Next-Gen Navigation Technology Unleashes Power of Voice Search

A behind-the-scenes provider of advanced navigation technology for the mobile and pay TV markets is hoping to supplant semantically restricted modes of speech-activated search with a much more conversational approach to helping consumers find what they want.

Veveo, a Boston-based supplier that counts Verizon, Comcast, Cablevision, Rogers and DirecTV among licensees of its pay TV search technology, says it has developed a “conversational interface” to its discovery processes that will allow licensees to put commonly used speech activation software to much more effective use on their platforms than has been the case so far. “Our conversational interfaces are a logical evolution of our deep semantic technologies currently being used by Tier-1 operators for natural, intuitive and intelligent search, personalization and discovery features for multiscreen television and video services,” says Veveo founder and CEO Murali Aravamudan.

Slated for demonstration at the 2013 Consumer Electronics Show, the new Veveo SmartRelevance Conversational Platform goes beyond the simple commands common to voice-activated search systems that use pre-programmed categorical references to link speech with content. “This is a speech interface to our semantic search fabric that allows us to simulate natural language dialogs with almost human intelligence,” says Sam Vasisht, chief marketing officer at Veveo.

“Saying things like ‘channel up’ or ‘channel down’ or ‘show me CNN’ is too limiting when it comes to how people are accustomed to describing video content,” Vasisht says. “You should be able to tell the difference between someone saying, ‘I’d like to watch this movie’ or “I’d like to watch a movie like this,’ where the connotations of the word ‘like’ are completely different.”