Patents Examined by Thierry L Pham
  • Method of providing service based on location of sound source and speech recognition device therefor
    Patent number: 10984790
    Abstract: A speech recognition device is provided. The speech recognition device includes at least one microphone configured to receive a sound signal from a first sound source, and at least one processor configured to determine a direction of the first sound source based on the sound signal, determine whether the direction of the first sound source is in a registered direction, and based on whether the direction of the first sound source is in the registered direction, recognize a speech from the sound signal regardless of whether the sound signal comprises a wake-up keyword.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: November 28, 2018
    Date of Patent: April 20, 2021
    Assignee: Samsung Electronics Co., Ltd.
    Inventors: Hyeon-Taek Lim, Sang-Yoon Kim, Kyung-Min Lee, Chang-Woo Han, Nam-Hoon Kim, Jong-Youb Ryu, Chi-Youn Park, Jae-Won Lee
  • Input device, electronic device, system comprising the same and control method thereof
    Patent number: 10971143
    Abstract: An input device which includes a sensor, a microphone, a communicator, and a processor configured to, based on an operation of a user being identified based on a value sensed through the sensor, transmit utterance intention sensing information to an electronic device, based on a command to initiate a speech recognition and feedback information being received from the electronic device according to the utterance intention sensing information transmitted to the electronic device, activate the microphone and provide a feedback according to the feedback information, and transmit a voice signal received via the microphone to the electronic device.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: July 26, 2018
    Date of Patent: April 6, 2021
    Assignee: SAMSUNG ELECTRONICS CO., LTD.
    Inventors: Ki-hyun Song, Je-hwan Seo, Suk-hoon Yoon, Jong-keun Lee, Chae-young Lim, Min-sup Kim, Hyun-kyu Yun
  • Voice control of a media playback system
    Patent number: 10971139
    Abstract: An example system is configured to cause a first playback device in a first playback zone to operate in a given playback state including play back of media items identified in a playback queue associated with the first playback zone. The system is also configured to, while the first playback device is operating in the given playback state, (i) receive data corresponding to a detected voice input including an indication of (a) a command word and (b) one or more zone variable instances and (ii) determine, based on the command word and the one or more zone variable instances, an intent to transfer the given playback state to a second playback zone. The system is also configured to transfer the given playback state to the second playback zone, thereby causing a second playback device in the second playback zone to play back the media items identified in the playback queue.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: November 2, 2020
    Date of Patent: April 6, 2021
    Assignee: Sonos, Inc.
    Inventors: Nicholas A. J. Millington, Keith Corbin, Mark Plagge
  • Sentiment analysis
    Patent number: 10956678
    Abstract: This specification describes methods and systems for sentiment analysis. One of the methods includes: receiving a plurality of documents, each document having text data and for each of the documents: (1) representing at least part of the document's text data in a multi-dimensional vector space to produce vectorized text data; (2) applying a neural network to the vectorized text data to calculate a sentiment score, wherein the neural network has been trained using a two step process including (a) training the neural network with a non-domain specific training set; and (b) training the neural network with a domain specific training set; and (3) determining a sentiment score for an entity based at least in part on the sentiment scores for the plurality of documents.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: August 24, 2018
    Date of Patent: March 23, 2021
    Assignee: S&P Global Inc.
    Inventors: Mohammed Hadi, Michal Koblas, Saeed Shoaraee
  • Customizing actions based on contextual data and voice-based inputs
    Patent number: 10950236
    Abstract: Methods and systems are provided for customizing an action. In some implementations, voice input is received from a user and a context is determined from the voice input. Potential contextual data is identified based on the context and the voice input. A level of confidence is determined for an association of the potential contextual data and the context. An action is performed based on the voice input, the potential contextual data, and the level of confidence. The potential contextual data is used to customize the action.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: February 10, 2020
    Date of Patent: March 16, 2021
    Assignee: Google LLC
    Inventors: Zoltan Stekkelpak, Gyula Simonyi
  • Provide output associated with a dialect
    Patent number: 10943601
    Abstract: One embodiment provides a method, including: receiving, at an information handling device, audible user input; determining, using a processor, a dialect associated with the audible user input; and providing, based on the determining, output associated with the dialect. Other aspects are described and claimed.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: May 31, 2017
    Date of Patent: March 9, 2021
    Assignee: Lenovo (Singapore) Pte. Ltd.
