TECHNIQUES FOR PROVIDING NON-VERBAL SPEECH RECOGNITION IN AN IMMERSIVE PLAYTIME ENVIRONMENT

• US 20160206955A1
• Filed: 01/20/2015
• Published: 07/21/2016
• Est. Priority Date: 01/20/2015
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Disney Enterprises Incorporated (The Walt Disney Company)
• Original Assignee: Disney Enterprises Incorporated (The Walt Disney Company)
• Inventors: GOSLIN, Michael P., HASELTINE, Eric C., OLSON, Joseph L.
• Granted Patent: US 9,855,497 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 1/1
• CPC Class Codes: A63F 13/215 comprising means for detecting acoustic signals, e.g. using a microphone
• CPC Class Codes: A63F 13/424 involving acoustic input signals, e.g. by using the results of pitch or rhythm extraction or voice recognition
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 2203/0381 Multimodal input, i.e. interface arrangements enabling the user to issue commands by simultaneous use of input devices of different nature, e.g. voice plus gesture on digitizer
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 3/017 Gesture based interaction, e.g. based on a set of recognized hand gestures interaction based on gestures traced on a digitiser G06F3/04883
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 3/0346 with detection of the device orientation or free movement in a 3D space, e.g. 3D mice, 6-DOF [six degrees of freedom] pointers using gyroscopes, accelerometers or tilt-sensors
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 3/167 Audio in a user interface, e.g. using voice commands for navigating, audio feedback
• CPC Class Codes: G10L 17/26 Recognition of special voice characteristics, e.g. for use in lie detectors; Recognition of animal voices
• CPC Class Codes: G10L 25/18 the extracted parameters being spectral information of each sub-band

Abstract

An immersive play environment platform including techniques describing recognizing non-verbal vocalization gestures from a user is disclosed. A headset device receives audio input from a user. The headset device transmits the audio input to a controller device. The controller device evaluates characteristics of the audio input (e.g., spectral features over a period of time) to determine whether the audio input corresponds to a predefined non-verbal vocalization, such as a humming noise, shouting noise, etc. The controller device may perform an action in response to detecting such non-verbal vocalizations, such as engaging a play object (e.g., an action figure, an action disc) in the play environment.

Claims

1. An immersive play experience platform, comprising:

an audio device configured to receive audio input; and

a controller device configured to perform an operation for recognizing non-verbal vocalizations, the operation comprising;

receiving audio input transmitted by the audio device, and

upon determining that the audio input matches spectral features of one or more predefined non-verbal vocalizations, performing an action corresponding to the one or more predefined non-verbal vocalizations.

2. The platform of claim 1, further comprising:

a physical device configured to receive instructions from the controller device to perform the corresponding action; and

an interactive play object connected with the physical device.

3. The platform of claim 2, wherein performing the corresponding action comprises:

causing, via the physical device, the interactive play object to disconnect from the physical device.

4. The platform of claim 1, wherein the predefined non-verbal vocalizations includes at least one of a humming gesture and a shouting gesture.

5. The platform of claim 1, further comprising:

a sensor device having an accelerometer and a gyroscope, the sensor device configured to receive position and orientation input and to transmit the position and orientation input to the controller device.

6. The platform of claim 5, wherein the one or more predefined non-verbal vocalizations are associated with a choreographed sequence having one or more gestures corresponding to specified position and orientation input transmitted from the sensor device.

7. The platform of claim 1, wherein the predefined non-verbal vocalizations are further determined based on amplitude and timing thresholds measured in the audio input.

8. A method for recognizing non-verbal vocalizations, comprising:

receiving audio input; and

upon determining that the audio input matches spectral features of one or more predefined non-verbal vocalizations, performing an action corresponding to the one or more predefined non-verbal vocalizations.

9. The method of claim 8, further comprising, transmitting instructions to a physical device for performing the corresponding action.

10. The method of claim 9, wherein performing the corresponding action comprises:

causing, via the physical device, an interactive play object to disconnect from the physical device.

11. The method of claim 8, wherein the predefined non-verbal vocalizations includes at least one of a humming gesture and a shouting gesture.

12. The method of claim 8, further comprising, receiving position and orientation input.

13. The method of claim 12, wherein the one or more predefined non-verbal vocalizations are associated with a choreographed sequence having one or more gestures corresponding to specified position and orientation input.

14. The method of claim 8, wherein the predefined non-verbal vocalizations are further determined based on amplitude and timing thresholds measured in the audio input.

15. A non-transitory computer-readable storage medium storing instructions, which, when executed on a processor, perform an operation for recognizing non-verbal vocalizations, the operation comprising:

receiving audio input; and

upon determining that the audio input matches spectral features of one or more predefined non-verbal vocalizations, performing an action corresponding to the one or more predefined non-verbal vocalizations.

16. The computer-readable storage medium of claim 15, wherein the operation further comprises, transmitting instructions to a physical device for performing the corresponding action.

17. The computer-readable storage medium of claim 16, wherein performing the corresponding action comprises:

causing, via the physical device, an interactive play object to disconnect from the physical device.

18. The computer-readable storage medium of claim 15, wherein the operation further comprises, receiving position and orientation input.

19. The computer-readable storage medium of claim 18, wherein the one or more predefined non-verbal vocalizations are associated with a choreographed sequence having one or more gestures corresponding to specified position and orientation input.

20. The computer-readable storage medium of claim 15, wherein the predefined non-verbal vocalizations are further determined based on amplitude and timing thresholds measured in the audio input.