Dynamic time warping of speech

• US 20030220790A1
• Filed: 05/21/2002
• Published: 11/27/2003
• Est. Priority Date: 05/21/2002
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Musicqubed Innovations LLC (Ascend Innovation Management, LLC)
• Original Assignee: ThinkEngine Networks, Inc.
• Inventors: Kepuska, Veton K.
• Granted Patent: US 6,983,246 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 704/241
• CPC Class Codes: G10L 15/12 using dynamic programming techniques, e.g. dynamic time warping [DTW]
• CPC Class Codes: G10L 2015/088 Word spotting

Abstract

A method includes measuring distances between vectors that represent an utterance and vectors that represent a template, generating information indicative of how well the vectors of the utterance match the vectors of the template, and making a matching decision based on the measured distances and on the generated information.

Claims

1. A method comprising

measuring distances between vectors that represent an utterance and vectors that represent a template,

generating information indicative of how well the vectors of the utterance match the vectors of the template, and

making a matching decision based on the measured distances and on the generated information.

2. The method of claim 1 in which the generating of information includes producing a distribution of values associated with the vectors of the template, the values indicating the frequency with which reference template vectors produce a minimum local distance in matching with vectors of the utterance.

3. The method of claim 2 in which the matching decision is based on the extent to which the distribution is non-uniform.

4. The method of claim 3 in which the matching decision is based on the spikiness of the distribution.

5. The method of claim 3 in which the matching decision is based on how well the entire set of vectors representing the template are used in the matching.

6. The method of claim 1 in which the measuring of distances includes generating a raw dynamic time warping score and rescoring the score based on the information indicative of how well the vectors of the utterance match the vectors of the template.

7. The method of claim 6 in which the rescoring is based on both the spikiness of the distribution and the on how well the entire set of vectors representing the template are used in the matching.

8. A method comprising

using dynamic time warping to generate a score representing distances between vectors that represent an utterance and vectors that represent a template,

producing a distribution of values associated with the vectors of the template, the values indicating the frequency with which reference template vectors produce a minimum local distance in matching with vectors of the utterance, and

rescoring the score based on a spikiness of the distribution and on how well the entire set of vectors representing the template are used in the matching.

9. Apparatus comprising

an input port connected to receive digitized speech, and

a speech recognizer configured to

measure distances between vectors that represent an utterance and vectors that represent a template,

generate information indicative of how well the vectors of the utterance match the vectors of the template, and

make a matching decision based on the measured distances and on the generated information.

10. Apparatus comprising

means for measuring distances between vectors that represent an utterance and vectors that represent a template,

means for generating information indicative of how well the vectors of the utterance match the vectors of the template, and

means for making a matching decision based on the measured distances and on the generated information.

11. A medium carrying instructions adapted to cause a machine to

measure distances between vectors that represent an utterance and vectors that represent a template,

generate information indicative of how well the vectors of the utterance match the vectors of the template, and

make a matching decision based on the measured distances and on the generated information.