Abstract: Provided is a crisis monitoring system that detects a crisis by identifying a person's emotion from his/her utterance includes an input unit to which an audio signal is inputted, a recording unit which records information necessary to judge a crisis situation, and a control unit which controls the input unit and the recording unit. The recording unit records emotion attribute information, which includes a feature of a specific emotion in an audio signal, and the control unit determines a person's emotion by comparing an audio signal inputted to the input unit with the emotion attribute information, and executes a predetermined emergency processing when it is judged that the determined emotion indicates a crisis situation.

Abstract: A speech processing unit assigns priority either to voice guidance processing or to speech recognition processing to be carried out previously, when a speech input requesting for the speech recognition processing is accepted while the voice guidance processing is being carried out. It can solve a problem of a conventional speech processing unit in that when a user operates a speech input button requesting for the speech recognition processing, the currently output voice guidance is interrupted, or the voice guidance scheduled to be output is not produced, thereby hindering the user from obtaining truly necessary information.

Abstract: A Control apparatus for controlling communication between a user and at least one processor controlled device, such as a printer or copier, capable of carrying out at least one task. The control includes a processor configured to conduct a dialog with the user to determine the task that the user wishes the device to carry out; instruct the device to carry out the determined task; receive event information related to events; determine whether the user is involved with another task when the event information is received; identify interrupt status information associated with at least one of the event for which event information is received and said other task; determine whether or not the user can be interrupted on the basis of the identified interrupt status information; and advise the user of received event information.

Abstract: A system, method and computer program product are disclosed for dynamically configuring a speech recognition portal. A session with a user is conducted utilizing a speech recognition portal which provides access to a network during the session. Utterances are received from the user during the session via the speech recognition portal. A speech recognition process is performed on the utterances to interpret the utterances. During the session, one or more aspects of the speech recognition portal are dynamically configured.

Abstract: A curing lamp apparatus is used for providing electronic voice information to report a number of operating conditions associated with the curing lamp. The apparatus includes a light sensor for sensing output power, voltage and current sensors for sensing input power, a microcontroller for providing a digital number in response to receiving signals from one or more sensors, a programmed voice circuit for retrieving a voice message signal from a memory, address associated with the digital number, and a transducer for receiving and audibly reproducing the voice message signal.

Abstract: A system 10 is provided which is receptive to selective tuning at particular frequencies. The system 10 includes a display device 15, an audio synthesizer 14, and a controller 20. The controller 20 is in communication with the display device 15 and the audio synthesizer 14. The controller 20 communicates with the audio synthesizer 14 when a malfunction is detected with respect to the display device 15. In one embodiment, the audio synthesizer 14 produces an audible announcement of a frequency at which the system 10 is currently tuned.

Abstract: A method of creating a personal animated entity for delivering a multi-media message from a sender to a recipient is disclosed. The method comprises receiving from the sender an image file at a server, the image file having an entity and a background image. The server presents to the sender the image file and requests the sender to mark features on the image file. After the sender marks the image file, the server presents to the sender the image file as an optional animated entity when the sender chooses an animated entity to deliver a multi-media message. If the sender selects the image file for delivering the multi-media message, the server delivers the multi-media message using the personal animated entity in the context of the background image of the image file. Extrapolation is used to fill in background voids created by the movement of the personal animated entity in the context of the background image.

Abstract: A method for evaluating near-term suicidal risk by analysis of a series of spoken words includes converting the spoken series of words into a signal having characteristics indicative of said words as spoken, dynamically monitoring said signal to detect changes therein and identifying the person as having a relatively high near-term risk of suicide on the basis of such monitored changes in the signal relative to the speech of individuals in good mental health having no near-term suicidal risk.

Abstract: There are provided a voice outputting apparatus, a voice outputting system, a voice outputting method and a storage medium which, when the synthetic voices of a plurality of text data are to be uttered in overlapping relationship with each other, voice-synthesize the plurality of text data with different kinds of voices and to be outputted, thereby enabling the voices of the plurality of text data to be heard easily. The voice outputting apparatus is provided with a voice waveform generating portion for generating the voice waveform of text data, and a voice output portion for causing, when the overlapping of the voice outputs of a plurality of text data is detected, the respective text data to be outputted in different voices, or from discrete speakers, or in voices of different heights.

Abstract: A measuring system according to the present invention includes a biosensor 2, and a measuring device 1 capable of assaying a specified component in a biological sample applied to the sensor 2. An announcement device 22 indicates a measuring procedure or a measurement result in the measuring device 1 by voice or the like by being combined with the measuring device 1.

