Communication system and method between an on-vehicle voice recognition system and an off-vehicle voice recognition system

• US 9,263,058 B2
• Filed: 06/24/2011
• Issued: 02/16/2016
• Est. Priority Date: 06/24/2010
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Honda Motor Co., Ltd. (Honda Motor Company)
• Original Assignee: Honda Motor Co., Ltd. (Honda Motor Company)
• Inventors: Huang, Ritchie Winson, Vaghefinazari, Pedram, Yamamoto, Stuart
• Primary Examiner(s): GUERRA-ERAZO, EDGAR X
• Application Number:
  US13/805,921
• Publication Number:
  US 20130185072A1
• Time in Patent Office: 1,698 Days
• Field of Search: 704/233, 704/235, 704/243, 704/246, 704/270, 704/270.1, 704/275, 704/277, 704/278
• US Class Current: 1/1
• CPC Class Codes: G10L 15/01 Assessment or evaluation of speech recognition systems
• CPC Class Codes: G10L 15/22 Procedures used during a speech recognition process, e.g. man-machine dialogue
• CPC Class Codes: G10L 15/30 Distributed recognition, e.g. in client-server systems, for mobile phones or network applications
• CPC Class Codes: G10L 17/22 Interactive procedures; Man-machine interfaces
• CPC Class Codes: G10L 2015/223 Execution procedure of a spoken command
• CPC Class Codes: G10L 2015/228 of application context
• CPC Class Codes: G10L 21/06 Transformation of speech into a non-audible representation, e.g. speech visualisation or speech processing for tactile aids G10L15/26 takes precedence
• CPC Class Codes: G10L 25/72 for transmitting results of analysis

Abstract

A vehicle based system and method for receiving voice inputs and determining whether to perform a voice recognition analysis using in-vehicle resources or resources external to the vehicle.

Claims

1. A computer based method in a vehicle comprising the steps of:

receiving a representation of first voice input;

determining a first characteristic of the first voice input representation wherein the first characteristic is at least one of a voice type, frequency, speed, prosody, intelligibility, tone, pitch, size, direction, volume and/or duration;

based on the determined first characteristic, determining whether a voice recognition process should be performed to said first voice input representation by a computer based voice recognition system in the vehicle or using a voice recognition system that is external to the vehicle;

performing said computer based voice recognition in the vehicle to said first voice input representation in response to said determination that the voice recognition process should be performed in the vehicle; and

transmitting said first voice input representation to an external system in response to said determination that the voice recognition process should be performed external to the vehicle; and

further comprising the steps of;

determining if a wireless transmission connection between the vehicle and the external system exceeds a minimum threshold when the determination is to use the external voice recognition system; and

determining that said voice recognition process should be performed using the voice recognition system in the vehicle to said representation of said first voice input representation if said wireless transmission connection quality is lower than said minimum threshold.

2. The computer based method of claim 1, wherein said determining whether a voice recognition process should be performed to said first voice input representation by a computer based voice recognition system in the vehicle or using a voice recognition system that is external to the vehicle includes the steps of:

determining a first context of the first voice input representation; and

determining whether a voice recognition process should be performed to said first voice input representation by a computer based voice recognition system in the vehicle or using a voice recognition system that is external to the vehicle, based upon said first context.

3. The computer based method of claim 2, wherein determining said first context uses at least one of the type of vehicle key pressed by a first user in the vehicle and/or information displayed on an output device in the vehicle.

4. The computer based method of claim 3, wherein said information displayed on said output device is at least one of audio information, video information, and/or navigation information.

5. The computer based method of claim 1, wherein said step of performing said computer based voice recognition in the vehicle generates a first voice recognition result, said method further comprising the steps of:

determining a confidence value of said in-vehicle performed voice recognition process representing a likelihood that said first voice recognition result is correct; and

determining that said voice recognition process to said first voice input representation should be performed using the voice recognition system external to the vehicle if said confidence value is lower than a first threshold.

6. The computer based method of claim 1, wherein said first voice input representation voice input representation is received from a first user of the vehicle, the method further comprising the step of:

transmitting profile information about at least one of said first user and/or said vehicle to the external system.

