VOICE COMMAND-DRIVEN DATABASE

• US 20180011685A1
• Filed: 02/24/2017
• Published: 01/11/2018
• Est. Priority Date: 07/07/2016
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Intelligently Interactive, Inc.
• Original Assignee: Intelligently Interactive, Inc.
• Inventors: Weingartner, Eric H.
• Granted Patent: US 9,983,849 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• 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 3/038 Control and interface arrangements therefor, e.g. drivers or device-embedded control circuitry
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 3/0482 Interaction with lists of selectable items, e.g. menus
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 3/0483 Interaction with page-structured environments, e.g. book metaphor
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 3/04842 Selection of displayed objects or displayed text elements G06F3/0482 takes precedence
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 3/0488 using a touch-screen or digitiser, e.g. input of commands through traced gestures
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 3/167 Audio in a user interface, e.g. using voice commands for navigating, audio feedback
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 9/453 Help systems
• CPC Class Codes: G10L 13/02 Methods for producing synthetic speech; Speech synthesisers
• CPC Class Codes: G10L 13/08 Text analysis or generation of parameters for speech synthesis out of text, e.g. grapheme to phoneme translation, prosody generation or stress or intonation determination
• 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 15/30 Distributed recognition, e.g. in client-server systems, for mobile phones or network applications
• CPC Class Codes: G10L 2015/223 Execution procedure of a spoken command

Abstract

A voice command-driven system and computer-implemented method are disclosed for selecting a data item in a list of text-based data items stored in a database using a simple affirmative voice command input without utilizing a connection to a network. The text-based data items in the list are converted to speech using an embedded text-to-speech engine and an audio output of a first converted data item is provided. A listening state is entered into for a predefined pause time to await receipt of the simple affirmative voice command input. If the simple affirmative voice command input is received during the predefined pause time, the first converted data item is selected for processing. If the simple affirmative voice command input is not received during the predefined pause time, an audio output of a next converted data item in the list is provided.

Claims

1. A mobile device news reader, comprising:

at least one processor;

at least one database coupled to the at least one processor;

a text-to-speech engine embedded in the mobile device and executable by the at least one processor to convert text data stored in the at least one database to a speech-based output;

a speech-to-text engine embedded in the mobile device and executable by the at least one processor to process a voice command input received from a user of the device and generate data in the form of text that corresponds to the received voice command input; and

non-transient memory coupled to the at least one processor that stores program instructions, which, when executed by the at least one processor, cause the at least one processor to;

receive text-based news articles and text-based headlines associated with the news articles over a network from a remote server,

store a list of the received news articles correlated with a list of the received headlines in the at least one database, and

without utilizing a connection to the network,

(a) retrieve the list of headlines from the at least one database,

(b) incrementally convert text of one headline in the retrieved list of headlines to speech using the embedded text-to-speech engine and provide a speech-based output of the converted one headline to a user of the news reader,

(c) following output of the converted one headline, enter into a first listen mode for a predetermined pause time during which the at least one processor will await receipt of a particular affirmative voice command input from the user,

(d) if the particular affirmative voice command input is not received from the user during the pause time, convert text of a next headline in the retrieved list of headlines to speech, provide a speech-based output of the converted next headline to the user, and re-enter the first listen mode for the predetermined pause time during which the at least one processor will again await receipt of the particular affirmative voice command input from the user;

(e) repeat “

(d)”

until either the particular affirmative voice command input is received during one of the pause times or all headlines in the list have been output to the user,

(f) use the text-to-speech engine to output one or more application options, the application options being distinct from the converted headlines and including as least one of a navigation option or a user-adjustable setting that causes the news reader device to enter a mode other than output of converted headlines or converted news articles; and

(g) following output of the one or more application options, enter into a second listen mode, during which the at least one processor will await receipt of the particular affirmative voice command from the user to select one of the application options.

2. The mobile device news reader of claim 1, wherein the program instructions are further configured to cause the at least one processor to:

without utilizing a connection to the network

(h) if the particular affirmative voice command input was received from the user during the pause time, retrieve, from the at least one database, the text-based news article in the list of news articles that corresponds to the converted headline output preceding receipt of the particular affirmative voice command input, and

(i) convert the retrieved news article to speech using the embedded text-to-speech engine and provide a speech-based output of at least a portion of the converted news article to the user.

3. The mobile device news reader of claim 1, wherein the text-based headlines are received from one or more news feeds.

4. The mobile device news reader of claim 1, wherein the program instructions are further configured to cause the at least one processor to:

without utilizing a connection to the network,

(j) retrieve a text-based list of user-adjustable settings from the at least one database,

(k) incrementally convert text of a first setting in the retrieved list of user-adjustable settings to speech using the embedded text-to-speech engine and provide a speech-based output of the converted first setting to the user,

(l) following output of the converted first setting, enter a third listen mode for the predetermined pause time during which the at least one processor will await receipt of the particular affirmative voice command input from the user,

(m) if the particular affirmative voice command input is not received from the user during the pause time, convert text of a next setting in the retrieved list of user-adjustable settings to speech, provide a speech-based output of the converted next setting to the user, and re-entering a third listen mode for the predetermined pause time during which the at least one processor will again await receipt of the particular affirmative voice command input from the user; and

(n) repeat “

(m)”

until either the particular affirmative voice command input is received during the pause time immediately following the speech-based output of one of the converted settings of the retrieved list of user-adjustable settings, or all settings in the list have been output to the user.

