Vocabulary dictionary recompile for in-vehicle audio system

• US 9,045,098 B2
• Filed: 11/20/2010
• Issued: 06/02/2015
• Est. Priority Date: 12/01/2009
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Honda Motor Co., Ltd. (Honda Motor Company)
• Original Assignee: Honda Motor Co., Ltd. (Honda Motor Company)
• Inventors: Huang, Ritchie, Yamamoto, Stuart M., Kirsch, David M.
• Primary Examiner(s): JACKSON, JAKIEDA R
• Application Number:
  US12/951,019
• Publication Number:
  US 20110131037A1
• Time in Patent Office: 1,655 Days
• Field of Search: None
• US Class Current: 1/1
• CPC Class Codes: B60R 16/0373 Voice control in general G10L
• CPC Class Codes: G10L 15/065 Adaptation
• CPC Class Codes: G10L 15/187 Phonemic context, e.g. pronunciation rules, phonotactical constraints or phoneme n-grams
• CPC Class Codes: G10L 15/22 Procedures used during a speech recognition process, e.g. man-machine dialogue

Abstract

An in-vehicle audio system and methods are provided. A respective word or a respective phrase may be associated with each item of audio content stored in the in-vehicle audio system. The in-vehicle audio system may perform an action with respect to one of the stored items of audio content in response to a spoken command, which may include the respective word or the respective phrase associated with the one of the stored items. When audio content is to be added to the in-vehicle audio system, phonetics related to the audio content may be generated and added to a vocabulary dictionary during a compile process. When stored audio content is to be deleted from the in-vehicle audio system, phonetics related to the stored audio content to be deleted may be eliminated from the vocabulary dictionary during the compile process, which, in some embodiments, may be performed during a shutdown process.

Claims

1. A method, implemented in an in-vehicle audio system, for compiling a vocabulary dictionary for speech recognition, the method comprising:

receiving a command to add audio content to a storage device of the in-vehicle audio system, each respective item of the audio content having a respective word or a respective phrase associated therewith; and

compiling the vocabulary dictionary to add phonetics corresponding to the respective word or the respective phrase associated with each respective item of the audio content to be added to the vocabulary dictionary such that, after completion of the compiling, a speech recognition component of the in-vehicle audio system becomes capable of recognizing an utterance including the respective word or the respective phrase associated with any of the each respective item, the compiling being started while the audio content is being added to the storage device and the compiling being completed before the audio content is completely added to the storage device, wherein;

speech recognition control is available after completion of the compiling the vocabulary dictionary, and

the speech recognition control related to the each respective item of the audio content becomes available after completion of adding the content to the storage device; and

the method further comprises;

receiving a second command to delete from the audio content of the storage device;

detecting an ignition off event as a result of turning off an ignition of a vehicle including the in-vehicle audio system;

initiating a shutdown process of the in-vehicle audio system upon the detecting an ignition off event; and

compiling, during the shutdown process, the vocabulary dictionary to delete, from the vocabulary dictionary, phonetics corresponding to a respective word or a respective phrase associated with at least one item of the audio content to be deleted from the storage device in response to the receiving a second command to delete from the audio content of the storage device.

2. The method of claim 1, wherein when adding a plurality of items of the audio content to the storage device from a medium, the compiling of the vocabulary dictionary completes before the plurality of items of the audio content are completely added to the storage device.

3. The method of claim 1, wherein the compiling, during the shutdown process, the vocabulary dictionary further comprises:

compiling at least a portion of the vocabulary dictionary to delete, from the vocabulary dictionary, the phonetics corresponding to the respective word or the respective phrase associated with the at least one item of the audio content to be deleted from the storage device.

4. The method of claim 3, wherein:

the vocabulary dictionary is organized into a plurality of portions, and

the plurality of portions are arranged according to any one organizing technique selected from a group of organizing techniques consisting of alphabetically by respective words associated with at least one item of the content, alphabetically by respective phrases associated with the at least one item of the content, and by respective genres of the at least one item of the content.

5. The method of claim 1, wherein:

the audio content includes music and the respective word or the respective phrase associated with the each respective item includes a respective title of an item of the music.

