Voice activated device

• US 7,415,416 B2
• Filed: 09/10/2004
• Issued: 08/19/2008
• Est. Priority Date: 09/12/2003
• Status: Expired due to Fees

• Current Assignee: Canon Kabushiki Kaisha (Canon Inc.)
• Original Assignee: Canon Kabushiki Kaisha (Canon Inc.)
• Inventors: Rees, David Llewellyn
• Primary Examiner(s): Abebe; Daniel D
• Application Number:
  US10/937,558
• Publication Number:
  US 20050102133A1
• Time in Patent Office: 1,439 Days
• Field of Search: 704/270, 704/275, 704/233, 704/214, 704/217
• US Class Current: 704/275
• CPC Class Codes: G03B 17/00 Details of cameras or camera bodies; Accessories therefor lens hoods or caps G03B11/04
• CPC Class Codes: G03B 17/38 Releasing-devices separate from shutter integral with shutter G03B9/08
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 23/66 Remote control of cameras or camera parts, e.g. by remote control devices

Abstract

A voice activated camera is described which allows users to take remote photographs by speaking one or more keywords. In a preferred embodiment, a speech processing unit is provided which is arranged to detect extended periodic signals from a microphone of the camera. A control unit is also provided to control the taking of a photograph when such an extended periodic component is detected by the speech processing unit.

Claims

1. An apparatus for controlling a device, the apparatus comprising:

a receiver operable to receive a speech signal;

a divider operable to divide the speech signal into a sequence of speech frames, each speech frame representing a time portion of the speech signal;

a processor operable to determine an auto-correlation function for each speech frame;

a peak determiner operable to locate a maximum auto-correlation value within a predetermined part of said auto-correlation function for each speech frame;

a periodicity measurer operable to determine a periodicity measure of each speech frame by using the maximum auto-correlation value of each speech frame;

a variability measurer operable to determine, from periodicity measures of a plurality of consecutive speech frames, a plurality of variability measures by using different calculation methods;

a detector operable to combine the plurality of variability measures and to detect an extended periodic portion from the combined variability measures; and

a controller operable to control said device in dependence upon a detection made by said detector.

2. An apparatus according to claim 1, wherein said detector is operable to linearly combine said plurality of variability measures.

3. An apparatus according to claim 1, wherein said detector is operable to combine said plurality of variability measures in a non-linear manner.

4. An apparatus according to claim 1, wherein said detector is operable to compare the combined periodicity measures with a threshold value.

5. An apparatus according to claim 1, wherein said predetermined part corresponds to an input frequency of the speech signal in the range of 100 Hertz to 300 Hertz.

6. An apparatus according to claim 1, wherein said processor is operable to calculate:

$v_i=\frac{A_i<br><br>\left(L_{\mathrm{MAX}}\right)}{A_i<br><br>\left(0\right)}$

where A(0) is the value of the auto-correlation function for a zero shift and A(L_max) is said maximum auto-correlation value determined by said peak determiner.

7. An apparatus according to claim 1, further comprising an analogue to digital convener operable to sample the received speech signal.

8. An apparatus according to claim 7, wherein said divider is operable to divide said speech signal so that each frame comprises the same number of samples.

9. An apparatus according to claim 1, further comprising a microphone, wherein said receiver is operable to receive the speech signal from said microphone.

10. An apparatus according to claim 1, wherein said device is an image capture device and wherein said controller is operable to activate the image capture device to capture an image.

11. An apparatus according to claim 1, wherein said detector is operable to process the periodicity measures from successive speech frames corresponding to a predetermined duration of speech.

12. An apparatus according to claim 11, wherein said detector is operable to process the periodicity measures from successive speech frames corresponding to a portion of speech having a duration between half a second and one and a half seconds.

13. A computer readable medium storing computer executable instructions for causing a computer to perform a controlling method for a device, the computer executable instructions comprising instructions for:

receiving a speech signal;

dividing the speech signal into a sequence of speech frames, each speech frame representing a time portion of the speech signal;

processing each speech frame to determine an auto-correlation function for each speech frame;

locating a maximum auto-correlation value within a predetermined part of the auto-correlation function for each speech frame;

determining a periodicity measure of each speech frame by using the maximum auto-correlation value of each speech frame;

determining, from periodicity measures of a plurality of consecutive speech frames, a plurality of variability measures by using different calculation methods;

combining the plurality of variability measures;

detecting an extended periodic portion from the combined variability measures and outputting a detection; and

controlling the device in accordance with the detection.

14. Computer executable instructions for controlling a computer to perform a controlling method for a device, the computer executable instructions comprising instructions for:

receiving a speech signal;

dividing the speech signal into a sequence of speech frames, each speech frame representing a time portion of the speech signal;

processing each speech frame to determine an auto-collation function for each speech frame;

locating a maximum auto-collation value within a predetermined part of the auto-correlation function for each speech frame;

determining a periodicity measure of each speech frame by using the maximum auto-correlation value of each speech frame;

determining, from periodicity measures of a plurality of consecutive speech frames, a plurality of variability measures by using different calculation methods;

combining the plurality of variability measures;

detecting an extended periodic portion from the combined variability measures and outputting a detection; and

controlling the device in dependence upon the detection.

15. An apparatus for controlling a device, the apparatus comprising:

means for receiving a speech signal;

means for dividing the speech signal into a sequence of speech frames, each speech frame representing a time portion of the speech signal;

means for determining an auto-correlation function for each speech frame;

means for locating a maximum auto-correlation value within a predetermined part of the auto-correlation function for each speech frame;

means for determining a periodicity measure of each speech frame by using the maximum auto-correlation value of each speech frame;

means for determining, from periodicity measures of a plurality of consecutive speech frames, a plurality of variability measures by using different calculation methods;

means for combining the plurality of variability measures;

means for detecting an extended periodic portion from the combined variability measures; and

means for controlling the device in accordance with a detection made by said means for detecting.