    Inventors: Ryan Charles Knudson, Roderick Echols
  • Method and apparatus for broadcasting a response based on artificial intelligence, and storage medium
    Patent number: 10923102
    Abstract: The present disclosure provides a method and apparatus for broadcasting a response based on artificial intelligence, and a storage medium, wherein the method comprises: obtaining a user-input speech query; generating a response corresponding to the query; obtaining a recorded speech of a mood meaning corresponding to a modal particle in the response and matched with the response; combining the obtained recorded speech with a TTS-generated speech to perform TTS broadcast of the response. The solution of the present disclosure may be applied to enhance an effect of broadcasting the response.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: May 29, 2018
    Date of Patent: February 16, 2021
    Assignee: Baidu Online Network Technology (Beijing) Co., LTD.
    Inventors: Yu Wang, Bo Xie
  • Audio device
    Patent number: 10924706
    Abstract: An audio device is provided which distributes via the Internet a telephone talk between a distributer and a viewer, with a simple structure. An audio interface device can be connected to a PC, and distributes via the Internet a sound signal which is input from a microphone along with a BGM by outputting the sound signal to the PC. When a call is made with a caller, the audio interface device branches the sound signal which is input from the microphone into a first sound signal and a second sound signal, and supplies the second sound signal to the caller. Also, the first sound signal, the sound signal from the caller, and the BGM are synthesized and output to the PC, and the telephone talk is distributed via the Internet.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: February 20, 2018
    Date of Patent: February 16, 2021
    Assignee: TEAC CORPORATION
    Inventor: Takuya Yoshimoto
  • Image processing device for receiving an operation instruction by a voice, method for controlling image processing device, and program
    Patent number: 10911618
    Abstract: An image processing device includes a displayer; and a hardware processor that obtains voice recognition data that is a voice recognition result related to a voice vocalized in a state in which at least one operation screen is displayed in the displayer, determines a search target character string on the basis of the voice recognition data, executes search processing of searching for one voice operation command that agrees with the search target character string among a plurality of voice operation commands including a voice operation command group related to a first screen related to the image processing device, and a voice operation command group related to a second screen displayed according to user's operation for the first screen, and executes processing corresponding to the one voice operation command that has been searched for by the hardware processor.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: January 13, 2020
    Date of Patent: February 2, 2021
    Assignee: KONICA MINOLTA, INC.
    Inventor: Hozuma Nakajima
  • Signal encoding method and apparatus, and signal decoding method and apparatus
    Patent number: 10902860
    Abstract: The present invention relates to a method and an apparatus for encoding and decoding spectrum coefficients in the frequency domain. The spectrum encoding method may comprise the steps of: selecting an encoding type on the basis of bit allocation information of respective bands; performing zero encoding with respect to a zero band; and encoding information of selected significant frequency components with respect to respective non-zero bands. The spectrum encoding method enables encoding and decoding of spectrum coefficients which is adaptive to various bit-rates and various sub-band sizes. In addition, a spectrum can be encoded using a TCQ method at a fixed bit rate using a bit-rate control module in a codec that supports multiple rates. Encoding performance of the codec can be maximised by encoding high performance TCQ at a precise target bit rate.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: April 27, 2020
    Date of Patent: January 26, 2021
    Assignee: SAMSUNG ELECTRONICS CO., LTD.
