Speech-based and group-based content synchronization

• US 10,388,294 B1
• Filed: 06/20/2012
• Issued: 08/20/2019
• Est. Priority Date: 06/20/2012
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Amazon Technologies, Inc. (Amazon.com, Inc.)
• Original Assignee: Amazon Technologies, Inc. (Amazon.com, Inc.)
• Inventors: Shah, Mehal H.
• Primary Examiner(s): Washburn, Daniel C
• Assistant Examiner(s): Nguyen, Timothy
• Application Number:
  US13/527,894
• Time in Patent Office: 2,617 Days
• Field of Search: 704235
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 16/3329 Natural language query formulation or dialogue systems
• CPC Class Codes: G10L 15/26 Speech to text systems G10L15/08 takes precedence
• CPC Class Codes: G10L 19/0204 using subband decomposition
• CPC Class Codes: G10L 19/035 Scalar quantisation

Abstract

Techniques for enhancing synchronization capabilities of electronic devices based on audio and on group activities are described herein. The electronic device may be configured to receive an audio signal that represents speech. The electronic device may determine whether the audio signal is associated with a location in a content item or whether the audio signal corresponds to a phrase. The electronic device may update a location setting based on the determined location, may update a location setting based on the phrase, or may provide an option to create a phrase. The electronic device may be further configured to determine a location setting for a content item based on a location setting for that content item received from another device, that device and the electronic device belonging to a group.

Claims

1. A system comprising:

at least one database storing a first phrase associated with a content item;

one or more processors; and

instructions that, when executed by the one or more processors, cause the one or more processors to perform operations comprising;

receiving, via a network, an audio signal representing speech continuously captured by an electronic device, the speech representing one or more words of content to be searched in the content item;

obtaining a textual representation of the speech, the textual representation including the one or more words of the content;

using the textual representation to find a location of the one or more words of the content in the content item;

instructing an audio module to halt continuously capturing the audio signal upon finding the location of the one or more words of the content;

associating the location and the one or more words of the content with the textual representation;

generating a second phrase associated with the content item, the second phrase including the textual representation;

storing the second phrase in the at least one database;

determining a location setting associated with the content item based at least in part on the location of the one or more words of the content; and

sending the location setting to the electronic device.

2. The system of claim 1, the operations further comprising:

obtaining an additional textual representation of additional speech represented by an additional audio signal, and

determining that the additional textual representation corresponds to the first phrase.

3. The system of claim 1, the operations further comprising providing a user interface that enables a user to browse to the location of the content in the content item and to associate the content with the textual representation.

4. The system of claim 1, the operations further comprising:

locating the content at the location.

5. The system of claim 1, the operations further comprising providing the second phrase associated with the content item to an additional electronic device.

6. The system of claim 1, wherein the sending the location setting to the electronic device causes the electronic device to provide the content associated with the textual representation.

7. A computer-implemented method comprising:

storing, by one or more computing devices, a content item;

receiving, by the one or more computing devices, and from a first electronic device via a network, an audio signal representing speech continuously captured from the first electronic device via the network, the speech comprising a request to find a location of content in the content item;

performing, by the one or more computing devices, speech-to-text conversion using the audio signal to obtain a textual representation of the speech to associate the speech with the content;

determining, by the one or more computing devices, and based at least in part on the textual representation, the location in the content item that includes the content associated with the audio signal;

instructing the electronic device to halt continuously capturing the audio signal upon determining the location of the content item;

determining, by the one or more computing devices, a location setting associated with the content item based at least in part on the location; and

sending, by the one or more computing devices, and to a second electronic device via the network, the location setting, the sending causing the second electronic device to provide the content.

8. The method of claim 7, further comprising sending, to the first electronic device, the location setting, the first electronic device and the second electronic device both belonging to a same group.

9. The method of claim 7, further comprising:

receiving an indication of an actuation of a control of the first electronic device,

and wherein the receiving of the audio signal is based at least in part on the receiving of the indication.

