System and method for menu-driven voice control of characters in a game environment

• US 20020169617A1
• Filed: 05/14/2001
• Published: 11/14/2002
• Est. Priority Date: 05/14/2001
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Sony Interactive Entertainment LLC (Sony Group Corp.)
• Original Assignee: Sony Computer Entertainment America (Sony Group Corp.)
• Inventors: Luisi, Seth C.H.
• Granted Patent: US 7,085,722 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 704/275
• CPC Class Codes: A63F 13/10 Control of the course of the game, e.g. start, progess, end
• CPC Class Codes: A63F 13/215 comprising means for detecting acoustic signals, e.g. using a microphone
• CPC Class Codes: A63F 13/424 involving acoustic input signals, e.g. by using the results of pitch or rhythm extraction or voice recognition
• CPC Class Codes: A63F 13/45 Controlling the progress of the video game
• CPC Class Codes: A63F 13/533 for prompting the player, e.g. by displaying a game menu
• CPC Class Codes: A63F 2300/1081 Input via voice recognition
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 3/167 Audio in a user interface, e.g. using voice commands for navigating, audio feedback
• CPC Class Codes: G10L 15/22 Procedures used during a speech recognition process, e.g. man-machine dialogue
• CPC Class Codes: G10L 15/26 Speech to text systems G10L15/08 takes precedence
• CPC Class Codes: G10L 2015/228 of application context

Abstract

In a gaming system, a user controls actions of characters in the game environment using speech commands. In a learning mode, available speech commands are displayed in a command menu on a display device. In a non-learning mode, the available speech commands are not displayed. A speaker-independent context-sensitive speech recognition module contains a vocabulary of available speech commands. Use of speech commands is combined with input from a controller device to control actions of a character or characters in the game environment.

Claims

1. A system for voice control of characters, comprising:

a microphone operable to receive spoken commands from a user;

a speech recognition module stored in a memory, the speech recognition module configured to recognize the spoken commands; and

software stored in the memory, the software configured to respond to recognized spoken commands to control actions of a character.

2. The system of claim 1, wherein the software displays a menu of available commands on a display device.

3. The system of claim 2, wherein the software displays a level 1 menu of available commands on the display device in response to a signal from a controller device.

4. The system of claim 3, wherein the software displays a level 2 menu of available commands on the display device in response to the speech recognition module recognizing a level 1 command spoken by the user.

5. The system of claim 4, wherein the software executes a command to control actions of a character in response to the speech recognition module recognizing a level 2 command spoke by the user.

6. The system of claim 4, wherein the software displays a level 3 menu of available commands on the display device in response to the speech recognition module recognizing a level 2 command spoken by the user.

7. The system of claim 6, wherein the software executes a command to control actions of a character in response to the speech recognition module recognizing a level 3 command spoken by the user.

8. The system of claim 1, further comprising a controller device for inputting commands to the software to control actions of a character or characters.

9. The system of claim 8, wherein the user controls the actions of one character using the controller device and controls the actions of at least one other character using the spoken commands.

10. The system of claim 1, wherein the spoken commands include at least two words spoken consecutively.

11. A method for controlling a character, comprising the steps of:

displaying a menu of commands to a user;

recognizing an utterance that corresponds to a command in the menu; and

executing a recognized command to cause a character to perform an action.

12. The method of claim 11, wherein the menu of commands includes a menu of available characters.

13. The method of claim 11, wherein the menu of commands includes a menu of available actions for a selected character, where items in the menu of available actions depends upon a state of a game environment.

14. The method of claim 11, wherein the step of recognizing an utterance includes evaluating a context of the utterance.

15. The method of claim 11, wherein the utterance includes at least two words.

16. The method of claim 15, wherein the utterance is a sentence-type command.

18. The computer-readable medium of claim 17, wherein the menu of commands includes a menu of available characters.

19. The computer readable-medium of claim 17, wherein the menu of commands includes a menu of available actions for a selected character, where items in the menu of available actions depends upon a state of a game environment.

20. The computer-readable medium of claim 17, wherein the step of recognizing an utterance includes evaluating a context of the utterance.

21. The computer-readable medium of claim 17, wherein the utterance includes at least two words.

22. The computer-readable medium of claim 21, wherein the utterance is a sentence-type command.

24. The system of claim 23, wherein the menu of commands includes a menu of available characters.

25. The system of claim 23, wherein the menu of commands includes a menu of available actions for a selected character, where items in the menu of available actions depends upon a state of a game environment.

26. The system of claim 23, wherein the means for recognizing an utterance evaluates a context of the utterance.

27. The system of claim 23, wherein the utterance includes at least two words.

28. The system of claim 27, wherein the utterance is a sentence-type command.

29. The system of claim 23, wherein the means for recognizing an utterance is a speaker-independent context-sensitive speech recognizer.

30. The system of claim 23, wherein the menu of commands is displayed to the user as a branching menu.

17. A computer-readable medium comprising instructions for controlling a character by performing the steps of:

displaying a menu of commands to a user;

recognizing an utterance that corresponds to a command in the menu; and

executing a recognized command to cause a character to perform an action.

23. A system for controlling a character, comprising:

means for displaying a menu of commands to a user;

means for recognizing an utterance that corresponds to a command in the menu; and

means for executing a recognized command to cause a character to perform an action.