Google Granted Voice Search Patent - Why it Matters
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The most obvious application for a voice-activated search interface is search on mobile devices such as cell phones. In fact, a Piper Jaffray research report indicated that the market for mobile search would reach $11 billion by 2008. That’s money that Google can’t afford to ignore. Just think how happy advertisers will be when they can reach mobile phones with contextual, search-based advertising!
Of course, this technology would make wireless companies very happy as well. Using some functions on your cell phone costs minutes, and that would certainly include mobile search. Most cell phone plans come with a limited number of “anytime” minutes. Use those up, and they can charge through the nose for those extra minutes – leaving you in shock when you get your bill.
Lest I start sounding too cynical, I’d like to add that I see plenty of other uses for a voice-activated search interface. It could be used to help blind web surfers or others who have problems using a keyboard. It could also be used to launch a phone number search service to compete with the current 411 providers.
If we think about ways that Google might expand the technology, there are some interesting potential applications. What if you could search your phone calls as easily as you can search the Internet? I’m not enough of a packrat to want to keep all of my phone calls, but I could see a service like this settling some arguments, among other things.
Or how about a voice interface for maps and navigation in a car? With global positioning to tell the service exactly where you are, you could ask it where the nearest pizza parlor is, and it would respond with a name, map, and turn-by-turn directions. As long as we’re dreaming here, maybe it could respond with the three nearest places and reviews if you want them!
Of course, that raises a whole new issue that Franz and Milch mention at the end of their paper. While their experimental data consisted of keyword queries, “voice search users might prefer to ask questions or make other types of natural language queries [emphasis in original]…” They go on to say that this would actually be easier to model and recognize. This used to be one of the Holy Grails of search. It will be interesting if we finally see it achieved.
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