USING A PHYSICAL PHENOMENON DETECTOR TO CONTROL OPERATION OF A SPEECH RECOGNITION ENGINE

• US 20130080179A1
• Filed: 09/15/2012
• Published: 03/28/2013
• Est. Priority Date: 01/16/2008
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Amazon Technologies, Inc. (Amazon.com, Inc.)
• Original Assignee: Amazon Technologies, Inc. (Amazon.com, Inc.)
• Inventors: White, Marc
• Granted Patent: US 9,037,473 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 704/275
• CPC Class Codes: G10L 15/22 Procedures used during a speech recognition process, e.g. man-machine dialogue
• CPC Class Codes: G10L 21/00 Speech or voice signal processing techniques to produce another audible or non-audible signal, e.g. visual or tactile, in order to modify its quality or its intelligibility G10L19/00 takes precedence
• CPC Class Codes: H04M 1/7243 with interactive means for internal management of messages
• CPC Class Codes: H04M 1/72433 for voice messaging, e.g. dictaphones for answering incoming calls H04M1/64
• CPC Class Codes: H04M 1/72436 for text messaging, e.g. short messaging services [SMS] or e-mails
• CPC Class Codes: H04M 1/72445 for supporting Internet browser applications
• CPC Class Codes: H04M 2250/12 including a sensor for measuring a physical value, e.g. temperature or motion telephones including GPS signal receivers H04M2250/10
• CPC Class Codes: H04M 2250/74 with voice recognition means voice activated dialling H04M1/271; voice recognition algorithms G10L15/00

Abstract

A device may include a physical phenomenon detector. The physical phenomenon detector may detect a physical phenomenon related to the device. In response to detecting the physical phenomenon, the device may record audio data that includes speech. The speech may be transcribed with a speech recognition engine. The speech recognition engine may be included in the device, or may be included with a remote computing device with which the device may communicate.

Claims

1. A method comprising:

as implemented by an electronic communication device configured with specific computer-executable instructions, detecting a spatial manipulation of the electronic communication device;

in response to detecting the spatial manipulation, recording audio data; and

providing the audio data to a speech recognition engine.

2. The method of claim 1, wherein the spatial manipulation comprises a rotation of the electronic communication device about a first axis.

3. The method of claim 2, wherein the spatial manipulation further comprises a rotation of the electronic communication device about a second axis.

4. The method of claim 1, wherein detecting the spatial manipulation comprises using at least one of an accelerometer or a gyroscope.

5. The method of claim 1 further comprising placing the electronic communication device in a standby state in response to user input, and wherein the electronic communication device is in the standby state when detecting the spatial manipulation of the electronic communication device.

6. The method of claim 1, wherein the speech recognition engine is included in the electronic communication device, and further comprising generating speech recognition results corresponding to the audio data with the speech recognition engine.

7. The method of claim 1, wherein the speech recognition engine is included in a remote computing device, and further comprising receiving speech recognition results corresponding to the audio data from the remote computing device.

8. A system comprising:

a physical phenomenon detection unit; and

an electronic communication device comprising a control unit, the control unit being in communication with the physical phenomenon detection unit, the electronic communication device configured to;

determine that the physical phenomenon detection unit has detected a first physical phenomenon related to the electronic communication device;

in response to determining that the physical phenomenon detection unit has detected the first physical phenomenon, record audio data; and

provide the recorded audio data to a speech recognition engine.

9. The system of claim 8, wherein the speech recognition engine is included in the electronic communication device.

10. The system of claim 8, wherein the physical phenomenon detection unit is included in the electronic communication device.

11. The system of claim 8, wherein the physical phenomenon detection unit comprises at least one of a proximity sensor, a light sensor, an accelerometer, a gyroscope, a vibration sensor, or a geomagnetic sensor.

12. The system of claim 8, wherein the electronic communication device is further configured to:

after determining that the physical phenomenon detection unit has detected the first physical phenomenon, determine that the physical phenomenon detection unit has detected a second physical phenomenon related to the electronic communication device; and

stop recording the audio data in response to determining that the physical phenomenon detection unit has detected the second physical phenomenon.

13. The system of claim 8, wherein the electronic communication device is further configured to:

before determining that the physical phenomenon detection unit has detected the first physical phenomenon, determine that the physical phenomenon detection unit has detected a second physical phenomenon related to the electronic communication device;

and

enter a standby state in response to determining that the physical phenomenon detection unit has detected the second physical phenomenon;

wherein the electronic communication device is configured to determine that the physical phenomenon detection unit has detected the first physical phenomenon when the electronic communication device is in the standby state.

14. A non-transitory computer-readable medium having stored thereon a computer-executable component configured to execute in one or more processors of an electronic communication device, the computer-executable component being further configured to:

determine that a first physical phenomenon related to the electronic communication device has occurred;

in response to determining that the first physical phenomenon has occurred, record audio data; and

provide the audio data to a speech recognition engine.

15. The non-transitory computer-readable medium of claim 14, wherein the speech recognition engine is included in the electronic communication device.

16. The non-transitory computer-readable medium of claim 14, wherein the speech recognition engine is included in a remote computing device.

17. The non-transitory computer-readable medium of claim 14, wherein the computer-executable component is further configured to:

obtain speech recognition results corresponding to the audio data; and

cause the electronic communication device to present the speech recognition results.

18. The non-transitory computer-readable medium of claim 14, wherein the computer-executable component is further configured to:

after determining that the first physical phenomenon related to the electronic communication device has occurred, determine that a second physical phenomenon related to the electronic communication device has occurred; and

stop recording the audio data comprising speech in response to determining that the second physical phenomenon related to the electronic communication device has occurred.

19. The non-transitory computer-readable medium of claim 14, wherein the first physical phenomenon comprises a spatial manipulation of the electronic communication device.

20. The non-transitory computer-readable medium of claim 19, wherein the spatial manipulation of the electronic communication device comprises a user holding the electronic communication device near the user'"'"'s face.