U.S. patent application number 16/599304 was filed with the patent office on 2020-04-16 for speech recognition for localized content.
The applicant listed for this patent is Amazon Technologies, Inc.. Invention is credited to Kyle Daniel Halbach, Shah Pavel Jamal, Mark Lawrence, Neal Peacock, Anderson Kailodge Quach.
Application Number | 20200120396 16/599304 |
Document ID | / |
Family ID | 68165379 |
Filed Date | 2020-04-16 |
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United States Patent
Application |
20200120396 |
Kind Code |
A1 |
Jamal; Shah Pavel ; et
al. |
April 16, 2020 |
SPEECH RECOGNITION FOR LOCALIZED CONTENT
Abstract
A system capable of generating and storing program data
associated with localized content, such as over-the-air television
broadcasts. The system may update a knowledge base with the program
data to improve natural language understanding (NLU) processing
associated with the localized content. For example, a voice enabled
device may receive a voice command and the system may perform NLU
processing to interpret the voice command, determine content based
on the program data and send an instruction to an output device to
output the content. The program data may include information about
localized content such as channels detected by the output device
and/or content broadcast on the channels, including information
about an output device, a channel number, call sign, station name,
signal strength, etc. associated with a detected channel, and/or a
program name, genre, actors, directors, producers, etc. associated
with content broadcast on the channel or stored in a local storage
device.
Inventors: |
Jamal; Shah Pavel; (Seattle,
WA) ; Lawrence; Mark; (Bainbridge Island, WA)
; Halbach; Kyle Daniel; (Seattle, WA) ; Peacock;
Neal; (Bellevue, WA) ; Quach; Anderson Kailodge;
(Seattle, WA) |
|
Applicant: |
Name |
City |
State |
Country |
Type |
Amazon Technologies, Inc. |
Seattle |
WA |
US |
|
|
Family ID: |
68165379 |
Appl. No.: |
16/599304 |
Filed: |
October 11, 2019 |
Related U.S. Patent Documents
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Application
Number |
Filing Date |
Patent Number |
|
|
15278374 |
Sep 28, 2016 |
10448115 |
|
|
16599304 |
|
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|
Current U.S.
Class: |
1/1 |
Current CPC
Class: |
G10L 15/1815 20130101;
H04N 21/43615 20130101; G10L 15/16 20130101; G10L 15/02 20130101;
G10L 25/78 20130101; G10L 2015/228 20130101; G10L 2015/088
20130101; H04N 21/4825 20130101; H04N 21/4383 20130101; H04N 21/84
20130101; G10L 15/08 20130101; G10L 15/142 20130101; H04N 21/42203
20130101; H04N 21/4828 20130101; G10L 2015/223 20130101; H04N
21/4532 20130101; G10L 15/22 20130101; H04N 21/6112 20130101; H04N
21/462 20130101 |
International
Class: |
H04N 21/482 20060101
H04N021/482; H04N 21/422 20060101 H04N021/422 |
Claims
1-20. (canceled)
21. A computer-implemented method comprising: receiving audio data
corresponding to an utterance detected by a device; receiving first
data corresponding to wireless signals detectable by the device;
determining the first data is associated with the audio data;
operating a speech processing component based at least in part on
the first data to determine speech processing output data; and
causing an action to be performed based at least in part on the
speech processing output data.
22. The computer-implemented method of claim 21, further
comprising: determining the device is associated with a user
profile; and determining the first data is associated with the user
profile.
23. The computer-implemented method of claim 22, further
comprising: storing at least a portion of the first data in the
user profile.
24. The computer-implemented method of claim 22, further
comprising: after receiving the audio data, requesting, from the
user profile, the first data.
25. The computer-implemented method of claim 21, wherein: the audio
data is received from the device; and the first data is received
from the device.
26. The computer-implemented method of claim 21, wherein the first
data corresponds to at least one terrestrial over-the-air broadcast
signal detectable by the device.
27. The computer-implemented method of claim 26, further
comprising: obtaining second data corresponding to at least one
content channel represented in the terrestrial over-the-air
broadcast signal, wherein operating the speech processing component
based at least in part on the first data includes operating the
speech processing component based at least in part on the second
data.
28. The computer-implemented method of claim 27, wherein causing
the action to be performed comprises causing the device to tune to
the at least one content channel.
29. The computer-implemented method of claim 21, further
comprising: determining program data corresponding to the wireless
signals; wherein: operating the speech processing component based
at least in part on the first data includes performing natural
language understanding using the program data and the speech
processing component to determine the speech processing output
data, and the speech processing output data represents a request to
output a content item receivable using at least one of the wireless
signals.
30. The computer-implemented method of claim 21, further
comprising: determining a user profile associated with the device;
and determining the speech processing component using the user
profile.
31. A system, comprising: at least one processor; at least one
memory comprising instructions that, when executed by the at least
one processor, cause the system to: receive audio data
corresponding to an utterance detected by a device; receive first
data corresponding to wireless signals detectable by the device;
determine the first data is associated with the audio data; operate
a speech processing component based at least in part on the first
data to determine speech processing output data; and cause an
action to be performed based at least in part on the speech
processing output data.
32. The system of claim 31, wherein the at least one memory further
comprises instructions that, when executed by the at least one
processor, further cause the system to: determine the device is
associated with a user profile; and determine the first data is
associated with the user profile.
33. The system of claim 32, wherein the at least one memory further
comprises instructions that, when executed by the at least one
processor, further cause the system to: store at least a portion of
the first data in the user profile.
34. The system of claim 32, wherein the at least one memory further
comprises instructions that, when executed by the at least one
processor, further cause the system to: after receipt of the audio
data, request, from the user profile, the first data.
35. The system of claim 31, wherein: the audio data is received
from the device; and the first data is received from the
device.
36. The system of claim 31, wherein the first data corresponds to
at least one terrestrial over-the-air broadcast signal detectable
by the device.
37. The system of claim 36, wherein the at least one memory further
comprises instructions that, when executed by the at least one
processor, further cause the system to: obtain second data
corresponding to at least one content channel represented in the
terrestrial over-the-air broadcast signal, wherein the instructions
that cause the system to operate the speech processing component
based at least in part on the first data include instructions that,
when executed by the at least one processor, cause the system to
operate the speech processing component based at least in part on
the second data.
38. The system of claim 37, wherein causing the action to be
performed comprises causing the device to tune to the at least one
content channel.
39. The system of claim 31, wherein the at least one memory further
comprises instructions that, when executed by the at least one
processor, further cause the system to: determine program data
corresponding to the wireless signals; wherein: wherein the
instructions that cause the system to operate the speech processing
component based at least in part on the first data include
instructions that, when executed by the at least one processor,
cause the system to perform natural language understanding using
the program data and the speech processing component to determine
the speech processing output data, and the speech processing output
data represents a request to output a content item receivable using
at least one of the wireless signals.
40. The system of claim 31, wherein the at least one memory further
comprises instructions that, when executed by the at least one
processor, further cause the system to: determine a user profile
associated with the device; and determine the speech processing
component using the user profile.
Description
CROSS REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATION
[0001] This application is a continuation of, and claims the
benefit of priority of, U.S. Non-Provisional patent application
Ser. No. 15/278,374, filed Sep. 28, 2016 in the names of Shah Pavel
Jamal, et al. and titled "SPEECH RECOGNITION FOR LOCALIZED
CONTENT", scheduled to issue as U.S. Pat. No. 10,448,115, the
contents of which is expressly incorporated herein by reference in
its entirety.
BACKGROUND
[0002] Speech recognition systems have progressed to the point
where humans can interact with computing devices by relying on
speech. Such systems employ techniques to identify the words spoken
by a human user based on the various qualities of a received audio
input. Speech recognition combined with natural language
understanding processing techniques enable speech-based user
control of a computing device to perform tasks based on the user's
spoken commands. The combination of speech recognition and natural
language understanding processing techniques is referred to herein
as speech processing. Speech processing may also convert a user's
speech into text data which may then be provided to various
text-based software applications.
[0003] Speech processing may be used by televisions, media devices,
computers, hand-held devices, telephone computer systems, and a
wide variety of other devices to improve human-computer
interactions. Devices are commonly used to output content.
Disclosed herein are technical solutions to improve speech
recognition associated with localized content.
BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF DRAWINGS
[0004] For a more complete understanding of the present disclosure,
reference is now made to the following description taken in
conjunction with the accompanying drawings.
[0005] FIG. 1 illustrates a system according to embodiments of the
present disclosure.
[0006] FIG. 2 is a conceptual diagram of how a spoken utterance is
processed according to examples of the present disclosure.
[0007] FIG. 3 illustrates an example of generating text-to-speech
(TTS) or synthesized speech according to examples of the present
disclosure.
[0008] FIG. 4 illustrates data stored and associated with user
profiles according to embodiments of the present disclosure.
[0009] FIG. 5 illustrates an example of a computer network for use
with the system according to examples of the present
disclosure.
[0010] FIGS. 6A-6B illustrate examples of receiving audio input and
content according to embodiments of the present disclosure.
[0011] FIG. 7 illustrates an example of signal strengths according
to embodiments of the present disclosure.
[0012] FIGS. 8A-8B illustrate examples of receiving audio data and
channel data according to embodiments of the present
disclosure.
[0013] FIGS. 9A-9B illustrate examples of channel tables and a
program table according to embodiments of the present
disclosure.
[0014] FIGS. 10A-10B illustrate an example of associating a channel
table with a program guide to generate a program table according to
embodiments of the present disclosure.
[0015] FIG. 11 is a communication diagram conceptually illustrating
an example of interpreting audio data based on program data
according to embodiments of the present disclosure.
[0016] FIG. 12 is a flowchart conceptually illustrating an example
method for generating channel data according to embodiments of the
present disclosure.
[0017] FIG. 13 is a flowchart conceptually illustrating an example
method for generating program data according to embodiments of the
present disclosure.
[0018] FIG. 14 is a communication diagram conceptually illustrating
an example of generating program data and updating a knowledge base
according to embodiments of the present disclosure.
[0019] FIG. 15 is a communication diagram conceptually illustrating
an example of interpreting audio data based on program data
according to embodiments of the present disclosure.
[0020] FIGS. 16A-16C are communication diagrams conceptually
illustrating examples of determining commands based on program data
according to embodiments of the present disclosure.
[0021] FIG. 17 is a flowchart conceptually illustrating an example
method of identifying a word in program data and increasing a
confidence score according to embodiments of the present
disclosure.
[0022] FIGS. 18A-18B are block diagrams conceptually illustrating
example components of a system for echo cancellation according to
embodiments of the present disclosure.
DETAILED DESCRIPTION
[0023] Automatic speech recognition (ASR) is a field of computer
science, artificial intelligence, and linguistics concerned with
transforming audio data associated with speech into text data
representative of that speech. Similarly, natural language
understanding (NLU) is a field of computer science, artificial
intelligence, and linguistics concerned with enabling computers to
derive meaning from text data input containing natural language.
ASR and NLU are often used together as part of a speech processing
system.
[0024] ASR and NLU can be computationally expensive. That is,
significant computing resources may be needed to process ASR and
NLU processing within a reasonable time frame. Because of this, a
distributed computing environment may be used when performing
speech processing. A distributed environment may involve a local
device having one or more microphones being configured to capture
sounds from a user speaking and convert those sounds into an audio
signal. The audio signal/data may then be sent to a downstream
remote device for further processing, such as converting the audio
signal into an ultimate command. The command may then be executed
by a combination of remote and local devices depending on the
command itself.
[0025] Some commands may be directed to controlling video content
displayed on a television or other output device. While some voice
controls for televisions may be simple voice commands such as
"channel up," "channel down," "volume up" and "volume down," others
may require more complex speech processing, such as "tune to the
Olympics," "watch the Tonight Show" or the like. While the NLU
processing may identify words associated with television channels,
content broadcast on the television channels or the like, the
number of over-the-air television channels detected may vary from
television to television. For example, a television in an upstairs
bedroom may detect five channels, while a television in a basement
may detect three channels. Therefore, the television channels and
the content received by individual devices may vary, such that the
NLU processing may not know the content available to an individual
device. Further, individual devices may have access to other
device-specific content such as recorded programs on a digital
video recorder (DVR) or the like.
[0026] To improve system performance and speech recognition for
localized content, offered is a natural language processing system
that generates and stores program data associated with localized
content based on the channels and/or content accessible by
individual output devices. For example, the system may identify
channels detected by an output device (e.g., television, receiver
box, etc.) and may generate channel data including information
about a detected channel, a Transport Stream Identifier (TSID) (or
Transmission Signal Identifier (TSID) for analog signals), call
sign, station name, signal strength, etc. associated with the
channel, and/or a program name, broadcast time period, genre,
actors, etc. associated with content broadcast by the channel
and/or stored in the local storage device. Using the channel data,
the system may generate program data including information about
the channels and/or content broadcast on the channels, including
information about an output device, a channel number, TSID, call
sign, station name, signal strength, etc. associated with a
detected channel, and/or a program name, broadcast time period,
genre, actors, directors, producers, etc. associated with content
broadcast on the channel or stored in the local storage device.
[0027] The system may use the program data to update a knowledge
base and/or configure an entity resolution component to improve NLU
processing. Therefore, the system may interpret a voice command
based on the information included in the program data. For example,
when receiving a voice command (e.g., "tune to the Olympics"), the
system may identify a command associated with the localized content
(e.g., "tune to"), identify first content (e.g., using keywords
such as "Olympics") based on the program data and may output the
first content (e.g., send an instruction to a television to tune to
a channel associated with the Olympics).