Abstract: A method and apparatus for allowing a user device to avoid undesired state transitions when the user is present but not performing activities is provided. The method provides for detection of activity in the proximity of the user device by monitoring for sounds via an audio input device connected to the user device. The method further provides for analysis of the detected audio signals on the audio input to determine if the sound detected matches a voice reference sample of the user of the user device. If the detected sound matches the existing voice reference sample of the user, the method provides for simulation of activities on the user device, thereby preventing the user device from performing an undesired state transition, and in turn preempting resource saving operations.

Abstract: A method and apparatus for modification of a speech signal indicative of a stream of speech data having a plurality of syllables. The method comprises the steps of mapping the stream of speech data from the speech signal into a stream of tone data according to a linguistic rule regarding the syllables for providing a tone signal indicative of the stream of tone data; forming a string of musical notes responsive to the tone signal for providing a carrier signal indicative of the string of musical notes; modulating the carrier signal with the speech signal for providing a modified signal; and providing an audible signal representative of the speech signal, musically modified according to the linguistic rule. The linguistic rule includes an assignment of a tone to a syllable of the speech data based on a vowel of the syllable, a consonant of the syllable, the intonation of the syllable for a monosyllabic language.

Abstract: An apparatus for judging a fatigue level and/or a dozing state of a person by capturing voices uttered at different points of time from a microphone 5M. A computer performs chaos analysis of the digital data of the inputted voices and calculates Lyapunov exponents and judges a fatigue level and/or a dozing state based on the result of the chaos analysis.

Abstract: An apparatus for the detection and enunciation of hazardous conditions within an environment comprises at least two detection circuits positioned to sense ambient conditions within a home or business environment. One of the detection circuits senses the presence of smoke, and the other detection circuit senses the presence of carbon monoxide. The apparatus also comprises an alarm circuit which is responsive to each of the detection circuits for generating at least one alarm pattern, and preferably a separate alarm pattern for each different sensed condition. A voice synthesizer circuit is also included, and is responsive to each of the detection circuits for generating at least one voice message. As with the alarm patterns, the voice synthesizer preferably generates separate voice messages for each separate detected condition. The apparatus advantageously also contains an interleaving control circuit.

Abstract: The present invention includes a novel audio recognition peripheral system and method. The audio recognition peripheral system comprises an audio recognition peripheral a programmable processor such as a microprocessor or microcontroller. In one embodiment, the audio recognition peripheral includes a feature extractor and vector processor. The feature extractor receives an audio signal and extracts recognition features. The extracted audio recognition features are transmitted to the programmable processor and processed in accordance with an audio recognition algorithm. During execution of the audio recognition algorithm, the programmable processor signals the audio recognition peripheral to perform vector operations. Thus, computationally intensive recognition operations are advantageously offloaded to the peripheral.

Abstract: The present invention is a system and method for providing personal safety enhancement for communication devices having a speech recognition module. In one embodiment, when a specific speech segment recognized by the speech recognition module is received by a communication device of the present invention, the communication device performs the following tasks: (1) establishing a communication session with the called party; (2) communicating with a location system to generate location information pinpointing the location of the communication device; and (3) providing the location information to the called party. In other embodiments, the communication device performs additional tasks, including for example: (4) detecting a triggering event during the communication session; (5) communicating with the location system to generate subsequent location information; and (6) providing one or more of the subsequent location information and the triggering event to the called party.

Abstract: A low power audio processor is disclosed which includes: a bit stream processing unit for performing bit processing for an applied audio stream and for decoding the bit processed audio stream to have a format conducive to digital signal processing; a digital signal processing unit for receiving the decoded data from the bit stream processing unit to perform digital signal processing; a post processing unit for post processing audio data from the digital signal processing unit to output final audio data; and a host interface unit for interfacing with an external device to provide an audio parallel stream from the external device to the bit stream processing unit.

Abstract: A computer system has a notification manager for playing a message to a user by selecting one of a plurality of audio notifications. The method includes the step of setting a priority level for each notification arriving into a queue. The notification is inserted into a position in the queue based upon the priority level of the notification, such that the audio notifications at the queue top have a generally higher priority than audio notifications at the queue bottom. The notification at the top of the queue can be selected if the priority level of the notification is greater than a predetermined gate level. Once a notification is selected, a message corresponding to the selected notification is played to the user.

Abstract: Process and device for devising an abridged form of any term that is used in an alarm message intended to be displayed on a screen of the cockpit of an aircraft.

