AUTOMATIC SPEECH RECOGNITION CALLER INPUT RATE CONTROL

An apparatus, method and system provide for caller input rate control for automatic speech recognition (ASR) components within interactive communication systems. The various embodiments provide a concentrator functionality to increase the capacity of ASR systems, and provide a delay functionality to continue to provide service to callers during congestion or overload conditions. The delay functionality provides various associated delay modes, including the insertion of silent periods within messages or prompts played to a caller, and providing increased message duration. The preferred method embodiment determines a usage level of a plurality of ASR input channels, and when the usage level is greater than a first predetermined threshold, provides an associated delay mode for a message output on an output channel of the plurality of output channels. The additional concentrator functionality in the preferred method includes monitoring an energy level of a caller input channel, storing in a memory buffer all received input from that input channel for a preceding period of time, and when the monitored energy level is greater than a predetermined energy level, transmitting the buffered information to an ASR input channel and connecting the caller input channel to the ASR input channel.