Speech command recognition apparatus, method, and storage medium used therewith for controlling a plurality of electronic devices over a network

• US 6,993,486 B2
• Filed: 04/13/2001
• Issued: 01/31/2006
• Est. Priority Date: 04/14/2000
• Status: Expired due to Fees

• Current Assignee: Sony Corporation (Sony Group Corp.)
• Original Assignee: Sony Corporation (Sony Group Corp.)
• Inventors: Shimakawa, Masato
• Primary Examiner(s): Young, W. R.
• Assistant Examiner(s): Wozniak, James S.
• Application Number:
  US09/834,504
• Publication Number:
  US 20020013710A1
• Time in Patent Office: 1,754 Days
• Field of Search: 704/275, 704/231, 704/270.1, 704/270, 704/271, 704/272, 704/251, 710/109
• US Class Current: 704/275
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 3/16 Sound input; Sound output speech processing G10L
• CPC Class Codes: G08C 2201/31 Voice input
• CPC Class Codes: G10L 15/00 Speech recognition G10L17/00 takes precedence
• CPC Class Codes: G10L 15/22 Procedures used during a speech recognition process, e.g. man-machine dialogue
• CPC Class Codes: G10L 15/26 Speech to text systems G10L15/08 takes precedence
• CPC Class Codes: G10L 15/28 Constructional details of speech recognition systems
• CPC Class Codes: G10L 2015/223 Execution procedure of a spoken command
• CPC Class Codes: G10L 2015/228 of application context
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 12/282 based on user interaction within the home receiver circuitry for displaying additional information being controlled by a remote control apparatus H04N21/42204
• CPC Class Codes: H04Q 9/00 Arrangements in telecontrol or telemetry systems for selectively calling a substation from a main station, in which substation desired apparatus is selected for applying a control signal thereto or for obtaining measured values therefrom

Abstract

In an information processing apparatus, a command definition management unit obtains command definition information, and based thereon, generates speech recognition dictionaries in an XML parser unit and a speech recognition dictionary unit. The speech recognition dictionaries are then stored in a command definition storage unit. With reference to the speech recognition dictionaries, a speech recognition management unit recognizes a speech command transmitted from an input unit, and outputs candidate control commands to a control command determination unit. The control command determination unit determines a control command corresponding to the speech command, with reference to a control command history storage unit as required, and outputs to an IEEE 1394 AV/C command conversion unit. The IEEE 1394 AV/C command conversion unit converts the control command into an AV/C command, and outputs to a target node.

Claims

1. An information processing apparatus for controlling, in accordance with a plurality of speech commands input by a user, a plurality of electronic apparatuses on a network connected to said information processing apparatus, said information processing apparatus comprising:

command definition information obtaining means for obtaining command definition information which defines a correspondence between the plurality of speech commands input by the user and a plurality of control commands for controlling said plurality of electronic apparatuses;

storage means for storing said command definition information obtained by said command definition information obtaining means;

speech recognition means for recognizing a speech command input by the user;

determining means for determining a control command corresponding to the speech command as recognized by said speech recognition means, based on said command definition information stored in said storage means;

control means for controlling one of said plurality of electronic apparatuses using the control command determined by said determining means; and

ID information obtaining means for obtaining ID information of said plurality of electronic apparatuses,

wherein said command definition information obtaining means obtains said command definition information based on the ID information of said plurality of electronic apparatuses obtained by said ID information obtaining means,

wherein said command definition information obtaining means obtains said command definition information based on the node ID, the product ID, the machine ID, or the type ID, in that order of priority, included in the ID information of said plurality of electronic apparatuses obtained by said ID information obtaining means,

wherein when one or more new electronic apparatuses are connected to said network, new command definition information associated with said one or more new electronic apparatuses is added to said storage means; and

wherein when one or more of said plurality of electronic apparatuses are disconnected from said network, previously stored command definition information is temporarily stored in said storage means for a predetermined period of time.

2. The information processing apparatus according to claim 1, wherein said command definition information is associated with the ID information of said plurality of electronic apparatuses.

3. The information processing apparatus according to claim 1, wherein said command definition information defines, on the basis of operation status of said plurality of electronic apparatuses, acceptable speech commands, control commands corresponding to the speech commands, and transitions of operation status which occur on execution of each of the control commands.

4. The information processing apparatus according to claim 3, wherein said determining means comprises operation status detecting means for detecting the operation status of said plurality of electronic apparatuses, whereby said determining means determines, in accordance with the operation status of said plurality of electronic apparatuses detected by said operation status detecting means, the control command corresponding to the speech command as recognized by said speech recognition means, based on said command definition information.

5. The information processing apparatus according to claim 1, wherein said command definition information obtaining means obtains said command definition information from a server on the Internet or from a storage medium.

6. The information processing apparatus according to claim 1, wherein said ID information includes at least one of a node ID, a product ID, a machine ID, or a type ID.

7. The information processing apparatus according to claim 1, further comprising connection status detecting means for detecting the connection status of said plurality of electronic apparatuses.

8. The information processing apparatus according to claim 1, further comprising selecting means tot allowing the user to select one of said plurality of electronic apparatuses,

wherein said determining means is allowed to determine the control command corresponding to the speech command as recognized by said speech recognition means, based on only part of said command definition information corresponding to the electronic apparatus selected by said selecting means.