10. The method of claim 7, wherein the determining the location in the content item comprises:

searching the content item to locate the textual representation within the content item; and

returning the location based at least in part on the searching.

11. The method of claim 7, wherein the determining the location in the content item comprises searching the content item to locate the textual representation.

12. The method of claim 7, further comprising:

determining, based at least in part on the textual representation, an additional location in the content item;

providing data indicating the location and the additional location; and

receiving an indication of a selection associated with the location,

and wherein the determining the location setting associated with content item is further based at least in part on the selection.

13. The method of claim 7, further comprising repeatedly performing the receiving and the determining the location in the content item until the determining the location returns a single location associated with the audio signal.

14. The method of claim 7, further comprising:

receiving, from the second electronic device via the network, an additional audio signal that represents additional speech;

performing speech-to-text conversion using the additional audio signal to obtain an additional textual representation of the additional speech;

determining, based at least in part on the additional textual representation, an additional location in the content item that includes content associated with the additional audio signal;

determining an additional location setting associated with the content item based at least in part on the additional location; and

sending, to the first electronic device via the network, the additional location setting, the sending of the additional location setting causing the first electronic device to provide the content associated with the additional audio signal.

15. A system comprising:

one or more processors; and

one or more computer-readable media storing instructions that, when executed by the one or more processors, cause the one or more processors to perform operations comprising;

storing a content item;

receiving, from a first electronic device via a network, an audio signal representing speech continuously captured from the electronic device via the network, the speech representing one or more words of content in the content item;

performing speech-to-text conversion using the audio signal to obtain a textual representation of the speech to associate the speech with the content;

determining, based at least in part on the textual representation of the speech, the location in the content item that includes the content associated with the audio signal;

instructing the first electronic device to halt continuously capturing the audio signal upon determining the location;

determining a first location setting associated with the content item for a second electronic device;

determining, based at least in part on the location, a second location setting associated with the content item for the second electronic device; and

sending, to the second electronic device via the network, the second location setting.

16. The system of claim 15, the operations further comprising providing, to the first electronic device, a user interface for signing into a social network associated with a group of electronic devices, wherein the group of electronic devices includes the first electronic device and the second electronic device.

17. The system of claim 15, wherein the determining the second location setting comprises automatically updating the first location setting to the location in the content item.

18. The system of claim 15, wherein the sending the second location setting to the second electronic device causes the second electronic device to display the content associated with the audio signal in place of previously displayed content of the content item associated with the first location setting.

19. The system of claim 15, the operations further comprising:

determining a third location setting associated with the content item for the first electronic device;

determining, based at least in part on an additional audio signal that corresponds to speech, a fourth location setting associated with the content item for the first electronic device; and

determining, based at least in part on the fourth location setting, a fifth location setting associated with the content item for the second electronic device.

20. The system of claim 15, the operations further comprising:

receiving, from the second electronic device, a third location setting associated with the content item, wherein the third location setting is based at least in part on inputs received by the second electronic device; and

determining a fourth location setting associated with the content item for the first electronic device based at least in part on the third location setting.

21. The system of claim 15, the operations further comprising:

determining, based at least in part on the audio signal, a third location setting associated with the content item for the first electronic device; and

exchanging the third location setting or the second location setting between the first electronic device and the second electronic device in a peer-to-peer or client-server manner.

22. The system of claim 15, the operations further comprising:

receiving, from the second electronic device via the network, an additional audio signal that represents additional speech;

determining, based at least in part on the additional audio signal, an additional location in the content item that includes content associated with the additional audio signal;

determining, based at least in part on the additional location, a third location setting associated with the content item for the second electronic device;

determining, based at least in part on the additional location, a fourth location setting associated with the content item for the first electronic device;

sending, to the second electronic device via the network, the third location setting; and

sending, to the first electronic device via the network, the fourth location setting.