METHOD AND SYSTEM FOR VOICE BASED MEDIA SEARCH

• US 20140122059A1
• Filed: 10/31/2012
• Published: 05/01/2014
• Est. Priority Date: 10/31/2012
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: TiVo Solutions Inc. (Adeia Inc.)
• Original Assignee: TiVo Inc. (Adeia Inc.)
• Inventors: Patel, Mukesh, Silverstein, Lu, Jandhyala, Srinivas
• Granted Patent: US 9,734,151 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 704/9
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 16/40 of multimedia data, e.g. slideshows comprising image and additional audio data retrieval of still image data G06F16/50; retrieval of audio data G06F16/60; retrieval of video data G06F16/70
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 16/48 Retrieval characterised by using metadata, e.g. metadata not derived from the content or metadata generated manually

Abstract

Voice-based input is used to operate a media device and/or to search for media content. Voice input is received by a media device via one or more audio input devices and is translated into a textual representation of the voice input. The textual representation of the voice input is used to search one or more cache mappings between input commands and one or more associated device actions and/or media content queries. One or more natural language processing techniques may be applied to the translated text and the resulting text may be transmitted as a query to a media search service. A media search service returns results comprising one or more content item listings and the results may be presented on a display to a user.

Claims

1. A method comprising:

sending voice input data received by a media device to a speech-to-text service;

receiving, by the media device, a textual representation of the voice input from the speech-to-text service;

sending a query based on the textual representation of the voice input to a media search service;

receiving, by the media device, one or more content item listings based on the query;

causing display of at least a portion of the one or more content item listings;

wherein the method is performed on one or more computing devices.

2. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

causing display of at least a portion of the textual representation, wherein the textual representation comprises one or more words;

receiving input from the user indicating one or more modifications of the textual representation.

3. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

determining whether a cache entry corresponding to the textual representation exists in a cache, wherein the cache comprises one or more mappings between voice input commands and one or more media device actions;

in response to determining that a cache entry corresponding to the textual representation exists in the cache, causing the one or more media device actions associated with the cache entry to be performed.

4. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

generating a hash value associated with the textual representation;

determining whether a cache entry comprising the hash value exists in a cache, wherein the cache comprises one or more mappings between hash values and media content queries;

in response to determining that a cache entry corresponding to the hash value exists in the cache, transmitting a media content query associated with the cache entry to the media search service.

5. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

sending the textual representation of the voice input to a natural language processing service;

receiving, by the media device, a parsed representation of the textual representation of the voice input;

based on the parsed representation, filtering one or more words of the textual representation;

generating a hash value associated with the textual representation;

storing a cache entry in a cache comprising a mapping between the hash value and the filtered textual representation.

6. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

receiving input from a user indicating a selection of one or more of the one or more content item listings;

in response to selection of one or more of the one or more content item listings, storing information representing the selection.

7. The method of claim 6, further comprising:

wherein the input from the user indicating the selection of one or more of the one or more content item listings comprises second voice input;

sending the second voice input to the speech-to-text service;

receiving, by the media device, a second textual representation of the second voice input;

determining, based on the second textual representation, a selection of one or more of the content item listings; and

causing an action associated with the one or more selected content item listings to be performed.

8. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

storing, in a buffer, audio data representing audio output generated by the media device, wherein the audio data comprises one or more temporal markers;

filtering the voice input data using the audio data based on the one or more temporal markers.

9. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

determining whether a cache entry corresponding to a voice sampling based on the voice input data exists in a cache, wherein the cache comprises one or more mappings between voice samplings and one or more media device actions;

in response to determining that a cache entry corresponding to the voice sampling exists in the cache, causing the one or more device actions associated with the cache entry to be performed.

10. A non-transitory computer readable medium storing instructions which, when executed by one or more processors, cause performance of steps comprising:

sending voice input data received by a media device to a speech-to-text service;

receiving, by the media device, a textual representation of the voice input from the speech-to-text service;

sending a query based on the textual representation of the voice input to a media search service;

receiving, by the media device, one or more content item listings based on the query;

causing display of at least a portion of the one or more content item listings;

wherein the method is performed on one or more computing devices.

11. The non-transitory computer readable medium as recited in claim 10, further comprising:

causing display of at least a portion of the textual representation, wherein the textual representation comprises one or more words;

receiving from the user one or more modifications of the textual representation.

12. The non-transitory computer readable medium as recited in claim 10, further comprising:

determining whether a cache entry corresponding to the textual representation exists in a cache, wherein the cache comprises one or more mappings between voice input commands and one or more media device actions;

in response to determining that a cache entry corresponding to the textual representation exists in the cache, causing the one or more media device actions associated with the cache entry to be performed.

