Could a single patent disrupt some of the biggest names in tech? Dialect, LLC, a well-known non-practicing entity (NPE), has launched an aggressive wave of litigation. It involves US8015006B2, a patent now being contested against companies like Meta, Salesforce, and Microsoft.
This is just the tip of the iceberg. Dialect LLC has 18 patents currently in litigation, six active cases, and three inactive ones, with additional legal maneuvers, including nine petitions and one ongoing re-examination. The extensive litigation suggests that this patent could have significant implications for major tech platforms.
US8015006B2 delves into natural language processing (NLP) and speech recognition technologies. Specifically, it outlines systems and methods for receiving natural language queries and commands, enabling machines to interpret and execute user inputs expressed in everyday language. Such technology is foundational in enhancing human-computer interactions, allowing devices to comprehend and respond to user inputs more naturally.
Given the widespread integration of NLP in modern applications, the implications of this litigation are profound. Understanding the nuances of US8015006B2 is crucial for stakeholders navigating this complex landscape.
Tools like the Global Patent Search (GPS) are invaluable for effectively analyzing potential prior art and assessing the patent’s validity. GPS streamlines the discovery of existing patents and publications, offering insights that can influence litigation strategies.
As Dialect, LLC’s legal pursuits unfold, the outcomes could reshape the future of NLP technologies across various platforms.
Understanding Patent US8015006B2
US8015006B2 describes a natural language processing (NLP) system designed to process spoken commands and queries. Unlike traditional speech recognition systems, this invention incorporates context, prior knowledge, and user-specific data to create a more natural and adaptive human-computer interaction. It enables devices to understand, process, and respond to complex speech-based queries in various domains, providing a conversational experience similar to interacting with a human.
Source: Google Patents
Four key features are:
#1. Contextual understanding – The system determines the meaning of user queries by analyzing context, user history, and domain-specific knowledge rather than relying solely on direct word recognition.
#2. Domain-specific agents – It employs autonomous software agents tailored for different domains (e.g., entertainment, finance, or home automation) to process and respond to queries efficiently.
#3. Adaptive personalization – The system stores and updates user profile data, allowing it to improve responses over time based on individual usage patterns.
#4. Error recovery and probabilistic reasoning – It can handle ambiguous, incomplete, or conflicting queries, using probabilistic decision-making to determine the best possible response.
US8015006B2 is at the heart of Dialect, LLC’s litigation because modern AI-driven virtual assistants, chatbots, and smart device controllers heavily rely on speech recognition and NLP technologies. Companies like Meta, Microsoft, and Salesforce use similar AI-powered assistants and customer support tools, making them prime targets for patent infringement claims.
Related Patent Reference for US8015006B2
#1. US6647363B2
This patent, filed on October 7, 1999, describes a method and system for automatically verbally responding to user inquiries using natural language processing (NLP). It introduces a speech recognition system that processes spoken queries, determines their context, and generates responses based on pre-defined information.
Key Features of this Related Patent:
- Natural language speech input – The reference explicitly describes receiving a speech utterance from a user and processing it within a machine-based system, directly matching a key feature of US8015006B2.
- Speech recognition with dictionary and phrase tables – The system recognizes words and phrases using a pre-trained lexicon and grammar, aligning with US8015006B2’s speech recognition process.
- Parsing speech input for contextual meaning – The reference describes analyzing parsed speech data to determine user intent and request context, which is a core function of US8015006B2.
- Context-specific processing using domain agents – The system routes requests to specialized modules for processing, similar to US8015006B2’s domain agent architecture.
Which features of US8015006B2 are disclosed by US6647363B2?
| Key Feature of Claim 1 | Disclosure Status |
| Receiving a natural language speech utterance containing a request | Fully Disclosed |
| Recognizing words/phrases using dictionary and phrase tables | Fully Disclosed |
| Parsing recognized words/phrases to determine utterance meaning and request context | Fully Disclosed |
| Formulating request according to domain agent’s grammar | Fully Disclosed |
| Processing request with context-specific domain agent to generate response | Fully Disclosed |
Key Excerpt from US6647363B2:
“The system receives a user’s spoken query, processes the utterance through a recognition engine using trained acoustical data, and parses it using application-specific information stored within a dialogue manager. The system then retrieves relevant responses based on structured grammatical parsing and domain-specific processing.”
#2. US7873654B2
This patent, filed on March 14, 2008, describes a multimodal natural language query system that processes voice and proximity-based queries. It introduces a speech input system that parses spoken commands, applies lexicons and grammar rules, and generates responses based on context and database interactions.
Source: GPS
Key Features of this Related Patent:
- Natural language speech input – The system receives spoken natural language queries through a speech input module, directly corresponding to US8015006B2’s speech-based interaction model.