[0028] FIG. 1 illustrates a high-level conceptual block diagram of
a system 100 configured to perform Natural Language Understanding
(NLU) processing. Although FIG. 1, and other figures/discussion
illustrate the operation of the system in a particular order, the
steps described may be performed in a different order (as well as
certain steps removed or added) without departing from the intent
of the disclosure. As illustrated in FIG. 1, the system 100 may
include remote server(s) 20 and server(s) 120 communicatively
coupled to device(s) 110 (e.g., a smart television 110a and/or a
speech controlled device 110b) via network(s) 10. The device 110
may include microphone(s) 112, speakers 114, a display 116 and/or a
TV tuner 118. For example, FIG. 1 illustrates the smart TV 110a
including the microphone(s) 112, the speakers 114, the display 116
and the TV tuner 118, while the speech controlled device 110b
includes only the microphone(s) 112 and the speakers 114. Using the
microphone(s) 112, the device 110 may capture audio data and send
the audio data to the server(s) 120 to determine a voice command.
For example, the server(s) 120 may perform Automatic Speech
Recognition (ASR) processing, Natural Language Understanding (NLU)
processing and/or command processing to determine the voice
command.
[0029] While the examples described herein illustrate the server(s)
120 performing multiple functions, the disclosure is not limited
thereto. Instead, the device 110 may perform any of the functions
described herein without departing from the disclosure. For
example, the server(s) 120 may assist the device 110 with Automatic
Speech Recognition (ASR) processing, Natural Language Understanding
(NLU) processing, command processing, generating progress data,
saving progress data and/or generating synthesized speech. A single
server 120 may be capable of performing all speech processing or
multiple server(s) 120 may combine to perform the speech
processing. In addition, certain speech detection or command
execution functions may be performed by device 110. Thus, the
device 110 and/or the server(s) 120 may perform the functions
described herein without departing from the disclosure.
[0030] As used herein, "localized content" may refer to content
broadcast by over-the-air television stations and detected by a
device 110, content stored on a local storage device (e.g., digital
video recorder (DVR) or the like) associated with the device 110,
and/or other content that may be accessible to or by a device
110/account/household/user profile. In order to improve speech
processing associated with the localized content, the server(s) 120
may receive channel data from the device 110 that indicates
channels detected by the device 110, content accessible to the
device 110 (e.g., content broadcast by the over-the-air television
stations, content stored on the local storage device or the like)
and/or information about the channels/content. For ease of
explanation, "channel data" may refer to the data sent from the
device 110 to the server(s) 120 that indicates any information
about localized content, such as the channels, the content
accessible to the device 110 and/or information about the
channels/content. The device 110 may determine the channel data
from the localized content (e.g., metadata received in addition to
content) and/or from other sources without departing from the
disclosure. For example, the device 110 may receive a programming
guide (e.g., program guide data) that corresponds to the localized
content being broadcast for a duration of time (e.g., one
week).
[0031] "Program data" refers to data obtained and stored on the
server(s) 120 about the localized content, including the channel
data received from the device 110, information about the channel
data (e.g., program guide data or other information) obtained from
third party sources such as remote server(s) 20, or the like. Thus,
the server(s) 120 may receive the channel data and extract
corresponding information from a program guide to generate program
data associated with the localized content. In some examples, the
server(s) 120 may receive program data based on location data
(e.g., GPS data, mailing address, etc.) associated with the device
110. For example, the server(s) 120 may identify location data
associated with the device 110 along with channel data associated
with the localized content and may request program data based on
the location data and/or channel data. The location data may be
static (e.g., device 110 is located in a residence) and/or dynamic
(e.g., device 110 is a mobile device and/or associated with an
automobile or the like) without departing from the disclosure, and
the location data may be associated with a user profile.
[0032] In some examples, the localized content may be video
content. Therefore, the channel data may correspond to over-the-air
television broadcasts detected by an output device, content stored
on a local storage device coupled to the output device or the like
and may include information about a detected channel, a Transport
Stream Identifier (TSID) (or Transmission Signal Identifier (TSID)
for some analog signals), call sign, station name, signal strength,
etc. associated with the channel, and/or a program name (e.g.,
program title, content title, etc.), broadcast time (e.g.,
broadcast time period), genre, actors, sports leagues, sports
teams, players, etc. associated with content broadcast by the
channel and/or stored in the local storage device. Using the
channel data, the server(s) 120 may generate program data that
includes information about an output device, a channel number,
TSID, call sign, station name, signal strength, etc. associated
with a detected channel, and/or a program name (e.g., program
title, content title, etc.), broadcast time (e.g., broadcast time
period), genre, actors, directors, producers, sports leagues,
sports teams, players, etc. associated with content broadcast on
the channel or stored in the local storage device.
[0033] In other examples, the output devices may be speakers or
other devices capable of outputting audio. Therefore, the channel
data may correspond to over-the-air radio broadcasts detected by an
output device, content stored on a local storage device coupled to
the output device or the like and may include information about a
detected channel, a TSID, call sign, station name, signal strength,
etc. associated with the channel, and/or a song title, genre,
artist name, album name, etc. associated with content broadcast by
the channel and/or stored in the local storage device. Using the
channel data, the server(s) 120 may generate program data that
includes information about an output device, a radio frequency,
TSID, call sign, station name, signal strength, etc. associated
with a detected channel, and/or a song title, genre, artist name,
album name, etc. associated with content broadcast on the channel
or stored in the local storage device.
[0034] As illustrated in FIG. 1, the server(s) 120 may receive
(130) channel data from a first device (e.g., device 110a and/or
other devices), may determine (132) program data using the channel
data and may update (134) a user profile and/or knowledge base
associated with the device 110 using the program data. For example,
the channel data may indicate that the device 110 detects Channel 6
and the server(s) 120 may determine that Channel 6 has a station
name of NBC, a call sign of WCSHDT, is broadcasting first content
(e.g., the Olympics) and a genre of the first content (e.g.,
Sports). The server(s) 120 may update a knowledge base with the
program data, and/or may update some NLU component, such as by
configuring a named entity resolution component to include entities
such as "NBC," "WCSHDT," "Olympics" and so on. Therefore, the
server(s) 120 may improve speech processing associated with the
localized content.
[0035] The server(s) 120 may receive (136) audio data from the
device 110 (e.g., the device 110a, the device 110b and/or other
devices), may perform (138) speech processing on the audio data to
determine text data and may determine (140) a command based on the
text data and the program data (e.g., the updated knowledge base
associated with the user profile). The server(s) 120 may determine
(142) first content associated with the command and may send (144)
an instruction to the first device to output the first content. For
example, when receiving audio data including a voice command (e.g.,
"tune to the Olympics"), the server(s) 120 may identify a command
associated with the program data (e.g., "tune to"), determine that
the command is associated with the program data, may identify the
first content (e.g., using keywords such as "Olympics") and may
send an instruction to the device 110 to output the first content
(e.g., tune to the Olympics on channel 006).
[0036] The system 100 of FIG. 1 may operate using various speech
processing components as described in FIG. 2. FIG. 2 is a
conceptual diagram of how a spoken utterance is processed, allowing
a system to capture and execute commands spoken by a user, such as
spoken commands that may follow a wakeword. The various components
illustrated may be located on a same or different physical devices.
Communication between various components illustrated in FIG. 2 may
occur directly or across network(s) 10. An audio capture component,
such as microphone(s) 112 of device 110, captures audio 11
corresponding to a spoken utterance.
[0037] The device 110, using a wakeword detection module 220, then
processes the audio 11, or audio data 111 corresponding to the
audio 11, to determine if a keyword (such as a wakeword) is
detected in the audio 11. Following detection of a wakeword, the
device sends audio data 111 corresponding to the utterance, to a
server(s) 120 that includes an ASR module 250. The audio data 111
may be output from an acoustic front end (AFE) 256 located on the
device 110 prior to transmission. Or the audio data 111 may be in a
different form for processing by a remote AFE 256.
[0038] The wakeword detection module 220 works in conjunction with
other components of the device, for example microphone(s) 112 to
detect keywords in audio 11. For example, the device 110 may
convert audio 11 into audio data 111, and process the audio data
111 with the wakeword detection module 220 to determine whether
speech is detected, and if so, if the audio data 111 comprising
speech matches an audio signature and/or model corresponding to a
particular keyword.
[0039] The device 110 may use various techniques to determine
whether audio data includes speech. Some embodiments may apply
voice activity detection (VAD) techniques. Such techniques may
determine whether speech is present in an audio input based on
various quantitative aspects of the audio input, such as the
spectral slope between one or more frames of the audio input; the
energy levels of the audio input in one or more spectral bands; the
signal-to-noise ratios of the audio input in one or more spectral
bands; or other quantitative aspects. In other embodiments, the
device 110 may implement a limited classifier configured to
distinguish speech from background noise. The classifier may be
implemented by techniques such as linear classifiers, support
vector machines, and decision trees. In still other embodiments,
Hidden Markov Model (HMM) or Gaussian Mixture Model (GMM)
techniques may be applied to compare the audio input to one or more
acoustic models in speech storage, which acoustic models may
include models corresponding to speech, noise (such as
environmental noise or background noise), or silence. Still other
techniques may be used to determine whether speech is present in
the audio input.
[0040] Once speech is detected in the audio 11 received by the
device 110 (or separately from speech detection), the device 110
may use the wakeword detection module 220 to perform wakeword
detection to determine when a user intends to speak a command to
the device 110. This process may also be referred to as keyword
detection, with the wakeword being a specific example of a keyword.
Specifically, keyword detection is typically performed without
performing linguistic analysis, textual analysis or semantic
analysis. Instead, incoming audio (or audio data) is analyzed to
determine if specific characteristics of the audio match
preconfigured acoustic waveforms, audio signatures, or other data
to determine if the incoming audio "matches" stored audio data
corresponding to a keyword.
[0041] Thus, the wakeword detection module 220 may compare audio
data 111 to stored models or data to detect a wakeword. One
approach for wakeword detection applies general large vocabulary
continuous speech recognition (LVCSR) systems to decode the audio
signals, with wakeword searching conducted in the resulting
lattices or confusion networks. LVCSR decoding may require
relatively high computational resources. Another approach for
wakeword spotting builds hidden Markov models (HMM) for each key
wakeword word and non-wakeword speech signals respectively. The
non-wakeword speech includes other spoken words, background noise
etc. There can be one or more HMMs built to model the non-wakeword
speech characteristics, which are named filler models. Viterbi
decoding is used to search the best path in the decoding graph, and
the decoding output is further processed to make the decision on
keyword presence. This approach can be extended to include
discriminative information by incorporating hybrid DNN-HMM decoding
framework. In another embodiment the wakeword spotting system may
be built on deep neural network (DNN)/recursive neural network
(RNN) structures directly, without HMM involved. Such a system may
estimate the posteriors of wakewords with context information,
either by stacking frames within a context window for DNN, or using
RNN. Following-on posterior threshold tuning or smoothing is
applied for decision making. Other techniques for wakeword
detection, such as those known in the art, may also be used.
[0042] Once the wakeword is detected, the local device 110 may
"wake" and begin transmitting audio data 111 corresponding to input
audio 11 to the server(s) 120 for speech processing. Audio data 111
corresponding to that audio 11 may be sent to a server(s) 120 for
routing to a recipient device or may be sent to the server for
speech processing for interpretation of the included speech (either
for purposes of enabling voice-communications and/or for purposes
of executing a command in the speech). The audio data 111 may
include data corresponding to the wakeword, or the portion of the
audio data 111 corresponding to the wakeword may be removed by the
local device 110 prior to sending. Further, a local device 110 may
"wake" upon detection of speech/spoken audio above a threshold, as
described herein. Upon receipt by the server(s) 120, an ASR module
250 may convert the audio data 111 into text data. The ASR
transcribes audio data 111 into text data representing the words of
the speech contained in the audio data 111. The text data may then
be used by other components for various purposes, such as executing
system commands, inputting data, etc. A spoken utterance in the
audio data 111 is input to a processor configured to perform ASR
which then interprets the utterance based on the similarity between
the utterance and pre-established language models 254 stored in an
ASR model knowledge base (ASR Models Storage 252). For example, the
ASR process may compare the input audio data 111 with models for
sounds (e.g., subword units or phonemes) and sequences of sounds to
identify words that match the sequence of sounds spoken in the
utterance of the audio data 111.
[0043] An ASR process 250 converts the audio data 111 into text
data. The ASR transcribes audio data 111 into text data
representing the words of the speech contained in the audio data
111. The text data may then be used by other components for various
purposes, such as executing system commands, inputting data, etc. A
spoken utterance in the audio data 111 is input to a processor
configured to perform ASR which then interprets the utterance based
on the similarity between the utterance and pre-established
language models 254 stored in an ASR model knowledge base (ASR
Models Storage 252). For example, the ASR process may compare the
input audio data 111 with models for sounds (e.g., subword units or
phonemes) and sequences of sounds to identify words that match the
sequence of sounds spoken in the utterance of the audio data
111.
[0044] The different ways a spoken utterance may be interpreted
(i.e., the different hypotheses) may each be assigned a probability
or a confidence score representing the likelihood that a particular
set of words matches those spoken in the utterance. The confidence
score may be based on a number of factors including, for example,
the similarity of the sound in the utterance to models for language
sounds (e.g., an acoustic model 253 stored in an ASR Models Storage
252), and the likelihood that a particular word which matches the
sounds would be included in the sentence at the specific location
(e.g., using a language or grammar model). Thus each potential
textual interpretation of the spoken utterance (hypothesis) is
associated with a confidence score. Based on the considered factors
and the assigned confidence score, the ASR process 250 outputs the
most likely text data recognized in the audio data 111. The ASR
process may also output multiple hypotheses in the form of a
lattice or an N-best list with each hypothesis corresponding to a
confidence score or other score (such as probability scores,
etc.).
[0045] The device or devices performing the ASR process 250 may
include an acoustic front end (AFE) 256 and a speech recognition
engine 258. The acoustic front end (AFE) 256 transforms the audio
data 111 from the microphone(s) 112 into data for processing by the
speech recognition engine 258. The speech recognition engine 258
compares the speech recognition data with acoustic models 253,
language models 254, and other data models and information for
recognizing the speech conveyed in the audio data 111. The AFE 256
may reduce noise in the audio data 111 and divide the digitized
audio data 111 into frames representing time intervals for which
the AFE 256 determines a number of values, called features,
representing the qualities of the audio data 111, along with a set
of those values, called a feature vector or audio feature vector,
representing the features/qualities of the audio data 111 within
the frame. Many different features may be determined, as known in
the art, and each feature represents some quality of the audio 11
that may be useful for ASR processing. A number of approaches may
be used by the AFE 256 to process the audio data 111, such as
mel-frequency cepstral coefficients (MFCCs), perceptual linear
predictive (PLP) techniques, neural network feature vector
techniques, linear discriminant analysis, semi-tied covariance
matrices, or other approaches known to those of skill in the
art.
