Patents Examined by Talivaldis Ivars Smit
  • Patent number: 8392172
    Abstract: A method of enabling the selection of a language to be employed as a method input language by a disambiguation routine of a handheld electronic device having stored therein a plurality of method input languages and disambiguation routine number, includes detecting a selection of a language, detecting as an ambiguous input an actuation of one or more input members, outputting at least a plurality of the language objects that corresponds to the ambiguous input, outputting an indicator which one of the method input languages is currently employed by the disambiguation function, and enabling an alternate one of the input language methods to be selected in response to a selection of the indicator in lieu of one of the plurality of language objects.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: September 14, 2012
    Date of Patent: March 5, 2013
    Assignee: Research In Motion Limited
    Inventors: Sherryl Lee Lorraine Scott, Zaheen Somani
  • Patent number: 8392197
    Abstract: A speaker speed conversion system includes: a risk site detection unit (22) for detecting sites of risk regarding sound quality from among speech that is received as input, a frame boundary detection unit (23) for searching for a plurality of points that can serve as candidates of frame boundaries from among speech that is received as input and, of these points, supplying as a frame boundary the point that is predicted to be best from the standpoint of sound quality, and an OLA unit (25) for implementing speed conversion based on the detection results in the frame boundary detection unit (23); wherein the frame boundary detection unit (23) eliminates, from candidates of frame boundaries, sites of risk regarding sound quality that were detected in the risk site detection unit (22).
    Type: Grant
    Filed: July 22, 2008
    Date of Patent: March 5, 2013
    Assignee: NEC Corporation
    Inventor: Satoshi Hosokawa
  • Patent number: 8392200
    Abstract: A complex analysis filterbank is implemented by obtaining an input audio signal as a plurality of N time-domain input samples. Pair-wise additions and subtractions of the time-domain input samples is performed to obtain a first and second groups of intermediate samples, each group having N/2 intermediate samples. The signs of odd-indexed intermediate samples in the second group are then inverted. A first transform is applied to the first group of intermediate samples to obtain a first group of output coefficients in the frequency domain. A second transform is applied to the second group of intermediate samples to obtain an intermediate second group of output coefficients in the frequency domain. The order of coefficients in the intermediate second group of output coefficients is then reversed to obtain a second group of output coefficients. The first and second groups of output coefficients may be stored and/or transmitted as a frequency domain representation of the audio signal.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: April 13, 2010
    Date of Patent: March 5, 2013
    Assignee: QUALCOMM Incorporated
    Inventors: Ravi Kiran Chivukula, Yuriy Reznik
  • Patent number: 8386255
    Abstract: Descriptions of visually presented material are provided to one or more conference participants that do not have video capabilities. This presented material could be any one or more of a document, PowerPoint® presentation, spreadsheet, Webex® presentation, whiteboard, chalkboard, interactive whiteboard, description of a flowchart, picture, or in general, any information visually presented at a conference. For this visually presented information, descriptions thereof are assembled and forwarded via one or more of a message, SMS message, whisper channel, text information, non-video channel, MSRP, or the like, to one or more conference participant endpoints. These descriptions of visually presented information, such as a document, spreadsheet, spreadsheet presentation, multi-media presentation, or the like, can be assembled in cooperation with one or more of OCR recognition and text-to-speech conversion, human input, or the like.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: March 17, 2009
    Date of Patent: February 26, 2013
    Assignee: Avaya Inc.
    Inventor: Paul Roller Michaelis
  • Patent number: 8386260
    Abstract: Embodiments of a system include a client device (102), a voice server (106), and an application server (104). The voice server is distinct from the application server. The client device renders (316) a visual display that includes at least one display element for which input data is receivable though a visual modality and a voice modality. The client device may receive speech through the voice modality and send (502) uplink audio data representing the speech to the voice server over an audio data path (124). The application server receives (514) a speech recognition result from the voice server over an application server/voice server control path (122). The application server sends (514), over an application server/client control path (120), a message to the client device that includes the speech recognition result. The client device updates (516) one or more of the display elements according to the speech recognition result.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: December 17, 2008
    Date of Patent: February 26, 2013
    Assignee: Motorola Mobility LLC
    Inventors: Jonathan R. Engelsma, Anuraj Kunnummel Ennai, James C. Ferrans
  • Patent number: 8386259
    Abstract: A method for combining speech recognition with near field communication (NFC) to enable a user to enter, store, and use web addresses on portable devices. A user of a portable device having a NFC reader, a voice input interface, a speech recognition system, and memory enables the NFC reader of the portable device to touch a NFC tag or reader found on an object. The object containing information of interest to a user of the portable device; wherein when the NFC reader and the NFC tag or reader touch, the portable device receives a URI and default keywords associated with the URI. The portable device stores the URI in a persistent storage of the portable device based on the default keywords, and date, time, and location of when and where the URI was obtained.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: December 28, 2006