5. The mobile device news reader of claim 1, wherein the program instructions are further configured to cause the at least one processor to:

generate and output a first listen tone when entering into the first listen mode.

6. The mobile device news reader of claim 1, further comprising:

a display screen coupled to the at least one processor; and

wherein the program instructions are further configured to cause the at least one processor to provide a visual display of voice commands available to the user on the display screen.

7. The mobile device news reader of claim 6, wherein the visual display identifies active voice commands available to the user at a current stage within the program instructions.

8. The mobile device news reader of claim 7, wherein the visual display includes text of each active voice command available to the user.

9. The mobile device news reader of claim 8, wherein the display screen is a pressure-sensitive touch screen and each active voice command identified in the visual display is a virtual button configured to generate a signal indicating a selection of one of the active voice commands identified on the touch screen when the user applies pressure on the touch screen in the vicinity of the button associated with the one of the active voice commands.

10. The mobile device news reader of claim 1, wherein the program instructions are further configured to cause the at least one processor to:

responsive to receiving the simple affirmative voice command from the user during the second listen mode, convert to speech using the embedded text-to-speech engine and output other text distinct from the received news articles.

11. A voice-command driven method for controlling a news reader device, comprising:

receiving, using at least one processor, text-based news articles and text-based headlines associated with the news articles over a network from a remote server;

storing, using the at least one processor, a list of the received news articles correlated with a list of the received headlines in at least one database coupled to the at least one processor in the device, and

without utilizing a connection to the network,

(a) retrieving, using the at least one processor, the list of headlines from the at least one database,

(b) incrementally converting text of one headline in the retrieved list of headlines to speech using a text-to-speech engine embedded in the device, and providing a speech-based output of the converted one headline to a user of the device,

(c) following output of the converted one headline, entering into a first listen mode for a predetermined pause time during which the at least one processor will await receipt of a particular affirmative voice command input from the user,

(d) if the particular affirmative voice command input is not received from the user during the pause time, converting, using the embedded text-to-speech engine, text of a next headline in the retrieved list of headlines to speech, providing a speech-based output of the converted next headline to the user, and re-entering the first listen mode for the predetermined pause time during which the at least one processor will again await receipt of the particular affirmative voice command input from the user;

(e) repeating “

(d)”

until either the particular affirmative voice command input is received during one of the pause times or all headlines in the list have been output to the user,

(f) using the text-to-speech engine to output one or more application options, the application options being distinct from the converted headlines and including as least one of a navigation option or a user-adjustable setting that causes the news reader device to enter a mode other than output of converted headlines or converted news articles; and

(g) following output of the one or more application options, entering into a second listen mode, during which the at least one processor will await receipt of the particular affirmative voice command from the user to select one of the application options.

12. The voice-command driven method of claim 11, further comprising:

without utilizing a connection to the network,

(h) if the particular affirmative voice command input was received from the user during the pause time, retrieving, from the at least one database, the text-based news article in the list of news articles that corresponds to the converted headline output preceding receipt of the particular affirmative voice command input, and

(i) converting the retrieved news article to speech using the embedded text-to-speech engine and providing a speech-based output of at least a portion of the converted news article to the user.

13. The voice-command driven method of claim 11, wherein the text-based headlines are received from one or more news feeds.

14. The voice-command driven method of claim 11, further comprising:

without utilizing a connection to the network,

(j) retrieving, using the at least one processor, a text-based list of user-adjustable settings from the at least one database,

(k) incrementally converting text of a first setting in the retrieved list of user-adjustable settings to speech using the embedded text-to-speech engine and providing a speech-based output of the converted first setting to the user,

(l) following output of the converted first setting, entering a third listen mode for the predetermined pause time during which the at least one processor will await receipt of the particular affirmative voice command input from the user,

(m) if the particular affirmative voice command input is not received from the user during the pause time, converting text of a next setting in the retrieved list of user-adjustable settings to speech using the embedded text-to-speech engine, providing a speech-based output of the converted next setting to the user, and re-entering a third listen mode for the predetermined pause time during which the at least one processor will again await receipt of the particular affirmative voice command input from the user; and

(n) repeating “

(m)”

until either the particular affirmative voice command input is received during the pause time immediately following the speech-based output of one of the converted settings of the retrieved list of user-adjustable settings, or all settings in the list have been output to the user.

15. The voice-command driven method of claim 11, further comprising:

generating and outputting a first listen tone, using the at least one processor, when entering into the first listen mode for the predetermined pause time.

16. The voice-command driven method of claim 11, further comprising:

providing a visual display of voice commands available to the user on a display screen coupled to the at least one processor.

17. The voice-command driven method of claim 16, wherein the visual display identifies active voice commands available to the user at a current operating state of the device.

18. The voice-command driven method of claim 17, wherein the visual display includes text of each active voice command available to the user.

19. The voice-command driven method of claim 18, wherein the display screen is a pressure-sensitive touch screen and each active voice command identified in the visual display is a virtual button configured to generate a signal indicating a selection of one of the active voice commands identified on the touch screen when the user applies pressure on the touch screen in the vicinity of the button associated with the one of the active voice commands.

20. The voice-command driven method of claim 11, further comprising:

responsive to receiving the simple affirmative voice command from the user during the second listen mode, converting to speech using the embedded text-to-speech engine and outputting other text distinct from the received news articles.