[0046] The speech recognition engine 258 may process the output
from the AFE 256 with reference to information stored in
speech/model storage 252. Alternatively, post front-end processed
data (such as feature vectors) may be received by the device
executing ASR processing from another source besides the internal
AFE 256. For example, the device 110 may process audio data 111
into feature vectors (for example using an on-device AFE 256) and
transmit that information to a server across network(s) 10 for ASR
processing. Feature vectors may arrive at the server encoded, in
which case they may be decoded prior to processing by the processor
executing the speech recognition engine 258.
[0047] The speech recognition engine 258 attempts to match received
feature vectors to language phonemes and words as known in the
stored acoustic models 253 and language models 254. The speech
recognition engine 258 computes recognition scores for the feature
vectors based on acoustic information and language information. The
acoustic information is used to calculate an acoustic score
representing a likelihood that the intended sound represented by a
group of feature vectors matches a language phoneme. The language
information is used to adjust the acoustic score by considering
what sounds and/or words are used in context with each other,
thereby improving the likelihood that the ASR process will output
speech results that make sense grammatically.
[0048] The speech recognition engine 258 may use a number of
techniques to match feature vectors to phonemes, for example using
Hidden Markov Models (HMMs) to determine probabilities that feature
vectors may match phonemes. Sounds received may be represented as
paths between states of the HMM and multiple paths may represent
multiple possible text data matches for the same sound.
[0049] Following ASR processing, the ASR results may be sent by the
speech recognition engine 258 to other processing components, which
may be local to the device performing ASR and/or distributed across
the network(s) 10. For example, ASR results in the form of a single
textual representation of the speech, an N-best list including
multiple hypotheses and respective scores, lattice, etc. may be
sent to a server, such as the server(s) 120, for natural language
understanding (NLU) processing, such as conversion of the text data
into commands for execution, either by the device 110, by the
server(s) 120, or by another device (such as a server running a
search engine, etc.).
[0050] The device performing NLU processing 260 (e.g., server(s)
120) may include various components, including potentially
dedicated processor(s), memory, storage, etc. A device configured
for NLU processing 260 may include a named entity recognition (NER)
module 252, intent classification (IC) module 264, NLU storage 272
and a and knowledge base (not shown). The knowledge base is a
database or other information storage that may include information
about entities that may be used in resolving user queries. The NLU
process may also utilize gazetteer information (284a-284n) stored
in entity library storage 282. The knowledge base and/or gazetteer
information may be used for entity resolution, for example matching
ASR results with different entities (such as song titles, contact
names, etc.) Gazetteers may be linked to users (for example a
particular gazetteer may be associated with a specific user's music
collection), may be linked to certain domains (such as shopping),
or may be organized in a variety of other ways.
[0051] The NLU process 260 takes textual input (such as text data
processed from ASR 250 based on the utterance 11) and attempts to
make a semantic interpretation of the text data. That is, the NLU
process 260 determines the meaning behind the text data based on
the individual words and then implements that meaning. NLU
processing 260 interprets a text data string to derive an intent or
a desired action from the user as well as the pertinent pieces of
information in the text data that allow a device (e.g., device 110)
to complete that action. For example, if a spoken utterance is
processed using ASR 250 and outputs the text "call mom" the NLU
process may determine that the user intended to activate a
telephone in his/her device and to initiate a call with a contact
matching the entity "mom."
[0052] The NLU may process several textual inputs (e.g., text data)
related to the same utterance. For example, if the ASR 250 outputs
N text segments (as part of an N-best list), the NLU may process
all N outputs to obtain NLU results.
[0053] As will be discussed further below, the NLU process 260 may
be configured to parse and tag to annotate text data as part of NLU
processing. For example, for the text "call mom," "call" may be
tagged as a command (to execute a phone call) and "mom" may be
tagged as a specific entity and target of the command (and the
telephone number for the entity corresponding to "mom" stored in a
contact list may be included in the annotated result).
[0054] To correctly perform NLU processing of speech input, the NLU
process 260 may be configured to determine a "domain" of the
utterance so as to determine and narrow down which services offered
by the endpoint device (e.g., server(s) 120 or device 110) may be
relevant. For example, an endpoint device may offer services
relating to interactions with a telephone service, a contact list
service, a calendar/scheduling service, a music player service,
etc. Words in a single text query may implicate more than one
service, and some services may be functionally linked (e.g., both a
telephone service and a calendar service may utilize data from the
contact list).
[0055] The name entity recognition module 262 receives a query in
the form of ASR results and attempts to identify relevant grammars
and lexical information that may be used to construe meaning. To do
so, a name entity recognition module 262 may begin by identifying
potential domains that may relate to the received query. The NLU
storage 272 includes a database of devices (274a-274n) identifying
domains associated with specific devices. For example, the device
110 may be associated with domains for music, telephony,
calendaring, contact lists, and device-specific communications, but
not video. In addition, the entity library may include database
entries about specific services on a specific device, either
indexed by Device ID, User ID, or Household ID, or some other
indicator.
[0056] In NLU processing, a domain may represent a discrete set of
activities having a common theme, such as "shopping," "music,"
"calendaring," etc. As such, each domain may be associated with a
particular language model and/or grammar database (276a-276n), a
particular set of intents/actions (278a-278n), and a particular
personalized lexicon (286). Each gazetteer (284a-284n) may include
domain-indexed lexical information associated with a particular
user and/or device. For example, the Gazetteer A (284a) includes
domain-index lexical information 286aa to 286an. A user's
music-domain lexical information might include album titles, artist
names, and song names, for example, whereas a user's contact-list
lexical information might include the names of contacts. Since
every user's music collection and contact list is presumably
different, this personalized information improves entity
resolution.
[0057] In some examples, the device 110 may determine contextual
information to assist with performing speech processing, such as a
domain, based on the process operating when a voice command is
received. For example, the device 110 may associate a first domain
with a first feature group. When the device 110 receives a voice
command while operating a first process corresponding to the first
feature group, the device 110 may generate contextual information
that indicates the first domain and/or other information and may
associate the contextual information with the voice command.
[0058] A query may be processed applying the rules, models, and
information applicable to each identified domain. For example, if a
query potentially implicates both communications and music, the
query will be NLU processed using the grammar models and lexical
information for communications, and will be processed using the
grammar models and lexical information for music. The responses
based on the query produced by each set of models is scored
(discussed further below), with the overall highest ranked result
from all applied domains being ordinarily selected to be the
correct result.
[0059] An intent classification (IC) module 264 parses the query to
determine an intent or intents for each identified domain, where
the intent corresponds to the action to be performed that is
responsive to the query. Each domain is associated with a database
(278a-278n) of words linked to intents. For example, a music intent
database may link words and phrases such as "quiet," "volume off,"
and "mute" to a "mute" intent. The IC module 264 identifies
potential intents for each identified domain by comparing words in
the query to the words and phrases in the intents database 278.
[0060] In order to generate a particular interpreted response, the
NER 262 applies the grammar models and lexical information
associated with the respective domain. Each grammar model 276
includes the names of entities (i.e., nouns) commonly found in
speech about the particular domain (i.e., generic terms), whereas
the lexical information 286 from the gazetteer 284 is personalized
to the user(s) and/or the device. For instance, a grammar model
associated with the shopping domain may include a database of words
commonly used when people discuss shopping.
[0061] The intents identified by the IC module 264 are linked to
domain-specific grammar frameworks (included in 276) with "slots"
or "fields" to be filled. For example, if "play music" is an
identified intent, a grammar (276) framework or frameworks may
correspond to sentence structures such as "Play {Artist Name},"
"Play {Album Name}," "Play {Song name}," "Play {Song name} by
{Artist Name}," etc. However, to make recognition more flexible,
these frameworks would ordinarily not be structured as sentences,
but rather based on associating slots with grammatical tags.
[0062] For example, the NER module 262 may parse the query to
identify words as subject, object, verb, preposition, etc., based
on grammar rules and models, prior to recognizing named entities.
The identified verb may be used by the IC module 264 to identify
intent, which is then used by the NER module 262 to identify
frameworks. A framework for an intent of "play" may specify a list
of slots/fields applicable to play the identified "object" and any
object modifier (e.g., a prepositional phrase), such as {Artist
Name}, {Album Name}, {Song name}, etc. The NER module 260 then
searches the corresponding fields in the domain-specific and
personalized lexicon(s), attempting to match words and phrases in
the query tagged as a grammatical object or object modifier with
those identified in the database(s).
[0063] This process includes semantic tagging, which is the
labeling of a word or combination of words according to their
type/semantic meaning. Parsing may be performed using heuristic
grammar rules, or an NER model may be constructed using techniques
such as hidden Markov models, maximum entropy models, log linear
models, conditional random fields (CRF), and the like.
[0064] For instance, a query of "play mother's little helper by the
rolling stones" might be parsed and tagged as {Verb}: "Play,"
{Object}: "mother's little helper," {Object Preposition}: "by," and
{Object Modifier}: "the rolling stones." At this point in the
process, "Play" is identified as a verb based on a word database
associated with the music domain, which the IC module 264 will
determine corresponds to the "play music" intent. No determination
has been made as to the meaning of "mother's little helper" and
"the rolling stones," but based on grammar rules and models, it is
determined that these phrases relate to the grammatical object of
the query.
[0065] The frameworks linked to the intent are then used to
determine what database fields should be searched to determine the
meaning of these phrases, such as searching a user's gazette for
similarity with the framework slots. So a framework for "play music
intent" might indicate to attempt to resolve the identified object
based on {Artist Name}, {Album Name}, and {Song name}, and another
framework for the same intent might indicate to attempt to resolve
the object modifier based on {Artist Name}, and resolve the object
based on {Album Name} and {Song Name} linked to the identified
{Artist Name}. If the search of the gazetteer does not resolve the
slot/field using gazetteer information, the NER module 262 may
search the database of generic words associated with the domain (in
the NLU's storage 272). For instance, if the query was "play songs
by the rolling stones," after failing to determine an album name or
song name called "songs" by "the rolling stones," the NER 262 may
search the domain vocabulary for the word "songs." In the
alternative, generic words may be checked before the gazetteer
information, or both may be tried, potentially producing two
different results.
[0066] The comparison process used by the NER module 262 may
classify (i.e., score) how closely a database entry compares to a
tagged query word or phrase, how closely the grammatical structure
of the query corresponds to the applied grammatical framework, and
based on whether the database indicates a relationship between an
entry and information identified to fill other slots of the
framework.
[0067] The NER module 262 may also use contextual operational rules
to fill slots. For example, if a user had previously requested to
pause a particular song and thereafter requested that the
voice-controlled device "please un-pause my music," the NER module
262 may apply an inference-based rule to fill a slot associated
with the name of the song that the user currently wishes to
play--namely the song that was playing at the time the user
requested to pause the music.
[0068] The results of NLU processing may be tagged to attribute
meaning to the query. So, for instance, "play mother's little
helper by the rolling stones" might produce a result of: {domain}
Music, {intent} Play Music, {artist name} "rolling stones," {media
type} SONG, and {song title} "mother's little helper." As another
example, "play songs by the rolling stones" might produce: {domain}
Music, {intent} Play Music, {artist name} "rolling stones," and
{media type} SONG.
[0069] The output from the NLU processing (which may include tagged
text data, commands, etc.) may then be sent to a command processor
290, which may be located on a same or separate server(s) 120 as
part of the system 100. The destination command processor 290 may
be determined based on the NLU output. For example, if the NLU
output includes a command to play music, the destination command
processor 290 may be a music playing application, such as one
located on device 110 or in a music playing appliance, configured
to execute a music playing command. If the NLU output includes a
search query (for example, requesting the return of search
results), the destination command processor 290 may include a
search engine processor, such as one located on a search server,
configured to execute a search command and determine search
results, which may include output text data to be processed by a
TTS engine and output from a device as synthesized speech, such as
announcements made with the pages described above.
[0070] FIG. 3 illustrates an example of generating text-to-speech
(TTS) or synthesized speech according to examples of the present
disclosure. The TTS module/processor 314 includes a TTS front end
(TTSFE) 316, a speech synthesis engine 318, and TTS storage 320.
The TTSFE 316 transforms input text data (for example from command
processor 290) into a symbolic linguistic representation for
processing by the speech synthesis engine 318. The TTSFE 316 may
also process tags or other data input to the TTS module that
indicate how specific words should be pronounced (e.g., an
indication that a word is an interjection). The speech synthesis
engine 318 compares the annotated phonetic units models and
information stored in the TTS storage 320 for converting the input
text data into speech. The TTSFE 316 and speech synthesis engine
318 may include their own controller(s)/processor(s) and memory or
they may use the controller/processor and memory 310 of the
server(s) 120, device 110, or other device, for example. Similarly,
the instructions for operating the TTSFE 316 and speech synthesis
engine 318 may be located within the TTS module 314, within the
memory and/or storage of the server(s) 120, device 110, or within
an external device.
[0071] Text data input into a TTS module 314 may be sent to the
TTSFE 316 for processing. The front-end may include modules for
performing text normalization, linguistic analysis, and linguistic
prosody generation. During text normalization, the TTSFE processes
the text data input and generates standard text data, converting
such things as numbers, abbreviations (such as Apt., St., etc.),
symbols ($, %, etc.) into the equivalent of written out words.