- Lexicon and grammar-based speech recognition – The reference describes analyzing speech input using lexicons and grammar rules, similar to US8015006B2’s dictionary and phrase table-based recognition.
- Parsing speech input for contextual meaning – The system converts speech into structured queries by determining utterance meaning and context, reinforcing US8015006B2’s context-driven natural language processing.
- Formulating structured database queries – The reference details converting natural language input into a structured query format, aligning with US8015006B2’s domain agent grammar processing.
Which features of US8015006B2 are disclosed by US7873654B2?
| Key Feature of Claim 1 | Disclosure Status |
| Receiving a natural language speech utterance containing a request | Fully Disclosed |
| Recognizing words/phrases using dictionary and phrase tables | Partially Disclosed |
| Parsing recognized words/phrases to determine utterance meaning and request context | Fully Disclosed |
| Associating recognized words with context when confidence level is met | Partially Disclosed |
| Formulating request according to domain agent’s grammar | Fully Disclosed |
| Processing request with context-specific domain agent to generate response | Fully Disclosed |
Key Excerpt from US7873654B2:
“Functionally, the present invention provides a natural language query system that does more than simply convert speech to text. It utilizes lexicons and grammar rules to determine the meaning of the utterance and context, formulating structured queries to retrieve relevant information.”
#3. US20130262107A1
This patent, filed on October 18, 2012, describes a multimodal natural language query system that processes voice and proximity-based queries using speech recognition, grammar-based parsing, and structured query generation. It focuses on interpreting natural language inputs, mapping them to structured queries, and retrieving relevant responses.
Key Features of this Related Patent:
- Natural language speech input – The reference describes receiving and processing natural language speech utterances from users, directly corresponding to US8015006B2.
- Lexicon and grammar-based speech recognition – It utilizes lexicons and grammar rules for natural language processing, similar to US8015006B2’s dictionary and phrase table-based speech recognition.
- Parsing speech input for contextual meaning – The system determines request context and extracts meaning from recognized speech, reinforcing US8015006B2’s context-aware NLP system.
- Formulating structured queries – The reference describes converting natural language requests into structured queries, aligning with US8015006B2’s domain agent grammar processing.
Which features of US8015006B2 are disclosed by US20130262107A1?
| Key Feature of Claim 1 | Disclosure Status |
| Receiving a natural language speech utterance containing a request | Fully Disclosed |
| Recognizing words/phrases using dictionary and phrase tables | Partially Disclosed |
| Parsing recognized words/phrases to determine utterance meaning and request context | Fully Disclosed |
| Associating recognized words with context when confidence level is met | Partially Disclosed |
| Formulating request according to domain agent’s grammar | Fully Disclosed |
| Processing request with context-specific domain agent to generate response | Fully Disclosed |
Key Excerpt from US20130262107A1:
“The invention provides a natural language query system and method that processes voice and proximity-based queries, using lexicons and grammar rules to determine request meaning and context, converting these into structured database queries to retrieve relevant responses.”
#4. US20110093271A1
This patent, filed on December 28, 2010, describes a multimodal natural language query system designed to process and analyze voice and proximity-based queries. It employs speech recognition, grammar-based parsing, and structured query formulation to enable intelligent voice-based interactions.
Key Features of this Related Patent:
- Natural language voice input – The reference describes receiving and processing natural language speech utterances, directly corresponding to US8015006B2.
- Lexicon and grammar-based speech recognition – It utilizes lexicons and NLP-based parsing for speech understanding, similar to US8015006B2’s dictionary and phrase table-based approach.
- Context-aware speech processing – The system parses recognized words/phrases to determine utterance meaning and request context, aligning with US8015006B2’s context-driven NLP system.
- Formulating structured queries – The reference describes converting recognized speech into structured database queries, which matches US8015006B2’s domain agent grammar processing.
This is how feature mapping from the tool looks like:
Source: GPS
Which features of US8015006B2 are disclosed by US20110093271A1?
| Key Feature of Claim 1 | Disclosure Status |
| Receiving a natural language speech utterance containing a request | Fully Disclosed |
| Parsing recognized words/phrases to determine utterance meaning and request context | Fully Disclosed |
| Associating recognized words with context when confidence level is met | Partially Disclosed |
| Formulating request according to domain agent’s grammar | Fully Disclosed |
| Processing request with context-specific domain agent to generate response | Fully Disclosed |
Key Excerpt from US20110093271A1:
“The invention provides a natural language query system and method that processes voice and proximity-based queries using lexicons, grammar rules, and NLP techniques to determine request context and generate structured responses.”
#5. US20120072217A1
This patent, filed on September 17, 2010, describes a voice-enabled search system that utilizes prosody analysis to refine the interpretation of spoken queries. The system receives natural language speech input, extracts meaning using prosodic features, and processes queries through a structured search engine.
