METHODS, APPARATUSES, AND SYSTEMS FOR PROVIDING TIMELY USER CUES PERTAINING TO SPEECH RECOGNITION

• US 20100049525A1
• Filed: 08/24/2009
• Published: 02/25/2010
• Est. Priority Date: 08/22/2008
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Amazon Technologies, Inc. (Amazon.com, Inc.)
• Original Assignee: YAP INC. (Amazon.com, Inc.)
• Inventors: Paden, Scott Edward
• Granted Patent: US 8,301,454 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 704/270.100
• 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

Abstract

A method is provided of providing cues from am electronic communication device to a user while capturing an utterance. A plurality of cues associated with the user utterance are provided by the device to the user in at least near real-time. For each of a plurality of portions of the utterance, data representative of the respective portion of the user utterance is communicated from the electronic communication device to a remote electronic device. In response to this communication, data, representative of at least one parameter associated with the respective portion of the user utterance, is received at the electronic communication device. The electronic communication device provides one or more cues to the user based on the at least parameter. At least one of the cues is provided by the electronic communication device to the user prior to completion of the step of capturing the user utterance.

Claims

1. A method of providing cues from a device to a user while capturing an utterance, comprising:

(a) capturing, by a hand-held mobile communication device, a first portion of an utterance of a user;

(b) communicating, from the hand-held mobile communication device to a backend server, data representative of the first portion of the user utterance;

(c) receiving, at the backend server, the data representative of the first portion of the user utterance;

(d) processing, at the backend server, the data representative of the first portion of the user utterance, said processing including determining, at the backend server, a metric associated with the first portion of the user utterance;

(e) communicating, from the backend server to the hand-held mobile communication device, data representative of the metric associated with the first portion of the user utterance;

(f) at the hand-held mobile communication device, receiving, from the backend server, the data representative of the metric associated with the first portion of the user utterance;

(g) providing, by the hand-held mobile communication device to the user, a cue based on the received data representative of a metric associated with the first portion of the user utterance;

(h) capturing, by the hand-held mobile communication device, a second portion of the utterance of the user;

(i) communicating, from the hand-held mobile communication device to the backend server, data representative of the second portion of the user utterance;

(j) receiving, at the backend server, the data representative of the second portion of the user utterance;

(k) processing, at the backend server, the data representative of the second portion of the user utterance, said processing including determining, at the backend server, a metric associated with the second portion of the user utterance;

(l) communicating, from the backend server to the hand-held mobile communication device, data representative of the metric associated with the second portion of the user utterance;

(m) at the hand-held mobile communication device, receiving, from the backend server, the data representative of the metric associated with the second portion of the user utterance; and

(n) providing, by the hand-held mobile communication device to the user, a cue based on the received data representative of the metric associated with the second portion of the user utterance;

(o) wherein said step of providing, by the hand-held mobile communication device to the user, a cue based on the received data representative of a metric associated with the first portion of the user utterance, occurs prior to said step of capturing, by the hand-held mobile communication device, a second portion of the user utterance.

2. The method of claim 1, further comprising the steps of:

(a) capturing, by the hand-held mobile communication device, a third portion of the user utterance;

(b) communicating, from the hand-held mobile communication device to the backend server, data representative of the third portion of the user utterance;

(c) receiving, at the backend server, the data representative of the third portion of the user utterance;

(d) processing, at the backend server, the data representative of the third portion of the user utterance, said processing including determining, at the backend server, a metric associated with the third portion of the user utterance;

(e) communicating, from the backend server to the hand-held mobile communication device, data representative of the metric associated with the third portion of the user utterance;

(f) at the hand-held mobile communication device, receiving, from the backend server, the data representative of the metric associated with the third portion of the user utterance; and

(g) providing, by the hand-held mobile communication device to the user, a cue based on the received data representative of the metric associated with the third portion of the user utterance;

(h) wherein said step of providing, by the hand-held mobile communication device to the user, a cue based on the received data representative of a metric associated with the second portion of the user utterance, occurs prior to said step of capturing, by the hand-held mobile communication device, a third portion of the user utterance.