[0072] During linguistic analysis the TTSFE 316 analyzes the
language in the normalized text data to generate a sequence of
phonetic units corresponding to the input text data. This process
may be referred to as phonetic transcription. Phonetic units
include symbolic representations of sound units to be eventually
combined and output by the system as speech. Various sound units
may be used for dividing text data for purposes of speech
synthesis. A TTS module 314 may process speech based on phonemes
(individual sounds), half-phonemes, di-phones (the last half of one
phoneme coupled with the first half of the adjacent phoneme),
bi-phones (two consecutive phonemes), syllables, words, phrases,
sentences, or other units. Each word may be mapped to one or more
phonetic units. Such mapping may be performed using a language
dictionary stored by the system, for example in the TTS storage
module 320. The linguistic analysis performed by the TTSFE 316 may
also identify different grammatical components such as prefixes,
suffixes, phrases, punctuation, syntactic boundaries, or the like.
Such grammatical components may be used by the TTS module 314 to
craft a natural sounding audio waveform output. The language
dictionary may also include letter-to-sound rules and other tools
that may be used to pronounce previously unidentified words or
letter combinations that may be encountered by the TTS module 314.
Generally, the more information included in the language
dictionary, the higher quality the speech output.
[0073] Based on the linguistic analysis the TTSFE 316 may then
perform linguistic prosody generation where the phonetic units are
annotated with desired prosodic characteristics, also called
acoustic features, which indicate how the desired phonetic units
are to be pronounced in the eventual output speech. During this
stage the TTSFE 316 may consider and incorporate any prosodic
annotations that accompanied the text data input to the TTS module
314. Such acoustic features may include pitch, energy, duration,
and the like. Application of acoustic features may be based on
prosodic models available to the TTS module 314. Such prosodic
models indicate how specific phonetic units are to be pronounced in
certain circumstances. A prosodic model may consider, for example,
a phoneme's position in a syllable, a syllable's position in a
word, a word's position in a sentence or phrase, neighboring
phonetic units, etc. As with the language dictionary, prosodic
model with more information may result in higher quality speech
output than prosodic models with less information. Further, a
prosodic model and/or phonetic units may be used to indicate
particular speech qualities of the speech to be synthesized, where
those speech qualities may match the speech qualities of input
speech (for example, the phonetic units may indicate prosodic
characteristics to make the ultimately synthesized speech sound
like a whisper based on the input speech being whispered).
[0074] The output of the TTSFE 316, referred to as a symbolic
linguistic representation, may include a sequence of phonetic units
annotated with prosodic characteristics. This symbolic linguistic
representation may be sent to a speech synthesis engine 318, also
known as a synthesizer, for conversion into an audio waveform of
speech for output to an audio output device and eventually to a
user. The speech synthesis engine 318 may be configured to convert
the input text data into high-quality natural-sounding speech in an
efficient manner. Such high-quality speech may be configured to
sound as much like a human speaker as possible, or may be
configured to be understandable to a listener without attempts to
mimic a precise human voice.
[0075] A speech synthesis engine 318 may perform speech synthesis
using one or more different methods. In one method of synthesis
called unit selection, described further below, a unit selection
engine 330 matches the symbolic linguistic representation created
by the TTSFE 316 against a database of recorded speech, such as a
database of a voice corpus. The unit selection engine 330 matches
the symbolic linguistic representation against spoken audio units
in the database. Matching units are selected and concatenated
together to form a speech output. Each unit includes an audio
waveform corresponding with a phonetic unit, such as a short .wav
file of the specific sound, along with a description of the various
acoustic features associated with the .wav file (such as its pitch,
energy, etc.), as well as other information, such as where the
phonetic unit appears in a word, sentence, or phrase, the
neighboring phonetic units, etc. Using all the information in the
unit database, a unit selection engine 330 may match units to the
input text data to create a natural sounding waveform. The unit
database may include multiple examples of phonetic units to provide
the system with many different options for concatenating units into
speech. One benefit of unit selection is that, depending on the
size of the database, a natural sounding speech output may be
generated. As described above, the larger the unit database of the
voice corpus, the more likely the system will be able to construct
natural sounding speech.
[0076] In another method of synthesis called parametric synthesis
parameters such as frequency, volume, noise, are varied by a
parametric synthesis engine 332, digital signal processor or other
audio generation device to create an artificial speech waveform
output. Parametric synthesis uses a computerized voice generator,
sometimes called a vocoder. Parametric synthesis may use an
acoustic model and various statistical techniques to match a
symbolic linguistic representation with desired output speech
parameters. Parametric synthesis may include the ability to be
accurate at high processing speeds, as well as the ability to
process speech without large databases associated with unit
selection, but also typically produces an output speech quality
that may not match that of unit selection. Unit selection and
parametric techniques may be performed individually or combined
together and/or combined with other synthesis techniques to produce
speech audio output.
[0077] Parametric speech synthesis may be performed as follows. A
TTS module 314 may include an acoustic model, or other models,
which may convert a symbolic linguistic representation into a
synthetic acoustic waveform of the text data input based on audio
signal manipulation. The acoustic model includes rules which may be
used by the parametric synthesis engine 332 to assign specific
audio waveform parameters to input phonetic units and/or prosodic
annotations. The rules may be used to calculate a score
representing a likelihood that a particular audio output
parameter(s) (such as frequency, volume, etc.) corresponds to the
portion of the input symbolic linguistic representation from the
TTSFE 316.
[0078] The parametric synthesis engine 332 may use a number of
techniques to match speech to be synthesized with input phonetic
units and/or prosodic annotations. One common technique is using
Hidden Markov Models (HMMs). HMMs may be used to determine
probabilities that audio output should match textual input (e.g.,
text data). HMMs may be used to translate from parameters from the
linguistic and acoustic space to the parameters to be used by a
vocoder (the digital voice encoder) to artificially synthesize the
desired speech. Using HMMs, a number of states are presented, in
which the states together represent one or more potential acoustic
parameters to be output to the vocoder and each state is associated
with a model, such as a Gaussian mixture model. Transitions between
states may also have an associated probability, representing a
likelihood that a current state may be reached from a previous
state. Sounds to be output may be represented as paths between
states of the HMM and multiple paths may represent multiple
possible audio matches for the same input text data. Each portion
of text data may be represented by multiple potential states
corresponding to different known pronunciations of phonemes and
their parts (such as the phoneme identity, stress, accent,
position, etc.). An initial determination of a probability of a
potential phoneme may be associated with one state. As new text
data is processed by the speech synthesis engine 318, the state may
change or stay the same, based on the processing of the new text
data. For example, the pronunciation of a previously processed word
might change based on later processed words. A Viterbi algorithm
may be used to find the most likely sequence of states based on the
processed text data. The HMMs may generate speech in parametrized
form including parameters such as fundamental frequency (f0), noise
envelope, spectral envelope, etc. that are translated by a vocoder
into audio segments. The output parameters may be configured for
particular vocoders such as a STRAIGHT vocoder, TANDEM-STRAIGHT
vocoder, HNM (harmonic plus noise) based vocoders, CELP
(code-excited linear prediction) vocoders, GlottHMM vocoders, HSM
(harmonic/stochastic model) vocoders, or others.
[0079] Unit selection speech synthesis may be performed as follows.
Unit selection includes a two-step process. First a unit selection
engine 330 determines what speech units to use and then it combines
them so that the particular combined units match the desired
phonemes and acoustic features and create the desired speech
output. Units may be selected based on a cost function which
represents how well particular units fit the speech segments to be
synthesized. The cost function may represent a combination of
different costs representing different aspects of how well a
particular speech unit may work for a particular speech segment.
For example, a target cost indicates how well a given speech unit
matches the features of a desired speech output (e.g., pitch,
prosody, etc.). A join cost represents how well a speech unit
matches a consecutive speech unit for purposes of concatenating the
speech units together in the eventual synthesized speech. The
overall cost function is a combination of target cost, join cost,
and other costs that may be determined by the unit selection engine
330. As part of unit selection, the unit selection engine 330
chooses the speech unit with the lowest overall combined cost. For
example, a speech unit with a very low target cost may not
necessarily be selected if its join cost is high.
[0080] The system may be configured with one or more voice corpuses
for unit selection. Each voice corpus may include a speech unit
database. The speech unit database may be stored in TTS storage
320, in storage 312, or in another storage component. For example,
different unit selection databases may be stored in TTS voice unit
storage 372. Each speech unit database includes recorded speech
utterances with the utterances' corresponding text data aligned to
the utterances. A speech unit database may include many hours of
recorded speech (in the form of audio waveforms, feature vectors,
or other formats), which may occupy a significant amount of
storage. The unit samples in the speech unit database may be
classified in a variety of ways including by phonetic unit
(phoneme, diphone, word, etc.), linguistic prosodic label, acoustic
feature sequence, speaker identity, etc. The sample utterances may
be used to create mathematical models corresponding to desired
audio output for particular speech units. When matching a symbolic
linguistic representation the speech synthesis engine 318 may
attempt to select a unit in the speech unit database that most
closely matches the input text data (including both phonetic units
and prosodic annotations). Generally the larger the voice
corpus/speech unit database the better the speech synthesis may be
achieved by virtue of the greater number of unit samples that may
be selected to form the precise desired speech output.
[0081] Audio waveforms including the speech output from the TTS
module 314 may be sent to an audio output component, such as a
speaker for playback to a user or may be sent for transmission to
another device, such as another server(s) 120, for further
processing or output to a user. Audio waveforms including the
speech may be sent in a number of different formats such as a
series of feature vectors, uncompressed audio data, or compressed
audio data. For example, audio speech output may be encoded and/or
compressed by an encoder/decoder (not shown) prior to transmission.
The encoder/decoder may be customized for encoding and decoding
speech data, such as digitized audio data, feature vectors, etc.
The encoder/decoder may also encode non-TTS data of the system, for
example using a general encoding scheme such as .zip, etc.
[0082] A TTS module 314 may be configured to perform TTS processing
in multiple languages. For each language, the TTS module 314 may
include specially configured data, instructions and/or components
to synthesize speech in the desired language(s). To improve
performance, the TTS module 314 may revise/update the contents of
the TTS storage 320 based on feedback of the results of TTS
processing, thus enabling the TTS module 314 to improve speech
recognition.
[0083] Other information may also be stored in the TTS storage 320
for use in speech recognition. The contents of the TTS storage 320
may be prepared for general TTS use or may be customized to include
sounds and words that are likely to be used in a particular
application. For example, for TTS processing by a global
positioning system (GPS) device, the TTS storage 320 may include
customized speech specific to location and navigation. In certain
instances the TTS storage 320 may be customized for an individual
user based on his/her individualized desired speech output. For
example a user may prefer a speech output voice to be a specific
gender, have a specific accent, speak at a specific speed, have a
distinct emotive quality (e.g., a happy voice), or other
customizable characteristic(s) (such as speaking an interjection in
an enthusiastic manner) as explained in other sections herein. The
speech synthesis engine 318 may include specialized databases or
models to account for such user preferences.
[0084] For example, to create the customized speech output of the
system, the system may be configured with multiple voice
corpuses/unit databases 378a-378n, where each unit database is
configured with a different "voice" to match desired speech
qualities. The voice selected by the TTS module 314 to synthesize
the speech. For example, one voice corpus may be stored to be used
to synthesize whispered speech (or speech approximating whispered
speech), another may be stored to be used to synthesize excited
speech (or speech approximating excited speech), and so on. To
create the different voice corpuses a multitude of TTS training
utterance may be spoken by an individual and recorded by the
system. The TTS training utterances used to train a TTS voice
corpus may be different from the training utterances used to train
an ASR system or the models used by the speech quality detector.
The audio associated with the TTS training utterances may then be
split into small audio segments and stored as part of a voice
corpus. The individual speaking the TTS training utterances may
speak in different voice qualities to create the customized voice
corpuses, for example the individual may whisper the training
utterances, say them in an excited voice, and so on. Thus the audio
of each customized voice corpus may match the respective desired
speech quality. The customized voice corpuses 378 may then be used
during runtime to perform unit selection to synthesize speech
having a speech quality corresponding to the input speech
quality.
[0085] The server(s) 120 may include or refer to data regarding
user accounts, shown by the user profile storage 402 illustrated in
FIG. 4. The user profile storage 402 may be located proximate to
server(s) 120, or may otherwise be in communication with various
components, for example over network(s) 10. The user profile
storage 402 may include a variety of information related to
individual users, households, accounts, etc. that interact with the
system 100. For illustration, as shown in FIG. 4, the user profile
storage 402 may include data regarding the devices associated with
particular individual user accounts 404. In an example, the user
profile storage 402 is a cloud-based storage. Such data may include
device identifier (ID) and internet protocol (IP) address
information for different devices as well as names by which the
devices may be referred to by a user. Further qualifiers describing
the devices may also be listed along with a description of the type
of object of the device.
[0086] Further, the user account 404 may include or be associated
with channel data (e.g., a channel table) and/or program data
(e.g., a program table), as discussed in greater detail below with
regard to FIGS. 10A-10B. Thus, while the disclosure describes
examples of associating program data with a single device 110, the
disclosure is not limited thereto and the program data may be
associated with individual users, households, accounts, etc.
without departing from the disclosure. For example, the server(s)
120 may receive audio data and channel data from a single device
(e.g., smart TV 110a), determine program data associated with the
channel data, determine a command associated with the audio data
based on the program data and send an instruction to the device to
output content based on the command. Additionally or alternatively,
the server(s) 120 may receive channel data from a first device
(e.g., smart TV 110a) and may determine program data associated
with the channel data. The server(s) 120 may then receive audio
data from a second device (e.g., speech controlled device 110b),
determine that the audio data is associated with the first device,
determine a command associated with the audio data based on the
program data and send an instruction to the first device to output
content based on the command.
[0087] In some examples, devices may be associated (e.g., linked,
paired, etc.) and the association stored in the user profile. For
example, a first device (e.g., speech controlled device 110b) may
be associated with a second device (e.g., smart television 110a),
such that the server(s) 120 receive audio data from the first
device and send instructions to the second device to output
content. Additionally or alternatively, a source device (e.g.,
media device 110c) may be associated with an output device (e.g.,
headless device 110d), such that the server(s) 120 may send an
instruction to the source device to transmit content to the output
device. The server(s) 120 may interpret voice commands based on the
associations and/or may determine associations based on the voice
commands and the fact that the devices are associated with the user
profile.
