Method and apparatus for automatically invoking a new word module for unrecognized user input

摘要

A method for reducing recognition errors in a speech recognition system that has a user interface, which instructs the user to invoke a new word acquisition module upon a predetermined condition, and that improves the recognition accuracy for poorly recognized words. The user interface of the present invention suggests to a user which unrecognized words may be new words that should be added to the recognition program lexicon. The user interface advises the user to enter words into a new word lexicon that fails to present themselves in an alternative word list for two consecutive tries. A method to improve the recognition accuracy for poorly recognized words via language model adaptation is also provided by the present invention. The present invention increases the unigram probability of an unrecognized word in proportion to the score difference between the unrecognized word and the top one word to guarantee recognition of the same word in a subsequent try. In the event that the score of unrecognized word is unknown (i.e., not in the alternative word list), the present invention increases the unigram probability of the unrecognized word in proportion to the difference between the top one word score and the smallest score in the alternative list.