METHOD AND APPARATUS FOR RECOGNIZING WHISPER

• US 20160019886A1
• Filed: 12/22/2014
• Published: 01/21/2016
• Est. Priority Date: 07/16/2014
• Status: Abandoned Application

• Current Assignee: Samsung Electronics Co. Ltd.
• Original Assignee: Samsung Electronics Co. Ltd.
• Inventors: HONG, Seok Jin
• Application Number:
  US14/579,134
• Publication Number:
  US 20160019886A1
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 1/1
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 1/1684 Constructional details or arrangements related to integrated I/O peripherals not covered by groups G06F1/1635 - G06F1/1675
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 3/04883 for inputting data by handwriting, e.g. gesture or text
• CPC Class Codes: G10L 15/22 Procedures used during a speech recognition process, e.g. man-machine dialogue
• CPC Class Codes: G10L 15/24 Speech recognition using non-acoustical features
• CPC Class Codes: G10L 17/26 Recognition of special voice characteristics, e.g. for use in lie detectors; Recognition of animal voices

Abstract

A method and an apparatus of recognizing whisper are provided. The method of recognizing a whisper may include recognizing a whispering action performed by a user through a first sensor, recognizing a loudness change through a second sensor, and activating a whisper recognition mode based on the whispering action and the loudness change.

Claims

1. A method of recognizing a whisper, the method comprising:

recognizing a whispering action performed by a user through a first sensor;

recognizing a loudness change through a second sensor; and

activating a whisper recognition mode based on the whispering action and the loudness change.

2. The method of claim 1, wherein the recognizing of the whispering action is performed based on any one of whether a touch is detected on a screen of a user terminal through a touch sensor, whether a touch pressure exceeds a pressure threshold value, and whether a touch is input within a preset area on the screen of the user terminal.

3. The method of claim 1, wherein the recognizing of the whispering action is performed based on whether a change in a light intensity detected through a light intensity sensor exceeds a preset light intensity threshold value.

4. The method of claim 1, wherein, in response to the whisper recognition mode being activated, the activating further comprises recognizing the whisper using a whisper recognition based voice model.

5. The method of claim 4, wherein the whisper recognition based voice model is configured to reflect a voice change associated with whispering and a voice reverberation associated with a hand gesture performed to whisper.

15. A non-transitory computer-readable storage medium comprising a program comprising instructions to cause a computer to perform the method of claim 1.

6. A method of recognizing a whisper, the method comprising:

detecting a hand gesture performed to whisper and a voice input associated with the whisper; and

determining whether to activate a whisper recognition mode based on the hand gesture and the input voice.

7. The method of claim 6, wherein the determining is performed by combining information on whether a touch is input on a screen of a user terminal by the hand gesture, a change in a light intensity generated based on the hand gesture, and a loudness change of the input voice.

8. The method of claim 6, wherein the determining is performed by combining information on whether a touch is input within a preset area on a screen of a user terminal by the hand gesture, information on whether a change in a light intensity generated based on the hand gesture exceeds a preset light intensity threshold value, and information on whether a loudness change of the input voice exceeds a preset loudness threshold value.

9. The method of claim 6, wherein, in response to the activating being determined, the determining further comprises recognizing words contained in the whisper using a whisper recognition based voice model.

10. The method of claim 9, wherein the whisper recognition based voice model is configured to reflect a voice change associated with the whisper and a voice reverberation associated with the hand gesture.

11. A user terminal, comprising:

a sensor unit configured to detect a hand gesture performed to express a whisper and a voice input associated with the whisper; and

a processor configured to determine whether to activate a whisper recognition mode based on the hand gesture and the input voice.

12. The user terminal of claim 11, wherein the processor is configured to determine whether to activate the whisper recognition mode by combining information on whether a touch is input on a screen of the user terminal by the hand gesture, a change in a light intensity generated based on the hand gesture, and a loudness change of the input voice.

13. The user terminal of claim 11, wherein the processor is configured to determine whether to activate the whisper recognition mode by combining information on whether a touch is input within a preset area on a screen of the user terminal by the hand gesture, information on whether a change in a light intensity generated based on the hand gesture exceeds a preset light intensity threshold value, and information on whether a loudness change of the input voice exceeds a preset loudness threshold value.

14. The user terminal of claim 11, wherein, in response to the processor determining to activate the whisper recognition mode, the processor is configured to recognize words in the whisper using a whisper recognition based voice model.