[0088] As illustrated in FIG. 5, devices 110 may contain components
of the system 100 and may be connected over network(s) 10. The
network(s) 10 may be a local or private network or may be part of a
wider network. For example, the network(s) 10 may include a wired
local area network (LAN), a wireless local area network (WLAN)
(such as WiFi), Bluetooth, and/or wireless network, such as a Long
Term Evolution (LTE) network, WiMAX network, 3G network, etc.
[0089] Devices 110 may be connected to the network(s) 10 through
either wired or wireless connections. For example, a smart
television 110a, a speech controlled device 110b, a media device
110c, a headless device 110d connected to a television 510, a
laptop computer 110e, a tablet computer 110f and/or local storage
520, may be connected to the network(s) 10 through a wired and/or
wireless connection. Thus, while the examples illustrated above are
directed to the smart television 110a, the disclosure is not
limited thereto and the device 110 may be any device capable of
receiving and/or outputting content to a user.
[0090] While FIG. 5 illustrates the local storage 520 connected to
the devices 110 via the network(s) 10, the disclosure is not
limited thereto and the local storage 520 may be wired and/or
wireless connected to one or more devices 110 without being
connected to the network(s) 10. For example, the local storage 520
may be wired to the smart television 110a, such that the smart
television 110a may output content from the local storage 520 that
is unavailable to the other devices 110 in the system 100.
[0091] While the examples described herein illustrate the device
110 performing multiple functions, the disclosure is not limited
thereto. Instead, the server(s) 120 may perform any of the
functions described herein without departing from the disclosure.
For example, the server(s) 120 may assist the device 110 with
Automatic Speech Recognition (ASR) processing, Natural Language
Understanding (NLU) processing, command processing, generating and
storing progress data and/or generating synthesized speech. A
single server 120 may be capable of performing all speech
processing or multiple server(s) 120 may combine to perform the
speech processing. In addition, certain speech detection or command
execution functions may be performed by device 110. Thus, the
device 110 and/or the server(s) 120 may perform the functions
described herein without departing from the disclosure.
[0092] FIGS. 6A-6B illustrate examples of receiving audio input and
content according to embodiments of the present disclosure. As
illustrated in FIG. 6A, the system 100 may capture audio input 11
generated by a user 10 using microphone(s) 112 coupled to a device
110, such as a smart television 110a and/or a speech controlled
device 110b. Thus, a voice command may be captured by a device 110a
including an integrated display 116 and/or a device 110b that is
not coupled to a display. When the audio data 111 is captured by
the device 110a and the server(s) 120 determine that the first
content is video data, the server(s) 120 may instruct the device
110a to output the first content using the integrated display
116.
[0093] However, when the audio data 111 is captured by the device
110b and the server(s) 120 determine that the first content is
video data, the server(s) 120 may determine an output device
associated with the device 110b and/or the audio data 111. For
example, the device 110b may be in proximity to and/or associated
with a smart television 110a, a media device 110c, a headless
device 110d or another output device 100 that may output the first
content on a display 116. Additionally or alternatively, the
server(s) 120 may interpret the audio data 111 to determine a
device 110 that may output the first content on a display 116. For
example, the audio data 111 may correspond to a command to "tune to
the Olympics in the living room" and the server(s) 120 may identify
a device 110 associated with the living room. Thus, multiple
devices 110 may be associated with a single user profile and the
server(s) 120 may receive audio data 111 from one device and send
an instruction to output first content to another device without
departing from the disclosure.
[0094] In some examples, the system 100 may receive content on one
device and may send the content to another device to output the
content on a display. As illustrated in FIG. 6B, the system 100 may
receive content 612 generated by a broadcast station 610 using a TV
Tuner 118 coupled to a device 110, such as a smart television 110a
and/or a media device 110c. Thus, the content 612 may be received
by a device 110a including an integrated display 116 and/or a
device 110c that is not coupled to a display. When the content 612
is received by the device 110a and the server(s) 120 determine that
the content 612 is video data, the server(s) 120 may instruct the
device 110a to output the content 612 using the integrated display
116.
[0095] However, when the content 612 is received by the device 110c
and the server(s) 120 determine that the content 612 is video data,
the server(s) 120 may determine an output device associated with
the device 110c and/or the audio data 111. For example, the device
110c may be in proximity to and/or associated with a headless
device 110d and the media device 110c may send the content 612 to
the headless device 110d to output the content 612 on a television
510. Additionally or alternatively, the server(s) 120 may interpret
the audio data 111 to determine a device 110 that may output the
content 612 on a display 116. For example, the audio data 111 may
correspond to a command to "tune to the Olympics in the living
room" and the server(s) 120 may identify a device 110 associated
with the living room. Thus, multiple devices 110 may be associated
with a single user profile and the server(s) 120 may receive
content 612 from one device and send the content to another device
without departing from the disclosure.
[0096] FIG. 7 illustrates an example of signal strengths according
to embodiments of the present disclosure. As illustrated in FIG. 7,
a first device 110a-1 may determine first channel data 710
indicating that Channel 6 has a strong signal strength (e.g., -30
dBm), Channel 8 has a low-normal signal strength (e.g., -60 dBm)
and Channel 10 has a high-normal signal strength (e.g., -40 dBm).
In contrast, a second device 110a-2 may determine second channel
data 720 indicating that Channel 6 has a high-normal signal
strength (e.g., -40 dBm), Channel 8 has a low signal strength
(e.g., -80 dBm) and Channel 10 has a normal signal strength (e.g.,
-50 dBm). Thus, the first device 110a-1 may receive and output
Channel 6, Channel 8 and Channel 10, whereas the second device
110a-2 may only receive and output Channel 6 and Channel 10,
despite being in the same household.
[0097] Based on the first channel data 710, the server(s) 120 may
generate first program data including information about content
broadcast on channels 6, 8 and/or 10. Using the first program data
to update a knowledge base and/or localized content domain, the
server(s) 120 may determine voice commands associated with channels
6, 8 and/or 10. Based on the second channel data 710, the server(s)
120 may generate second program data including information about
content broadcast only on channels 6 and/or 10. Using the second
program data to update the knowledge base and/or localized content
domain, the server(s) 120 may determine voice commands associated
with channels 6 and 10, but not with channels 8. Thus, the
server(s) 120 may dynamically populate the program data based on
content available to the first device 110a-1 and/or the second
device 110a-2.
[0098] In some examples, the server(s) 120 may update the knowledge
base and/or localized content domain using the first program data
and the second program data. Therefore, the server(s) 120 may
determine voice commands associated with channels 6, 8 and/or 10,
regardless of whether the voice command is associated with the
first device 110a-1 or the second device 110a-2. If the voice
command instructs the server(s) 120 to output content from Channel
8 on the first device 110a-1, the server(s) 120 may send an
instruction to the first device 110a-1 to receive the content from
Channel 8 and output the content to the user 10. However, if the
voice command instructs the server(s) 120 to output content from
Channel 8 on the second device 110a-2, the server(s) 120 may send
an instruction to the second device 110a-2 to display a user
interface/message to the user 10 that indicates that the content is
unavailable on the second device 110a-2 but may be viewed on the
first device 110a-1.
[0099] In some examples, the server(s) 120 may determine that the
content may be received by another device 110 in the system 100 and
sent to the second device 110a-2. For example, the media device
110c discussed above with regard to FIG. 6B may be capable of
receiving content from Channel 8 and sending the content to the
second device 110a-2 via the network(s) 10. In this example, the
server(s) 120 may instruct the second device 110a-2 to display a
user interface/message to the user 10 that indicates that the media
device 110c may be used to send the content to the second device
110a-2.
[0100] In some examples, the server(s) 120 may use the signal
strength associated with a channel to determine a weighting
associated with the channel and/or content broadcast on the
channel. For example, the first channel data 710 indicates that
Channel 6 has a strong signal strength (e.g., -30 dBm) while
Channel 8 has a low-normal signal strength (e.g., -60 dBm). The
server(s) 120 may weight content and/or program data associated
with Channel 6 more heavily than content and/or program data
associated with Channel 8 based on the signal strengths.
Additionally or alternatively, the server(s) 120 may weight Channel
6 and Channel 8 equally as the device 110 may receive and output
both channels. Instead, the server(s) 120 may weight content and/or
program data associated with a low signal strength (e.g., -65 dBm
or below) lower than content and/or program data associated with a
normal signal strength (e.g., -65 dBm and above).
[0101] In addition to over-the-air television broadcasts, the
server(s) 120 may identify other content available to the system
100, including content stored on local storage 520, content
accessible via a media playback device (e.g., compact discs (CDs)
and/or digital video discs (DVDs) located in a CD/DVD player),
streaming content accessible via subscriptions (e.g., Netflix,
Prime Video, Hulu, Prime Audio, Spotify, Pandora, etc.). Thus, the
content may include audio content and/or video content without
departing from the disclosure. The streaming content may be
associated with a particular device, a user profile, a household,
an account or the like, and the server(s) 120 may determine the
streaming content available based on user preferences, account
settings, which device 110 receives the audio data 111 or the
like.
[0102] In some examples, the program data may include information
about content that is unavailable to any of the devices 110 on the
system 100. If the server(s) 120 determine that a voice command is
requesting content that is unavailable, the server(s) 120 may
display a user interface/message to the user that indicates that
the content is unavailable and/or indicates where the content may
be available. For example, the content may be available on a
streaming service that is not associated with the user profile, so
the server(s) 120 may indicate that the content is available on the
streaming service. Additionally or alternatively, the content may
be available at a local venue (e.g., a sports game, live event, pay
per view event or other content may be available at a bar,
restaurant, or other local business) and the server(s) 120 may
indicate the local venue.
[0103] FIGS. 8A-8B illustrate examples of receiving audio data and
channel data according to embodiments of the present disclosure. In
some examples, channel data may be sent to the server(s) 120 along
with audio data and the server(s) 120 may interpret the audio data
based on the channel data. As illustrated in FIG. 8A, a user 10 may
generate first input audio 11a and a device 110a may capture first
audio data 810 corresponding to the first input audio 11a. The
device 110a may also detect localized content and may generate
first channel data 812 indicating the localized content that is
detected by the device 110a. Therefore, the device 110a may send
the first audio data 810 and the first channel data 812 to the
server(s) 120 at substantially the same time. Thus, the server(s)
120 may generate first program data corresponding to the first
channel data 812 and interpret the first audio data 810 using the
first program data.
[0104] Sending the first audio data 810 and the first channel data
812 at substantially the same time may be beneficial in certain
applications. For example, this implementation may be beneficial
when the first channel data 812 includes limited information, such
as listing the channels detected by the device 110a and/or signal
strengths associated with the channels. While there may be a delay
while the server(s) 120 determine the first program data prior to
interpreting the first audio data 810, the first program data will
be current and may improve the speech processing results. In
addition, this implementation may be beneficial when signal
strengths associated with channels detected by the device 110a
fluctuate on a regular basis.
[0105] In some examples, channel data may be sent to the server(s)
120 separately from audio data and the server(s) 120 may update a
knowledge base using the channel data and interpret the audio data
based on the knowledge base. As illustrated in FIG. 8B, the device
110a may detect localized content and may generate second channel
data 820 indicating the localized content that is detected by the
device 110a. The device 110a may send the second channel data 820
to the server(s) 120 and the server(s) 120 may determine second
program data corresponding to the second channel data 820 and
update the knowledge base with the second program data.
[0106] Separately from the server(s) 120 updating the knowledge
base with the second program data, the user 10 may generate second
input audio 11b and a device 110b may capture second audio data 822
corresponding to the second input audio 11b. The device 110b may
send the second audio data 822 to the server(s) 120 and the
server(s) 120 may interpret the second audio data 822 using the
updated knowledge base, which includes the second program data
and/or other program data.
[0107] Sending the second channel data 820 separately from the
second audio data 822 may be beneficial as it may reduce a delay
associated with the server(s) 120 determining the second program
data. Instead, the server(s) 120 may determine the second program
data and update the knowledge base prior to receiving the second
audio data 822. Additionally or alternatively, this implementation
may be beneficial as the server(s) 120 may receive channel data
from multiple devices 110 and may update the knowledge base with
program data corresponding to the multiple devices. In addition,
this implementation is beneficial for interactions between multiple
devices, such as when an output device (e.g., device 110 to which
the server(s) 120 send a command to output content) is not capable
of receiving voice commands and/or when an input device (e.g.,
device 110 from which the server(s) 120 receives the audio data
111) is not capable of outputting content on a display.
[0108] In some examples, the output devices may be televisions or
other devices capable of displaying video content. Therefore, the
channel data may correspond to over-the-air television broadcasts
detected by an output device, content stored on a local storage
device coupled to the output device or the like and may include
information about a detected channel, a Transport Stream Identifier
(TSID) (or Transmission Signal Identifier (TSID) for analog
signals), call sign, station name, signal strength, etc. associated
with the channel, and/or a program name (e.g., program title,
content title, etc.), broadcast time (e.g., broadcast time period),
genre, actors, sports leagues, sports teams, players, etc.
associated with content broadcast by the channel and/or stored in
the local storage device. Using the channel data, the server(s) 120
may generate program data that includes information about an output
device, a channel number, TSID, call sign, station name, signal
strength, etc. associated with a detected channel, and/or a program
name (e.g., program title, content title, etc.), broadcast time
(e.g., broadcast time period), genre, actors, directors, producers,
sports leagues, sports teams, players, etc. associated with content
broadcast on the channel or stored in the local storage device.
[0109] In other examples, the output devices may be speakers or
other devices capable of outputting audio. Therefore, the channel
data may correspond to over-the-air radio broadcasts detected by an
output device, content stored on a local storage device coupled to
the output device or the like and may include information about a
detected channel, a TSID, call sign, station name, signal strength,
etc. associated with the channel, and/or a song title, genre,
artist name, album name, etc. associated with content broadcast by
the channel and/or stored in the local storage device. Using the
channel data, the server(s) 120 may generate program data that
includes information about an output device, a radio frequency,
TSID, call sign, station name, signal strength, etc. associated
with a detected channel, and/or a song title, genre, artist name,
album name, etc. associated with content broadcast on the channel
or stored in the local storage device.
