Method and apparatus for executing voice command in electronic device

• US 10,657,967 B2
• Filed: 10/02/2018
• Issued: 05/19/2020
• Est. Priority Date: 05/29/2012
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Samsung Electronics Co. Ltd.
• Original Assignee: Samsung Electronics Co. Ltd.
• Inventors: Chakladar, Subhojit, Lee, Sang-Hoon, Kim, Hee-Woon
• Primary Examiner(s): Sirjani, Fariba
• Application Number:
  US16/149,304
• Publication Number:
  US 20190035399A1
• Time in Patent Office: 595 Days
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 3/167 Audio in a user interface, e.g. using voice commands for navigating, audio feedback
• 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 2015/225 Feedback of the input speech

Abstract

An apparatus and method for executing a voice command in an electronic device. In an exemplary embodiment, a voice signal is detected and speech thereof is recognized. When the recognized speech contains a wakeup command, a voice command mode is activated, and a signal containing at least a portion of the detected voice signal is transmitted to a server. The server generates a control signal or a result signal corresponding to the voice command, and transmits the same to the electronic device. The device receives and processes the control or result signal, and awakens. Thereby, voice commands are executed without the need for the user to physically touch the electronic device.

Claims

1. An electronic device comprising:

one or more microphones;

a communication module;

a display unit; and

one or more processors, wherein the one or more processors are configured to;

receive a voice signal including wakeup command, a voice command subsequent to the wakeup command, and a duration of silence between the wakeup command and the voice command through the one or more microphones while displaying a lock screen in a locked state of the display unit,

recognize the wakeup command in the voice signal,

in response to recognizing the wakeup command in the voice signal, change the lock screen to a screen for a voice command function including a visual object related to voice recognition while maintaining the locked state of the display unit, the visual object being indicative of the voice command function being activated,

transmit a signal including the voice command of the voice signal through the communication module to a server for conducting speech recognition on the voice command,

display, through the display unit and after the wakeup command and before execution of the voice command, a text, which is received from the server, the text indicating that the server is conducting the speech recognition on the voice command, and

after displaying the text, perform an operation responsive to a control signal, corresponding to the recognized voice command, received from the server.

2. The electronic device of claim 1, wherein the wakeup command is pre-determined or is configured with at least one word which a user inputs when a speaker-dependent recognition scheme which is based on information on a voice of the user is used, and the information is acquired from the voice signal, corresponding to the wakeup command, spoken plural times by the user in advance.

3. The electronic device of claim 1, wherein the one or more processors are configured to transmit, to the server, the signal including both of the wakeup command and the voice command.

4. The electronic device of claim 1, wherein recognizing, changing, transmitting and performing are able to be executed by the one or more processors without a user input after receiving the voice signal including the wakeup command and the voice command.

5. An electronic device comprising:

one or more microphones;

a communication module;

a display unit; and

one or more processors,

wherein the one or more processors are configured to;

receive a voice signal including a wakeup command, a voice command subsequent to the wakeup command, and a duration of silence between the wakeup command and the voice command through the one or more microphones while displaying a lock screen in a locked state of the display unit

recognize the wakeup command in the voice signal,

in response to recognizing the wakeup command in the voice signal, change the locked state to an active state of a system of the electronic device,

in response to the changing to the active state, control the display unit to display a screen for a voice command function including a visual object related to voice recognition, the visual object being indicative of the voice command function being activated,

transmit a signal including the voice command of the voice signal through the communication module to a server for conducting speech recognition on the voice command,

display, through the display unit and after the wakeup command and before execution of the voice command, a text, which is received from the server, the text indicating that the server is conducting the speech recognition on the voice command, and

after displaying the text, perform an operation responsive to a control signal, corresponding to the recognized voice command, received from the server.

6. The electronic device of claim 5, wherein the wakeup command is pre-determined or is configured with at least one word which a user inputs when a speaker-dependent recognition scheme which is based on information on a voice of the user is used, and the information is acquired from the voice signal, corresponding to the wakeup command, spoken plural times by the user in advance.

7. The electronic device of claim 5, wherein the one or more processors are configured to transmit, to the server, the signal including both of the wakeup command and the voice command.

8. The electronic device of claim 5, wherein recognizing, changing, transmitting and performing are able to be executed by the one or more processors without a user input after receiving the voice signal including the wakeup command and the voice command.

9. A computer program product comprising one or more non-transitory computer readable storage media having a computer readable program stored therein, wherein the computer readable program, when executed on an electronic device, causes the device to:

receive a voice signal including a wakeup command and a voice command subsequent to the wakeup command from a user, where there is a duration of silence between the wakeup command and the voice command;

recognize the wakeup command while a touch screen of the electronic device is locked;

in response to recognizing the wakeup command unlocking the touch screen;

transmit a signal including the voice command of the voice signal to a server for conducting speech recognition on the voice command and obtaining a recognized voice command at the server;

receive a control signal corresponding to the recognized voice command from the server; and

perform an operation in response to the control signal.

10. The computer program product of claim 9, wherein perform the operation comprises execute a particular application.

11. The computer program product of claim 9, wherein perform the operation comprises display data in response to the voice command.

12. The computer program product of claim 9, wherein unlock the touch screen further comprises display a graphical user interface (GUI) related to the voice command.

13. The computer program product of claim 9, wherein recognize the wakeup command further comprises recognizing a predetermined speaker of the voice signal.

14. The computer program product of claim 9, wherein unlock the touch screen further comprises unlocking the touch screen in response to recognizing a predetermined speaker of the voice signal.

15. The computer program product of claim 9, wherein unlocking the touch screen comprises unlocking the touch screen in response to recognizing the wakeup command and a predetermined speaker of the voice signal.

16. The computer program product of claim 9, wherein the voice signal is input through a microphone of the electronic device in an idle mode, and when the wakeup command is detected in the idle mode, a voice command mode is activated.