Unisys announced this week it has been granted a patent for the technology behind its e-@ction Natural Language Speech Assistant.
US Patent 5,995,918 enables developers to create interactive voice response systems that can follow a user's instructions and ask questions as if the user were speaking to another person. Unisys has additional patents pending on its natural language technologies.
The Natural Language Speech Assistant is instrumental in the creation of speech-based applications for electronic-business and other mission-critical requirements, company officials said.
Applications created with the Natural Language Speech Assistant can be used across multiple speech recognizers and voice response platforms. An automatically created runtime speech interpreter determines the meaning of a caller's spoken requests, officials added.
Unisys creates context-free grammars for leading speech recognizers from AT&T, Lernout & Hauspie, Lucent Technologies, Nuance Communications and Philips Electronics. The company has also partnered with Microsoft in an effort to promote Windows-based speech applications.
Unisys recently announced a series of partnerships with Microsoft, Motorola and other companies to broaden the use of speech and natural language technologies in a range of new desktop, Internet, phone and other electronic-business applications.
