Patents Examined by Michael Colucci
  • Patent number: 11749260
    Abstract: Disclosed is a method for speech recognition performed by one or more processors of a computing device. The method includes inputting voice information into an encoder to extract a first feature vector and calculating a first loss function. The method includes inputting the first feature vector extracted from the encoder to a first decoder to perform prediction on the voice information, calculating a second loss function, and extracting a second feature vector. The method includes inputting a second feature vector extracted from the first decoder to a second decoder to perform grapheme-based prediction, and calculating a third loss function. The method includes training at least one of the encoder, the first decoder, or the second decoder based on the first loss function, the second loss function, and the third loss function.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: September 23, 2022
    Date of Patent: September 5, 2023
    Assignee: ACTIONPOWER CORP.
    Inventors: Hwanbok Mun, Dongchan Shin, Gyujin Kim, Seongmin Park, Jihwa Lee
  • Patent number: 11741959
    Abstract: Methods, apparatus, systems, and computer-readable media are provided for isolating at least one device, from multiple devices in an environment, for being responsive to assistant invocations (e.g., spoken assistant invocations). A process for isolating a device can be initialized in response to a single instance of a spoken utterance, of a user, that is detected by multiple devices. One or more of the multiple devices can be caused to query the user regarding identifying a device to be isolated for receiving subsequent commands. The user can identify the device to be isolated by, for example, describing a unique identifier for the device. Unique identifiers can be generated by each device of the multiple devices and/or by a remote server device. The unique identifiers can be presented graphically and/or audibly to the user, and user interface input. Any device that is not identified can become temporarily unresponsive to certain commands, such as spoken invocation commands.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: September 16, 2021
    Date of Patent: August 29, 2023
    Assignee: GOOGLE LLC
    Inventors: Vikram Aggarwal, Moises Morgenstern Gali
  • Patent number: 11734503
    Abstract: Methods and systems for generating conversation models from documents are described herein. A system may receive a document and generate a conversation model that may be deployed by a chatbot or other automated agent (e.g., voice assistant, messenger bot, etc.). The chatbot may use the conversation model to engage in a conversation with a user and obtain information from the user to complete the document. The system may generate questions to ask the user based on text in the document that indicates a request for information. Additionally, the system may provide instructions to a user via a chatbot. The instructions may be generated based on text in the document that explains how to fill out the document.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: October 29, 2021
    Date of Patent: August 22, 2023
    Inventors: Ashish Goyal, Aditya Chand, Mariana Ortiz-Reyes, Nitin Kumar Mathur
  • Patent number: 11735157
    Abstract: A system includes one or more memory devices storing instructions, and one or more processors configured to execute the instructions to perform steps of providing automated natural dialogue with a customer. The system may generate one or more events and commands temporarily stored in queues to be processed by one or more of a dialogue management device, an API server, and an NLP device. The dialogue management device may create adaptive responses to customer communications using a customer context, a rules-based platform, and a trained machine learning model.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: April 30, 2021
    Date of Patent: August 22, 2023
    Assignee: CAPITAL ONE SERVICES, LLC
    Inventors: Gregory W. Zoller, Scott Karp, Sujay Eliphaz Jacob, Erik Mueller, Stephanie Hay, Adam Roy Paynter
  • Patent number: 11735170
    Abstract: Systems and methods are described herein for providing media guidance. Control circuitry may receive a first voice input and access a database of topics to identify a first topic associated with the first voice input. A user interface may generate a first response to the first voice input, and subsequent to generating the first response, the control circuitry may receive a second voice input. The control circuitry may determine a match between the second voice input and an interruption input such as a period of silence or a keyword or a phrase, such as “Ahh,”, “Umm,”, or “Hmm.” The user interface may generate a second response that is associated with a second topic related to the first topic. By interrupting the conversation and changing the subject from time to time, media guidance systems can appear to be more intelligent and human.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: April 29, 2021
    Date of Patent: August 22, 2023
    Assignee: ROVI GUIDES, INC.
