METHOD AND SYSTEM FOR USING VEHICLE SOUND INFORMATION TO ENHANCE AUDIO PROMPTING

• US 20130185066A1
• Filed: 01/17/2012
• Published: 07/18/2013
• Est. Priority Date: 01/17/2012
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: GM Global Technology Operations LLC (General Motors Company)
• Original Assignee: GM Global Technology Operations LLC (General Motors Company)
• Inventors: TZIRKEL-HANCOCK, Eli, Tsimhoni, Omer
• Granted Patent: US 9,418,674 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 704/233
• CPC Class Codes: G10L 13/04 Details of speech synthesis systems, e.g. synthesiser structure or memory management
• CPC Class Codes: G10L 15/19 Grammatical context, e.g. disambiguation of the recognition hypotheses based on word sequence rules
• CPC Class Codes: G10L 15/20 Speech recognition techniques specially adapted for robustness in adverse environments, e.g. in noise, of stress induced speech G10L21/02 takes precedence
• CPC Class Codes: G10L 15/22 Procedures used during a speech recognition process, e.g. man-machine dialogue
• CPC Class Codes: G10L 2021/03643 Diver speech
• CPC Class Codes: G10L 21/003 Changing voice quality, e.g. pitch or formants
• CPC Class Codes: G10L 21/057 for improving intelligibility

Abstract

Sound related vehicle information representing one or more sounds may be received in a processor associated with a vehicle. The sound related vehicle information may or may not include an audio signal. An audio signal output to a passenger may be modified based on the sound related vehicle information.

Claims

1. A method comprising:

receiving, in a processor associated with a vehicle, sound related vehicle information representing one or more sounds, the sound related vehicle information not including an audio signal; and

modifying an audio signal output to a passenger based on the sound related vehicle information.

2. The method of claim 1, comprising determining interference profile records based on the sound related vehicle information.

3. The method of claim 2, wherein modifying the audio signal output to the passenger based on the sound related vehicle information comprises:

shaping an audio signal spectrum to increase a signal to noise ratio based on the interference profile records; and

outputting the audio signal with the shaped spectrum.

4. The method of claim 2, wherein modifying the audio signal output to the passenger based on the sound related vehicle information comprises:

altering an audio signal pitch based on the interference profile records; and

outputting the audio signal with altered pitch.

5. The method of claim 2, wherein modifying the audio signal output to the passenger based on the sound related vehicle information comprises:

altering a prompt signal speech rate based on the interference profile records; and

outputting the prompt signal with altered prompt signal speech rate.

6. The method of claim 2, wherein modifying the audio signal output to the passenger based on the sound related vehicle information comprises:

altering a prompt signal syllable duration based on the interference profile records; and

outputting the prompt signal with altered prompt signal syllable duration.

7. The method of claim 2, wherein modifying the audio signal output to the passenger based on the sound related vehicle information comprises:

modifying a prompt signal based on the interference profile records using Lombard style modification comprising one or more types of prompt signal modification selected from the group consisting of;

altering a prompt signal spectrum, altering a prompt signal pitch, altering a prompt signal speech rate, and altering a prompt signal syllable duration; and

outputting the Lombard style modified prompt signal.

8. The method of claim 2, wherein determining the interference profile records based on the sound related vehicle information comprises determining the interference profile records using logic operations based on multiple types of sound related vehicle information.

9. The method of claim 1, comprising:

measuring a success of modifying the audio signal based the sound related vehicle information in increasing audio prompt intelligibility; and

adapting modification of the audio signal based on the measured success.

10. The method of claim 2, wherein the interference profile records comprise noise type parameters and noise level parameters.

11. A system comprising:

a memory; and

a processor associated with a vehicle to;

receive sound related vehicle information representing one or more sounds, the sound related vehicle information not including an audio signal; and

modify an audio signal output to a passenger based on the sound related vehicle information.

12. The system of claim 11, wherein the processor is to determine interference profile records based on the sound related vehicle information.

13. The system of claim 12, wherein to modify the audio signal output to the passenger based on the sound related vehicle information the processor is to:

shape an audio signal spectrum to increase a signal to noise ratio based on the interference profile records; and

output the audio signal with the shaped spectrum.

14. The system of claim 12, wherein to modify the audio signal output to the passenger based on the sound related vehicle information the processor is to:

alter an audio signal pitch based on the interference profile records; and

output the audio signal with altered pitch.

15. The system of claim 12, wherein to modify the audio signal output to the passenger based on the sound related vehicle information the processor is to:

alter a prompt signal speech rate based on the interference profile records; and

output the prompt signal with altered prompt signal speech rate.

16. The system of claim 12, wherein to modify the audio signal output to the passenger based on the sound related vehicle information the processor is to:

alter a prompt signal syllable duration based on the interference profile records; and

output the prompt signal with altered prompt signal syllable duration.

17. The system of claim 12, wherein to modify the audio signal output to the passenger based on the sound related vehicle information the processor is to:

modify a prompt signal based on the interference profile records using Lombard style modification comprising one or more types of prompt signal modification selected from the group consisting of;

altering a prompt signal spectrum, altering a prompt signal pitch, altering a prompt signal speech rate, and altering a prompt signal syllable duration; and

output the Lombard style modified prompt signal.

18. The system of claim 11, wherein the processor is to:

measure a success of modifying the audio signal based on the sound related vehicle information in increasing audio prompt intelligibility; and

adapt modification of the audio signal based on the measured success.

19. A method comprising:

receiving, at a controller associated with a spoken dialogue system, information related to the operation of vehicle systems causing sound;

calculating noise type parameters and noise level parameters based on the information, the noise type parameters and noise level parameters representing types of sound and levels of sound;

altering an audio prompt signal based on the noise type parameters and noise level parameters; and

outputting the prompt signal from the spoken dialogue system.

20. The method of claim 19, wherein altering the audio prompt signal based on the interference profile records comprises:

modifying the audio prompt signal based on the noise type parameters and noise level parameters using Lombard style modification comprising one or more types of signal modification selected from the group consisting of;

modifying the prompt signal spectrum, modifying the prompt signal pitch, modifying the prompt signal speech rate, and modifying the prompt signal syllable duration; and

outputting the modified audio prompt signal.