    Date of Patent: February 26, 2013
    Assignee: Intel Corporation
    Inventor: Victor B. Lortz
  • Patent number: 8380509
    Abstract: A speech recognition device (1) processes speech data (SD) of a dictation and establishes recognized text information (ETI) and link information (LI) of the dictation. In a synchronous playback mode of the speech recognition device (1), during acoustic playback of the dictation a correction device (10) synchronously marks the word of the recognized text information (ETI) which word relates to speech data (SD) just played back marked by link information (LI) is marked synchronously, the just marked word featuring the position of an audio cursor (AC). When a user of the speech recognition device (1) recognizes an incorrect word, he positions a text cursor (TC) at the incorrect word and corrects it. Cursor synchronization means (15) makes it possible to synchronize text cursor (TC) with audio cursor (AC) or audio cursor (AC) with text cursor (TC) so the positioning of the respective cursor (AC, TC) is simplified considerably.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: February 13, 2012
    Date of Patent: February 19, 2013
    Assignee: Nuance Communications Austria GmbH
    Inventor: Wolfgang Gschwendtner
  • Patent number: 8380520
    Abstract: A food processor with recognition ability of emotion-related information and emotional signals is disclosed, which comprises: an emotion recognition module and a food processing module. The emotion recognition module is capable of receiving sound signals so as to identify an emotion containing in the received sound signals. The food processing module is capable of producing food products with a taste corresponding to the emotion recognition result of the emotion recognition module.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: April 12, 2010
    Date of Patent: February 19, 2013
    Assignee: Industrial Technology Research Institute
    Inventors: Ying-Tzu Lin, Chao-Ming Yu, Hao-Hsiang Yu, Tsang-Gang Lin
  • Patent number: 8380507
    Abstract: Algorithms for synthesizing speech used to identify media assets are provided. Speech may be selectively synthesized from text strings associated with media assets, where each text string can be associated with a native string language (e.g., the language of the string). When several text strings are associated with at least two distinct languages, a series of rules can be applied to the strings to identify a single voice language to use for synthesizing the speech content from the text strings. In some embodiments, a prioritization scheme can be applied to the text strings to identify the more important text strings. The rules can include, for example, selecting a voice language based on the prioritization scheme, a default language associated with an electronic device, the ability of a voice language to speak text in a different language, or any other suitable rule.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: March 9, 2009
    Date of Patent: February 19, 2013
    Assignee: Apple Inc.
    Inventors: Kenneth Herman, Matthew Rogers, Bryan James
  • Patent number: 8380519
    Abstract: Methods and systems are described in which spoken voice prompts can be produced in a manner such that they will most likely have the desired effect, for example to indicate empathy, or produce a desired follow-up action from a call recipient. The prompts can be produced with specific optimized speech parameters, including duration, gender of speaker, and pitch, so as to encourage participation and promote comprehension among a wide range of patients or listeners. Upon hearing such voice prompts, patients/listeners can know immediately when they are being asked questions that they are expected to answer, and when they are being given information, as well as the information that considered sensitive.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: January 25, 2008
    Date of Patent: February 19, 2013
    Assignee: Eliza Corporation
    Inventors: Lisa Lavoie, Lucas Merrow, Alexandra Drane, Frank Rizzo, Ivy Krull
  • Patent number: 8374860
    Abstract: Encoding audio signals with selecting an encoding mode for encoding the signal categorizing the signal into active segments having voice activity and non-active segments having substantially no voice activity by using categorization parameters depending on the selected encoding mode and encoding at least the active segments using the selected encoding mode.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: September 29, 2011
    Date of Patent: February 12, 2013
    Assignee: Core Wireless Licensing S.A.R.L.
    Inventors: Kari Jarvinen, Pasi Ojala, Ari Lakaniemi
  • Patent number: 8374861
    Abstract: A voice activity detector indicates the presence of speech within a signal. The detector may determine whether the signal includes speech by calculating a variance of a signal-to-noise ratio across a plurality of portions of a signal, calculating a value based on the variance of the signal-to-noise ratio, performing a comparison between the value and a threshold, and identifying whether the signal contains speech based on the comparison between the value and the threshold.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: August 13, 2012
    Date of Patent: February 12, 2013
    Assignee: QNX Software Systems Limited
    Inventor: Phillip A. Hetherington
  • Patent number: 8374874
    Abstract: Establishing a multimodal personality for a multimodal application, including evaluating, by the multimodal application, attributes of a user's interaction with the multimodal application; selecting, by the multimodal application, a vocal demeanor in dependence upon the values of the attributes of the user's interaction with the multimodal application; and incorporating, by the multimodal application, the vocal demeanor into the multimodal application.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: September 11, 2006
    Date of Patent: February 12, 2013
    Assignee: Nuance Communications, Inc.
