SPEAKER IDENTIFICATION METHOD, SPEAKER IDENTIFICATION APPARATUS, AND INFORMATION MANAGEMENT METHOD

• US 20150194155A1
• Filed: 06/05/2014
• Published: 07/09/2015
• Est. Priority Date: 06/10/2013
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Panasonic Intellectual Property Corporation of America (Panasonic Holdings Corporation)
• Original Assignee: Panasonic Intellectual Property Corporation of America (Panasonic Holdings Corporation)
• Inventors: Banba, Yutaka, Tsujikawa, Misaki
• Granted Patent: US 9,911,421 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 1/1
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 16/60 of audio data
• CPC Class Codes: G10L 17/00 Speaker identification or verification techniques
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/42203 sound input device, e.g. microphone
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/4415 using biometric characteristics of the user, e.g. by voice recognition or fingerprint scanning cryptography using biological data H04L9/3231; authentication in networks using biometric H04L63/0861
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/4532 involving end-user characteristics, e.g. viewer profile, preferences monitoring of user activities for profile generation for accessing a video database G06F16/739; user profiles in network data switching protocols H04L67/306; processing of user preferences or user profiles in wireless networks H04W8/18

Abstract

The speaker identification system has a voice acquisition unit that acquires voice information of a speaker, and a database management unit that determines whether or not the speaker corresponding to the acquired voice information matches a speaker corresponding to registered voice information in connection with content information on a content, that acquires content information on the content displayed on a device at the time of acquisition of the voice information and stores the acquired content information in connection with the registered voice information in a case where it is determined that the speaker corresponding to the acquired voice information matches the speaker corresponding to the registered voice information, and that stores the acquired voice information in the database as registered voice information in a case where it is determined that the speaker corresponding to the acquired voice information does not match the speaker corresponding to the registered voice information.

Claims

1-9. -9. (canceled)

10. A speaker identification method for identifying a speaker in the vicinity of a device displaying a content, the method comprising the steps of:

acquiring voice information of the speaker;

determining whether or not the speaker corresponding to the acquired voice information matches a speaker corresponding to registered voice information stored in a database in connection with content information on a content;

in a case where it is determined that the speaker corresponding to the acquired voice information matches the speaker corresponding to the registered voice information stored in the database, acquiring content information on the content displayed on the device at the time of acquisition of the voice information, and storing the acquired content information in connection with the registered voice information; and

in a case where it is determined that the speaker corresponding to the acquired voice information does not match the speaker corresponding to the registered voice information stored in the database, storing the acquired voice information in the database as registered voice information in a case where a predetermined condition is satisfied.

11. The speaker identification method according to claim 10, wherein the content information includes a name of the content and a name of a person associated with the content.

12. The speaker identification method according to claim 10, further comprising the step of classifying a plurality of contents associated with the registered voice information into a plurality of genres, calculating, for each of the plurality of genres, a percentage of contents classified into each of the genres from among the plurality of contents, and storing the percentage of contents calculated for each of the plurality of genres in the database in connection with the registered voice information.

13. The speaker identification method according to claim 10, wherein

the database stores content information in connection with a service to be provided to a speaker who views a content corresponding to the content information, and

the method further comprises the step of, in a case where it is determined that the speaker corresponding to the acquired voice information matches the speaker corresponding to the registered voice information stored in the database, specifying the content information stored in connection with the registered voice information, specifying a service associated with the specified content information, and providing the specified service to the speaker.

14. The speaker identification method according to claim 13, further comprising the steps of:

determining whether at least one available service exists or not and whether or not the at least one available service is provided at a predetermined service providing timing; and

in a case where it is determined that the at least one available service exists and that the at least one available service is provided at the predetermined service providing timing, displaying candidates for the at least one available service on the device.

15. The speaker identification method according to claim 14, further comprising the steps of:

providing the speaker with a service that is selected by the speaker from among the displayed candidates for the at least one available service; and

storing the provided service in the database in connection with the registered voice information.

16. The speaker identification method according to claim 13, wherein the service includes a service for distributing a content to be displayed on the device, or a service for distributing an advertisement to be displayed on the device.

17. The speaker identification method according to claim 10, wherein the case where the predetermined condition is satisfied is a case where the voice information of the speaker who is determined not to match the speaker corresponding to the registered voice information recorded in the database is acquired a predetermined number of times or more during a certain period of time.

18. The speaker identification method according to claim 10, wherein, in a case where partial voice information of the registered voice information registered in the database is not acquired for a predetermined period of time or longer, the partial voice information and/or information associated with the partial voice information is deleted from the database.

19. The speaker identification method according to claim 10, wherein whether or not the speaker corresponding to the acquired voice information matches the speaker corresponding to the registered voice information stored in the database in connection with the content information on the content, is determined by extracting text information from the acquired voice information and analyzing spoken words based on the extracted text information.

20. The speaker identification method according to claim 10, wherein

the content information includes a name of a person associated with the content, and

in a case where it is determined that the speaker corresponding to the acquired voice information matches the speaker corresponding to the registered voice information stored in the database, the name of the person is extracted from the content information linked to the speaker corresponding to the acquired voice information, and a service database in which names of persons are stored in connection with services to be provided to speakers is referenced, thereby specifying a service associated with the name of the person as a candidate for a service to be provided.

21. The speaker identification method according to claim 14, wherein

the device includes a television, and

the service providing timing is a timing at which an operation for displaying a program guide for the television is executed.

22. A speaker identification apparatus for identifying a speaker, comprising:

a display unit that displays a content;

a voice acquisition unit that acquires voice information of a speaker in the vicinity of the speaker identification apparatus;

a database for storing registered voice information in connection with content information on a content;

a determination unit that determines whether or not the speaker corresponding to the voice information acquired by the voice acquisition unit matches a speaker corresponding to the registered voice information stored in the database in connection with the content information;

a database update unit that acquires content information on the content displayed on the display unit at the time of acquisition of the voice information and stores the acquired content information in connection with the registered voice information, in a case where the determination unit determines that the speaker corresponding to the acquired voice information matches the speaker corresponding to the registered voice information stored in the database; and

a database storage unit that stores the voice information acquired by the voice acquisition unit in the database as registered voice information in a case where a predetermined condition is satisfied, in a case where the determination unit determines that the speaker corresponding to the acquired voice information does not match the speaker corresponding to the registered voice information stored in the database.

23. An information management method of a speaker identification system for identifying a speaker in the vicinity of a device displaying a content, the method comprising the steps of:

receiving voice information of the speaker;

determining whether or not the speaker corresponding to the received voice information matches a speaker corresponding to registered voice information stored in a database in connection with content information on a content;

in a case where it is determined that the speaker corresponding to the received voice information matches the speaker corresponding to the registered voice information stored in the database, acquiring content information on the content displayed on the device at the time of acquisition of the voice information, and storing the received content information in connection with the registered voice information; and

in a case where it is determined that the speaker corresponding to the received voice information does not match the speaker corresponding to the registered voice information stored in the database, storing the received voice information in the database as registered voice information in a case where a predetermined condition is satisfied.