13. The non-transitory computer readable medium as recited in claim 10, further comprising:

generating a hash value associated with the textual representation;

determining whether a cache entry comprising the hash value exists in a cache, wherein the cache comprises one or more mappings between hash values and media content queries;

in response to determining that a cache entry corresponding to the hash value exists in the cache, transmitting a media content query associated with the cache entry to the media search service.

14. The non-transitory computer readable medium as recited in claim 10, further comprising:

sending the textual representation of the voice input to a natural language processing service;

receiving, by the media device, a parsed representation of the textual representation of the voice input;

based on the parsed representation, filtering one or more words of the textual representation;

generating a hash value associated with the textual representation;

storing a cache entry in a cache comprising a mapping between the hash value and the filtered textual representation.

15. The non-transitory computer readable medium as recited in claim 10, further comprising:

receiving input from a user indicating a selection of one or more of the content item listings;

in response to selection of one or more of the content item listings, storing information representing the selection.

16. The non-transitory computer readable medium as recited in claim 15, further comprising:

wherein the input from the user indicating the selection of one or more of the one or more content item listings comprises second voice input;

sending the second voice input to the speech-to-text service;

receiving, by the media device, a second textual representation of the second voice input;

determining, based on the second textual representation, a selection of one or more of the content item listings; and

causing an action associated with the one or more selected content item listings to be performed.

17. The non-transitory computer readable medium as recited in claim 10, further comprising:

storing, in a buffer, audio data representing audio output generated by the media device, wherein the audio data comprises one or more temporal markers;

filtering the voice input data using the audio data based on the one or more temporal markers.

18. The non-transitory computer readable medium as recited in claim 10, further comprising:

determining whether a cache entry corresponding to a voice sampling based on the voice input data exists in a cache, wherein the cache comprises one or more mappings between voice samplings and one or more media device actions;

in response to determining that a cache entry corresponding to the voice sampling exists in the cache, causing the one or more device actions associated with the cache entry to be performed.

19. An apparatus comprising:

one or more subsystems, implemented at least partially in hardware, that perform the steps of;

sending voice input data received by a media device to a speech-to-text service;

receiving, by the media device, a textual representation of the voice input from the speech-to-text service;

sending a query based on the textual representation of the voice input to a media search service;

receiving, by the media device, one or more content item listings based on the query;

causing display of at least a portion of the one or more content item listings.

20. The apparatus as recited in claim 19, further comprising:

causing display of at least a portion of the textual representation, wherein the textual representation comprises one or more words;

receiving input from the user indicating one or more modifications of the textual representation.

21. The apparatus as recited in claim 19, further comprising:

determining whether a cache entry corresponding to the textual representation exists in a cache, wherein the cache comprises one or more mappings between voice input commands and one or more media device actions;

in response to determining that a cache entry corresponding to the textual representation exists in the cache, causing the one or more media device actions associated with the cache entry to be performed.

22. The apparatus as recited in claim 19, further comprising:

generating a hash value associated with the textual representation;

determining whether a cache entry comprising the hash value exists in a cache, wherein the cache comprises one or more mappings between hash values and media content queries;

in response to determining that a cache entry corresponding to the hash value exists in the cache, transmitting a media content query associated with the cache entry to the media search service.

23. The apparatus as recited in claim 19, further comprising:

sending the textual representation of the voice input to a natural language processing service;

receiving, by the media device, a parsed representation of the textual representation of the voice input;

based on the parsed representation, filtering one or more words of the textual representation;

generating a hash value associated with the textual representation;

storing a cache entry in a cache comprising a mapping between the hash value and the filtered textual representation.

24. The apparatus as recited in claim 19, further comprising:

receiving input from a user indicating a selection of one or more of the one or more content item listings;

in response to selection of one or more of the one or more content item listings, storing information representing the selection.

25. The apparatus as recited in claim 24, further comprising:

wherein the input from the user indicating the selection of one or more of the one or more content item listings comprises second voice input;

sending the second voice input to the speech-to-text service;

receiving, by the media device, a second textual representation of the second voice input;

determining, based on the second textual representation, a selection of one or more of the content item listings; and

causing an action associated with the one or more selected content item listings to be performed.

26. The apparatus as recited in claim 19, further comprising:

storing, in a buffer, audio data representing audio output generated by the media device, wherein the audio data comprises one or more temporal markers;

filtering the voice input data using the audio data based on the one or more temporal markers.

27. The apparatus as recited in claim 19, further comprising:

determining whether a cache entry corresponding to a voice sampling based on the voice input data exists in a cache, wherein the cache comprises one or more mappings between voice samplings and one or more media device actions;

in response to determining that a cache entry corresponding to the voice sampling exists in the cache, causing the one or more device actions associated with the cache entry to be performed.