Voice interface systems and methods

• US 9,123,345 B2
• Filed: 03/14/2013
• Issued: 09/01/2015
• Est. Priority Date: 03/14/2013
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Honda Motor Co., Ltd. (Honda Motor Company)
• Original Assignee: Honda Motor Co., Ltd. (Honda Motor Company)
• Inventors: Khanna, Rahul, Kyomitsu, Tatsuya, Guan, Xin
• Primary Examiner(s): Chawan, Vijay B
• Application Number:
  US13/802,910
• Publication Number:
  US 20140278436A1
• Time in Patent Office: 901 Days
• Field of Search: 704/270, 704/270.1, 704/275, 704/235, 704/9, 455/411, 455/563, 455/567
• US Class Current: 1/1
• CPC Class Codes: G10L 15/1822 Parsing for meaning understanding
• 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 2015/223 Execution procedure of a spoken command
• CPC Class Codes: G10L 21/00 Speech or voice signal processing techniques to produce another audible or non-audible signal, e.g. visual or tactile, in order to modify its quality or its intelligibility G10L19/00 takes precedence

Abstract

A voice-controlled system is described that can be accessed by a mobile computing device. A user can communicate requests using natural language utterances. A microphone can collect the utterances and provide them to the mobile computing device. The mobile computing device can transmit the human utterance to a voice interface system. The voice interface system can utilize user preferences when executing the request to provide a personalized user experience. Computer-implemented methods are also described herein.

Claims

1. A voice-controlled system, comprising:

a user preference database configured to store user preference data; and

a voice interface computing system in communication with the user preference database and a mobile computing device, wherein the voice interface computing system is in communication with the mobile computing device via a wireless communications network, wherein the mobile computing device is in networked communication with a vehicle via a mobile computing device interface of the vehicle, the voice interface computing system configured to;

receive audio data from the mobile computing device via the wireless communications network, wherein the audio data comprises a human utterance received through the mobile computing device from the mobile computing device interface of the vehicle;

transmit the audio data to a speech recognition module;

receive text data from the speech recognition module;

transmit the text data to a natural language processing module;

receive a command set from the natural language processing module; and

execute a command based on the command set and the user preference data stored in the user preference database, wherein executing the command comprises communicating with a remote application and communicating with the mobile computing device via the wireless communications network.

2. The voice-controlled system of claim 1, wherein the voice interface computing system is configured to receive the user preference data from a user computing device.

3. The voice-controlled system of claim 2, wherein the user computing device is the mobile computing device.

4. The voice-controlled system of claim 3, wherein the command set is based on a determined intention of the human utterance.

5. The voice-controlled system of claim 1, wherein the user preference data identifies any one or more of a user dining preference, a user navigation preference, and a user destination preference.

6. The voice-controlled system of claim 5, wherein the voice interface computing system is configured to generate a portal to receive at least one of the user dining preference, the user navigation preference, and the user destination preference.

7. The voice-controlled system of claim 1, wherein the voice interface computing system is configured to determine whether the user preference data is associated with the command set:

based on the command set received from the natural language processing module, such that;

when the user preference data is associated with the command set, execute the command based on the associated user preference data; and

when the user preference data is not associated with the command set, execute the command based on default data.

8. A method, comprising:

receiving, by a computing system, user preference data;

receiving, by the computing system from a mobile computing device over a wireless communications network, audio data, wherein the mobile computing device is in networked communication with a vehicle via a mobile computing device interface of the vehicle, and wherein the audio data comprises a human utterance received by the mobile computing device through the mobile computing device interface of the vehicle;

transmitting, by the computing system, the audio data to a speech recognition module to obtain text data associated with the audio data;

transmitting, by the computing system, the text data to a natural language processing unit;

receiving, by the computing system, a command set from the natural language processing unit; and

executing a command based on the command set and the user preference data, wherein executing the command comprises communicating with a remote application and communicating with the mobile computing device interface via the wireless communications network.

9. The method of claim 8, wherein the audio data received by the computing system is captured by a microphone configured to be coupled to a vehicle.

10. The method of claim 9, wherein when the audio data is received from the mobile computing device, the mobile computing device is positioned within a passenger cabin of the vehicle.

11. The method of claim 8, wherein the command set is based on a determined intention of the human utterance.

12. The method of claim 8, wherein the user preference data identifies one or more of a user dining preference, a user navigation preference, and a user destination preference.

13. A system, comprising:

a user preference database configured to store user preference data;

a voice interface computing system in communication with the user preference database and a mobile computing device, and wherein the voice interface computing system is in communication with the mobile computing device via a wireless communications network, wherein the mobile computing device is in networked communication with a vehicle via a mobile computing device interface of the vehicle, the voice interface computing system configured to;

receive audio data from the mobile computing device, wherein the audio data comprises a natural language human utterance of a passenger of the vehicle, and wherein the audio data is received over any of a cellular communications network and a WIFI communications network;

communicate with a natural language processing module that is configured to transmit a command set to the voice interface computing system based on the intention of the human utterance;

execute a command based on the command set and the user preference data stored in the user preference database; and

cause the display of information to the passenger of the vehicle via the mobile computing device.

14. The system of claim 13, wherein the voice interface computing system is configured to transmit the audio data to a speech recognition module and receive text data from the speech recognition module.

15. The system of claim 14, wherein the voice interface computing system is configured to transmit the text data to the natural language processing module.

16. The system of claim 13, comprising an application server configured to receive communications from an application executing on the mobile computing device.

17. The system of claim 13, comprising a web server configured to receive communications from a web browser executing on the mobile computing device.

18. The system of claim 13, wherein the user preference data comprises user preference data supplied by the passenger of the vehicle.

19. The system of claim 18, wherein the voice interface computing system is configured to retrieve user preference data from the mobile computing device.

20. The system of claim 19, wherein the voice interface computing system is configured to retrieve calendar appointment data from the mobile computing device.