6. An in-vehicle audio system having a speech recognition feature, the in-vehicle audio system comprising:

a storage device for storing audio content, each item of the audio content having a respective word or a respective phrase associated therewith;

a microphone for receiving voice input;

a speech recognition component for recognizing spoken words of the received voice input, the speech recognition component including a vocabulary dictionary for use in recognizing spoken commands in the received voice input; and

a compiler for compiling the vocabulary dictionary while new audio content is being added to the storage device such that phonetics corresponding to a respective word or a respective phrase associated with each added item of the new audio content is included in the vocabulary dictionary as a result of the compiling, wherein;

the compiler begins compiling the vocabulary dictionary while the new audio content is being added to the storage device,

the compiler completes the compiling the vocabulary dictionary before the new audio content is completely added to the storage device,

the speech recognition component is capable of recognizing the respective word or the respective phrase associated with the each added item of the new audio content after the compiler completes compiling the vocabulary dictionary,

speech recognition control is available after the compiler completes the compiling the vocabulary dictionary,

the speech recognition control related to the each added item of the new audio content becomes available after completion of adding the new audio content to the storage device, and

the compiler is further for compiling the vocabulary dictionary, during a shutdown process, to delete, from the vocabulary dictionary, phonetics corresponding to a respective word or a respective phrase associated with each item of audio content to be deleted from the storage device, the shutdown process having been initiated by detecting an ignition of a vehicle, including the in-vehicle audio system, being turned off.

7. The in-vehicle audio system of claim 6, wherein in response to receiving a command to delete one or more items of audio content from the storage device, the compiler updates the vocabulary dictionary by compiling at least a portion of the vocabulary dictionary.

8. The in-vehicle audio system of claim 7, wherein:

the vocabulary dictionary is organized into a plurality of portions, and

the plurality of portions are arranged according to any one organizing technique selected from a group of organizing techniques consisting of alphabetically by respective words associated with at least one audio item of the content, alphabetically by respective phrases associated with the at least one item of the audio content, and by respective genres of the at least one item of the content.

9. The in-vehicle audio system of claim 7, wherein the compiler compiles at least the portion of the vocabulary dictionary during a shutdown process.

10. The in-vehicle audio system of claim 9, wherein:

the shutdown process completes after the compiling completes.

11. The in-vehicle audio system of claim 6, wherein:

the audio content includes items of music, and

the respective word or the respective phrase associated with a respective item of music is a title of the respective item of music.

12. The in-vehicle audio system of claim 6, further comprising:

an optical medium reader for reading the new audio content from an optical medium and for adding the new audio content to the audio content of the storage device.

13. A non-transitory machine-readable storage medium having instructions recorded therein for at least one processor of an in-vehicle audio system, execution of the instructions by the at least one processor causing the in-vehicle audio system to perform a method comprising:

receiving a command to add one or more items of audio content to a medium of a storage device of the in-vehicle audio system, each respective item of the audio content having a word or a phrase associated therewith; and

compiling at least a portion of a vocabulary dictionary of a speech recognition component of the in-vehicle audio system to update the vocabulary dictionary by adding, to the vocabulary dictionary, phonetics corresponding to at least one word or at least one phrase associated with the one or more items of audio content to be added, the vocabulary dictionary being arranged as a plurality of portions, each of the plurality of portions being capable of compiling separately, wherein;

the compiling is started while the one or more items of the audio content are being added to the medium of the storage device,

the compiling is completed before the one or more items of the audio content are completely added to the medium of the storage device,

after completion of the compiling, the speech recognition component is capable of recognizing at least one word or at least one phrase associated with any one or more items of audio content added to the vocabulary dictionary,

speech recognition control is available after the compiler completes compiling the vocabulary dictionary, and

the speech recognition control related to each respective item of the audio content added to the medium of the storage device becomes available after completion of adding the audio content to the medium of the storage device, and

the method further comprises;

receiving a second command to delete at least one item of the audio content from the medium of the storage device;

detecting an ignition off event as a result of turning off an ignition of a vehicle including the in-vehicle audio system;

initiating a shutdown process of the in-vehicle audio system upon the detecting an ignition off event; and

compiling, during the shutdown process, at least a second portion of the vocabulary dictionary to update the vocabulary dictionary by deleting, from the vocabulary dictionary, phonetics corresponding to at least one word or at least one phrase associated with the at least item of the audio content to be deleted.

14. The non-transitory machine-readable storage medium of claim 13, wherein when the received command includes a first command to add one or more items of audio content to the medium of the storage device and a second command to delete one or more items of audio content from the medium of the storage device, the compiling is to be performed while the one or more items of audio content are being added to the medium of the storage device.

15. The non-transitory machine-readable storage medium of claim 13, wherein:

the audio content stored on the medium of the storage device includes music, and

the word or the phrase associated with each respective item of the music is a respective title.

16. The non-transitory machine-readable storage medium of claim 13, wherein the method further comprises:

copying the one or more items of audio content from a second medium to the medium of the storage device.

17. The non-transitory machine-readable storage medium of claim 13, wherein:

the plurality of portions are arranged according to any one organizing technique selected from a group of organizing techniques consisting of alphabetically by respective words associated with at least one item of the audio content, alphabetically by respective phrases associated with the at least one item of the audio content, and by respective genres of the at least one item of the content.