    Inventors: Charles W. Cross, Jr., Hilary A. Pike
  • Patent number: 8374856
    Abstract: A method and apparatus for concealing frame loss and an apparatus for transmitting and receiving a speech signal that are capable of reducing speech quality degradation caused by packet loss are provided. In the method, when loss of a current received frame occurs, a random excitation signal having the highest correlation with a periodic excitation signal (i.e., a pitch excitation signal) decoded from a previous frame received without loss is used as a noise excitation signal to recover an excitation signal of a current lost frame. Furthermore, a third, new attenuation constant (AS) is obtained by summing a first attenuation constant (NS) obtained based on the number of continuously lost frames and a second attenuation constant (PS) predicted in consideration of change in amplitude of previously received frames to adjust the amplitude of the recovered excitation signal for the current lost frame.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: January 9, 2009
    Date of Patent: February 12, 2013
    Assignee: Intellectual Discovery Co., Ltd.
    Inventors: Hong Kook Kim, Choong Sang Cho
  • Patent number: 8370157
    Abstract: A speech recognition system and a personal speech profile data (PSPD) storage device that is physically distinct from the speech recognition system are provided. In the speech recognition system, a PSPD interface receives voice training data, which is associated with an individual and the operating conditions of an aircraft, from the PSPD storage device. A speech input module produces a digital speech signal derived from an utterance made by a system user. A speech processing module accesses voice training data stored on the PSPD storage device through the PSPD interface, and executes a speech processing algorithm that analyzes the digital speech signal using the voice training data, in order to identify one or more recognized terms from the digital speech signal. A command processing module initiates execution of various applications based on the recognized terms. Embodiments may be implemented in various types of host systems, including an aircraft cockpit-based system.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: July 8, 2010
    Date of Patent: February 5, 2013
    Assignee: Honeywell International Inc.
    Inventors: Lokesh Rayasandra Boregowda, Meruva Jayaprakash, Koushik Sinha
  • Patent number: 8370145
    Abstract: The present invention aims at extracting a keyword of conversation without preparations by advanced anticipation of keywords of conversation.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: March 14, 2008
    Date of Patent: February 5, 2013
    Assignee: Panasonic Corporation
    Inventors: Mitsuru Endo, Maki Yamada, Keiko Morii, Tomohiro Konuma, Kazuya Nomura
  • Patent number: 8370160
    Abstract: Embodiments include methods and apparatus for synchronizing data and focus between visual and voice views associated with distributed multi-modal applications. An embodiment includes a client device adapted to render a visual display that includes at least one multi-modal display element for which input data is receivable though a visual modality and a voice modality. When the client detects a user utterance via the voice modality, the client sends uplink audio data representing the utterance to a speech recognizer. An application server receives a speech recognition result generated by the speech recognizer, and sends a voice event response to the client. The voice event response is sent as a response to an asynchronous HTTP voice event request previously sent to the application server by the client. The client may then send another voice event request to the application server in response to receiving the voice event response.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: December 31, 2007
    Date of Patent: February 5, 2013
    Assignee: Motorola Mobility LLC
    Inventors: Michael D. Pearce, Jonathan R. Engelsma, James C. Ferrans
  • Patent number: 8364486
    Abstract: A speech recognition system includes a mobile device and a remote server. The mobile device receives the speech from the user and extracts the features and phonemes from the speech. Selected phonemes, supplemental non-verbal information not based upon or derived from the speech, and measures of uncertainty are transmitted to the server, the phonemes are processed for speech understanding remotely or locally based, respectively, on whether or not the audible speech has a high or low recognition uncertainty, and a text of the speech (or the context or understanding of the speech) is transmitted back to the mobile device.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: March 12, 2009
    Date of Patent: January 29, 2013
    Assignee: Intelligent Mechatronic Systems Inc.
    Inventors: Otman A. Basir, William Ben Miners
  • Patent number: 8364493
    Abstract: A spoken dialogue apparatus is provided. The apparatus includes a speech recognition unit, a retrieval unit, a calculation unit, and a selection unit. The speech recognition unit performs speech recognition of an input speech to obtain a recognition candidate. The retrieval unit updates a retrieval condition by use of the recognition candidate and outputs a retrieval result. The calculation unit calculates estimated numbers of data as costs concerning a first response and a second response based on the retrieval condition and the retrieval result. The selection unit selects a response having a lowest cost and presents the response to the user.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: March 11, 2009
    Date of Patent: January 29, 2013
    Assignee: Kabushiki Kaisha Toshiba
    Inventor: Takehide Yano
  • Patent number: 8364470
    Abstract: A list of reference terms can be provided. Text and the list of reference terms can be broken down into tokens. At least one candidate can be generated in the text for mapping to at least one of the reference terms. Characters of the candidate can be compared to characters of the reference term according to one or more mapping rules. A confidence value of the mapping can be generated based on the comparison of characters. Candidates can be ranked according to their confidence value.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: January 8, 2009
    Date of Patent: January 29, 2013
    Assignee: International Business Machines Corporation
    Inventors: Stefan Abraham, Christoph Lingenfelder