Information

  • The Voice Browser Working Group was closed on 12 October 2015.

Voice Browser Working Group - IPR

Specifications published by the Group

The following is the list of specifications produced by the Voice Browser Working Group that have associated disclosures obligations, and possible licensing obligations under the W3C Patent Policy.

Document under the W3C Patent Policy Patent Disclosure Patent Exclusion
Speech Recognition Grammar Specification Version 1.0 disclose exclude
Voice Browser Call Control: CCXML Version 1.0 disclose exclude
Speech Synthesis Markup Language (SSML) Version 1.0 disclose exclude
Voice Extensible Markup Language (VoiceXML) Version 2.0 disclose exclude
Semantic Interpretation for Speech Recognition (SISR) Version 1.0 disclose exclude
CSS Speech Module Level 1 disclose exclude
Voice Extensible Markup Language (VoiceXML) 2.1 disclose exclude
Access Control for Cross-Site Requests disclose exclude
Pronunciation Lexicon Specification (PLS) Version 1.0 disclose exclude
State Chart XML (SCXML): State Machine Notation for Control Abstraction disclose exclude
Speech Synthesis Markup Language (SSML) Version 1.1 disclose exclude
Voice Extensible Markup Language (VoiceXML) 3.0 disclose exclude
Document not/no longer under the W3C Patent Policy Patent Disclosure Patent Exclusion
Model Architecture for Voice Browser Systems disclose Exclusion is not possible (document not under PP)
Dialog Requirements for Voice Markup Languages disclose Exclusion is not possible (document not under PP)
Grammar Representation Requirements for Voice Markup Languages disclose Exclusion is not possible (document not under PP)
Natural Language Processing Requirements for Voice Markup Languages disclose Exclusion is not possible (document not under PP)
Speech Synthesis Markup Requirements for Voice Markup Languages disclose Exclusion is not possible (document not under PP)
Multimodal Requirements for Voice Markup Languages disclose Exclusion is not possible (document not under PP)
Natural Language Semantics Markup Language for the Speech Interface Framework disclose Exclusion is not possible (document not under PP)
Reusable Dialog Requirements for Voice Markup Language disclose Exclusion is not possible (document not under PP)
Voice Browsers, Introduction disclose Exclusion is not possible (document not under PP)
Call Control Requirements in a Voice Browser Framework disclose Exclusion is not possible (document not under PP)
Pronunciation Lexicon Specification (PLS) Version 1.0 Requirements disclose Exclusion is not possible (document not under PP)
Stochastic Language Models (N-Gram) Specification disclose Exclusion is not possible (document not under PP)
Voice Browser Interoperation: Requirements disclose Exclusion is not possible (document not under PP)
SSML 1.0 say-as attribute values disclose Exclusion is not possible (document not under PP)
Speech Synthesis Markup Language Version 1.1 Requirements disclose Exclusion is not possible (document not under PP)
Voice Extensible Markup Language (VoiceXML) 3.0 Requirements disclose Exclusion is not possible (document not under PP)
DOM Event I/O Processor for SCXML disclose Exclusion is not possible (document not under PP)
XPath Data Model for SCXML disclose Exclusion is not possible (document not under PP)

Patent Disclosures and Claim Exclusions

This section summarizes patent disclosures by participants in W3C's Voice Browser Working Group as required by section 6 of the W3C Patent Policy.

W3C takes no position regarding either:

  • the validity or scope of any intellectual property right or other rights that might be claimed to pertain to the implementation or use of the technology, or
  • the extent to which any license under such rights might or might not be available from those not participating in this group.

Where disclosure is required by a W3C Member, the AC Representative makes the disclosure.

Anyone else may also make a disclosure.

Known Disclosures

Disclosures made of claims believed to be essential for the implementation of Voice Browser Call Control: CCXML Version 1.0
Disclosures for Voice Browser Call Control: CCXML Version 1.0 Licensing Notes
Issued patent '6,701,366' (U.S. patent) held by Nortel Networks disclosed on 2005-08-15 Claims excluded from Royalty-Free commitment: all 30 claims

Nortel Inc. has excluded claims from U.S. patent no. 6,701,366 from the W3C RF licensing commitment. Nortel Inc. does not believe there are essential claims as defined in the W3C Patent Policy, but they do not guarantee the absence of essential claims. If there are essential claims, Nortel Inc indicated in their first disclosure statement that they are willing to license U.S.Patent no. 6,701,366 on RAND terms.