Abstract: A method for electronically detecting human suicidal predisposition by analysis of an elicited series of vocal utterances from an emotionally disturbed or distraught person independently of linguistic content of the elicited vocal utterance includes converting the utterance into an electrical signal having time varying amplitude and frequency which are representative of the utterance, filtering frequency components of the signal above and below pre-selected frequencies to obtain a signal within the pre-selected frequencies, filtering non-repetitive components having amplitude above about 90 percent of average amplitude of the signal out of the signal, filtering repetitive signal components having frequency outside about 90 percent of frequency band width of the signal out of the signal and identifying as suicidally predisposed a person from whom the vocal utterance emanated if signal amplitude exhibits substantially non-instantaneous decays upon conclusion of each utterance or if amplitude of signal amplitude

Abstract: A financial data system is disclosed that receives real-time data, uses a set of pre-determined rules to prioritize the data and provide a priority value, and then delivers the highest priority data by way of multiple audio channels. A key aspect of the invention is the use of data manipulation according to the priority value to adjust delivery volume, provide selective vocalization compression, add additional audio channels, or to override an existing comment when required. As a result of the invention, a significant amount of information may be aurally delivered to a user including properties of events as they change in response to changing financial conditions.

Abstract: A computer system has a notification manager for playing a message to a user by selecting one of a plurality of audio notifications. The method includes the step of setting a priority level for each notification arriving into a queue. The notification is inserted into a position in the queue based upon the priority level of the notification, such that the audio notifications at the queue top have a generally higher priority than audio notifications at the queue bottom. The notification at the top of the queue can be selected if the priority level of the notification is greater than a predetermined gate level. Once a notification is selected, a message corresponding to the selected notification is played to the user.

Abstract: An apparatus for the detection and enunciation of hazardous conditions within an environment comprises at least two detection circuits positioned to sense ambient conditions within a home or business environment. One of the detection circuits senses the presence of smoke, and the other detection circuit senses the presence of carbon monoxide. The apparatus also comprises an alarm circuit which is responsive to each of the detection circuits for generating at least one alarm pattern, and preferably a separate alarm pattern for each different sensed condition. A voice synthesizer circuit is also included, and is responsive to each of the detection circuits for generating at least one voice message. As with the alarm patterns, the voice synthesizer preferably generates separate voice messages for each separate detected condition. The apparatus advantageously also contains an interleaving control circuit.

Abstract: A security method compares a present verbal utterance with a previously recorded verbal utterance by comparing time-frequency domain representations of the utterances, with multiple repeat utterances forming a basis for determining a variation in repetitious performance by an individual, and similar differences between enrollment and challenge utterances forming a basis for a similar analysis of variance between enrollment and challenge utterances. In one embodiment a set of enrollment data is searched by each challenge until either a match is made, indicating an action, possibly dependent upon the specific match, or no match is made indicating an abort. In one application an individual is accepted or rejected as an imposter, in another applicaton, a selected action is accepted as corresponding to a verbal command.

Abstract: A financial data system is disclosed that receives real-time data, uses a set of pre-determined rules to prioritize the data and provide a priority value, and then delivers the highest priority data by way of multiple audio channels. A key aspect of the invention is the use of data manipulation according to the priority value to adjust delivery volume, provide selective vocalization compression, add additional audio channels, or to override an existing comment when required. As a result of the invention, a significant amount of information may be aurally delivered to a user including properties of events as they change in response to changing financial conditions.

Abstract: A system, method and article of manufacture are provided for monitoring emotions in voice signals and providing feedback thereon. First, a voice signal is received representative of a component of a conversation between at least two subjects. Thereafter, an emotion associated with the voice signal is determined. Feedback then provided to a third party based on the determined emotion.

Abstract: A wireless, programmable, sound-activated and voice-operated remote control transmitter can be used to add hands-free speech control operation to a plurality of remotely controlled appliances manufactured by various manufacturers, each of which is normally controlled with one or more signals from an associated remote control transmitter. The system may be pre-programmed with a universal library of codes for controlling various appliance categories and appliances produced by various manufacturers within each category. The system may also be programmed using the controlled appliances' remote control transmitters and one or more operators' spoken commands. Once programming is complete, there is no need for the operator to manually operate the system, allowing true hands-free voice control of the remotely controlled products. Voice commands are organized into a plurality of linked recognition vocabulary sets, each representing a subset of the complete voice command vocabulary available.

Abstract: A voice-operated, interactive message display system designed for inter-vehicle and extra-vehicle communications. The system includes one or more display units having a matrix of light-emitting elements to transmit a message to other vehicles either to the front, rear, side, or combination thereof. The display units are controlled by a central control unit having a voice recognition and voice synthesis system, which is used to interactively determine a message to display and on which displays to present it. Upon manual activation, the message system vocally prompts the user for the message to display and the parameters for its display. The system may be implemented in at least two different embodiments. In one embodiment a powerful vocabulary memory unit is used and the content of the message is run-time programmable. If a less expensive vocabulary unit is used, the user may choose from a series of preprogrammed messages.