[0110] FIGS. 9A-9B illustrate examples of channel tables and a
program table according to embodiments of the present disclosure.
As illustrated in FIG. 9A, a first channel table 910 may include
only a list of channels that are detected by a device 110. For
example, the device 110 may detect Channels 6, 8 and 10 but not
detect other channels (e.g., Channel 13, not shown). Similarly, a
second channel table 912 may include a list of channels that are
detected by the device 110 (e.g., Channels 6, 8 and 10) along with
corresponding signal strengths (e.g., -30 dBm, -60 dBm and -40 dBm,
respectively). However, the disclosure is not limited thereto and
the device 110 may generate channel tables with varying levels of
detail and/or categories of information without departing from the
disclosure.
[0111] In some examples, the device 110 may receive program data
associated with the content. For example, over-the-air television
broadcasts may include content and program data corresponding to
the content. Additionally or alternatively, the device 110 may
receive a programming guide (e.g., program guide data) that
corresponds to the localized content being broadcast for a duration
of time (e.g., one week). In some examples, content stored in a
local storage device 520 (e.g., Digital Video Recorder (DVR) or the
like) may have been received from other sources, such as cable
broadcasts or downloaded from the network(s) 10, and may include
different and/or additional program data than what is included in
the over-the-air television broadcasts. Additionally or
alternatively, the user 10 may input program data.
[0112] FIG. 9B illustrates a program table 920 that includes local
program guide data associated with the channels detected by the
device 110. For example, the program table 920 indicates that the
device 110 detects Channel 6, a call sign (e.g., WCSHDT), a station
name (e.g., NBC), and a signal strength (e.g., -30 dBm) associated
with Channel 6, and a program name (e.g. Olympics) and a genre
(e.g., Sports) associated with content being broadcast on Channel
6. Similarly, the program table 920 indicates that the device 110
detects Channel 8, a call sign (e.g., WMTWDT), a station name
(e.g., ABC), and a signal strength (e.g., -60 dBm) associated with
Channel 8, and a program name (e.g. The Ellen DeGeneres Show), a
genre (e.g., Talk) and actors (e.g., Ellen DeGeneres) associated
with content being broadcast on Channel 8. Finally, the program
table 920 indicates that the device 110 detects Channel 10, a call
sign (e.g., WCBBDT), a station name (e.g., PBS), and a signal
strength (e.g., -40 dBm) associated with Channel 10, and a program
name (e.g. Charlie Rose) and a genre (e.g., Talk) associated with
content being broadcast on Channel 10.
[0113] The device 110 may send the channel data and/or the local
program guide data to the server(s) 120. As used herein, for ease
of explanation "channel data" refers to the data sent from the
device 110 to the server(s) 120, including channel data (e.g.,
first channel table 910 and/or second channel table 912) and/or
local program guide data (e.g., program table 920). Thus, channel
data refers to any information about channels detected by the
device 110, content broadcast on the channels, content stored in a
local storage device 520 or other localized content. In contrast,
"program data" refers to data obtained and stored on the server(s)
120 about the localized content, including the channel data
received from the device 110, information about the channel data
(e.g., program guide data or other information) obtained from third
party sources such as remote server(s) 20, or the like.
[0114] The server(s) 120 may generate the program data based on the
channel data. For example, the server(s) 120 may generate a program
table including the information included in the channel data (e.g.,
the first channel table 910, the second channel table 912 and/or
the program table 920). Using the information included in the
channel data, the server(s) 120 may obtain additional information
from third party sources, such as program guide data from the
remote server(s) 20.
[0115] For ease of illustration, FIGS. 9A-9B and 10B refer to
specific channels using simplified examples (e.g., channel 006,
channel 008, etc.). However, the disclosure is not limited thereto
and specific channels may be identified using a transport stream
identifier (TSID) without departing from the disclosure. For
example, channel 006 may actually correspond to channel 6-01, which
may be uniquely identified using TSID 0x088F. As channel numbers
vary for broadcast stations throughout the United States, a channel
006 broadcast in one location may be a different station than a
channel 006 broadcast in another location. For example, in one
location Channel 6 may correspond to CBS, whereas in another
location Channel 6 may correspond to ABC. The TSID is a unique
identifier for each broadcast station that enables the system 100
to identify the broadcast station regardless of the local channel
on which it is broadcast.
[0116] FIGS. 10A-10B illustrate an example of associating a channel
table with a program guide to generate a program table according to
embodiments of the present disclosure. As illustrated in FIG. 10A,
the server(s) 120 may receive a channel table 1010 from the device
110, may receive a program guide 1020 from the remote server(s) 20
that corresponds to the channel table 1010 and may extract
information from the program guide 1020 based on the channels
listed in the channel table 1010. For example, the server(s) 120
may determine that the channel table 1010 indicates that the device
110 detects Channel 1, 6 and 8 and the server(s) 120 may extract
information about Channels 1, 6 and 8 from the program guide 1020
while ignoring information about remaining channels that are not
detected by the device 110.
[0117] Using the information extracted from the channel table 1010
and/or the program guide 1020, the server(s) 120 may generate a
program table 1030 illustrated in FIG. 10B. The server(s) 120 may
update a knowledge base associated with a localized content domain
using the information included in the program table 1030. As
illustrated in FIG. 10B, the program table 1030 may include a
device identification, a channel number, a call sign, a station
name, a signal strength, a broadcast time (e.g., broadcast time
period), program name (e.g., program title, content title, etc.),
broadcast time (e.g., broadcast time period), genre, actors,
directors, producers and other information about a channel and/or
content broadcast on the channel. However, the program table 1030
is intended as an illustrative example and disclosure is not
limited thereto. Instead, the program data may vary and may include
different categories based on the type of content. For example, as
discussed above, the localized content may include audio content
and the program data may vary accordingly. Additionally or
alternatively, the program data may include categories associated
with sporting events, such as a type of sport (e.g., football), a
name or other identification associated with a sports league (e.g.,
NFL), a name or other identification associated with a sports team
(e.g., New England Patriots, Patriots, etc.), name(s) of individual
players (e.g., Tom Brady), etc.
[0118] FIG. 11 is a communication diagram conceptually illustrating
an example of interpreting audio data based on program data
according to embodiments of the present disclosure. As illustrated
in FIG. 11, the device 110a may determine (1110) channel data, may
capture (1112) audio data and may send (1114) the audio data and
the channel data to the server(s) 120. The server(s) 120 may
determine (1116) program data from the channel data, as discussed
in greater detail above with regard to FIGS. 10A-10B.
[0119] The server(s) 120 may perform (1116) speech processing
(e.g., ASR) on the audio data to determine first text data, may
determine (1120) a command based on the first text data and the
program data, may determine (1122) first content associated with
the command and may send (1124) an instruction to output the first
content on the first channel to the device 110a. The device 110a
may receive (1126) the first content on the first channel and may
output (1128) the first content on a display 116 of the device
110a.
[0120] As illustrated in FIG. 11, the device 110a may send the
audio data and the corresponding channel data to the server(s) 120
at substantially the same time. The server(s) 120 may determine the
program data corresponding to the channel data and determine the
command to output the first content based on the program data.
Thus, the server(s) 120 may update a knowledge base with the
program data to improve speech processing associated with localized
content on the device 110a.
[0121] FIG. 12 is a flowchart conceptually illustrating an example
method for generating channel data according to embodiments of the
present disclosure. As illustrated in FIG. 12, the device 110 may
determine (1210) channels detected by the device 110 (e.g.,
over-the-air television broadcast channels, radio stations or the
like), may determine (1212) signal strengths corresponding to the
channels and may determine (1214) program guide data associated
with the channels. The device 110 may determine (1216) content
available on a local storage device and determine (1218) program
guide data associated with the content. The device 110 may
determine (1220) streaming services that are available to the
device 110 and/or a user profile associated with the device 110.
The device 110 may then generate (1222) channel data including
information about the channels, the signal strengths associated
with the channels, the content broadcast on the channels, the
content available on the local storage device and the streaming
services available.
[0122] FIG. 13 is a flowchart conceptually illustrating an example
method for generating program data according to embodiments of the
present disclosure. As illustrated in FIG. 13, the server(s) 120
may obtain (1310) a program guide from a third party source such as
the remote server(s) 20. For example, the program guide may
indicate information about content being broadcast on every channel
in a geographic region. The server(s) 120 may identify (1312) a
channel included in the channel data, determine (1314) a channel
identification associated with the channel and determine (1316) a
call sign associated with the channel. For example, the server(s)
120 may identify Channel 6, determine that Channel 6 has the
channel identification of NBC and the call sign of WCSHDT. Using
the program guide, the server(s) 120 may determine (1318) first
content broadcast on the channel, determine (1320) a list of actors
associated with the first content, determine (1322) a genre
associated with the first content and determine (1324) additional
information about the first content. For example, the first content
may be a movie such as Saving Private Ryan and the server(s) 120
may determine that the first content is a Drama that includes Tom
Hanks and Matt Damon and was produced and directed by Steven
Spielberg.
[0123] The server(s) 120 may determine (1326) if there is
information about additional content broadcast on the channel
(e.g., information about content after the first content) and if
so, may loop (1328) to step 1318 and repeat steps 1318-1324 for the
additional content. If there is not additional content, the
server(s) 120 may determine (1330) if there are additional channels
included in the channel data and, if so, may loop (1332) to step
1312 to identify an additional channel and perform steps 1312-1328
for the additional channel. If the server(s) 120 determine that
there aren't additional channels, the server(s) 120 may generate
(1334) program data including the information obtained in steps
1314-1324.
[0124] While FIG. 11 illustrates a single device (e.g., device
110a) sending the channel data and the audio data, the disclosure
is not limited thereto. Instead, as described above with regard to
FIG. 8B, a first device (e.g., device 110a) may send channel data
and a second device (e.g., device 110b) may send audio data
separately from the channel data. Thus, the server(s) 120 may
receive channel data from one or more devices 110, may generate
program data corresponding to the channel data and may update a
knowledge base associated with a user profile based on the program
data.
[0125] FIG. 14 is a communication diagram conceptually illustrating
an example of generating program data and updating a knowledge base
according to embodiments of the present disclosure. As illustrated
in FIG. 14, the device 110a may determine (1410) first channel data
associated with channels detected by the device 110a and may send
(1412) the first channel data to the server(s) 120. For example,
the device 110a may perform a channel scan to determine signal
strengths corresponding to individual channels and may determine
which channels were associated with a signal strength exceeding a
threshold. Thus, the device 110a may determine that signal
strengths associated with Channels 6, 8 and 10 exceeded the
threshold but that a signal strength associated with Channel 13 did
not. Therefore, the first channel data may include information
about Channels 6, 8 and 10.
[0126] Based on the first channel data, the server(s) 120 may
determine (1414) first program data and may update (1416) a
knowledge base for a user profile associated with the device 110a
using the first program data. For example, the server(s) 120 may
perform the example method illustrated in FIG. 13 to determine the
first program data based on the first channel data.
[0127] The device 110c may determine (1418) second channel data
associated with channels detected by the device 110c and may send
(1420) the second channel data to the server(s) 120. For example,
the device 110a may perform a channel scan to determine signal
strengths corresponding to individual channels and may determine
which channels were associated with a signal strength exceeding a
threshold. Thus, the device 110c may determine that signal
strengths associated with Channels 6, 10 and 13 exceeded the
threshold but that a signal strength associated with Channel 8 did
not. Therefore, the second channel data may include information
about Channels 6, 10 and 13.
[0128] Based on the second channel data, the server(s) 120 may
determine (1422) second program data and may update (1424) the
knowledge base for the user profile associated with the device 110c
using the second program data. For example, the server(s) 120 may
perform the example method illustrated in FIG. 13 to determine the
second program data based on the second channel data.
[0129] FIG. 15 is a communication diagram conceptually illustrating
an example of interpreting audio data based on program data
according to embodiments of the present disclosure. As illustrated
in FIG. 15, the device 110b may capture (1510) audio data and send
(1512) the audio data to the server(s) 120. The server(s) 120 may
retrieve the program data associated with the user profile, may
perform (1516) speech processing on the audio data to determine
first text data, may determine (1518) a command based on the first
text data and the program data (e.g., knowledge base, localized
content domain, etc.), may determine (1520) first content
associated with the command and may send (1522) an instruction to
output the first content on a first channel to the device 110a. For
example, the server(s) 120 may determine that the audio data
corresponds to first text data (e.g., "tune in to the Olympics")
and that the first text data corresponds to a command to output the
Olympics broadcast (e.g., content broadcast on Channel 6) using the
device 110a. In response to receiving the instruction, the device
110a may receive (1524) the first content on the first channel and
may output (1526) the first content on a display of the device
110a.
[0130] While not illustrated in FIG. 15, the server(s) 120 may
identify that the device 110a is associated with the audio data
and/or the first text data. For example, the server(s) 120 may
determine that the device 110a is in proximity to and/or in
associated with the device 110b, such that commands received from
the device 110b that request the system 100 to output video data
are associated with the device 110a. Additionally or alternatively,
the server(s) 120 may determine that the device 110a is to be
selected to output any video data, such that commands received by
the system 100 that request the system 100 to output video data are
associated with the device 110a. Additionally or alternatively, the
server(s) 120 may determine to output the video data using the
device 110a based on the first text data. For example, the first
text data may indicate "tune in to the Olympics in the living room"
and the server(s) 120 may determine that the device 110a is
associated with the living room. In some examples, the first text
data may indicate "tune in to the Olympics on the Samsung
television" and the server(s) 120 may determine that the device
110a is a Samsung television. The server(s) 120 may identify the
device 110a as being associated with the first text data using
other techniques known to one of skill in the art without departing
from the disclosure.
