Arrangement of speaker-independent speech recognition

• US 20020152067A1
• Filed: 04/15/2002
• Published: 10/17/2002
• Est. Priority Date: 04/17/2001
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: HMD Global Oy
• Original Assignee: Nokia Corporation
• Inventors: Viikki, Olli, Laurila, Kari
• Granted Patent: US 7,392,184 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 704/231
• CPC Class Codes: G10L 15/063 Training
• CPC Class Codes: G10L 15/30 Distributed recognition, e.g. in client-server systems, for mobile phones or network applications

Abstract

A method needed in speech recognition for forming a pronunciation model in a telecommunications system comprising at least one portable electronic device and server. The electronic device is arranged to compare the user'"'"'s speech information with pronunciation models comprising acoustic units and stored in the electronic device. A character sequence is transferred from the electronic device to the server. In the server, the character device is converted into a sequence of acoustic units. A sequence of acoustic units is sent from the server to the electronic device.

Claims

1. A method of forming a pronunciation model for speech recognition in a telecommunications system comprising at least one portable electronic device and a server, the electronic device being configured to compare the user'"'"'s speech information with pronunciation models comprising acoustic units and stored in the electronic device, the method comprising:

transferring a character sequence from the electronic device to the server;

converting the character sequence in the server into at least one sequence of acoustic units; and

transferring at least one sequence of acoustic units from the server to the electronic device.

2. A method according to claim 1, wherein at least one language is defined for the character sequence in the server;

and

the character sequence is converted into at least one sequence of acoustic units in accordance with the determined language.

3. A method according to claim 1, wherein at least one language is determined for the character sequence in the electronic device;

information on the language of the character sequence is sent to the server; and

the character sequence is converted into at least one sequence of acoustic units in accordance with the determined language.

4. A method according to claim 1, the method further comprising:

associating in the electronic device the sequence of acoustic units received from the server to the character sequence stored in the memory of the electronic device or its tag;

comparing in the electronic device the user'"'"'s speech information with the stored sequences of acoustic units;

selecting a sequence of acoustic units substantially matching the user'"'"'s speech information and further a character sequence according to said sequence of acoustic units from contact information; and

activating a service in accordance with said character sequence.

5. A method according to claim 1, the method further comprising:

searching in the electronic device for information related to the character sequence, e.g. telephone numbers, on the basis of the received character sequence; and

sending said information in addition to the sequence of acoustic units to the electronic device.

6. A method according to claim 1, the method further comprising:

forming an audio model of the sequence of acoustic units in an audio synthesizer;

storing the audio model in the electronic device, associating it to the character sequence or its tag; and

playing the audio model to the user of the electronic device as a response to the user'"'"'s speech command being substantially matching the sequence of acoustic units received from the character sequence.

7. A method according to claim 1, wherein the electronic device is a mobile station and the data transmission between the server and the electronic device is configured by messaging through a mobile network.

8. A method according to claim 1, wherein the sequence of acoustic units is a phoneme sequence in text format.

9. A telecommunications system comprising at least one electronic device and a server, wherein the electronic device is configured to send a character sequence intended for speech recognition to the server;

the server is configured to convert the character sequence into at least one sequence of acoustic units;

the server is configured to send at least one sequence of acoustic units to the electronic device; and

the electronic device is configured to compare the user'"'"'s speech information with the sequences of acoustic units stored in the electronic device.

10. An electronic device comprising:

means for sending a character sequence intended for speech recognition to a server;

means for receiving the sequence of acoustic units formed of the character sequence from the server;

means for storing the sequence of acoustic units; and

means for comparing user'"'"'s speech information with stored sequences of acoustic units.

11. An electronic device according to claim 10, the electronic device further comprising:

means for associating the sequence of acoustic units received from the server to the character sequence stored in the memory of the electronic device or its tag;

means for selecting a sequence of acoustic units substantially according to the user'"'"'s speech information and further a character sequence according to said sequence of acoustic units; and

means for activating a service in accordance with said character sequence.

13. A server according to claim 12, the server further comprising:

means for determining at least one language for the received character sequence; and

means for converting the character sequence into at least one sequence of acoustic units in accordance with the determined language.

12. A server comprising:

means for receiving a character sequence from at least one electronic device;

means for converting the character sequence into at least one sequence of acoustic units; and

means for sending at least one sequence of acoustic units to the electronic device.

14. A computer program product for controlling a server, said computer program product comprising program code causing the server to receive a character sequence from an electronic device;

convert the character sequence into at least one sequence of acoustic units; and

send at least one sequence of acoustic units to the electronic device.

15. A data storage medium readable by a server,

said data storage medium comprising a computer program causing the server to

receive a character sequence from an electronic device;

convert the character sequence into at least one sequence of acoustic units; and

send at least one sequence of acoustic units to the electronic device.