The Voice PAG on CCXML recommends:

  1. that the Voice Browser Working Group proceed with the further advancement of CCXML on the way to Recommendation status
  2. that the Voice Browser Working Group remain observant about eventual assertion of US Patent no. 6,701,366 against implementers of CCXML and will report those back to the Working Group and to the Ubiquitous Web Domain Lead

See the full PAG Report for more information.

How to Make a Patent Disclosure

W3C Members and Invited Experts (including those not participating in this group) wishing to disclose a patent for any specification produced by the Voice Browser Working Group should use the Voice Browser Working Group patent disclosure form.

Disclosures from the general public should be sent to the W3C Staff.

For specifications developed under the W3C Patent Policy, parties that commit to the W3C Royalty-Free Licensing Terms are not required to disclose patents. Any party (not just the Working Group Participants) may commit to the W3C Royalty-Free Licensing Terms and may do so by following the instructions in the next section.

Claim Exclusions

Only Voice Browser Working Group participants may exclude patent claims concerning specifications developed under the W3C Patent Policy, per section 4 of the W3C Patent Policy. To make an exclusion, participants should use the Voice Browser Working Group patent claim exclusion form, but only after first disclosing the patent.

Exclusion Opportunities

The Patent Policy FAQ provides detailed information about exclusion opportunities, that is, when a Working Group Participant can exclude a patent claim.

Each exclusion opportunity has a duration. See section 4.1 of the W3C Patent Policy for information on how the exclusion deadline is calculated.

At each exclusion opportunity, Participants may exclude patent claims with respect to a body of text. The Exclusion Draft is the reference body of text for the current exclusion opportunity.

Note: At each new exclusion opportunity (e.g., in the case of a second Candidate Recommendation Snapshot), exclusions are only with respect to differences since the previous reference body of text. These differences may be less than an entire document, and the summary below does not address that granularity. Also, in some edge cases (discussed in the FAQ), Participants, depending on when they joined the Working Group, will have different Exclusion Drafts; the summary below does not reflect this case.

Exclusion Opportunities

No current exclusion opportunities.

View previous exclusion opportunities

State Chart XML (SCXML): State Machine Notation for Control Abstraction
Call for exclusion started on 2014-05-29, opportunity until 2014-07-28
State Chart XML (SCXML): State Machine Notation for Control Abstraction
Call for exclusion started on 2013-08-01, opportunity until 2013-09-30
State Chart XML (SCXML): State Machine Notation for Control Abstraction
Call for exclusion started on 2012-12-06, opportunity until 2013-02-04
Voice Extensible Markup Language (VoiceXML) 3.0
Call for exclusion started on 2008-12-22, opportunity until 2009-05-21
Speech Synthesis Markup Language (SSML) Version 1.1
Call for exclusion started on 2008-06-25, opportunity until 2008-08-24
Speech Synthesis Markup Language (SSML) Version 1.1
Call for exclusion started on 2007-01-11, opportunity until 2007-06-10
Voice Browser Call Control: CCXML Version 1.0
Call for exclusion started on 2007-01-19, opportunity until 2007-03-20
Pronunciation Lexicon Specification (PLS) Version 1.0
Call for exclusion started on 2006-11-06, opportunity until 2007-01-05
Semantic Interpretation for Speech Recognition (SISR) Version 1.0
Call for exclusion started on 2006-11-06, opportunity until 2007-01-05
Voice Extensible Markup Language (VoiceXML) 2.1
Call for exclusion started on 2006-09-22, opportunity until 2006-11-21
Pronunciation Lexicon Specification (PLS) Version 1.0
Call for exclusion started on 2006-01-31, opportunity until 2006-04-01
Voice Browser Call Control: CCXML Version 1.0
Call for exclusion started on 2005-06-30, opportunity until 2005-08-29

Additional Licensing Information

As described in section 5 of the W3C Patent Policy:

All Working Group participants are encouraged to provide a contact from which licensing information can be obtained and other relevant licensing information. Any such information will be made publicly available along with the patent disclosures for the Working Group in question.

Patent holders may:

  1. Provide additional licensing information for documents produced by this Working Group
  2. Provide the same additional licensing information for all documents with associated licensing obligations produced by this Working Group, or
  3. Provide additional licensing information for any W3C document with associated licensing obligations produced by any W3C Working Group under the W3C Patent Policy.

Such licensing information should be sent to the W3C Staff.

Please recall that, per section 5 of the W3C Patent Policy, a W3C Royalty-Free license:

may not impose any further conditions or restrictions on the use of any technology, intellectual property rights, or other restrictions on behavior of the licensee, but may include reasonable, customary terms relating to operation or maintenance of the license relationship such as the following: choice of law and dispute resolution.