3. A method of providing cues to a user while capturing an utterance, comprising:

(a) capturing, by an electronic communication device, an utterance of a user; and

(b) providing, by the electronic communication device to the user in at least near real-time, a plurality of cues associated with the user utterance, wherein such providing step includes, for each portion of a plurality of portions of the utterance;

(i) communicating, from the electronic communication device, data representative of the respective portion of the user utterance to a remote electronic device,

(ii) in response to the communication of data representative of the respective portion of the user utterance, receiving, at the electronic communication device, data representative of at least one parameter associated with the respective portion of the user utterance, and

(iii) providing, by the electronic communication device to the user, one or more cues based on the at least one parameter associated with the respective portion of the user utterance;

(c) wherein at least one cue of the plurality of cues is provided by the electronic communication device to the user prior to completion of the step of capturing the user utterance.

4. The method of claim 3, wherein said step of communicating, from the electronic communication device, data representative of each respective portion of the user utterance comprises streaming, from the electronic communication device, data representative of the utterance.

5. The method of claim 3, wherein said step of receiving, at the electronic communication device, data representative of at least one parameter associated with the respective portion of the user utterance comprises receiving, at the electronic communication device, a token comprising data representative of at least one parameter associated with the respective portion of the user utterance.

6. The method of claim 3, wherein each respective portion consists of a word, each respective portion consists of a syllable, each respective portion consists of a phrase, or each respective portion consists of a sentence.

7. The method of claim 3, wherein each respective portion comprises a word, each respective portion comprises a syllable, each respective portion comprises a phrase, or each respective portion comprises a sentence.

8. The method of claim 3, wherein the at least one parameter associated with each respective portion of the user utterance comprises at least one metric associated with each respective portion of the utterance.

9. The method of claim 3, wherein the at least one parameter associated with each respective portion of the user utterance comprises a confidence level corresponding to a transcription result of the respective portion of the utterance.

10. The method of claim 3, further comprising receiving, for each respective portion of the plurality of portions, at the electronic communication device, together with the data representative of at the least one parameter associated with the respective portion of the utterance of the user, data representative of a transcription result of the respective portion of the utterance of the user.

11. The method of claim 3, wherein the at least one parameter associated with each respective portion of the user utterance comprises a volume level of the utterance or a background noise level of the utterance.

12. The method of claim 3, wherein said step of providing, by the electronic communication device to the user, one or more cues, comprises displaying, via the electronic communication device, a graphical cue.

13. The method of claim 12, wherein the graphical cue comprises an emoticon.

14. The method of claim 3, wherein said step of providing, by the electronic communication device to the user, one or more cues, comprises outputting, via the electronic communication device, an auditory cue, verbal cue, or optical cue.

15. The method of claim 3, wherein said step of providing, by the electronic communication device to the user, one or more cues, comprises providing, by the electronic communication device to the user, a plurality of cues, each cue being based on a different parameter associated with the respective portion of the user utterance.

16. The method of claim 3, wherein said step of providing, by the electronic communication device to the user, one or more cues, comprises providing, by the electronic communication device to the user, a combination cue based on a plurality of parameters associated with the respective portion of the user utterance.

17. The method of claim 16, wherein the combination cue is configured to be perceivable as representative at least two different parameters associated with the respective portion of the utterance of the user.

18. The method of claim 3, further comprising adjusting, by the user, his or her speech pattern based on a provided cue.

19. A method of facilitating the provision of cues to a user while capturing an utterance of the user, comprising, for each respective portion of a plurality of portions of an utterance of a user captured by a hand-held mobile communication device:

(a) receiving, at a backend server, data representative of the respective portion of the captured user utterance;

(b) transcribing the respective portion of the user utterance into text at the backend server;

(c) determining, at the backend server, a parameter corresponding to the respective portion of the user utterance or corresponding to the text into which the respective portion was transcribed; and

(d) communicating, from the backend server to the hand-held mobile communication device, the parameter corresponding to the respective portion of the user utterance or corresponding to the text into which the respective portion was transcribed;

(e) wherein said step of communicating, from the backend server to the hand-held mobile communication device, the parameter corresponding to a first respective portion of the utterance or corresponding to the text into which the first respective portion was transcribed occurs prior to receiving, at the backend server, data representative of a second respective portion of the user utterance.

20. The method of claim 19, further comprising, for each portion of the plurality of portions, communicating, from the backend server to the hand-held mobile communication device, data representative of the text into which the respective portion was transcribed together with the communicated parameter.