US 11,922,931 B2
Systems and methods for phonetic-based natural language understanding
Ajay Kumar Mishra, Karnataka (IN); and Jeffry Copps Robert Jose, Tamil Nadu (IN)
Assigned to Rovi Guides, Inc., San Jose, CA (US)
Filed by Rovi Guides, Inc., San Jose, CA (US)
Filed on Jun. 30, 2021, as Appl. No. 17/363,651.
Prior Publication US 2023/0017352 A1, Jan. 19, 2023
Int. Cl. G06F 17/00 (2019.01); G06F 16/632 (2019.01); G06F 16/68 (2019.01); G06F 16/683 (2019.01); G06N 5/02 (2023.01); G10L 15/18 (2013.01); G10L 15/187 (2013.01)
CPC G10L 15/187 (2013.01) [G06F 16/632 (2019.01); G06F 16/683 (2019.01); G06F 16/686 (2019.01); G06N 5/02 (2013.01); G10L 15/1822 (2013.01)] 20 Claims
OG exemplary drawing
 
9. A system comprising:
a database;
control circuitry configured to:
access metadata of a media item available to be played at a first time, the metadata comprising a text term;
generate a first phonetic representation of the text term pronounced as a word;
generate a second phonetic representation of the text term by concatenating a phonetic representation of each letter in the text term;
access the database that comprises a plurality of phonetic representations of a plurality of queries received within a predefined period of time before the first time;
query the database to determine a first use frequency of the first phonetic representation and a second use frequency of the second phonetic representation;
select one of the first phonetic representation and the second phonetic representation based on a comparison of the first use frequency and the second use frequency;
modify a phonetic search index by including in the phonetic search index an entry for the selected one of the first phonetic representation and the second phonetic representation;
receive a voice query related to the media item; and
generate for output a reply to the voice query, wherein the reply is generated by performing a lookup in the modified phonetic search index, and wherein the control circuitry is further configured to generate for output the reply to the voice query by:
determining a phonetic representation of a term of the voice query;
identifying a plurality of sets of one or more phenomes of the phonetic representation of the term of the voice query;
determining, based on the phonetic representation of the term of the voice query, a phonetic representation of a term that is a variant of the term of the voice query by:
expanding a set of the one or more phonemes of the plurality of identified sets to identify one or more candidate variants; and
performing a lookup in the phonetic search index to verify a candidate variant of the one or more identified candidate variants as the phonetic representation of a term that is a variant of the term of the voice query; and
causing the reply to comprise an indication of a media item matching the verified candidate variant.