    Inventors: Charles Dawes, Walter R. Klappert
  • Patent number: 11727211
    Abstract: Systems and methods for generating best next communication policies, for a time step of an exchange of electronic documents, fit over historical exchanges, optimizing to maximize a probability of achieving a quantified objective leveraging weighted sampling. In a preferred embodiment an electronic document is segmented whereby each constituent segment is deconstructed as a composition of custom expression varieties, pre-defined to enable fulfilment of an objective within a theme of correspondence, associating each expression with a semantic vector. A set of expression extraction models is trained independently and then a second set with knowledge of parallel label predictions, iterating to convergence. The expression compositions and associated semantic vectors are combined into a single vector for each segment. The segment vectors are appended onto profile vectors for the exchange parties, yielding a time series of profile-content vectors.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: March 20, 2021
    Date of Patent: August 15, 2023
    Assignee: Cognism Limited
    Inventors: Eliot S Frazier, James A. Hodson, Johannes Julien Frederik Erett
  • Patent number: 11727929
    Abstract: Voice command matching during testing of voice-assisted application prototypes for languages with non-phonetic alphabets is described. A visual page of an application prototype is displayed during a testing phase of the application prototype. A speech-to-text service converts a non-phonetic voice command spoken in a language with a non-phonetic alphabet, captured by at least one microphone during the testing phase of the application prototype, into a non-phonetic text string in the non-phonetic alphabet of the voice command. A phonetic language translator translates the non-phonetic text string of the voice command into a phonetic text string in a phonetic alphabet of the voice command. A comparison module compares the phonetic text string of the voice command to phonetic text strings in the phonetic alphabet of stored voice commands associated with the application prototype to identify a matching voice command. A performance module performs an action associated with the matching voice command.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: May 2, 2021
    Date of Patent: August 15, 2023
    Assignee: Adobe Inc.
    Inventors: Mark C. Webster, Scott Thomas Werner, Susse Soenderby Jensen, Daniel Cameron Cundiff, Blake Allen Clayton Sawyer
  • Patent number: 11721343
    Abstract: A hub device, a multi-device system including the hub device, and a method of operating the same may include: converting, by the hub device, received voice input into text; identifying, by the hub device, a device capable of performing an operation corresponding to the text; identifying which device stores a function determination model corresponding to the device capable of performing the operation corresponding to the text, from among the hub device, and a plurality of other devices connected to the hub device; and based on the identified device that stores the function determination model being a device that is different from the hub device, transmitting at least part of the text to the identified device.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: February 25, 2021
    Date of Patent: August 8, 2023
    Assignee: SAMSUNG ELECTRONICS CO., LTD.
    Inventors: Yeonho Lee, Sangwook Park, Kookjin Yeo
  • Patent number: 11721325
    Abstract: Disclosed is a method for generating data, the method is performed by one or more processors of a computing device. The method may include: segmenting text data generated based on speech information into a token unit; generating a first feature vector based on the text data segmented into the token unit, and generating a first label vector corresponding to the generated first feature vector, and generating a second feature vector and a second label vector by performing mix-up for each of the generated first feature vector and the generated first label vector.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: July 27, 2022
    Date of Patent: August 8, 2023
    Assignee: ActionPower Corp.
    Inventors: Seongmin Park, Dongchan Shin, Sangyoun Paik, Subong Choi, Alena Kazakova, Jihwa Lee
  • Patent number: 11695809
    Abstract: A system and method for registering a new device for a voice assistant service. The method, performed by a server, of registering a new device for a voice assistant service includes: comparing functions of a pre-registered device with functions of the new device; identifying functions corresponding to the functions of the pre-registered device among the functions of the new device, based on the comparison; obtaining pre-registered utterance data related to at least some of the identified functions; generating action data for the new device based on the identified functions and the pre-registered utterance data.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: July 29, 2020
    Date of Patent: July 4, 2023
    Assignee: SAMSUNG ELECTRONICS CO., LTD.
