Gregory S Howe

US Patent:

20060212515, Sep 21, 2006

Filed:

Mar 17, 2006

Appl. No.:

11/378579

Inventors:

Eric Shienbrood - Sudbury MA, US
David Pelland - Bolton MA, US
Gregory Howe - Brookline MA, US
Robert Adamsky - Andover MA, US

International Classification:

G06F 15/16

US Classification:

709203000

Abstract:

An applications server is operable to provide a plurality of user driven services by running an application program. The application program is arranged to provide the services in response to user commands for selecting service options. The applications server comprises in accordance with the application program a state machine able to determine a current state of the application program from one of a pre-determined set of states defining a logical procedure through the user selected service options. The states of the state machine includes for each of the modular services, one or more states associated with one or more forms within the service. Each form defines a state of a user interface for providing the services to the user, and each state includes one or more sub-states called situations, defining the commands to be recognised and the predicates to be satisfied to select that state depending upon the estimated user commands and the session state of the user session. The set of states includes a base service defined by one or more main states. The application program also comprises a command recognition engine, including a grammar processor and may include an automatic speech recogniser to provide the command recognition engine with a set of possible user commands which may be provided for a particular state, the possible commands determining the states which may be reached from the current state. The command recognition engine, in response to a received user command, provides the state machine with an estimate of at least one of the possible commands, which the user may have provided. The state machine changes state in response to the estimated user command. The state machine determines the transitions between the states at run-time and the grammar engine adapts the possible user commands to be recognised for a current state in association with the state transitions, which are determined at run-time. As such, the applications server can provision user driven services, which can be dynamically adapted and blended with each other in accordance with user requirements.

US Patent:

20080262848, Oct 23, 2008

Filed:

Jan 3, 2006

Appl. No.:

11/794877

Inventors:

Eric Shienbrood - Sudbury MA, US
David Pelland - Bolton MA, US
Gregory Howe - Brookline MA, US
Robert Adamsky - Andover MA, US

International Classification:

G10L 11/00

US Classification:

704275

Abstract:

A speech applications server is arranged to provide a user driven service in accordance with an application program in response to user commands for selecting service options. The user is prompted by audio prompts to issue the user commands. The application program comprises a state machine operable to determine a state of the application program from one of a predetermined set of states defining a logical procedure through the user selected service options, transitions between states being determined in accordance with logical conditions to be satisfied in order to change between one state of the set and another state of the set. The logical conditions include whether a user has provided one of a set of possible commands. A prompt selection engine is operable to generate the audio prompts for prompting the commands from the user in accordance with predetermined rules. The prompt selected by the prompt selection engine is determined at run-time. Since the state machine and the prompt selection engine are separate entities and the prompts to be selected are determined at run-time, it is possible to effect a change to the prompt selection engine without influencing the operation of the state machine, enabling different customisations to be provided for the same user driven services, in particular this allows multilingual support, with the possibility of providing rules to adapt the prompt structure allowing for grammatical differences between to languages to be taken into account thus providing higher quality multiple language support.

US Patent:

20200354117, Nov 12, 2020

Filed:

May 11, 2020

Appl. No.:

16/871385

Inventors:

- Plano IL, US
Clark McCUNE - Roanoke TX, US
Emily STOKES - Columbus OH, US
Neil KWIATOWSKI - Queens NY, US
Mason UMHOLTZ - Sunnyvale CA, US
Michael DAY - New York NY, US
Charles PARADISE - Brooklyn NY, US
Gregory HOWE - Boston MA, US
James KRAUSE - Astoria NY, US

International Classification:

B65D 43/22
B65D 51/24
B65D 43/16

Abstract:

A storage solution that provides substantial advantages over existing storage solutions. The storage solution can include a latch system, a rack system or a display system, any one or more of which can be included with a utility box.