INFORMATION NOTIFICATION SUPPORTING DEVICE, INFORMATION NOTIFICATION SUPPORTING METHOD, AND COMPUTER PROGRAM PRODUCT

• US 20130218553A1
• Filed: 12/28/2012
• Published: 08/22/2013
• Est. Priority Date: 02/16/2012
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Kabushiki Kaisha Toshiba (Toshiba Corporation)
• Original Assignee: Kabushiki Kaisha Toshiba (Toshiba Corporation)
• Inventors: Fujii, Hiroko, Suzuki, Masaru, Sumita, Kazuo, Sakai, Masaru, Ariu, Masahide
• Granted Patent: US 10,068,575 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 704/9
• CPC Class Codes: G10L 15/222 Barge in, i.e. overridable guidance for interrupting prompts
• CPC Class Codes: G10L 15/26 Speech to text systems G10L15/08 takes precedence
• CPC Class Codes: G10L 25/87 Detection of discrete points within a voice signal

Abstract

According to an embodiment, an information notification supporting device includes an analyzer configured to analyze an input voice so as to identify voice information indicating information related to speech; a storage unit configured to store therein a history of the voice information; an output controller configured to determine, using the history of the voice information, whether a user is able to listen to a message of which the user should be notified; and an output unit configured to output the message when it is determined that the user is in a state in which the user is able to listen to the message.

Claims

1. An information notification supporting device comprising:

an analyzer configured to analyze an input voice so as to identify voice information indicating information related to speech;

a storage unit configured to store therein a history of the voice information;

an output controller configured to determine, using the history of the voice information, whether a user is able to listen to a message of which the user should be notified; and

an output unit configured to output the message when it is determined that the user is in a state in which the user is able to listen to the message.

2. The device according to claim 1,

wherein, when it is determined that the user is not in the state in which the user is able to listen to the message, the output controller controls a timing at which the output unit outputs the message, using a priority of the message.

3. The device according to claim 2,

wherein, when the priority is equal to or greater than a first reference value, the output controller causes the output unit to output the message, regardless of the current state of the user, and

when the priority is less than the first reference value, the output controller delays the timing at which the output unit outputsthe message.

4. The device according to claim 3, further comprising a determining unit configured to determine the current state of the user, using the voice information stored in the storage unit, and store state information indicating the determination result in the storage unit,

wherein the output controller causes the output unit to output the message before the current state of the user is changed to another state, when it is determined that the user is not in the state in which the user is able to listen to the message, the priority is less than the first reference value, and a degree of association, which indicates whether the message is associated with the current state of the user indicated by the state information, represents that the current state of the user is associated with the message.

5. The device according to claim 4,

Wherein the output controller causes the output unit to output the message after the state of the user is changed to the situation in which the user is able to listen to the message, when it is determined that the user is not in the state in which the user is able to listen to the message, the priority is less than a second reference value less than the first reference value, and the degree of association represents that the current state of the user is not associated with the message.

6. The device according to claim 1, further comprising a determining unit configured to determine the current state of the user, using the voice information stored in the storage unit, and store sate information indicating the determination result in the storage unit,

wherein, when it is determined that the user is not in the state in which the user is able to listen to the message, the output controller controls a timing at which the output unit outputs the message, using a degree of association indicating whether the message is associated with the current state of the user indicated by the state information.

7. The device according to claim 6,

Wherein the determining unit determines that the message is associated with the current state of the user when the message is a response to a user request indicating a request from the user and the user request is made in the current state of the user indicated by the state information.

8. The device according to claim 6, further comprising a voice recognizer configured to perform a voice recognition on an input voice and register text obtained by the voice recognition in the storage unit,

wherein, when the current state of the user indicated by the state information indicates that the user is in conversation, the determining unit compares the text indicating a content of the current conversation with the message so as to determine whether the message is associated with the current state of the user.

9. The device according to claim 8,

wherein, when each of the text indicating the content of the current conversation and the message includes a predetermined key word, the determining unit determines that the message is associated with the current state of the user.

10. The device according to claim 2, further comprising:

a receiving unit configured to receive the message from an external device; and

a reception notifying unit configured to notify the user of the reception of the message when the receiving unit receives the message.

11. The device according to claim 6, further comprising:

a receiving unit configured to receive the message from an external device; and

a reception notifying unit configured to notify the user of the reception of the message when the receiving unit receives the message.

12. The device according to claim 10,

wherein a notification pattern of the reception notifying unit varies depending on the degree of association.

13. The device according to claim 11,

wherein a notification pattern of the reception notifying unit varies depending on the degree of association.

14. The device according to claim 10,

wherein a notification pattern of the reception notifying unit varies depending on the priority of the message.

15. The device according to claim 11,

wherein a notification pattern of the reception notifying unit varies depending on the priority of the message.

16. An information notification supporting method of notifying a user of a message, comprising:

analyzing an input voice so as to identify voice information indicating information related to speech;

storing a history of the voice information in a storage unit;

determining, using the history of the voice information, whether a user is able to listen to a message of which the user should be notified; and

outputting the message when it is determined that the user is in a state in which the user is able to listen to the message.

17. A computer program product comprising a computer-readable medium containing a program that causes a computer to execute:

analyzing an input voice so as to identify voice information indicating information related to speech;

storing a history of the voice information in a storage unit;

determining, using the history of the voice information, whether a user is able to listen to a message of which the user should be notified; and

outputting the message when it is determined that the user is in a state in which the user is able to listen to the message.