Apple acquired automatic speech recognition company Novauris to improve Siri

Apple, which had acquired Novauris Technologies last without revealing the purchase, is believed to have bought the automatic speech recognition company in order to fine tune Siri, TechCrunch reported yesterday.

Following TechCrunch's report, Apple indirectly confirmed the acquisition saying, ''Apple buys smaller technology companies from time to time, and we generally do not discuss our purpose or plans.''

Novauris also confirmed the sale to TechCrunch saying that it is no longer an independent entity but now worked for Apple.

Apple's team is now working on improving Siri, the speech recognition software that comes pre-installed on Apple's devices, said the report.

According to the Novauris' website, its technology can handle multiple simultaneous voice requests, recognising complete phrases and analysing syllable structures for better speech recognition.

''Our technology lets people search and access information easily by voice... lots of information. Millions of pieces of information, in fact, all by voice. It does this by coupling novel, advanced speech recognition with proprietary, fast search techniques. We have developed core technology targeted at a specific class of voice-enabled applications, namely those that allow access to very large databases with just a single utterance. We call this technology NovaSearc,'' the website says.

NovaSearch enables voice-access applications on a wide range of platforms, including possibly new applications in areas like entertainment systems, in-car navigation systems, location-based information provision, and automated call centers.

Novauris, whose NovaSearch technology has been used by companies like Verizon Wireless, Panasonic, Samsung, Alpine, BMW, has close ties to Dragon Systems R&D UK Ltd, the British research subsidiary of Dragon Systems, a pioneer in voice dictation.