Voice recognition interactive system with a confirmation capability

• US 7,747,446 B2
• Filed: 12/12/2006
• Issued: 06/29/2010
• Est. Priority Date: 12/12/2006
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Microsoft Technology Licensing LLC (Microsoft Corporation)
• Original Assignee: Nuance Communications, Inc. (Microsoft Corporation)
• Inventors: Almutawa, Musaed A., Vila, Robert, Patel, Paritosh D., Blass, Oscar J.
• Primary Examiner(s): MCFADDEN, SUSAN IRIS
• Application Number:
  US11/609,667
• Publication Number:
  US 20080140400A1
• Time in Patent Office: 1,295 Days
• Field of Search: 704/275
• US Class Current: 704/275
• CPC Class Codes: G10L 15/22 Procedures used during a speech recognition process, e.g. man-machine dialogue

Abstract

A system and method for voice recognition interaction is provided. The system can have a processor for receiving a voice signal and determining a command based on the voice signal. The system can also have a confirmation interface operably connected to the processor, where the confirmation interface is capable of receiving a confirmation signal from a user and providing the confirmation signal to the processor. The system can have a user identifying device for determining an identity of the user. The processor can determine a confirmation criteria based at least in part on the identity of the user or a type of the command. The satisfaction of the confirmation criteria can be applied to allow or prevent performance of the command.

Claims

1. A voice recognition interactive system operably connected to a device, the system comprising:

at least one processor programmed to;

receive a voice signal from a user and determine a command based on the voice signal;

implement a confirmation interface capable of receiving a confirmation signal;

determine the identity of the user using a user identification process chosen from the group consisting essentially of biometrics, speaker verification, voice age determination and any combinations thereof;

determine a confirmation criteria based at least in part on the identity of the user;

determine if the confirmation criteria has been satisfied; and

allow or prevent performance of the command by the device based at least in part on satisfaction of the confirmation criteria.

2. The system of claim 1, wherein the at least one processor is further programmed to determine a type of the command from a predetermined type listing and to determine the confirmation criteria based at least in part on the type of the command.

3. The system of claim 1, wherein the voice signal is a first voice signal, wherein the confirmation interface receives the confirmation signal via a second voice signal, and wherein the system further comprise at least one sound locating device comprising at least one directional microphone to receive the second voice signal.

4. The system of claim 3, wherein the at least one directional microphone comprises a plurality of directional microphones and wherein each of the plurality of directional microphones provides the at least one processor with data representative of the confirmation signal.

5. The system of claim 1, wherein the confirmation interface comprises at least one control pad that can be actuated by the user for providing the confirmation signal to the at least one processor.

6. The system of claim 5, wherein the at least one control pad comprises a Push-To-Talk button.

7. The system of claim 1, wherein the user identifying device performs a user identification process that employs biometrics.

8. The system of claim 1, wherein the user identifying device performs a user identification process that employs speaker verification.

9. The system of claim 1, wherein the user identifying device performs a user identification process that employs voice age determination.

10. The program of claim 1, wherein the at least one processor is further programmed to determine the identification of the user based at least in part on a location of the user.

11. The program of claim 1, wherein the at least one processor is further programmed to allow performance of the command by the device if the user does not provide a cancellation signal within a pre-determined time period.

12. The program of claim 1, wherein the at least one processor is further programmed to prevent performance of the command by the device if the user does not provide a confirmation signal within a pre-determined time period.

13. The program of claim 1, wherein the at least one processor is further programmed to prevent performance of the command by the device if the identification of the user is a primary user and the system receives a cancellation signal from the primary user.

14. An manufacture comprising at least one computer readable storage medium comprising computer readable program instructions for confirming a command in a voice recognition interactive system that is operably connected to a device, said program comprising:

program instructions for causing a computer to determine an identification of a user and/or a type of the command;

program instructions for causing the computer to determine a confirmation criteria for performance of the command based at least in part on the identification of the user and/or the type of the command;

program instructions for causing the computer to allow or prevent the performance of the command by the device based at least in part on satisfaction of the confirmation criteria;

program instructions for causing the computer to determine the identification of the user based at least in part on a location of the user;

program instructions for causing the computer to prevent performance of the command by the device if the identification of the user is a primary user and the computer receives a cancellation signal from the primary user.

15. A method of voice recognition interaction with a device, the method comprising:

receiving a voice signal from a user;

determining, via a computer system, a command to be performed by the device based on the voice signal;

determining an identity of the user and/or a type of the command to be performed;

determining a confirmation criteria based at least in part on the identity of the user and/or the type of the command to be performed, wherein the confirmation criteria comprises an operator override if the type of the command is a key voice system function; and

allowing or preventing performance of the command by the device based on satisfaction of the confirmation criteria, wherein allowing or preventing performance of the command comprises allowing performance of the command by the device if the user does not provide a cancellation signal within a pre-determined time period or preventing performance of the command by the device if the user does not provide a confirmation signal within the pre-determined time period.

16. The method of claim 15, wherein the confirmation criteria is determined based on both the identity of the user and the type of the command to be performed.

17. The method of claim 15, wherein the confirmation criteria comprises an operator override if the type of the command is a key voice system function.

18. The method of claim 15, wherein the identity of the user is determined by an identification process chosen from the group consisting essentially of a user location, biometrics, speaker verification, voice age determination and any combinations thereof.

19. The method of claim 15, further comprising indicating to the user the confirmation criteria to be satisfied.

20. The method of claim 15, wherein the allowing or preventing performance of the command by the device further comprises allowing performance of the command by the device if the user does not provide a cancellation signal within a pre-determined time period or preventing performance of the command by the device if the user does not provide a confirmation signal within the pre-determined time period.