Method and Apparatus for Automated Speaker Parameters Adaptation in a Deployed Speaker Verification System

• US 20140244257A1
• Filed: 02/25/2013
• Published: 08/28/2014
• Est. Priority Date: 02/25/2013
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Microsoft Technology Licensing LLC (Microsoft Corporation)
• Original Assignee: Nuance Communications, Inc. (Microsoft Corporation)
• Inventors: Farrell, Kevin R., Colibro, Daniele Ernesto, Vair, Claudio
• Granted Patent: US 9,865,266 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 704/246
• CPC Class Codes: G10L 17/04 Training, enrolment or model building
• CPC Class Codes: G10L 17/06 Decision making techniques; Pattern matching strategies
• CPC Class Codes: G10L 17/12 Score normalisation
• CPC Class Codes: G10L 17/20 Pattern transformations or operations aimed at increasing system robustness, e.g. against channel noise or different working conditions
• CPC Class Codes: G10L 17/22 Interactive procedures; Man-machine interfaces

Abstract

Typical speaker verification systems usually employ speakers'"'"' audio data collected during an enrollment phase when users enroll with the system and provide respective voice samples. Due to technical, business, or other constraints, the enrollment data may not be large enough or rich enough to encompass different inter-speaker and intra-speaker variations. According to at least one embodiment, a method and apparatus employing classifier adaptation based on field data in a deployed voice-based interactive system comprise: collecting representations of voice characteristics, in association with corresponding speakers, the representations being generated by the deployed voice-based interactive system; updating parameters of the classifier, used in speaker recognition, based on the representations collected; and employing the classifier, with the corresponding parameters updated, in performing speaker recognition.

Claims

1. A method of performing speaker recognition, the method comprising:

collecting representations of voice characteristics, in association with corresponding speakers, the representations being generated by a deployed voice-based interactive system;

updating parameters of a classifier used in speaker recognition, based on the representations collected; and

employing the classifier, with the corresponding parameters updated, in performing speaker recognition.

2. A method according to claim 1 further comprising updating at least one score normalization employed by the classifier.

3. A method according to claim 1 further comprising:

collecting a representation of a speaker identity in association with at least one representation of voice characteristics of a corresponding speaker; and

comparing the representation of the speaker identity collected to a speaker identification provided by the classifier.

4. A method according to claim 1 further comprising computing the representations of voice characteristics based on field data received by the deployed voice-based interactive system.

5. A method according to claim 1 further comprising generating the representations of voice characteristics, the representations of voice characteristics being indicative of inter-speaker and intra-speaker variations in voice characteristics.

6. A method according to claim 1, wherein updating the parameters of the classifier includes updating the parameters based on a subset of the representations of the voice characteristics collected.

7. A method according to claim 6 further comprising selecting the subset of the representations based on representations associated with successful identification of a speaker by the deployed voice-based interactive system.

8. A method according to claim 7 further comprising selecting the subset of the representations based on representations exhibiting large variations with respect to corresponding representations previously maintained by the deployed voice-based interactive system.

9. A method according to claim 1, wherein updating the parameters of the classifier includes updating the parameters after a given number of successful identifications of at least one speaker.

10. A method according to claim 1, wherein updating the parameters of the classifier includes updating one or more representations of voice characteristics associated with a speaker.

18. An apparatus according to claim 7, wherein the at least one processor and the at least one memory, with the computer code instructions, being configured to cause the apparatus to further select the subset of the representations based on representations exhibiting large variations with respect to corresponding representations previously maintained by the deployed voice-based interactive system.

19. An apparatus according to claim 1, wherein in updating the parameters of the classifier, the at least one processor and the at least one memory, with the computer code instructions, being configured to cause the apparatus to update the parameters after a given number of successful identifications of at least one speaker.

11. An apparatus of performing speaker recognition, the apparatus comprising:

at least one processor; and

at least one memory with computer code instructions stored thereon, the at least one processor and the at least one memory, with the computer code instructions, being configured to cause the apparatus to;

collect representations of voice characteristics, in association with corresponding speakers, the representations being generated by a deployed voice-based interactive system;

update parameters of a classifier, used in speaker recognition, based on the representations collected; and

employ the classifier, with the corresponding parameters updated, in performing speaker recognition.

12. An apparatus according to claim 11, wherein the at least one processor and the at least one memory, with the computer code instructions, being configured to cause the apparatus to further update at least one score normalization employed by the classifier.

13. An apparatus according to claim 11, wherein the at least one processor and the at least one memory, with the computer code instructions, being configured to cause the apparatus to further:

collect a representation of a speaker identity in association with at least one representation of voice characteristics of a corresponding speaker; and

compare the representation of the speaker identity collected to a speaker identification provided by the classifier.

14. An apparatus according to claim 11, wherein the at least one processor and the at least one memory, with the computer code instructions, being configured to cause the apparatus to further compute the representations of voice characteristics based on field data received by the deployed voice-based interactive system.

15. An apparatus according to claim 11, wherein the at least one processor and the at least one memory, with the computer code instructions, being configured to cause the apparatus to further generate the representations of voice characteristics, the representations of voice characteristics being indicative of inter-speaker and intra-speaker variations in voice characteristics.

16. An apparatus according to claim 11, wherein in updating the parameters of the classifier, the at least one processor and the at least one memory, with the computer code instructions, being configured to cause the apparatus to update the parameters based on a subset of the representations of the voice characteristics collected.

17. An apparatus according to claim 16, wherein the at least one processor and the at least one memory, with the computer code instructions, being configured to cause the apparatus to further select the subset of the representations based on representations associated with successful identification of a speaker by the deployed voice-based interactive system.

20. A non-transitory computer-readable medium with computer software instructions stored thereon, the computer software instructions when executed by a processor cause an apparatus to perform:

collecting representations of voice characteristics, in association with corresponding speakers, the representations being generated by a deployed voice-based interactive system;

updating parameters of a classifier, used in speaker recognition, based on the representations collected; and

employing the classifier, with the corresponding parameters updated, in performing speaker recognition.