    Inventors: Hojung Lee, Hyeonmok Ko, Hyungrai Oh, Inchul Hwang
  • Patent number: 11682385
    Abstract: A method for training hotword detection includes receiving a training input audio sequence including a sequence of input frames that define a hotword that initiates a wake-up process on a device. The method also includes feeding the training input audio sequence into an encoder and a decoder of a memorized neural network. Each of the encoder and the decoder of the memorized neural network include sequentially-stacked single value decomposition filter (SVDF) layers. The method further includes generating a logit at each of the encoder and the decoder based on the training input audio sequence. For each of the encoder and the decoder, the method includes smoothing each respective logit generated from the training input audio sequence, determining a max pooling loss from a probability distribution based on each respective logit, and optimizing the encoder and the decoder based on all max pooling losses associated with the training input audio sequence.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: June 15, 2021
    Date of Patent: June 20, 2023
    Assignee: Google LLC
    Inventors: Raziel Alvarez Guevara, Hyun Jin Park, Patrick Violette
  • Patent number: 11669697
    Abstract: A method for providing responsive actions to user inputs in a multi-domain context includes receiving, by a speech-based user interface, a first speech input from a user and converting said first speech input into a text-based representation of the first speech input. A natural language processor processes the text-based representation to determine an intent, entity and internal state of the first speech input. The method further includes determining, by a model-based module based on the intent, entity and internal state, a first data processing policy to apply to the first speech input, wherein the first data processing policy is either a rules-based data processing policy applied by a rules-based module or a statistical model-based data processing policy applied by the model-based module. The first responsive action is generated by the determined first data processing module, and outputted via the speech-based user interface and/or a machine interface.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: October 23, 2019
    Date of Patent: June 6, 2023
    Assignee: Bayerische Motoren Werke Aktiengesellschaft
    Inventors: Wangsu Hu, Jilei Tian
  • Patent number: 11670297
    Abstract: The various implementations described herein include methods and systems for determining device leadership among voice interface devices. In one aspect, a method is performed at a first electronic device of a plurality of electronic devices, each having microphones, a speaker, processors, and memory storing programs for execution by the processors. The first device detects a voice input. It determines a device state and a relevance of the voice input. It identifies a subset of electronic devices from the plurality to which the voice input is relevant. In accordance with a determination that the subset includes the first device, the first device determines a first score of a criterion associated with the voice input and receives second scores of the criterion from other devices in the subset. In accordance with a determination that the first score is higher than the second scores, the first device responds to the detected input.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: April 27, 2021
    Date of Patent: June 6, 2023
    Assignee: Google LLC
    Inventors: Kenneth Mixter, Diego Melendo Casado, Alexander Houston Gruenstein, Terry Tai, Christopher Thaddeus Hughes, Matthew Nirvan Sharifi
  • Patent number: 11651163
    Abstract: Machine classifiers in accordance with embodiments of the invention capture long-term temporal dependencies in particular tasks, such as turn-based dialogues. Machine classifiers may be used to help users to perform tasks indicated by the user. When a user utterance is received, natural language processing techniques may be used to understand the user's intent. Templates may be determined based on the user's intent in the generation of responses to solicit information from the user. A variety of persona attributes may be determined for a user. The persona attributes may be determined based on the user's utterances and/or provided as metadata included with the user's utterances. A response persona may be used to generate responses to the user's utterances such that the generated responses match a tone appropriate to the task. A response persona may be used to generate templates to solicit additional information and/or generate responses appropriate to the task.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: July 22, 2020
    Date of Patent: May 16, 2023
    Assignee: Capital One Services, LLC
    Inventors: Oluwatobi Olabiyi, Erik T. Mueller, Rui Zhang, Zachary Kulis, Varun Singh
  • Patent number: 11651775
    Abstract: An exemplary automatic speech recognition (ASR) system may receive an audio input including a segment of speech. The segment of speech may be independently processed by general ASR and domain-specific ASR to generate multiple ASR results. A selection between the multiple ASR results may be performed based on respective confidence levels for the general ASR and domain-specific ASR. As incremental ASR is performed, a composite result may be generated based on general ASR and domain-specific ASR.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: July 26, 2021
    Date of Patent: May 16, 2023
    Assignee: ROVI GUIDES, INC.
