Systems and vehicles that provide speech recognition system notifications

• US 9,640,182 B2
• Filed: 07/01/2013
• Issued: 05/02/2017
• Est. Priority Date: 07/01/2013
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Toyota Jidosha Kabushiki Kaisha (Toyota Motor Corporation)
• Original Assignee: Toyota Motor Engineering & Manufacturing North America Incorporated (Toyota Motor Corporation)
• Inventors: Schmidt, Eric Randell
• Primary Examiner(s): Lerner, Martin
• Application Number:
  US13/932,322
• Publication Number:
  US 20150006166A1
• Time in Patent Office: 1,401 Days
• Field of Search: 704235, 704236, 704270, 7042701, 704275, 704276
• CPC Class Codes: G10L 15/30 Distributed recognition, e.g. in client-server systems, for mobile phones or network applications

Abstract

Systems and vehicles that provide speech recognition system status notifications are described herein. Systems described herein include one or more processors, one or more memory modules, and machine readable instructions. In some embodiments described herein, when executed by the one or more processors, the machine readable instructions cause the speech recognition system to transform the acoustic vibrations received by a microphone into a speech input signal, determine to remotely process the speech input signal with a remote computing system, and provide a remote processing notification. In some embodiments described herein, when executed by the one or more processors, the machine readable instructions cause the speech recognition system to output an audible sequence with a speaker and provide a barge-in availability notification on a display.

Claims

1. A speech recognition system comprising:

one or more processors;

one or more memory modules communicatively coupled to the one or more processors;

a microphone communicatively coupled to the one or more processors, wherein the microphone receives acoustic vibrations;

a speaker communicatively coupled to the one or more processors;

a display communicatively coupled to the one or more processors; and

machine readable instructions stored in the one or more memory modules that cause the speech recognition system to perform at least the following when executed by the one or more processors;

transform the acoustic vibrations received by the microphone into a speech input signal;

determine whether;

(i) to locally process the speech input signal with the one or more processors of the speech recognition system, or (ii) to remotely process the speech input signal with a remote computing system;

provide a local processing notification in response to determining to locally process the speech input signal with the one or more processors of the speech recognition system, wherein the local processing notification is indicative of the speech input signal being locally processed with the one or more processors of the speech recognition system;

provide a remote processing notification in response to determining to remotely process the speech input signal with the remote computing system, wherein the remote processing notification is indicative of the speech input signal being remotely processed with the remote computing system;

provide a pause notification in response to receiving a user input indicative of a desire to pause a speech recognition functionality, wherein the pause notification is indicative of the speech recognition system being in a paused state;

output an audible sequence with the speaker;

provide a barge-in availability notification on the display, wherein the barge-in availability notification is indicative of an ability of the speech recognition system to process the speech input signal provided by the microphone before the speaker has completed outputting the audible sequence;

detect a barge-in by determining that the speech input signal is received by the speech recognition system before the speaker has completed outputting the audible sequence; and

terminate the output of the audible sequence with the speaker in response to detecting the barge-in.

2. The speech recognition system of claim 1, wherein the machine readable instructions stored in the one or more memory modules cause the speech recognition system to perform at least the following when executed by the one or more processors:

present a visual remote processing notification on the display in order to provide the remote processing notification, wherein the visual remote processing notification is indicative of the speech input signal being remotely processed with the remote computing system.

3. The speech recognition system of claim 2, wherein the visual remote processing notification is a remote processing icon.

4. The speech recognition system of claim 3, wherein the machine readable instructions stored in the one or more memory modules further cause the speech recognition system to perform at least the following when executed by the one or more processors:

present a microphone icon on the display, wherein the remote processing icon includes a remote processing graphic presented proximate to the microphone icon.

5. The speech recognition system of claim 1, wherein the machine readable instructions stored in the one or more memory modules cause the speech recognition system to perform at least the following when executed by the one or more processors:

generate an audible remote processing notification with the speaker in order to provide the remote processing notification, wherein the audible remote processing notification is indicative of the speech input signal being remotely processed with the remote computing system.

6. The speech recognition system of claim 1, wherein the machine readable instructions stored in the one or more memory modules further cause the speech recognition system to perform at least the following when executed by the one or more processors:

process the speech input signal with a local speech recognition algorithm; and

determine that the speech input signal cannot be fully processed with the local speech recognition algorithm, wherein the speech recognition system determines to remotely process the speech input signal when the speech input signal cannot be fully processed by the local speech recognition algorithm.

7. The speech recognition system of claim 1, wherein the machine readable instructions stored in the one or more memory modules further cause the speech recognition system to perform at least the following when executed by the one or more processors:

process the speech input signal with a local speech recognition algorithm; and

determine a confidence level associated with processing the speech input signal with the local speech recognition algorithm, wherein the speech recognition system determines to remotely process the speech input signal when the confidence level is below a threshold confidence level.

8. The speech recognition system of claim 1, wherein the machine readable instructions stored in the one or more memory modules further cause the speech recognition system to perform at least the following when executed by the one or more processors:

store the speech input signal as a digital sound file in the one or more memory modules;

transmit the digital sound file to the remote computing system; and

receive processed speech information from the remote computing system.

9. The speech recognition system of claim 1, further comprising an activation switch communicatively coupled to the one or more processors, wherein the machine readable instructions stored in the one or more memory modules cause the speech recognition system to perform at least the following when executed by the one or more processors:

receive a speech recognition activation signal from the activation switch, wherein the speech recognition system determines to remotely process the speech input signal with the remote computing system in response to receiving the speech recognition activation signal.

10. A speech recognition system comprising:

one or more processors;

one or more memory modules communicatively coupled to the one or more processors;

a microphone communicatively coupled to the one or more processors, wherein the microphone receives acoustic vibrations;

a display communicatively coupled to the one or more processors;

a speaker communicatively coupled to the one or more processors; and

machine readable instructions stored in the one or more memory modules that cause the speech recognition system to perform at least the following when executed by the one or more processors;

transform the acoustic vibrations received by the microphone into a speech input signal;

determine whether;

(i) to locally process the speech input signal with the one or more processors of the speech recognition system, or (ii) to remotely process the speech input signal with a remote computing system;

provide a local processing notification in response to determining to locally process the speech input signal with the one or more processors of the speech recognition system, wherein the local processing notification is indicative of the speech input signal being locally processed with the one or more processors of the speech recognition system;

provide a remote processing notification in response to determining to remotely process the speech input signal with the remote computing system, wherein the remote processing notification is indicative of the speech input signal being remotely processed with the remote computing system;

output an audible sequence with the speaker;

provide a barge-in availability notification on the display, wherein the barge-in availability notification is indicative of an ability of the speech recognition system to process the speech input signal provided by the microphone before the speaker has completed outputting the audible sequence;

detect a barge-in by determining that the speech input signal is received by the speech recognition system before the speaker has completed outputting the audible sequence; and

terminate the output of the audible sequence with the speaker in response to detecting the barge-in.

11. The speech recognition system of claim 10, wherein the barge-in availability notification is a barge-in availability icon.

12. The speech recognition system of claim 11, wherein the machine readable instructions stored in the one or more memory modules further cause the speech recognition system to perform at least the following when executed by the one or more processors:

present a microphone icon on the display, wherein the barge-in availability icon includes a barge-in availability graphic presented proximate to the microphone icon.

13. The speech recognition system of claim 10, wherein the machine readable instructions stored in the one or more memory modules further cause the speech recognition system to perform at least the following when executed by the one or more processors:

provide a pause notification in response to receiving a user input indicative of a desire to pause a speech recognition functionality, wherein the pause notification is indicative of the speech recognition system being in a paused state.