Methods, systems, and media for presenting interactive audio content

• US 9,583,106 B1
• Filed: 09/15/2014
• Issued: 02/28/2017
• Est. Priority Date: 09/13/2013
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: PBJ Synthetics Corporation
• Original Assignee: PBJ Synthetics Corporation
• Inventors: Zetterberg, Peter
• Primary Examiner(s): Shah, Paras D
• Application Number:
  US14/486,684
• Time in Patent Office: 897 Days
• Field of Search: 704/260, 704/270, 704/275, 434/156
• US Class Current: 1/1
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 3/16 Sound input; Sound output speech processing G10L
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 3/167 Audio in a user interface, e.g. using voice commands for navigating, audio feedback
• CPC Class Codes: G09B 19/04 Speaking with audible presentation of the material to be studied G09B5/04
• CPC Class Codes: G09B 5/04 with audible presentation of the material to be studied sound recording or reproducing G11B
• CPC Class Codes: G10L 13/00 Speech synthesis; Text to speech systems
• CPC Class Codes: G10L 13/08 Text analysis or generation of parameters for speech synthesis out of text, e.g. grapheme to phoneme translation, prosody generation or stress or intonation determination
• 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 25/48 specially adapted for particular use

Abstract

Methods, systems, and media for presenting interactive audio content are provided. In some embodiments, the method includes: receiving narrative content that includes action points, wherein each of the action points provides user actions and a narrative portion corresponding to each of the user actions; determining a user engagement density associated with the narrative content, wherein the user engagement density modifies the number of the action points to provide within the narrative content; causing the narrative content to be presented to a user based on the user engagement density; determining that a speech input has been received at one of the action points in the narrative content; converting the speech input to a text input; determining whether the user action associated with the text input corresponds to one of the user actions; selecting the narrative portion corresponding to the text input in response to determining that the user action corresponds to one of the user actions; converting the selected narrative portion to an audio output; and causing the narrative content with the converted audio output of the selected narrative portion to be presented to the user.

Claims

1. A method for presenting interactive audio content, the method comprising:

receiving, using a computing device that includes a hardware processor, an audio input device, and an audio output device, an interactive audiobook having narrative content that includes a plurality of action points, wherein each of the plurality of action points provides a plurality of user actions and a narrative portion corresponding to each of the plurality of user actions;

receiving, using the hardware processor of the computing device, a selection of a user engagement density from a user, wherein the selection determines a number of the plurality of action points in the narrative content of the interactive audiobook, and wherein a higher-selected user engagement density increases the number of the plurality of action points and a lower-selected user engagement density decreases the number of action points in the narrative content;

causing, using the hardware processor of the computing device, the narrative content with the determined number of the plurality of action points to be presented via the audio output device to the user based on the selected user engagement density;

determining, using the hardware processor of the computing device, that a speech input has been received by the audio input device at one of the plurality of action points during the playback of the narrative content of the interactive audiobook;

converting, using the hardware processor of the computing device, the speech input to a text input;

determining, using the hardware processor of the computing device, whether the user action associated with the text input corresponds to one of the plurality of user actions;

selecting, using the hardware processor of the computing device, the narrative portion corresponding to the text input in response to determining that the user action corresponds to one of the plurality of user actions;

converting, using the hardware processor of the computing device, the selected narrative portion to an audio output;

modifying, using the hardware processor of the computing device, the narrative content of the interactive audiobook with the converted audio output of the selected narrative portion; and

causing, using the hardware processor of the computing device, the narrative content with the converted audio output of the selected narrative portion to be presented to the user via the audio output device.

2. The method of claim 1, wherein receiving the narrative content further comprises transmitting a user selection of the interactive audiobook from a plurality of interactive audiobooks and receiving the selected interactive audiobook.

3. The method of claim 1, wherein converting the speech input to the text input further comprises:

transmitting the speech input to a speech recognition system; and

receiving the text input from the speech recognition system that corresponds to the speech input.

4. The method of claim 1, wherein converting the speech input to the text input comprises filtering out background sounds that are provided as a portion of the speech input.

5. The method of claim 1, wherein determining the user engagement density is based on an amount of user interaction with the narrative content.

6. The method of claim 1, wherein determining the user engagement density is based on the speech input received at each of the plurality of action points.

