A learning machine including an information processing apparatus such as a personal computer, a work station, etc., the information processing apparatus comprising: a learning target gainer for gaining a learning target of a learner from the learner; a comprehension degree gainer for gaining from the learner a learning comprehension degree of the learner for each of learning items; a learning contents selector for selecting, on the basis of the learning target gainer and the comprehension degree gainer, learning contents including the learning items to be learned by the learner and the learning target for each of the learning items; and a learning material display which fetches, on the basis of the learning contents selected by the learning contents selector, a learning material so as to display the learning material to the learner.

Proceeding from a command or request that a user (B) gives a speech recognition system, an action is first determined from a prescribable plurality of actions upon employment of action indicators that the action information pertains to. A first set of actions is thereby determined and stored wherein all action indicators coincide with the key concepts. Further, a second set of actions is determined and stored wherein at least a part of the action indicators coincide with the key concepts. The first set of actions and/or the second set of actions is employed as a basis for the unambiguous determination of the action. For the at least one determined action, the action parameters respectfully allocated to the action are determined upon employment of a parameter parser (PP). The sought action is implemented in a last step.

In a user-interactive display-based telephone system, the present invention permits an automatic display of a repertoire of telephone command items most likely to be utilized by a user, thus providing one-touch access to such item without requiring either explicit programming of a command repertoire or a search by the user through the history of previous commands. This is accomplished through the use of three heuristics which consider frequency of command use, recency of command use, and previously failed commands. These heuristics may be implemented either separately or together in the system.

In a telemarketing system in which responsive to system prompts a user selects a particular path through the system to peach a desired service offering, the present invention "learns" the path that the user repeatedly selects over a period of time and thereafter gives the user the option of advancing to the end point of that path without the user having to listen and respond to the system prompts.

Provided is a keystroke output wedge, implemented in software or firmware, that presents natural language messages to a user. The messages may be in text form on a display or transmitted in audible form to a wireless headset for example. The wedge provides data translation functions for devices used to collect and input data into a computer such as a bar code scanner. It can also provide messages to the user of the data input device relating to the state of associated application programs and computer operating systems. The wedge can be programmed to provide prompts, such as "SCAN PART NUMBER," or feedback, such as "VALID SCAN."