[0131] As illustrated in FIGS. 16A-16C and 17, the system 100 may
interpret a voice command based on information included in program
data. For example, the system 100 may identify channel data
associated with output devices, obtain program data corresponding
to the channel data and update a knowledge base associated with a
localized content domain using information included in the program
data. When receiving audio data including a voice command (e.g.,
"tune to the Olympics"), the server(s) 120 may identify a command
associated with the program data (e.g., "tune to"), determine that
the command is associated with the program data, may identify the
first content (e.g., using keywords such as "Olympics") and may
send an instruction to an output device to output the first content
(e.g., tune to the Olympics on channel 006).
[0132] In some examples, the output devices may be televisions or
other devices capable of displaying video content. Therefore, the
channel data may correspond to over-the-air television broadcasts
detected by an output device, content stored on a local storage
device coupled to the output device or the like and may include
information about a detected channel, a TSID, call sign, station
name, signal strength, etc. associated with the channel, and/or a
program name (e.g., program title, content title, etc.), broadcast
time (e.g., broadcast time period), genre, actors, sports leagues,
sports teams, players, etc. associated with content broadcast by
the channel and/or stored in the local storage device. Using the
channel data, the server(s) 120 may generate program data that
includes information about an output device, a channel number,
TSID, call sign, station name, signal strength, etc. associated
with a detected channel, and/or a program name (e.g., program
title, content title, etc.), broadcast time (e.g., broadcast time
period), genre, actors, directors, producers, sports leagues,
sports teams, players, etc. associated with content broadcast on
the channel or stored in the local storage device.
[0133] In other examples, the output devices may be speakers or
other devices capable of outputting audio. Therefore, the channel
data may correspond to over-the-air radio broadcasts detected by an
output device, content stored on a local storage device coupled to
the output device or the like and may include information about a
detected channel, a TSID, call sign, station name, signal strength,
etc. associated with the channel, and/or a song title, genre,
artist name, album name, etc. associated with content broadcast by
the channel and/or stored in the local storage device. Using the
channel data, the server(s) 120 may generate program data that
includes information about an output device, a radio frequency,
TSID, call sign, station name, signal strength, etc. associated
with a detected channel, and/or a song title, genre, artist name,
album name, etc. associated with content broadcast on the channel
or stored in the local storage device.
[0134] FIGS. 16A-16C are communication diagrams conceptually
illustrating examples of determining commands based on program data
according to embodiments of the present disclosure. While FIGS.
16A-16C illustrate a system 100 capturing audio data using a first
device 110b (e.g., speech controlled device 110b) and outputting
first content on a display of a second device 110a (e.g.,
television 110a), the disclosure is not limited thereto. Instead, a
device 110 may capture the audio data and output the first content
without departing from the disclosure, and/or the first content may
be output on any output device(s) 110 without departing from the
disclosure. Additionally or alternatively, while FIGS. 16A-16C
illustrate the first content being video data output on a display,
the first content may be audio data output by speakers 114 of an
output device 110.
[0135] As illustrated in FIG. 16A, the device 110b may capture
(1610) audio data using microphone(s) 112 on the device 110b and
may send (1612) the audio data to the server(s) 120. The server(s)
120 may perform (1614) speech processing (e.g., ASR) on the audio
data to determine first text data.
[0136] The server(s) 120 may determine (1616) a first command based
on the first text data using a first model (e.g., using Natural
Language Understanding (NLU)) and may determine (1618) a first
confidence score associated with the first command. The first model
may correspond to information included in the program data, such
that the server(s) 120 may analyze the first text data using the
program data to determine the first command and the first
confidence score. For example, the first text data may correspond
to "tune to the Olympics" and the server(s) 120 may identify that
the word "Olympics" is associated with first content that is
broadcast on a first channel based on the program data.
Additionally or alternatively, the server(s) 120 may determine that
the keyword "tune to" corresponds to a command associated with the
program data. Based on this, the server(s) 120 may determine that
"tune to the Olympics" is the first command (e.g., requesting the
server(s) 120 to send an instruction to an output device to tune to
channel 006 and output the Olympics), and may determine the first
confidence score associated with the first command.
[0137] In some examples, the server(s) 120 may generate a separate
domain (e.g., localized content domain) that corresponds to the
program data. As discussed above with regard to FIG. 2, a domain
may represent a discrete set of activities having a common theme
and may be associated with a particular language model and/or
grammar database, a particular set of intents/actions, and a
particular personalized lexicon. Each gazetteer may include
domain-indexed lexical information associated with a particular
user and/or device. For example, the localized content domain
lexical information for video content might include names of output
devices, channel numbers, TSIDs, call signs, station names, etc.
associated with a detected channel, and/or program names, genres,
actors, directors, producers, sports leagues, sports teams,
players, etc. associated with content broadcast on the channel or
stored in the local storage device. As another example, the
localized content domain lexical information for audio content
might include names of output devices, radio frequencies, TSIDs,
call signs, station names, etc. associated with a detected channel,
and/or song titles, genres, artist names, album names, etc.
associated with content broadcast on the channel or stored in the
local storage device. Thus, the server(s) 120 may determine the
first command and the first confidence score using the new domain
(e.g., localized content domain).
[0138] The server(s) 120 may determine (1620) a second command
based on the first text data using a second model and may determine
(1622) a second confidence score associated with the second
command. While the first model may correspond to the program
data/localized content domain, the second model may correspond to
other language models and/or domains. For example, the second model
may correspond to other domains such as "shopping," "music,"
"calendaring," etc., and a music-domain lexical information might
include album titles, artist names, and song names, for example,
whereas a user's contact-list lexical information might include the
names of contacts.
[0139] The server(s) 120 may determine (1624) that the first
confidence score is higher than the second confidence score, may
select (1626) the first command and may determine (1628) first
content corresponding to the first command using the first model.
For example, the server(s) 120 may identify the first content
corresponding to the first command included in the program
data.
[0140] The server(s) 120 may send (1630) an instruction to the
device 110a to output the first content on the first channel and
the device 110a may receive (1632) the first content on the first
channel and may output (1634) the first content on a display 116
associated with the device 110a. For example, FIG. 16A illustrates
the device 110a as a smart television, so the device 110a may
output the first content on an integrated display 116. However, the
disclosure is not limited thereto and a media device 110c may
receive the first content and send the first content to a
television 510 and/or a headless device 110d coupled to the
television 510, or the headless device 110d may receive the first
content and send hte first content to the television 510, without
departing from the disclosure.
[0141] As illustrated in FIG. 16B, the device 110b may capture
(1610) audio data using the microphone(s) 112 on the device 110b,
may send (1612) the audio data to the server(s) 120 and the
server(s) 120 may perform (1614) speech processing (e.g., ASR) on
the audio data to determine first text data, as discussed above
with regard to FIG. 16A.
[0142] In contrast to FIG. 16A, however, the server(s) 120 may
determine (1656) a first command based on the first text data
(e.g., Natural Language Understanding (NLU)). The server(s) 120 may
determine (1658) a first confidence score that the first command is
associated with the first model, may determine (1660) a second
confidence score that the first command is associated with the
second model, and may determine (1662) that the first confidence
score is higher than the second confidence score. As discussed
above with regard to FIG. 16A, the first model may correspond to
the program data/localized content domain while the second model
may correspond to other language models and/or domains, such as
"shopping," "music," "calendaring," etc.
[0143] As discussed with regard to FIG. 16A, the server(s) 120 may
determine (1628) first content corresponding to the first command
using the first model (e.g., program data, localized content
domain, etc.) and may send (1630) an instruction to the device 110a
to output the first content on the first channel, and the device
110a may receive (1632) the first content on the first channel and
may output (1634) the first content on a display 116 associated
with the device 110a. For example, FIG. 16B illustrates the device
110a as a smart television, so the device 110a may output the first
content on an integrated display 116. However, the disclosure is
not limited thereto and a media device 110c may receive the first
content and send the first content to a television 510 and/or a
headless device 110d coupled to the television 510, or the headless
device 110d may receive the first content and send the first
content to the television 510, without departing from the
disclosure.
[0144] As illustrated in FIG. 16C, the device 110b may capture
(1610) audio data using microphone(s) 112 on the device 110b and
may send (1612) the audio data to the server(s) 120.
[0145] The server(s) 120 may perform (1650) speech processing
(e.g., ASR and NLU) on the audio data using a first model (e.g.,
domain) to determine a first command and may determine (1652) a
first confidence score associated with the first command. For
example, the server(s) 120 may use the first model to perform
speech processing on the audio data to determine first text and
determine the first command based on the first text.
[0146] The server(s) 120 may perform (1654) speech processing
(e.g., ASR and NLU) on the audio data using a second model (e.g.,
domain) to determine a second command and may determine (1656) a
second confidence score associated with the second command. For
example, the server(s) 120 may use the second model to perform
speech processing on the audio data to determine second text and
determine the second command based on the second text. While the
first model may correspond to the program data/localized content
domain, the second model may correspond to other language models
and/or domains. For example, the second model may correspond to
other domains such as "shopping," "music," "calendaring," etc., and
a music-domain lexical information might include album titles,
artist names, and song names, for example, whereas a user's
contact-list lexical information might include the names of
contacts.
[0147] The server(s) 120 may determine (1624) that the first
confidence score is higher than the second confidence score, may
select (1626) the first command and may determine (1628) first
content corresponding to the first command using the first model.
For example, the server(s) 120 may identify the first content
corresponding to the first command included in the program
data.
[0148] The server(s) 120 may send (1630) an instruction to the
device 110a to output the first content on the first channel and
the device 110a may receive (1632) the first content on the first
channel and may output (1634) the first content on a display 116
associated with the device 110a. For example, FIG. 16C illustrates
the device 110a as a smart television, so the device 110a may
output the first content on an integrated display 116. However, the
disclosure is not limited thereto and a media device 110c may
receive the first content and send the first content to a
television 510 and/or a headless device 110d coupled to the
television 510, or the headless device 110d may receive the first
content and send the first content to the television 510, without
departing from the disclosure.
[0149] In some examples, the server(s) 120 may determine the first
confidence score illustrated in FIGS. 16A-16C by identifying words
in the first text data within the program data. FIG. 17 is a
flowchart conceptually illustrating an example method of
identifying a word in program data and increasing a confidence
score according to embodiments of the present disclosure. As
illustrated in FIG. 17, the server(s) 120 may determine (1710) a
first word in the first text data, may determine (1712) program
data, may identify (1714) the first word within the program data,
may determine (1716) that the first word is associated with first
content and may increase (1718) the first confidence score
associated with the first model. For example, if the text data
corresponds to "tune to the Olympics," the server(s) 120 may
identify "Olympics" in the text data, identify that "Olympics" is
included in the program data and determine that "Olympics" is
associated with a program currently being broadcast on a channel
that is detected by an output device (e.g., television). As a
result, the server(s) 120 may increase a confidence score
associated with a first command to output the program on the output
device. If the first confidence score exceeds other confidence
scores and the server(s) 120 selects the first command, the
server(s) 120 may send an instruction to the output device to
output the program (e.g., tune to the Olympics on channel 006).
[0150] While FIG. 17 illustrates an example of increasing a
confidence score based on a keyword associated with first content,
the example is intended for illustrative purposes only and the
disclosure is not limited thereto. Instead, the server(s) 120 may
increase a confidence score based on multiple criteria, such as
broadcast time periods (e.g., increasing confidence scores for
content currently being broadcast and/or about to be broadcast),
historical data (e.g., user history indicating that the user 10
frequently watches content), user preferences (e.g., user history
indicating that the user 10 prefers a specific genre, language,
actor, etc. included in the program data), social network data
associated with the user 10, or the like. The user history (e.g.,
historical data, user preferences, etc.) and/or information
associated with the social network data (e.g., social network
account, social network data, etc.) may be stored in the user
profile and/or a knowledge base for the user profile.
[0151] In some examples, the server(s) 120 may interpret the voice
command based on broadcast time periods associated with the program
data. For example, the server(s) 120 may identify multiple
commands/content and may determine confidence scores associated
with the commands/content. When determining the confidence scores,
the server(s) 120 may determine broadcast time periods
corresponding to the commands/content and may increase confidence
scores associated with broadcast time periods near a current time
(e.g., content currently being broadcast or soon to be broadcast).
For example, the server(s) 120 may determine that first content is
being broadcast at a first broadcast time period (e.g., currently
being broadcast) and may increase a confidence score associated
with the first content, whereas the server(s) 120 may determine
that second content is being broadcast at a second broadcast time
period (e.g., in several hours/days) and may not change the
confidence score and/or may reduce the confidence score associated
with the second content.
[0152] In some examples, the server(s) 120 may interpret the voice
command based on the user history. For example, the server(s) 120
may identify multiple commands/content and may determine confidence
scores associated with the commands/content. When determining the
confidence scores, the server(s) 120 may determine that the user 10
frequently watches first content and may increase a confidence
score associated with the first content.
[0153] In some examples, the server(s) 120 may interpret the voice
command based on the social network data. For example, the
server(s) 120 may identify multiple commands/content and may
determine confidence scores associated with the commands/content.
When determining the confidence scores, the server(s) 120 may
determine that the user 10 published social network data to a
social network that is associated with first content and may
increase a confidence score associated with the first content. For
example, the user 10 may publish social network data referencing a
program title and/or a hashtag associated with the first
content.
[0154] In some examples, the server(s) 120 may be unable to
determine a command and/or content with a high degree of certainty.
For example, the server(s) 120 may determine confidence scores
associated with the command/first content and none of the
confidence scores may exceed a threshold. Additionally or
alternatively, several confidence scores may exceed the threshold
and be substantially similar. Thus, the server(s) 120 may be unable
to select a single command/content based on the confidence
scores.
[0155] To identify the command/content, the server(s) 120 may
perform disambiguation techniques known to one of skill in the art.
The server(s) 120 may perform the disambiguation techniques based
on the broadcast time periods, historical data (e.g., user
history), user preferences or the like. In some examples, the
server(s) 120 may use the historical data to identify the
command/content based on what the user 10 has previously watched.
