Electronic device and method of operating voice recognition function

• US 10,679,628 B2
• Filed: 02/16/2016
• Issued: 06/09/2020
• Est. Priority Date: 02/16/2015
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Samsung Electronics Co. Ltd. (Samsung Group)
• Original Assignee: Samsung Electronics Co. Ltd. (Samsung Group)
• Inventors: Lee, Taejin, Chakladar, Subhojit, Lee, Sanghoon, Kim, Kyungtae, Kim, Yuna, Kim, Junhui, Shin, Eunhye, Lee, Jaegeun, Lim, Hyunwoong
• Primary Examiner(s): Baker, Matthew H
• Application Number:
  US15/044,824
• Publication Number:
  US 20160240194A1
• Time in Patent Office: 1,575 Days
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 1/3206 Monitoring of events, devices or parameters that trigger a change in power modality
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 1/3293 by switching to a less power-consuming processor, e.g. sub-CPU
• CPC Class Codes: G10L 15/26 Speech to text systems G10L15/08 takes precedence
• CPC Class Codes: G10L 15/30 Distributed recognition, e.g. in client-server systems, for mobile phones or network applications
• CPC Class Codes: G10L 15/32 Multiple recognisers used in sequence or in parallel; Score combination systems therefor, e.g. voting systems
• CPC Class Codes: Y02D 10/00 Energy efficient computing, e.g. low power processors, power management or thermal management
• CPC Class Codes: Y02D 30/50 in wire-line communication networks, e.g. low power modes or reduced link rate

Abstract

Provided is an electronic device that includes a first processor for receiving an audio signal, performing first voice recognition on the audio signal, and transferring a driving signal to a second processor based on a result of the first voice recognition. The second processor performs second voice recognition based on a voice signal by the first voice recognition or the audio signal, in response to the driving signal.

Claims

1. An electronic device comprising:

a display;

an audio input processor configured to;

receive an audio signal, and

transfer a first driving signal to an audio recognition processor when a frequency of the audio signal corresponds to a preset frequency band,

the audio recognition processor configured to;

perform a first voice recognition on the audio signal in response to the first driving signal, the first voice recognition including a speaker recognition,

recognize a voice trigger of a registered speaker in the audio signal, and

transfer a second driving signal to a main processor based on a result of the first voice recognition, and

the main processor configured to;

perform a second voice recognition based on at least one of a voice signal by the first voice recognition and the audio signal, in response to the second driving signal, the second voice recognition including a command recognition,

execute an application associated with a voice command based on a result of the second voice recognition, and

maintain an off state of the display during the second voice recognition, and turn on the display to display an execution screen of the application in response to successful recognition of the second voice.

2. The electronic device of claim 1, wherein the main processor performs the second voice recognition by switching from a sleep mode to an operational mode, based on the second driving signal.

3. The electronic device of claim 1, wherein the main processor recognizes the voice trigger of the registered speaker for triggering a voice recognition function for the audio signal and recognizes the voice command of the registered speaker for executing a voice-based function for an audio signal input.

4. The electronic device of claim 1, wherein the audio recognition processor switches from a sleep mode to an operational mode in response to the first driving signal.

5. The electronic device of claim 1, further comprising:

an audio processor for processing audio data transmitted/received to/from the main processor,

wherein the audio recognition processor is included in an audio input module for receiving the audio signal.

6. The electronic device of claim 5, wherein the audio input module remains activated regardless of whether the main processor is in an operational mode or a sleep mode.

7. The electronic device of claim 3, wherein the main processor recognizes the voice trigger and the voice command of the registered speaker.

8. The electronic device of claim 1, wherein the audio recognition processor buffers the voice signal through the first voice recognition of the audio signal, and

wherein the audio recognition processor transfers the buffered voice signal and audio signal to the main processor, if the main processor switches from a sleep mode to an operational mode.

9. The electronic device of claim 1, wherein, if the first voice recognition fails, the audio recognition processor switches from an operational mode to a sleep mode and, if the second voice recognition fails, the main processor switches from the operational mode to the sleep mode.

10. The electronic device of claim 1, further comprising:

a transceiver configured to communicate with a voice recognition server,

wherein, if the second voice recognition is successful, the transceiver transmits, for a third voice recognition, at least one of a voice signal by the second voice recognition or the audio signal to the voice recognition server, and receives result information on the third voice recognition from the voice recognition server.

11. The electronic device of claim 1,

wherein, if the second voice recognition is successful while the display is in an off state, the main processor turns on the display to display a function execution screen and, if the second voice recognition fails, the display remains in the off state.

12. The electronic device of claim 1,

wherein, while the second voice recognition is performed, the main processor controls the display to output a screen indicating that the second voice recognition is being performed, and to display a function execution screen if the second voice recognition succeeds and to turn off the display if the second voice recognition fails.

13. A method of performing voice recognition by an electronic device, the method comprising:

receiving an audio signal;

transferring, by an audio input processor, a first driving signal to an audio recognition processor when a frequency of the audio signal corresponds to a preset frequency band;

performing first voice recognition on the audio signal in response to the first driving signal, by the audio recognition processor, the first voice recognition including a speaker recognition;

recognizing a voice trigger of a registered speaker in the audio signal;

transferring a second driving signal to a main processor based on a result of the first voice recognition, by the audio recognition processor;

performing second voice recognition based on at least one of a voice signal by the first voice recognition and the audio signal in response to the second driving signal, by the main processor, the second voice recognition including a command recognition;

executing, by the main processor, an application associated with a voice command based on a result of the second voice recognition; and

maintaining, by the main processor, an off state of a display of the electronic device while the second voice recognition, and turning on the display to display an execution screen of the application in response to successful recognition of the second voice.

14. The method of claim 13, wherein performing the first voice recognition comprises switching from a sleep mode to an operational mode, based on the second driving signal by the main processor.

15. The method of claim 13, wherein recognizing the voice trigger of the registered speaker comprises triggering a voice recognition function based on the audio signal, and recognizing a command voice for executing a voice-based function for an audio signal input after recognition of the voice trigger is successful.

16. The method of claim 13, further comprising:

switching the audio recognition processor from a sleep mode to an operational mode in response to the first driving signal provided by the audio input processor.

17. The method of claim 13, further comprising:

switching the audio recognition processor from an operation mode to a sleep mode if the first voice recognition fails; and

switching the main processor from an operation mode to a sleep mode if the second voice recognition fails.

18. The method of claim 13, further comprising:

switching the main processor from a sleep mode to an operation mode in response to the second driving signal provided by the audio recognition processor;

buffering, by the audio recognition processor, the voice signal through the first voice recognition of the audio signal; and

transferring, by the audio recognition processor, the buffered voice signal and the audio signal to the main processor if the second processor switches from a sleep mode to an operational mode.

19. The method of claim 13, wherein performing the second voice recognition comprises:

performing a function of the electronic device corresponding to the voice command through the second voice recognition if the main processor succeeds in the second voice recognition; and

switching to a sleep mode if the main processor fails in the second voice recognition.

20. The method of claim 16, wherein performing the second voice recognition comprises:

if the main processor succeeds in the second voice recognition, transmitting the audio signal and the voice signal based on the second voice recognition to a voice recognition server for a fourth voice recognition;

when the voice command according to the fourth voice recognition is received from the voice recognition server, performing a function of the electronic device corresponding to the received voice command; and

if failure information on the fourth voice recognition is received from the voice recognition server, switching the main processor to a sleep mode.