9. The information processing apparatus according to claim 1, further comprising control command history storage means for storing history information regarding the control command determined by said determining means,

wherein an electronic apparatus in accordance with a user input or an electronic apparatus which is found to be most recently operated according to the history information stored in said control command history storage means is controlled using the control command, if it is not otherwise determined which of said plurality of electronic apparatuses be controlled using the control command.

10. The information processing apparatus according to claim 1, further comprising command definition information generation means for generating command definition information as desired,

wherein said command definition information obtaining means is allowed to obtain said command definition information from said command definition information generation means.

11. An information processing method in an information processing apparatus for controlling, in accordance with a plurality of speech commands input by a user, a plurality of electronic apparatuses on a network connected to said information processing apparatus, said information processing method comprising the steps of:

obtaining command definition information which defines a correspondence between the plurality of speech commands Input by the user and a plurality of control commands for controlling said plurality of electronic apparatuses;

storing said command definition information obtained in the command definition information obtaining step in a storage means;

recognizing a speech command input by the user;

determining a control command corresponding to the speech command as recognized in the speech recognition step, based on said command definition information stored in said storing step;

controlling one of said plurality of electronic apparatuses using the control command determined in the determining step; and

obtaining ID information of said plurality of electronic apparatuses;

wherein said command definition information obtaining step obtains said command definition information based on the ID information of said plurality of electronic apparatuses obtained by said ID information obtaining step;

wherein said command definition information obtaining step obtains said command definition information based on the node ID, the product ID, the machine ID, or the type ID, in that order of priority, included in the ID information of said plurality of electronic apparatuses obtained by said ID information obtaining step;

wherein when one or more new electronic apparatuses are connected to said network, new command definition information associated with said one or more new electronic apparatuses is added to said storage means; and

wherein when one or more of said plurality of electronic apparatuses are disconnected from said network, previously stored command definition information is temporarily stored in said storage means for a predetermined period of time.

12. The information processing method according to claim 11, wherein said command definition information is associated with the ID information of said plurality of electronic apparatuses.

13. The information processing method according to claim 11, wherein said command definition information defines, on the basis of operation status of said plurality of electronic apparatuses, acceptable speech commands, control commands corresponding to the speech commands, and transitions of operation status which occur on execution of each of the control commands.

14. The information processing method according to claim 13, wherein said determining step comprises an operation status detecting step for detecting the operation status of said plurality of electronic apparatuses, whereby said determining step determines, in accordance with the operation status of said plurality of electronic apparatuses detected by said operation status detecting step, the control command corresponding to the speech command as recognized by said speech recognition step, based on said command definition information.

15. The information processing method according to claim 11, wherein said command definition information obtaining step obtains said command definition information from a server on the Internet or from a storage medium.

16. The information processing method according to claim 11, wherein said ID information includes at least one of a node ID, a product ID, a machine ID, or a type ID.

17. The information processing method according to claim 11, further comprising a connection status detecting step for detecting the connection status of said plurality of electronic apparatus.

18. The information processing method according to claim 13, further comprising a selecting step for allowing the user to select one of said plurality of electronic apparatuses,

wherein said determining steps is allowed to determine the control command corresponding to the speech command as recognized by said speech recognition step, based on only part of said command definition information corresponding to the electronic apparatus selected by said selecting step.

19. The information processing method according to claim 11, further comprising a control command history storage step for storing history information regarding the control command determined by said determining step,

wherein an electronic apparatus in accordance with a user input or an electronic apparatus which is found to be most recently operated according to the history information stored in said control command history storage step is controlled using the control command, if it is not otherwise determined which of said plurality of electronic apparatuses be controlled using the control command.

20. The information processing method according to claim 11, further comprising a command definition information generation step for generating command definition information as desired,

wherein said command definition information obtaining step is allowed to obtain said command definition information from said command definition information generation step.

21. A computer-readable storage medium storing a computer program for controlling an information processing apparatus which controls, in accordance with a plurality of speech commands input by a user, a plurality of electronic apparatuses on a network connected to said information processing apparatus, said computer program comprising the steps of:

obtaining command definition information which defines a correspondence between the plurality of speech commands input by the user and a plurality of control commands for controlling said plurality of electronic apparatuses;

storing said command definition information obtained in the command definition information obtaining step in a storage means;

recognizing a speech input by the user;

determining a control command corresponding to the speech command as recognized in the speech recognition step, based on said command definition information stored in the storing step;

controlling one of said plurality of electronic apparatuses using the control command determined in the determining step; and

obtaining ID information of said plurality of electronic apparatuses,

wherein said command definition information obtaining step obtains said command definition information based on the ID information of said plurality of electronic apparatuses obtained by said ID information obtaining step;

wherein said command definition information obtained step obtains said command definition information based on the node ID, the product ID, the machine ID, or the type ID, in that order of priority, included in the ID information of said plurality of electronic apparatuses obtained by said ID information obtaining step;

wherein when one or more new electronic apparatuses are connected to said network, new command definition information associated with said one or more new electronic apparatuses is added to said storage means; and

wherein when one or more of said plurality of electronic apparatuses are disconnected from said network, previously stored command definition information is temporarily stored in said storage means for a predetermined period of time.