For example, the audio data may correspond to an utterance of "tune
to the Simpsons" and the server(s) 120 may determine that the user
10 frequently watches "The Simpsons" on a specific channel (e.g.,
Channel 51). Therefore, the server(s) 120 may identify the specific
channel and send an instruction to the device 110 to output the
selected content (e.g., The Simpsons") using the selected channel
(e.g., Channel 51).
[0156] Additionally or alternatively, the server(s) 120 may send a
list of potential commands/content to the device 110 and the device
110 may display the list to the user 10 and request that the user
10 selects the appropriate command/content. For example, the audio
data may correspond to an utterance of "tune to the Simpsons" and
the server(s) 120 may determine that there are multiple episodes of
the Simpsons on different channels and at a different broadcast
times (e.g., broadcast time periods), as well as a movie. To
resolve the disambiguation, the server(s) 120 may send a list of
the episodes and the movie to the device 110 and request that the
user 10 specify the episode or movie to output. The device 110 may
display the list of episodes and the movie, receive an input from
the user 10 and send an indication of the selection to the
server(s) 120. The server(s) 120 may identify the selected content
and send an instruction to the device 110 to output the selected
content.
[0157] FIG. 18A is a block diagram conceptually illustrating a
local device 110 that may be used with the described system 100.
FIG. 18B is a block diagram conceptually illustrating example
components of a remote device, such as a remote server(s) 120 that
may assist with Automatic Speech Recognition (ASR), Natural
Language Understanding (NLU) processing, command processing,
generating and storing progress data and/or generating synthesized
speech. Multiple such server(s) 120 may be included in the system,
such as one server(s) 120 for ASR, one server(s) 120 for NLU,
etc.
[0158] In operation, the system 100 may include computer-readable
and computer-executable instructions that reside on the device 110
and/or server(s) 120, as will be discussed further below. The
device 110 may be an electronic device capable of receiving voice
commands, generating synthesized speech, receiving audio/video
content, generating audio output and/or generating video output.
Examples of electronic devices may include computers (e.g., a
desktop, a laptop, a server or the like), portable devices (e.g., a
smart phone, tablet or the like), media devices (e.g., televisions,
video game consoles, media components or the like) or the like. The
device 110/server(s) 120 may also be a component of any of the
abovementioned devices or systems.
[0159] As illustrated in FIGS. 18A-18B, the device 110/server(s)
120 may include an address/data bus 1802 for conveying data among
components of the device 110/server(s) 120. Each component within
the device 110/server(s) 120 may also be directly connected to
other components in addition to (or instead of) being connected to
other components across the bus 1802.
[0160] The device 110/server(s) 120 may include one or more
controllers/processors 1804, that may each include a central
processing unit (CPU) for processing data and computer-readable
instructions, and a memory 1806 for storing data and instructions.
The memory 1806 may include volatile random access memory (RAM),
non-volatile read only memory (ROM), non-volatile magnetoresistive
(MRAM) and/or other types of memory. The device 110/server(s) 120
may also include a data storage component 1808, for storing data
and controller/processor-executable instructions (e.g.,
instructions to perform the algorithm illustrated in FIGS. 1, 11,
12, 13, 14, 15, 16A-16C and/or 17). The data storage component 1808
may include one or more non-volatile storage types such as magnetic
storage, optical storage, solid-state storage, etc. The device
110/server(s) 120 may also be connected to removable or external
non-volatile memory and/or storage (such as a removable memory
card, memory key drive, networked storage, etc.) through the
input/output device interfaces 1810.
[0161] The device 110/server(s) 120 includes input/output device
interfaces 1810. A variety of components may be connected through
the input/output device interfaces 1810, such as a microphone(s)
112, speakers 114, a display 116 and/or TV tuner 118 connected to
the device 110. However, the disclosure is not limited thereto and
the device 110 may not include integrated microphone(s) 112,
speakers 114, display 116 and/or TV tuner 118. Thus, the
microphone(s) 112, speakers 114, display 116, TV tuner 118 and/or
other components may be integrated into the device 110 or may be
separate from the device 110 without departing from the disclosure.
In some examples, the device 110 may include an inertial
measurement unit (IMU), gyroscope, accelerometers or other
component configured to provide motion data or the like associated
with the device 110. If an array of microphones 112 is included,
approximate distance to a sound's point of origin may be performed
acoustic localization based on time and amplitude differences
between sounds captured by different microphones of the array. The
device 110 (using microphone 112, wakeword detection module 220,
ASR module 250, etc.) may be configured to determine audio data
corresponding to detected audio. The device 110 (using input/output
device interfaces 1810, etc.) may also be configured to transmit
the audio data to server(s) 120 for further processing or to
process the data using internal components such as a wakeword
detection module 220.
[0162] The input/output device interfaces 1810 may be configured to
operate with network(s) 10, for example a wireless local area
network (WLAN) (such as WiFi), Bluetooth, ZigBee and/or wireless
networks, such as a Long Term Evolution (LTE) network, WiMAX
network, 3G network, etc. The network(s) 10 may include a local or
private network or may include a wide network such as the internet.
Devices may be connected to the network 1820 through either wired
or wireless connections.
[0163] The input/output device interfaces 1810 may also include an
interface for an external peripheral device connection such as
universal serial bus (USB), FireWire, Thunderbolt, Ethernet port or
other connection protocol that may connect to network(s) 10. The
input/output device interfaces 1810 may also include a connection
to an antenna (not shown) to connect one or more network(s) 10 via
an Ethernet port, a wireless local area network (WLAN) (such as
WiFi) radio, Bluetooth, and/or wireless network radio, such as a
radio capable of communication with a wireless communication
network such as a Long Term Evolution (LTE) network, WiMAX network,
3G network, etc.
[0164] The device 110 and/or the server(s) 120 may include a
wakeword detection module 220, an automatic speech recognition
(ASR) 250, a natural language understanding (NLU) 260, a command
processor 290 and/or a text-to-speech (TTS) module 314 as described
above with regard to FIGS. 2-10.
[0165] The ASR module 250 in device 110 may be of limited or
extended capabilities. The ASR module 250 may include the language
models 254 stored in ASR model storage component 252, and an ASR
module 250 that performs the automatic speech recognition process.
If limited speech recognition is included, the ASR module 250 may
be configured to identify a limited number of words, such as
keywords detected by the device, whereas extended speech
recognition may be configured to recognize a much larger range of
words.
[0166] The device 110 and/or server(s) 120 may include a limited or
extended NLU module 260. The NLU module in device 110 may be of
limited or extended capabilities. The NLU module 260 may comprise
the name entity recognition module 262, the intent classification
module 264 and/or other components. The NLU module 260 may also
include a stored knowledge base and/or entity library, or those
storages may be separately located.
[0167] The device 110 and/or server(s) 120 may also include a
command processor 290 that is configured to execute
commands/functions associated with a spoken command as described
above.
[0168] The device 110 may include a wakeword detection module 220,
which may be a separate component or may be included in an ASR
module 250. The wakeword detection module 220 receives audio
signals and detects occurrences of a particular expression (such as
a configured keyword) in the audio. This may include detecting a
change in frequencies over a specific period of time where the
change in frequencies results in a specific audio signature that
the system recognizes as corresponding to the keyword. Keyword
detection may include analyzing individual directional audio
signals, such as those processed post-beamforming if applicable.
Other techniques known in the art of keyword detection (also known
as keyword spotting) may also be used. In some embodiments, the
device 110 may be configured collectively to identify a set of the
directional audio signals in which the wake expression is detected
or in which the wake expression is likely to have occurred.
[0169] The wakeword detection module 220 receives captured audio
and processes the audio (for example, using model(s) 232) to
determine whether the audio corresponds to particular keywords
recognizable by the device 110 and/or system 100. The storage 1808
may store data relating to keywords and functions to enable the
wakeword detection module 220 to perform the algorithms and methods
described above. The locally stored speech models may be
pre-configured based on known information, prior to the device 110
being configured to access the network by the user. For example,
the models may be language and/or accent specific to a region where
the user device is shipped or predicted to be located, or to the
user himself/herself, based on a user profile, etc. In an aspect,
the models may be pre-trained using speech or audio data of the
user from another device. For example, the user may own another
user device that the user operates via spoken commands, and this
speech data may be associated with a user profile. The speech data
from the other user device may then be leveraged and used to train
the locally stored speech models of the device 110 prior to the
user device 110 being delivered to the user or configured to access
the network by the user. The wakeword detection module 220 may
access the storage 1808 and compare the captured audio to the
stored models and audio sequences using audio comparison, pattern
recognition, keyword spotting, audio signature, and/or other audio
processing techniques.
[0170] In some examples, the device 110 may not include the ASR
250, the NLU 260, the command processor 290 and/or the TTS module
314. Instead, the server(s) 120 may include these components and
may receive audio input, perform ASR/NLU on the audio input to
generate and store program data, determine a command and/or
generate synthesized speech. Thus, the device 110 may receive data
and/or instructions from the server(s) 120 to perform functionality
associated with the ASR 250, the NLU 260, the command processor 290
and/or the TTS module 314. Additionally or alternatively, in some
examples the server(s) 120 may not include the wakeword detection
module 220.
[0171] The device 110/server(s) 120 further includes a program
module 1824, which may comprise processor-executable instructions
stored in storage 1808 to be executed by controller(s)/processor(s)
1804 (e.g., software, firmware, hardware, or some combination
thereof). For example, components of the program module 1824 may be
part of a software application running in the foreground and/or
background on the device 110/server(s) 120. The program module 1824
may control the device 110/server(s) 120 as discussed above, for
example with regard to FIGS. 1, 11, 12, 13, 14, 15, 16A-16C and/or
17. Some or all of the controllers/modules of the program module
1824 may be executable instructions that may be embedded in
hardware or firmware in addition to, or instead of, software. In
one embodiment, the device 110/server(s) 120 may operate using an
Android operating system (such as Android 4.3 Jelly Bean, Android
4.4 KitKat or the like), an Amazon operating system (such as FireOS
or the like), or any other suitable operating system.
[0172] Executable computer instructions for operating the device
110/server(s) 120 and its various components may be executed by the
controller(s)/processor(s) 1804, using the memory 1806 as temporary
"working" storage at runtime. The executable instructions may be
stored in a non-transitory manner in non-volatile memory 1806,
storage 1808, or an external device. Alternatively, some or all of
the executable instructions may be embedded in hardware or firmware
in addition to or instead of software.
[0173] The components of the device 110/server(s) 120, as
illustrated in FIGS. 18A-18B, are exemplary, and may be located a
stand-alone device or may be included, in whole or in part, as a
component of a larger device or system.
[0174] The concepts disclosed herein may be applied within a number
of different devices and computer systems, including, for example,
general-purpose computing systems, server-client computing systems,
mainframe computing systems, telephone computing systems, laptop
computers, cellular phones, personal digital assistants (PDAs),
tablet computers, video capturing devices, video game consoles,
speech processing systems, distributed computing environments, etc.
Thus the modules, components and/or processes described above may
be combined or rearranged without departing from the scope of the
present disclosure. The functionality of any module described above
may be allocated among multiple modules, or combined with a
different module. As discussed above, any or all of the modules may
be embodied in one or more general-purpose microprocessors, or in
one or more special-purpose digital signal processors or other
dedicated microprocessing hardware. One or more modules may also be
embodied in software implemented by a processing unit. Further, one
or more of the modules may be omitted from the processes
entirely.
[0175] The above embodiments of the present disclosure are meant to
be illustrative. They were chosen to explain the principles and
application of the disclosure and are not intended to be exhaustive
or to limit the disclosure. Many modifications and variations of
the disclosed embodiments may be apparent to those of skill in the
art. Persons having ordinary skill in the field of computers and/or
digital imaging should recognize that components and process steps
described herein may be interchangeable with other components or
steps, or combinations of components or steps, and still achieve
the benefits and advantages of the present disclosure. Moreover, it
should be apparent to one skilled in the art, that the disclosure
may be practiced without some or all of the specific details and
steps disclosed herein.
[0176] Embodiments of the disclosed system may be implemented as a
computer method or as an article of manufacture such as a memory
device or non-transitory computer readable storage medium. The
computer readable storage medium may be readable by a computer and
may comprise instructions for causing a computer or other device to
perform processes described in the present disclosure. The computer
readable storage medium may be implemented by a volatile computer
memory, non-volatile computer memory, hard drive, solid-state
memory, flash drive, removable disk and/or other media.
[0177] Embodiments of the present disclosure may be performed in
different forms of software, firmware and/or hardware. Further, the
teachings of the disclosure may be performed by an application
specific integrated circuit (ASIC), field programmable gate array
(FPGA), or other component, for example.
[0178] Conditional language used herein, such as, among others,
"can," "could," "might," "may," "e.g.," and the like, unless
specifically stated otherwise, or otherwise understood within the
context as used, is generally intended to convey that certain
embodiments include, while other embodiments do not include,
certain features, elements and/or steps. Thus, such conditional
language is not generally intended to imply that features, elements
and/or steps are in any way required for one or more embodiments or
that one or more embodiments necessarily include logic for
deciding, with or without author input or prompting, whether these
features, elements and/or steps are included or are to be performed
in any particular embodiment. The terms "comprising," "including,"
"having," and the like are synonymous and are used inclusively, in
an open-ended fashion, and do not exclude additional elements,
features, acts, operations, and so forth. Also, the term "or" is
used in its inclusive sense (and not in its exclusive sense) so
that when used, for example, to connect a list of elements, the
term "or" means one, some, or all of the elements in the list.
[0179] Conjunctive language such as the phrase "at least one of X,
Y and Z," unless specifically stated otherwise, is to be understood
with the context as used in general to convey that an item, term,
etc. may be either X, Y, or Z, or a combination thereof. Thus, such
conjunctive language is not generally intended to imply that
certain embodiments require at least one of X, at least one of Y
and at least one of Z to each is present.
[0180] As used in this disclosure, the term "a" or "one" may
include one or more items unless specifically stated otherwise.
Further, the phrase "based on" is intended to mean "based at least
in part on" unless specifically stated otherwise.
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