Key Features of this Related Patent:
- Receiving natural language voice input – The reference describes receiving a natural language speech utterance from a user and processing it for further analysis.
- Prosody-based speech refinement – It utilizes prosodic features such as emphasis, tone, and rhythm to improve query interpretation, offering contextual understanding beyond traditional speech recognition.
- Parsing and reweighting recognized words – The system parses transcribed speech input and reweights words based on confidence levels, user emphasis, and context, aligning with US8015006B2’s context-driven NLP system.
- Processing requests with a search engine – The reference describes processing requests through a structured query engine, similar to US8015006B2’s domain-specific processing approach.
Which features of US8015006B2 are disclosed by US20120072217A1?
| Key Feature of Claim 1 | Disclosure Status |
| Receiving a natural language speech utterance containing a request | Fully Disclosed |
| Dynamically updating dictionary and phrase tables based on prior probabilities or fuzzy possibilities | Partially Disclosed |
| Parsing recognized words/phrases to determine utterance meaning and request context | Fully Disclosed |
| Associating recognized words with context when confidence level is met | Partially Disclosed |
| Processing request with context-specific domain agent to generate response | Fully Disclosed |
Key Excerpt from US20120072217A1:
“The system receives a spoken query uttered by a user, which is then processed through an automatic speech recognition (ASR) module. The system refines the recognized text using prosodic features such as emphasis, tone, and rhythm to determine the most salient parts of the query and improve contextual understanding.”
Feature Comparison Table
| Key Feature of Claim 1 | US6647363B2 | US7873654B2 | US20130262107A1 | US20110093271A1 | US20120072217A1 |
| Receiving a natural language speech utterance containing a request | Fully Disclosed | Fully Disclosed | Fully Disclosed | Fully Disclosed | Fully Disclosed |
| Recognizing words/phrases using dictionary and phrase tables | Fully Disclosed | Partially Disclosed | Partially Disclosed | Partially Disclosed | Not Disclosed |
| Dynamically updating dictionary and phrase tables based on prior probabilities or fuzzy possibilities | Not Disclosed | Not Disclosed | Not Disclosed | Not Disclosed | Partially Disclosed |
| Determining user identity based on voice characteristics | Not Disclosed | Not Disclosed | Not Disclosed | Not Disclosed | Not Disclosed |
| Associating recognized words/phrases and their pronunciation with user identity and request when confidence level is met | Not Disclosed | Not Disclosed | Not Disclosed | Not Disclosed | Not Disclosed |
| Parsing recognized words/phrases to determine utterance meaning and request context | Fully Disclosed | Fully Disclosed | Fully Disclosed | Fully Disclosed | Fully Disclosed |
| Associating recognized words with context when confidence level is met | Not Disclosed | Partially Disclosed | Partially Disclosed | Partially Disclosed | Partially Disclosed |
| Formulating request according to domain agent’s grammar | Fully Disclosed | Fully Disclosed | Fully Disclosed | Fully Disclosed | Not Disclosed |
| Processing request with context-specific domain agent to generate response | Fully Disclosed | Fully Disclosed | Fully Disclosed | Fully Disclosed | Fully Disclosed |
How to Identify Related Patents Using Global Patent Search?
In patent litigation, uncovering related patents is critical to assessing the validity and enforceability of a contested patent. The Global Patent Search (GPS) tool streamlines this process, enabling precise and efficient patent research.
- Targeted patent search – Instantly retrieve relevant patents by entering a patent number or using advanced keyword-based queries or description
Source: GPS
- Comprehensive feature mapping – Compare the core features of the subject patent against existing patents to pinpoint overlaps.
- Structured relevance analysis – Review a curated list of patents ranked by their similarity and potential impact on the subject patent.
- Detailed claim evaluation – Examine disclosure levels for each feature, ensuring a thorough comparison against prior technologies.
- Data-driven decision making – Leverage actionable insights to refine invalidation strategies and strengthen litigation arguments.
With Global Patent Search, you gain instant access to a vast database of patents and an advanced analytical framework to assess their relevance. This powerful tool helps legal professionals, businesses, and researchers make informed decisions with confidence.
Strengthen your Patent Strategy with Global Patent Search
Patent disputes are complex, and missing a critical related patent could mean the difference between success and failure. Global Patent Search (GPS) equips you with the tools to stay ahead:
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Don’t leave your patent strategy to chance. Leverage the power of GPS to uncover decisive patents, challenge weak claims, and build an unshakable legal position. Get started today with GPS and take control of your litigation strategy.
Disclaimer: The information provided in this article is for informational purposes only and should not be considered legal advice. The related patent references mentioned are preliminary results from the Global Patent Search (GPS) tool and do not guarantee legal significance. For a comprehensive related patent analysis, we recommend conducting a detailed search using GPS or consulting a patent attorney.