    Inventor: Jeffry Copps Robert Jose
  • Patent number: 11651767
    Abstract: A computer-implemented method includes obtaining training data including utterances of speakers in acoustic conditions, preparing at least one machine learning model, each machine learning model including a common embedding model for converting an utterance into a feature vector and a classification model for classifying the feature vector, and training, by using the training data, the machine learning model to perform classification by speaker and to perform classification by acoustic condition.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: March 3, 2020
    Date of Patent: May 16, 2023
    Assignee: INTERNATIONAL BUSINESS MACHINES CORPORATION
    Inventors: Masayuki Suzuki, Yosuke Higuchi
  • Patent number: 11651770
    Abstract: The present disclosure is generally related to a data processing system to validate vehicular functions in a voice activated computer network environment. The data processing system can improve the efficiency of the network by discarding action data structures and requests that invalid prior to their transmission across the network. The system can invalidate requests by comparing attributes of a vehicular state to attributes of a request state.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: September 14, 2020
    Date of Patent: May 16, 2023
    Assignee: GOOGLE LLC
    Inventors: Haris Ramic, Vikram Aggarwal, Moises Morgenstern Gali, David Roy Schairer, Yao Chen
  • Patent number: 11642906
    Abstract: A greeting card having an audio message recording and playback device permits recording of personalized audio messages to be played upon opening of the greeting card. The recording device is operable in either a trial mode or a use mode. In the trial mode, which would be applicable when the card is displayed in a store, a potential purchaser may experience the functionality of the card by recording their own test message. The test message is played back initially for the potential purchaser but is not subsequently played back to be later heard by other potential purchasers. In the use mode, which the card may be switched to after purchase by the giver of the greeting card, a user recorded message may be played back repeatedly upon subsequent openings of the card. The user recorded message may be followed by a prerecorded recording, such as a song. Additional prerecorded messages, such as voice prompts with instructions for recording a message, may also be included for activation in the trial mode.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: December 21, 2020
    Date of Patent: May 9, 2023
    Assignee: Hallmark Cards, Incorporated
    Inventors: Timothy J. Lien, Randy S. Knipp, John B. Watkins
  • Patent number: 11626105
    Abstract: Devices and techniques are generally described for delayed execution of natural language understanding processes. In various examples, input data is received. In some examples, automatic speech recognition (ASR) data is generated that represents the input data. In some further examples, processing of the ASR data by a first natural language understanding (NLU) process is initiated. In some examples, a first amount of time by which to delay processing of the ASR data by a second NLU process is determined. In at least some examples, processing of the ASR data by the second NLU process is initiated after the first amount of time has elapsed. The first NLU process may be unable to interpret the ASR data. The second NLU process may generate result data that may be stored in memory.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: December 10, 2019
    Date of Patent: April 11, 2023
    Assignee: AMAZON TECHNOLOGIES, INC.
    Inventors: Philip Gabardo, Yang Alex Yau
  • Patent number: 11610601
    Abstract: A method and apparatus for determining a speech presence probability and an electronic device are provided. According to present disclosure, a metric parameter of a signal to noise ratio of a signal of a first channel and a metric parameter of a signal power level difference between the first channel and the second channel are introduced in determining the speech presence probability, the normalization and non-linear transformation processing is performed on the above-mentioned metric parameters, and the speech presence probability is obtained by fitting the product term and a first power term of a power exponent of the above-mentioned parameters. Therefore, the calculation amount of calculating the speech presence probability is reduced, the calculation result has good robustness to parameter fluctuations, and the disclosure can be widely applied to various application scenarios of dual-microphone speech enhancement systems.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: December 27, 2016
    Date of Patent: March 21, 2023
    Assignee: CHINA ACADEMY OF TELECOMMUNICATIONS TECHNOLOGY
    Inventors: Fabing Wang, Min Liang