7. The computer based method of claim 1, wherein said step of performing said computer based voice recognition in the vehicle generates a first voice recognition result, said method further comprising the steps of:

determining a confidence value of said in-vehicle performed voice recognition process representing a likelihood that said first voice recognition result is correct; and

determining that said voice recognition process to said first voice input representation should be performed using the voice recognition system external to the vehicle if said confidence value is lower than a first threshold.

8. The computer based method of claim 1, wherein said first voice input representation voice input representation is received from a first user of the vehicle, the method further comprising the step of:

transmitting profile information about at least one of said first user and/or said vehicle to the external system.

9. A system in a vehicle comprising:

a microphone for receiving a first voice input representation from a first user;

a voice recognition location unit for;

determining a first characteristic of said first voice input representation wherein said first characteristic is at least one of a voice type, frequency, speed, prosody, intelligibility, tone, pitch, size, direction, volume and/or duration;

based on the determined first characteristic, determining whether a voice recognition process should be performed to said first voice input representation by a computer based voice recognition system in the vehicle or using a voice recognition system that is external to the vehicle;

said voice recognition system for performing said computer based voice recognition in the vehicle to said first voice input representation in response to said determination that the voice recognition process should be performed in the vehicle; and

a communications unit for transmitting said first voice input representation to an external system in response to said determination that the voice recognition process should be performed external to the vehicle;

wherein said communications unit determines if a wireless transmission connection between the vehicle and the external system exceeds a minimum threshold when the determination is to use the external voice recognition system; and

wherein said voice recognition location unit further determines that said voice recognition process to said first voice input representation should be performed using the voice recognition system in the vehicle if said wireless transmission connection quality is lower than said minimum threshold.

10. The system of claim 9, further comprising:

a context unit to determine a first context of the first voice input representation;

wherein said voice recognition location unit determines whether a voice recognition process should be performed to said first voice input representation by a computer based voice recognition system in the vehicle or using a voice recognition system that is external to the vehicle based upon said first context.

11. The system of claim 9, wherein said voice recognition system generates a first voice recognition result, the system further comprising:

a confidence value unit to determine a confidence value of said in-vehicle performed voice recognition process representing a likelihood that said first voice recognition result is correct;

wherein said voice recognition location unit determines that said voice recognition process should be performed using the voice recognition system external to the vehicle if said confidence value is lower than a first threshold.

12. The system of claim 9, wherein said communication system transmits profile information about at least one of said first user and the vehicle to the external system.

13. One or more non-transitory computer-readable storage mediums having computer-executable instructions, the instructions when executed cause at least one processor to perform steps including:

receiving a first voice input representation from a first user of the vehicle;

determining a first characteristic of said first voice input representation wherein said first characteristic is at least one of a voice type, frequency, speed, prosody, intelligibility, tone, pitch, size, direction, volume and/or duration;

determining whether a voice recognition process should be performed to said first voice input representation by a computer based voice recognition system in the vehicle or by a voice recognition system that is external to the vehicle based on the determined first characteristic;

performing said computer based voice recognition to said first voice input representation in the vehicle in response to said determination that the voice recognition process should be performed in the vehicle; and

transmitting said first voice input representation to an external system in response to said determination that the voice recognition process should be performed external to the vehicle; and

further comprising the steps of;

determining if a wireless transmission connection between the vehicle and the external system exceeds a minimum threshold when the determination is to use the external voice recognition system; and

determining that said voice recognition process should be performed using the voice recognition system in the vehicle if said wireless transmission connection quality is lower than said minimum threshold.

14. The non-transitory computer readable storage mediums of claim 13, further comprising:

determining a first context of the first voice input representation; and

determining whether a voice recognition process should be performed to said first voice input representation by a computer based voice recognition system in the vehicle or using a voice recognition system that is external to the vehicle based upon said first context.

15. The non-transitory computer readable storage mediums of claim 13, wherein said step of performing said computer based voice recognition in the vehicle generates a first voice recognition result, said method further comprising:

determining a confidence value of said in-vehicle performed voice recognition process representing a likelihood that said voice recognition result is correct; and

determining that said voice recognition process to said first voice input representation should be performed using the voice recognition system external to the vehicle if said confidence value is lower than a first threshold.

16. The non-transitory computer readable storage mediums of claim 13, further comprising the steps of:

transmitting profile information about at least one of said first user and said vehicle to the external system.