Semantic Class Generator for ASR Language Model Expansion

Resolve Bottlenecks,
Find Innovative Solutions
Generate Solutions

Solution Overview

Problem

Current automatic speech recognition (ASR) systems face limitations in generating semantically similar sentences, which are essential for improving language models and user query interfaces, as they rely on restricted vocabularies and lack the ability to produce grammatically correct variations of input utterances.

Innovation Solution

A system comprising a semantic class generator to identify semantically similar words and a sentence verifier to produce grammatically correct sentences, using ontologies or dictionaries, which can be integrated into existing statistical language models for ASR and natural language processing applications.

Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles

VSEngineering Contradiction Analysis

1Adaptability or versatility

If current ASR systems use restricted vocabularies and existing sentence databases, then system complexity is reduced, but the ability to generate semantically similar sentences is limited

Engineering Contradiction:
Improveability to generate semantically similar sentencesVSAvoidsystem complexity
Core Design Contradiction:
Adaptability or versatilityVSDevice complexity

Solution Approach 1:

The system segments the sentence generation task into distinct functional modules: a semantic class generator that identifies semantically similar words using ontologies, a sentence generator that assembles candidate sentences, and a sentence verifier that checks grammatical correctness. This modular segmentation enables versatile sentence generation while managing system complexity through organized functional decomposition.

Inventive Principle:
Principle #1Segmentation

Solution Approach 2:

The patent introduces intermediary components between the input utterance and the final sentence output: the semantic class generator acts as an intermediary that expands vocabulary using ontology relationships, and the sentence verifier serves as an intermediary filter that ensures grammatical correctness. These intermediaries enable the system to generate diverse sentences without directly managing the full complexity of language generation.

Inventive Principle:
Principle #24Intermediary (Mediator)

2Measurement precision

If the system generates diverse sentence variations, then language model accuracy improves, but the computational resources and processing time increase

Engineering Contradiction:
Improvelanguage model accuracyVSAvoidprocessing time
Core Design Contradiction:
Measurement precisionVSLoss of time

Solution Approach 1:

The system performs preliminary actions by pre-building ontology structures and semantic class relationships before sentence generation is needed. The semantic class generator maintains pre-computed semantic relationships that can be quickly queried during sentence generation, reducing real-time processing requirements while still enabling diverse sentence variation for improved language model accuracy.

Inventive Principle:
Principle #10Preliminary action

Solution Approach 2:

The sentence verifier applies grammatical checking selectively to specific candidate sentences rather than all possible variations. By focusing verification resources on the most promising candidates generated by the sentence generator, the system achieves adequate grammatical correctness for improved language model accuracy without verifying every possible sentence variation, thus reducing overall processing time.

Inventive Principle:
Principle #3Local quality

3Adaptability or versatility

If the system expands vocabulary beyond existing limitations, then sentence diversity increases, but the reliability of grammatical correctness may decrease

Engineering Contradiction:
Improvesentence diversityVSAvoidgrammatical correctness
Core Design Contradiction:
Adaptability or versatilityVSReliability

Solution Approach 1:

The sentence verifier serves as a critical intermediary between the diverse sentence candidates generated from expanded vocabulary and the final output. It acts as a quality gate that checks grammatical correctness, ensuring that even sentences generated from newly expanded vocabulary terms meet acceptable grammatical standards before being added to the language model, thus maintaining reliability while enabling sentence diversity.

Inventive Principle:
Principle #24Intermediary (Mediator)

Solution Approach 2:

The system implements feedback through the sentence verifier that evaluates grammatical correctness of generated sentences and provides information back to the sentence generator. This feedback mechanism allows the system to learn from grammatical errors in diverse sentence variations and adjust future generation to maintain higher grammatical reliability while preserving vocabulary expansion benefits.

Inventive Principle:
Principle #23Feedback

Data Source

PatentUS9135237B2System and a method for generating semantically similar sentences for building a robust SLM
Publication Date: 2015.09.15 MICROSOFT TECHNOLOGY LICENSING LLC
  • US9135237B2 patent drawing
  • US9135237B2 patent drawing
  • US9135237B2 patent drawing

AI summary

A system and method are described for generating semantically similar sentences for a statistical language model. A semantic class generator determines for each word in an input utterance a set of corresponding semantically similar words. A sentence generator computes a set of candidate sentences each containing at most one member from each set of semantically similar words. A sentence verifier grammatically tests each candidate sentence to determine a set of grammatically correct sentences semantically similar to the input utterance. Also note that the generated semantically similar sentences are not restricted to be selected from an existing sentence database.