7. The method of claim 1, further comprising generating a modified narrative portion from the narrative portion by transmitting the user action and the narrative portion into a grammar database.

8. The method of claim 7, wherein generating the modified narrative portion further comprises applying contextually-relevant terms from the grammar database into the narrative portion.

9. The method of claim 1, wherein converting the modified narrative portion to the audio output further comprises inserting at least one of:

an emotional expression, an ambient sound, and a sound effect.

13. The device of claim 1, wherein the hardware processor is further configured to filter out background sounds that are provided as a portion of the speech input.

14. The device of claim 1, wherein determining the user engagement density is based on an amount of user interaction with the narrative content detected using the audio input.

15. The device of claim 1, wherein determining the user engagement density is based on the speech input received at each of the plurality of action points detected using the audio input.

16. The device of claim 1, wherein the hardware processor is further configured to generate a modified narrative portion from the narrative portion by transmitting the user action and the narrative portion into a grammar database.

17. The device of claim 7, wherein the hardware processor is further configured to apply contextually-relevant terms from the grammar database into the narrative portion.

18. The device of claim 1, wherein the hardware processor is further configured to insert at least one of:

an emotional expression, an ambient sound, and a sound effect.

10. A device for presenting interactive audio content, the device comprising:

an audio input device;

an audio output device; and

a hardware processor connected to the audio input device and the audio output device, wherein the hardware processor is configured to;

receive an interactive audiobook having narrative content that includes a plurality of action points, wherein each of the plurality of action points provides a plurality of user actions and a narrative portion corresponding to each of the plurality of user actions;

receive a selection of a user engagement density from a user, wherein the selection determines a number of the plurality of action points in the narrative content of the interactive audiobook, and wherein a higher-selected user engagement density increases the number of the plurality of action points and a lower-selected user engagement density decreases the number of action points in the narrative content;

cause, via the audio output device, the narrative content with the determined number of the plurality of action points to be presented to the user based on the selected user engagement density;

determine, via the audio input device, that a speech input has been received at one of the plurality of action points in the narrative content of the interactive audiobook;

convert the speech input to a text input;

determine whether the user action associated with the text input corresponds to one of the plurality of user actions;

select the narrative portion corresponding to the text input in response to determining that the user action corresponds to one of the plurality of user actions;

convert the selected narrative portion to an audio output portion;

modify the narrative content of the interactive audiobook with the converted audio output of the selected narrative portion; and

cause, via the audio output device, the narrative content with the converted audio output of the selected narrative portion to be presented to the user.

11. The device of claim 10, wherein the hardware processor is further configured to:

transmit a user selection of the interactive audiobook from a plurality of interactive audiobooks; and

receive the selected interactive audiobook.

12. The device of claim 10, wherein the hardware processor is further configured to:

transmit the speech input to a speech recognition system; and

receive the text input from the speech recognition system that corresponds to the speech input.

19. A non-transitory computer-readable medium containing computer-executable instructions that, when executed by a hardware processor, cause the processor to perform a method for presenting interactive audio content, the method comprising:

receiving an interactive audiobook having narrative content that includes a plurality of action points, wherein each of the plurality of action points provides a plurality of user actions and a narrative portion corresponding to each of the plurality of user actions;

receiving a selection of a user engagement density from a user, wherein the selection determines a number of the plurality of action points in the narrative content of the interactive audiobook, and wherein a higher-selected user engagement density increases the number of the plurality of action points and a lower-selected user engagement density decreases the number of action points in the narrative content;

causing the narrative content with the determined number of the plurality of action points to be presented via an audio output device connected to the hardware processor to the user based on the selected user engagement density;

determining that a speech input has been received by an audio input device connected to the hardware processor at one of the plurality of action points in the narrative content of the interactive audiobook;

converting the speech input to a text input;

determining whether the user action associated with the text input corresponds to one of the plurality of user actions;

selecting the narrative portion corresponding to the text input in response to determining that the user action corresponds to one of the plurality of user actions;

converting the selected narrative portion to an audio output;

modifying the narrative content of the interactive audiobook with the converted audio output of the selected narrative portion; and

causing the narrative content with the converted audio output of the selected narrative portion to be presented to the user via the audio output device.