurality of cellular telephones, and wherein the modality component server comprises an interface that is compatible with the plurality of cellular telephones. 
     
     
         9 . The system of  claim 2 , in combination with at least one of the plurality of client devices. 
     
     
         10 . The system of  claim 3 , wherein the first modality component provides a speech based modality. 
     
     
         11 . The system of  claim 3 , wherein the first modality component provides a speech input modality. 
     
     
         12 . The system of  claim 11 , wherein the plurality of client devices comprise a plurality of cellular telephones, and wherein the modality component server comprises an interface that is compatible with the plurality of cellular telephones. 
     
     
         13 . A method for managing distributed multimodal interactions comprising:
 providing a plurality of client devices with access to a plurality of modality components comprising at least a first modality component and a second modality component, wherein the first modality component handles interactions relating to a first modality and wherein the second modality component handles interactions relating to a second modality that is different from the first modality, wherein each of the first and second modality components is implemented in a device-independent way that supports client devices of different types.   
     
     
         14 . The method of  claim 13 , wherein each of the first and second modality components is implemented in an application-independent manner that supports multimodal applications of different types executing on the plurality of client devices. 
     
     
         15 . The method of  claim 14 , wherein the first modality component provides a speech based modality. 
     
     
         16 . The method of  claim 13 , wherein the first modality component provides a speech input modality. 
     
     
         17 . The method of  claim 13 , wherein the first modality component provides a synthetic speech generation modality. 
     
     
         18 . The method of  claim 13 , wherein the plurality of client devices comprise a plurality of cellular telephones. 
     
     
         19 . The method of  claim 13 , wherein the modality component server comprises an interface that converts data conveyances from a format compatible with the first modality component to formats compatible with the multimodal applications executing on the plurality of client devices. 
     
     
         20 . The method of  claim 13 , wherein the first modality component provides a speech based modality.