VOICE USER INTERFACE

• US 20170351487A1
• Filed: 06/02/2017
• Published: 12/07/2017
• Est. Priority Date: 06/06/2016
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Cirrus Logic Incorporated
• Original Assignee: Cirrus Logic International Semiconductor Ltd. (Cirrus Logic Incorporated)
• Inventors: AVILS-CASCO VAQUERO, Carlos, GARCA GOMAR, Marta, MARTNEZ GONZLEZ, David
• Granted Patent: US 10,379,810 B2
• Time in Patent Office: 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 17/00 Speaker identification or verification techniques
• CPC Class Codes: G10L 17/10 Multimodal systems, i.e. based on the integration of multiple recognition engines or fusion of expert systems
• CPC Class Codes: G10L 17/22 Interactive procedures; Man-machine interfaces

Abstract

A received signal represents a user'"'"'s speech. A first speaker recognition process is performed on a first portion of the received signal, to obtain a first output result. A second speaker recognition process is performed on a second portion of the received signal that is different from the first portion of the received signal, to obtain a second output result. The second speaker recognition process is different from the first speaker recognition process. The first and second output results are combined to obtain a combined output result indicating a likelihood that the user is a registered user.

Claims

1. A method of processing a received signal representing a user'"'"'s speech, the method comprising:

performing a first speaker recognition process on a first portion of the received signal, to obtain a first output result;

performing a second speaker recognition process on a second portion of the received signal that is different from the first portion of the received signal, to obtain a second output result, wherein the second speaker recognition process is different from the first speaker recognition process; and

combining the first and second output results to obtain a combined output result indicating a likelihood that the user is a registered user.

2. A method according to claim 1, wherein the method is performed in response to determining that the received signal represents a predetermined trigger phrase.

3. A method according to claim 1, wherein said first portion of the received signal represents the predetermined trigger phrase.

4. A method according to claim 1, comprising applying respective weighting values to the first and second output results and combining the weighted results.

5. A method according to claim 4, wherein at least one of the weighting values is determined based on at least one measure relating to a quality of a respective sample.

6. A method according to claim 5, wherein the at least one measure relating to the quality of the respective sample is selected from:

a measure of an amount of speech represented by the respective portion of the received signal;

a measure of a degree of fit of the respective portion of the received signal to a background model of the respective speaker recognition process;

a measure of a signal-to-noise ratio of the respective portion of the received signal;

a measure of a signal-to-interference ratio of the respective portion of the received signal;

a measure of a direct-to-reflected ratio of the respective portion of the received signal;

a measure of a direction from which the respective portion of the received signal was received; and

a measure of a range from which the respective portion of the received signal was received.

7. A method according to claim 1, wherein the first and second speaker recognition processes use different models of the user'"'"'s speech.

8. A method according to claim 1, wherein the first and second speaker recognition processes use different background models.

9. A method according to claim 5, further comprising performing an antispoofing process on at least one of the first and second portions of the received signal,

wherein the measure relating to the quality of the respective sample comprises the respective antispoofing score obtained from the respective portion of the received signal.

10. A method according to claim 1, wherein the first portion of the received signal comprises a trigger phrase and the second portion of the received signal comprises a command.

11. A method according to claim 1, wherein the first portion of the received signal corresponds to a first time window and the second portion of the received signal corresponds to a second time window, and wherein the first time window does not overlap the second time window.

12. A method according to claim 1, wherein the first portion of the received signal corresponds to a first time window and the second portion of the received signal corresponds to a second time window, and wherein the first time window at least partially overlaps the second time window.

13. A method according to claim 1, comprising performing at least one further speaker recognition process on at least one further portion of the received signal to obtain at least one respective further output result;

and

combining the at least one further output result with the first and second output results to obtain the combined output result indicating a likelihood that the user is a registered user.

14. A method according to claim 1, further comprising performing speech recognition on at least the first portion of the received signal.

15. A method according to claim 1, comprising allowing or preventing a further action by the user based on the combined output result.

16. A device for processing a received signal representing a user'"'"'s speech, for performing speaker recognition, wherein the device is configured to:

perform a first speaker recognition process on a first portion of the received signal, to obtain a first output result;

perform a second speaker recognition process on a second portion of the received signal that is different from the first portion of the received signal, to obtain a second output result, wherein the second speaker recognition process is different from the first speaker recognition process; and

combine the first and second output results to obtain a combined output result indicating a likelihood that the user is a registered user.

17. A device as claimed in claim 16, wherein the device comprises a mobile telephone, an audio player, a video player, a PDA, a mobile computing platform, a games device, a remote controller device, a toy, a machine, or a home automation controller.

18. An integrated circuit device for processing a received signal representing a user'"'"'s speech, for performing speaker recognition, wherein the integrated circuit device is configured to:

perform a first speaker recognition process on a first portion of the received signal, to obtain a first output result;

perform a second speaker recognition process on a second portion of the received signal that is different from the first portion of the received signal, to obtain a second output result, wherein the second speaker recognition process is different from the first speaker recognition process; and

combine the first and second output results to obtain a combined output result indicating a likelihood that the user is a registered user.

19. An integrated circuit device as claimed in claim 18, wherein the first and second speaker recognition processes use at least one user or background model stored in said device.

20. A non-transitory computer readable storage medium having computer-executable instructions stored thereon that, when executed by processor circuitry, cause the processor circuitry to perform a method comprising:

performing a first speaker recognition process on a first portion of the received signal, to obtain a first output result;

performing a second speaker recognition process on a second portion of the received signal that is different from the first portion of the received signal, to obtain a second output result, wherein the second speaker recognition process is different from the first speaker recognition process; and

combining the first and second output results to obtain a combined output result indicating a likelihood that the user is a registered user.