You pick up your mobile phone, dial “888 MSN-srch” and say “pizza.” (warning, phone number is used for illustration purposes only.)
On your screen appears the addresses, links to web sites, and phone numbers for the closest pizza places around you.
A new patent application from Microsoft describes a way to search by voice, and receive text results by SMS message, IM, or search result listings in a web browser. While someone searching can add geographical information, such as a zip code, this system may be able to identify a location through a variety of other methods, such as GPS or cell tower triangulation.
Speech-to-text software would be used to convert the voice search query into a text search query.
Here’s the patent application:
Searching for content using voice search queries Invented by Oliver Hurst-Hiller and Julia H. Farago Assigned to Microsoft US Patent Application 20070005570 Published January 4, 2007 Filed June 30, 2005
Abstract
A system, method and computer-readable media are disclosed for searching for content from a device. The system, method, and computer-readable media are adapted to transmit a voice search query from a device and can in return allow the device to receive corresponding non-voice search result data. Once non-voice search result data is received it can be displayed to the user on a display of the device.
This post has made me hungry.