also @ TechSpot: Microsoft launches YouTube app, Google demands it taken down

› ›

Google registers voice-actived search patent

By Derek Sooman

On April 13, 2006, 7:13 PM

Google has registered a voice-actived search patent. Patent number 7027987 refers to "a voice interface for search engines. Through the use of a language model, phonetic dictionary and acoustic models, a server generates an n-best hypothesis list or word graph." It seems that Google has had the project in the works for some time, and that a demo of Google Voice Search has been up on Google Labs for over a year.

Google Voice Search, still up on Google Labs, allows people to call into Google by phone. Though the demo on the web page was inactive when silicon.com's sister site Cnet News.com tried to test it, the instructions show that this is how the system is meant to work:

Searchers call a Google supplied number, where a prompt asks them to "Say Your Search Words." After a minute, the results are returned and, in the demo, the searcher clicks a link that leads to them. In a real-world application, the results would presumably be sent to a mobile phone screen or in-car system.
In the future, it may be possible to do Google searches using voice via a mobile phone.

No tags on this story

2 comments

User Comments: 2

Got something to say? Post a comment
  1. April 14, 2006 12:40 PM
    coolmatt said:
    Google will rule the internet someday...or is it today?
    Reply
  2. April 14, 2006 2:47 PM
    nathanskywalker said:
    Huh, well personally, i tried it out, but i was waiting way to long, and i did't really want to pay a long distance bill for just waiting, so mabye i'll try it later. Then again, with current happenings, i don't think i really trust google enough to give them a recording of my voice, and consequently, it's signature.
    Reply

Recently commented stories

Post a new comment

Social Login & Guest Posting TechSpot Members
Login here or sign up for free,
it takes about a minute.
Get complete access to the TechSpot community. Join thousands of technology enthusiasts that contribute and share knowledge in our forum. Get a private inbox, upload your own photo gallery and more.
TechSpot on:

Most Popular

Trending Featured
More Trending Topics

Featured on Cases

Downloads and Drivers

Downloads   Drivers  

J. River Media Center 18.0.187

ComicRack 0.9.169

Ashampoo UnInstaller 5.03

Files Terminator Free 2.5.0.11

Advanced Host Monitor 9.50

More Downloads

Latest Discussion

Your daily phone 11 replies on Mobile Computing

Unacceptably high disk usage/performance lag Windows 8 42 replies on Windows OS

Bios update help 8 replies on Processors and Motherboards

Best freeware DVD/CD burning software for Windows 7 64-bit 7 replies on Software Apps

Network documentation 6 replies on Storage and Networking

More Recent Discussion

Subscribe to TechSpot

Get free exclusive content, learn about new features and breaking tech news.