Abstract: Method and apparatus for using video input to control speech recognition systems is disclosed. In one embodiment, gestures of a user of a speech recognition system are detected from a video input, and are used to turn a speech recognition unit on and off. In another embodiment, the position of a user is detected from a video input, and the position information supplied to a microphone array point of source filter to aid the filter in selecting the voice of a user that is moving about in the field of the camera supplying the video input.

Abstract: Information (e.g. traffic information) is retrieved from a server. The content of the information is reviewed in order to determine which of a plurality of prestored speech files should be used to report the information. The selected speech files are concatenated to form an audio presentation. The speech files may include phrases identifying incident types, locations, severity and/or timing information, as well as other filler words that improve the audio presentation. In some embodiments, the audio presentation is accompanied by video and/or graphics that can be referenced by the audio presentation.

Abstract: A security method compares a present verbal utterance with a previously recorded verbal utterance by comparing frequency domain representations of the utterances, with multiple repeat utterances forming a basis for determining a variation in repetitious performance by an individual, and similar differences between enrollment and challenge utterances forming a basis for a similar analysis of variance between enrollment and challenge utterances. In one embodiment a set of enrollment data is searched by each challenge until either a match is made, indicating an action, possibly dependent upon the specific match, or no match is made indicating an abort.

Abstract: The present invention comprises speaker-independent, continuous speech, multilingual, multi-dialect, Automatic Speech Recognition (ASR) technology. In particular, the present application integrates the ASR technology into call control technology such that it will identify key words in two ways. First, it will "Listen" to live conversations of any or all telephone lines controlled by the call control system. Second, it will "Listen" to recorded conversations of any or all voice recorder channels so that previously recorded telephone conversations can be quickly scanned to find key words or phrases spoken in the past. The unique aspect of this application is that it is being applied to the corrections industry for the purpose of spotting key words or phrases for investigative purposes or inmate control purposes which then can alert or trigger remedial action.

Abstract: A PC-based home security system for monitoring the environment surrounding a PC in order to detect suspicious or uncharacteristic events. The PC-based home security system first monitors the environment, listening and watching for a threshold event. When a threshold event is detected, the PC-based home security system then conducts close surveillance of the environment in order to detect and characterize additional events. When the accumulated detected events exceed some threshold value, the PC-based home security system determines that a suspicious or uncharacteristic set of events has occurred, diagnoses those events, and takes a remedial action appropriate to the diagnosed set of suspicious circumstances.

Abstract: A voice recognition system which controls industrial equipment or machinery. A proximity detector is attached to automatically adjust microphone sensitivity and to control automatic shutdown when the machine operator is not present. An enhanced barge-in feature uses a data switch that includes an input audio delay storage. The delay storage prevents loss of initial input data by delaying the input until the data switch switches from output to input modes. A variety of audio/video responses are provided to vary output and enhance attention span. Rules based input data handling provides a flexible response to user input.

Abstract: Voice processing for recognizing a predetermined voice such as a place name is performed by a voice processing section 14 from an audio signal inputted from a microphone 11 on the basis of an operation of a talk switch 18. When a map display is based on the recognized place name is performed, an incorrect reading and a place name commonly mistaken can be also recognized. Accordingly, a high grade operation of a navigation apparatus can be simply performed without obstructing an operator driving while a car.

Abstract: An apparatus that changes text data into a voice signal based on the position of a vehicle is disclosed. A main gazetteer is subdivided into multiple area gazetteers, wherein each area gazetteer contains information corresponding to the mapping area that the vehicle is located. When the vehicle's position moves to a different mapping area, an analysis controller detects the change in mapping area and selects the new corresponding area gazetteer. The information of the new area gazetteer is then outputted as speech. This technique of subdividing the main gazetteer into area gazetteers increases the retrieval speed of information to the operator of the vehicle.

Abstract: A security method compares a present verbal utterance with a previously recorded verbal utterance by comparing frequency domain representations of the utterances, with multiple repeat utterances forming a basis for determining a variation in repetitious performance by an individual, and similar differences between enrollment and challenge utterances forming a basis for a similar analysis of variance between enrollment and challenge utterances. In one embodiment a set of enrollment data is searched by each challenge until either a match is made, indicating an action, possibly dependent upon the specific match, or no match is made indicating an abort.

Abstract: A speech analysis method of protecting a vehicle from unauthorized accessing and controlling has a mode of voice changing and a mode of changing a protection degree. In the voice changing mode, a system realizing the method is interactively entered in advance a voice password, voice service passwords including a voice changing mode service password, and control commands. The passwords and commands are analyzed in a voice dependent and voice independent modes and stored. Then, the voice changing mode service password is entered into the system the system, is taught the passwords and commands in the voice changing mode and transferred in an operational state.