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Abstract

A speech recognition system includes an input unit configured to receive a sequence of acoustic observations. The system also includes a target pattern detecting unit configured to detect whether at least one of a set of prescribed patterns occurs in the sequence of acoustic observations, and for outputting a target detection signal as a result thereof. The system further includes a priority queue search unit configured to receive the target detection signal as output by the target pattern detecting unit, to separate the sequence of acoustic observations into subsequences of acoustic observations separated by the at least one prescribed pattern, and to include an entry in a priority queue for each of the subsequences. The priority queue search unit is configured to determine whether or not one beam of nodes corresponding to one entry in the priority queue can be joined with another beam of nodes corresponding to another entry in the priority queue. If the joining can be done, speech recognition information for the one beam is joined with speech recognition information from the another beam, to be used as a combined beam to be input as one entry in the priority queue.

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First Claim