Device including speech recognition function and method of recognizing speech

• US 10,262,653 B2
• Filed: 09/13/2017
• Issued: 04/16/2019
• Est. Priority Date: 12/28/2012
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Socionext Inc.
• Original Assignee: Socionext Inc.
• Inventors: Miyasaka, Shuji, Abe, Kazutaka
• Primary Examiner(s): Han, Qi
• Application Number:
  US15/703,594
• Publication Number:
  US 20180005627A1
• Time in Patent Office: 580 Days
• Field of Search: 704251, 704231, 704235, 7042701, 704275
• CPC Class Codes: G10L 13/00 Speech synthesis; Text to speech systems
• CPC Class Codes: G10L 15/08 Speech classification or search
• CPC Class Codes: G10L 15/22 Procedures used during a speech recognition process, e.g. man-machine dialogue
• CPC Class Codes: G10L 15/222 Barge in, i.e. overridable guidance for interrupting prompts
• CPC Class Codes: G10L 15/28 Constructional details of speech recognition systems
• CPC Class Codes: G10L 17/22 Interactive procedures; Man-machine interfaces
• CPC Class Codes: G10L 2015/088 Word spotting
• CPC Class Codes: G10L 2015/223 Execution procedure of a spoken command
• CPC Class Codes: G10L 2021/02082 the noise being echo, reverberation of the speech
• CPC Class Codes: G10L 21/0208 Noise filtering

Abstract

A device including a speech recognition function which recognizes speech from a user, includes: a loudspeaker which outputs speech to a space; a microphone which collects speech in the space; a first speech recognition unit which recognizes the speech collected by the microphone; a command control unit which issues a command for controlling the device, based on the speech recognized by the first speech recognition unit; and a control unit which prohibits the command issuance unit from issuing the command, based on the speech to be output from the loudspeaker.

Claims

1. A device including a speech recognition function which recognizes user speech which is speech from a user, the device comprising:

a loudspeaker which outputs speech to a space;

a microphone which collects speech in the space;

a speech output unit configured to output a speech signal;

a first speech recognition unit configured to recognize the speech collected by the microphone;

a first control unit configured to generate a command for controlling the speech output unit, based on the speech recognized by the first speech recognition unit; and

a second control unit configured to permit or prohibit issuance of the command to the speech output unit, based on the speech signal,

wherein the second control unit includes a second speech recognition unit configured to analyze the speech signal to recognize the speech to be output from the loudspeaker, and

the second control unit is configured to determine whether or not the speech recognized by the second speech recognition unit matches a predetermined keyword, and when the speech recognized by the second speech recognition unit matches the predetermined keyword, prohibit the issuance of the command and when the speech recognized by the second speech recognition unit does not match the predetermined keyword, permit issuance of the command.

2. A method of recognizing user speech using a device including a speech recognition function, the user speech being speech from a user, the device including a loudspeaker, a microphone, two speech recognition units, a speech output unit and a control unit, the method comprising:

inputting a first speech signal from the speech output unit into the loudspeaker, and outputting a first speech corresponding to the first speech signal into a space utilizing the loudspeaker;

collecting a second speech signal utilizing the microphone, the second speech signal including the first speech and user speech;

recognizing by a first speech recognition unit, the first speech signal;

recognizing, by a second speech recognition unit, the second speech signal;

generating, by the control unit, a command for controlling the device, based on the second speech signal recognized by the second speech recognition unit;

determining, by the control unit, whether or not the recognized first speech signal by the first speech recognition unit matches a first predetermined keyword;

when it is determined that the recognized first speech signal matches the first predetermined keyword, prohibiting issuance of a command corresponding to the user speech of the recognized second speech signal; and

when it is determined that the recognized first speech signal does not match the first predetermined keyword, issuing the command corresponding to the user speech of the recognized second speech signal to control the device.