Information retrieving method and apparatus

• US 20030154082A1
• Filed: 01/15/2003
• Published: 08/14/2003
• Est. Priority Date: 01/25/2002
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Sony Corporation (Sony Group Corp.)
• Original Assignee: Sony Corporation (Sony Group Corp.)
• Inventors: Toguri, Yasuhiro, Nishiguchi, Masayuki
• Granted Patent: US 7,346,508 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 704/268
• CPC Class Codes: G10L 17/00 Speaker identification or verification techniques

Abstract

A speaker of encoded speech data recorded in a semiconductor storage device in an IC recorder is to be retrieved easily. An information receiving unit 10 in a speaker retrieval apparatus 1 reads out the encoded speech data recorded in a semiconductor storage device 107 in an IC recorder 100. A speech decoding unit 12 decodes the encoded speech data. A speaker frequency detection unit 13 discriminates the speaker based on a feature of the speech waveform decoded to find the frequency of conversation (frequency of occurrence) of the speaker in a preset time interval. A speaker frequency graph displaying unit 14 displays the speaker frequency on a picture as a two-dimensional graph having time and the frequency as two axes. A speech reproducing unit 16 reads out the portion of the encoded speech data corresponding to a time position or a time range specified by a reproducing position input unit 15 based on this two-dimensional graph from the storage device 11 and decodes the read-out data to output the decoded data to a speech outputting unit 17.

Claims

1. An information retrieving method for retrieving the information on a speaker in encoded speech data, from said encoded speech data, said method comprising:

a speaker frequency detecting step of discriminating the speaker, for each recognition interval, based on a feature of said encoded speech data, and detecting the frequency of occurrence of said speaker for each frequency interval; and

a speaker frequency graph outputting step of outputting and displaying the frequency of occurrence of each speaker, detected for each of said frequency intervals, as two-dimensional graphical data having time and the frequency of occurrence as two axes, on an output picture.

2. The information retrieving method according to claim 1 wherein, in said speaker frequency graph outputting step, the frequency of occurrence of a plurality of speakers is output and displayed on said output picture.

3. The information retrieving method according to claim 1 wherein said encoded speech data has been recorded on a random accessible recording device or recording medium;

said method further comprising;

a position specifying step of specifying a time position on said two-dimensional graphical data displayed on said output picture; and

a speech reproducing step of reading-in said time position specified and reproducing said encoded speech data from said time position.

4. The information retrieving method according to claim 3 wherein, in said position specifying step, a time range on said two-dimensional graphical data is specified;

and

wherein, in said speech reproducing step, said encoded speech data of the time range specified is reproduced.

5. The information retrieving method according to claim 3 further comprising:

a speaker specifying step of specifying a desired speaker, wherein, in said speech reproducing step, the portion of said encoded speech data in which the frequency of occurrence of said desired speaker specified in said speaker specifying step is not less than a preset threshold value is reproduced.

6. The information retrieving method according to claim 3 wherein said encoded speech data is recorded in a semiconductor storage device in an IC recorder.

7. An information retrieval apparatus for retrieving the information on a speaker in encoded speech data, from said encoded speech data, said apparatus comprising:

speaker frequency detecting means for discriminating a speaker, for each preset recognition interval, based on a feature of said encoded speech data, and for detecting the frequency of occurrence of the speaker for each preset frequency interval;

speaker frequency graph outputting means for outputting and displaying the frequency of occurrence of each speaker, detected for each frequency interval, on an output picture, as two-dimensional graphical data having time and the frequency of occurrence as two axes.

8. The information retrieval apparatus according to claim 7 wherein said speaker frequency graph outputting means outputs and displays the frequency of occurrence of a plurality of speakers on said output picture.

9. The information retrieval apparatus according to claim 7 wherein said encoded speech data has been recorded on a random accessible recording device or recording medium;

said apparatus further comprising;

position specifying means for specifying a time position on said two-dimensional graphical data Output to said output picture; and

speech reproducing means for reading-in the time position specified and for reproducing said encoded speech data from said time position.

10. The information retrieval apparatus according to claim 9 wherein said position specifying means specifies a time range on said two-dimensional graphical data;

and

wherein said speech reproducing means reproduces said encoded speech data in the time range specified.

11. The information retrieval apparatus according to claim 9 further comprising:

speaker specifying means for specifying a desired speaker;

said speech reproducing means reproducing the portion of said encoded speech data in which the frequency of occurrence of said desired speaker specified by said speaker specifying means is not less than a preset threshold value.

12. The information retrieval apparatus according to claim 9 wherein said encoded speech data is recorded in a semiconductor storage device in an IC recorder.