Multi-user authentication on a device

• US 10,522,137 B2
• Filed: 04/18/2018
• Issued: 12/31/2019
• Est. Priority Date: 04/20/2017
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Google LLC (Alphabet Inc.)
• Original Assignee: Google LLC (Alphabet Inc.)
• Inventors: Oktem, Meltem, Joglekar, Taral Pradeep, Heryandi, Fnu, Chao, Pu-sen, Lopez Moreno, Ignacio, Rajadhyaksha, Salil, Gruenstein, Alexander H., Melendo Casado, Diego
• Primary Examiner(s): McFadden, Susan I
• Application Number:
  US15/956,350
• Publication Number:
  US 20180308491A1
• Time in Patent Office: 622 Days
• Field of Search: 704246
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 16/636 by using biological or physiological data
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 21/32 using biometric data, e.g. fingerprints, iris scans or voiceprints
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 3/167 Audio in a user interface, e.g. using voice commands for navigating, audio feedback
• CPC Class Codes: G06V 40/10 Human or animal bodies, e.g. vehicle occupants or pedestrians; Body parts, e.g. hands
• CPC Class Codes: G10L 15/07 to the speaker
• CPC Class Codes: G10L 15/08 Speech classification or search
• 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 17/00 Speaker identification or verification techniques
• CPC Class Codes: G10L 17/06 Decision making techniques; Pattern matching strategies
• CPC Class Codes: G10L 2015/088 Word spotting
• CPC Class Codes: G10L 2015/223 Execution procedure of a spoken command

Abstract

In some implementations, authentication tokens corresponding to known users of a device are stored on the device. An utterance from a speaker is received. The utterance is classified as spoken by a particular known user of the known users. A query that includes a representation of the utterance and an indication of the particular known user as the speaker is provided using the authentication token of the particular known user.

Claims

1. A non-transitory computer-readable medium storing instructions executable by one or more computers which, upon such execution, cause the one or more computers to perform operations comprising:

receiving, from a device, a query that includes authentication tokens that correspond to known users of the device and a representation of an utterance;

determining that the query does not indicate a known user as a speaker;

in response to determining that the query does not indicate a known user as a speaker, determining whether the query is non-personal based on the representation of the utterance;

in response to determining that the query is non-personal based on the representation of the utterance, determining a response to the query based on the authentication tokens included in the query; and

providing the response to the device.

2. The medium of claim 1, wherein determining that the query does not indicate a known user as a speaker comprises:

determining that the query does not include a flag that indicates the utterance was classified as spoken by any of the known users.

3. The medium of claim 1, wherein determining that the query does not indicate a known user as a speaker comprises:

determining that the query does not flag any of the authentication tokens as corresponding to the speaker of the utterance.

4. The medium of claim 1, wherein in response to determining that the query does not indicate a known user as a speaker, determining whether the query is non-personal based on the representation of the utterance comprises:

in response to determining that the query does not indicate a known user as a speaker, determining whether an answer to the query is dependent on personal information.

5. The medium of claim 4, wherein determining whether an answer to the query is dependent on personal information comprises:

determining that the answer to the query is independent of personal information.

6. The medium of claim 1, wherein response to determining that the query is non-personal based on the representation of the utterance, determining a response to the query based on the authentication tokens included in the query comprises:

in response to determining that the query is non-personal based on the representation of the utterance, determining whether any of the authentication tokens indicates rights to perform an action indicated by the utterance; and

in response to determining that an authentication token of the authentication tokens indicates rights to perform the action indicated by the utterance, generating the response to indicate that the action was performed.

7. A computer-implemented method comprising:

receiving, from a device, a query that includes authentication tokens that correspond to known users of the device and a representation of an utterance;

determining that the query does not indicate a known user as a speaker;

in response to determining that the query does not indicate a known user as a speaker, determining whether the query is non-personal based on the representation of the utterance;

in response to determining that the query is non-personal based on the representation of the utterance, determining a response to the query based on the authentication tokens included in the query; and

providing the response to the device.

8. The method of claim 7, wherein determining that the query does not indicate a known user as a speaker comprises:

determining that the query does not include a flag that indicates the utterance was classified as spoken by any of the known users.

9. The method of claim 7, wherein determining that the query does not indicate a known user as a speaker comprises:

determining that the query does not flag any of the authentication tokens as corresponding to the speaker of the utterance.

10. The method of claim 7, wherein in response to determining that the query does not indicate a known user as a speaker, determining whether the query is non-personal based on the representation of the utterance comprises:

in response to determining that the query does not indicate a known user as a speaker, determining whether an answer to the query is dependent on personal information.

11. The method of claim 10, wherein determining whether an answer to the query is dependent on personal information comprises:

determining that the answer to the query is independent of personal information.

12. The method of claim 7, wherein response to determining that the query is non-personal based on the representation of the utterance, determining a response to the query based on the authentication tokens included in the query comprises:

in response to determining that the query is non-personal based on the representation of the utterance, determining whether any of the authentication tokens indicates rights to perform an action indicated by the utterance; and

in response to determining that an authentication token of the authentication tokens indicates rights to perform the action indicated by the utterance, generating the response to indicate that the action was performed.

13. A system comprising:

one or more computers and one or more storage devices storing instructions that are operable, when executed by the one or more computers, to cause the one or more computers to perform operations comprising;

receiving, from a device, a query that includes authentication tokens that correspond to known users of the device and a representation of an utterance;

determining that the query does not indicate a known user as a speaker;

in response to determining that the query does not indicate a known user as a speaker, determining whether the query is non-personal based on the representation of the utterance;

in response to determining that the query is non-personal based on the representation of the utterance, determining a response to the query based on the authentication tokens included in the query; and

providing the response to the device.

14. The system of claim 13, wherein determining that the query does not indicate a known user as a speaker comprises:

determining that the query does not include a flag that indicates the utterance was classified as spoken by any of the known users.

15. The system of claim 13, wherein determining that the query does not indicate a known user as a speaker comprises:

determining that the query does not flag any of the authentication tokens as corresponding to the speaker of the utterance.

16. The system of claim 13, wherein in response to determining that the query does not indicate a known user as a speaker, determining whether the query is non-personal based on the representation of the utterance comprises:

in response to determining that the query does not indicate a known user as a speaker, determining whether an answer to the query is dependent on personal information.

17. The system of claim 16, wherein determining whether an answer to the query is dependent on personal information comprises:

determining that the answer to the query is independent of personal information.

18. The system of claim 13, wherein response to determining that the query is non-personal based on the representation of the utterance, determining a response to the query based on the authentication tokens included in the query comprises:

in response to determining that the query is non-personal based on the representation of the utterance, determining whether any of the authentication tokens indicates rights to perform an action indicated by the utterance; and

in response to determining that an authentication token of the authentication tokens indicates rights to perform the action indicated by the utterance, generating the response to indicate that the action was performed.