    Inventors: Ho-sang Sung, Konstantin Osipov, Yi Lu
  • Methods and apparatus for silent speech interface
    Patent number: 10878818
    Abstract: A system may detect silent, internal articulation of words by a human user, by measuring low-voltage electrical signals at electrodes positioned on a user's skin. The measured signals may have been generated by neural activation of speech articulator muscles during the internal articulation. The system may detect the content of internally articulated words even though the internal articulation may be silent, may occur even when the user is not exhaling, and may occur without muscle movement that is detectable by another person. The system may react in real-time to this detected content. In some cases, the system reacts by providing audio feedback to the user via an earphone or a bone conduction transducer. In other cases, the system reacts by controlling another device, such as a luminaire or television. In other cases, the system reacts by sending a message to a device associated with another person.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: September 5, 2018
    Date of Patent: December 29, 2020
    Inventors: Arnav Kapur, Shreyas Kapur, Patricia Maes
  • Generating dependency parses of text segments using neural networks
    Patent number: 10878188
    Abstract: Methods, systems, and apparatus, including computer programs encoded on computer storage media, for generating dependency parses for input text segments, which may be provided as inputs to a natural language processing system. One of the systems includes a first neural network comprising: one or more initial neural network layers configured to, for each token in an input text sequence: receive features for the token; and collectively process the features to generate an alternative representation of the features for use in determining a part of speech of the token in the input text sequence; and a dependency parsing neural network configured to: process the alternative representations of the features for the tokens in the input text sequence generated by the one or more initial neural network layers to generate a dependency parse of the input text sequence.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: March 17, 2017
    Date of Patent: December 29, 2020
    Assignee: Google LLC
    Inventors: Yuan Zhang, David Joseph Weiss
  • Answering entity-seeking queries
    Patent number: 10860799
    Abstract: In some implementations, a query that includes a sequence of terms is obtained, the query is mapped, based on the sequence of the terms, to a dependency tree that represents dependencies among the terms in the query, an entity type that corresponds to an entity sought by the query is determined based on a term represented by a root of the dependency tree, a particular entity is identified based on both the entity type and a relevance of the entity to the terms in the query, and a response to the query is provided based on the particular entity that is identified.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: May 29, 2018
    Date of Patent: December 8, 2020
    Assignee: Google LLC
    Inventors: Mugurel Ionut Andreica, Tatsiana Sakhar, Behshad Behzadi, Marcin M. Nowak-Przygodzki, Adrian-Marius Dumitran
  • Comfort noise generation
    Patent number: 10861470
    Abstract: Apparatuses, arrangements, and methods therein for generation of comfort noise are disclosed. In short, the solution relates to exploiting the spatial coherence of multiple input audio channels in order to generate high quality multi channel comfort noise.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: February 14, 2014
    Date of Patent: December 8, 2020
    Assignee: TELEFONAKTIEBOLAGET LM ERICSSON (PUBL)
    Inventor: Anders K. Eriksson
  • Multi-word phrase based analysis of electronic documents
    Patent number: 10846482
    Abstract: A document processing system is configured to identify, for each accessed electronic document in a first set of multiple electronic documents, a set of identified multi-word phrases determined to be in ordered text information in the accessed electronic document, each multi-word phrase of the set of identified multi-word phrases including adjacent words in the ordered text information; and determine, for each accessed electronic document in the first set of multiple electronic documents, a selected document type from the first set of document types based at least on an analysis of the set of identified multi-word phrases with respect to multi-word-phrase characteristics identified by a first definition and associated with each document type in a first set of document types associated with a first document-set type.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: September 19, 2019
    Date of Patent: November 24, 2020
    Assignee: CLOUDDOCS.COM, LLC
    Inventor: John Frank Walsh
  • Voice control of a media playback system
    Patent number: 10847143
    Abstract: A voice input comprising a command word, one or more media variable instances, and one or more zone variable instances is received. A media playback system command which corresponds to the command word is determined. Media content which corresponds to the one or more media variable instances is identified. The media playback system is caused to execute the media playback system command on the media content based on the one or more zone variable instances.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: April 9, 2018
    Date of Patent: November 24, 2020
    Assignee: Sonos, Inc.
    Inventors: Nicholas A. J. Millington, Keith Corbin, Mark Plagge
  • Speech-based attention span for voice user interface
    Patent number: 10847149
    Abstract: Techniques for enabling a device to send to a speech processing server further input audio data following a completed utterance dialog to prevent the need for subsequent keywords to be spoken to invoke subsequent commands are described. A system receives input audio data corresponding to an utterance from a device upon the device detecting speech corresponding to a keyword. The system performs speech processing on the input audio data to determine a command. The system determines output data responsive to the command and sends same to the device, thus completing operations regarding the utterance. The system may also send an instruction to the device to: send to the system further input audio data corresponding to further input audio without the device first detecting a wake command.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: September 1, 2017
    Date of Patent: November 24, 2020
    Assignee: Amazon Technologies, Inc.
    Inventors: Siu Ming Mok, Joseph Dean Nason Pemberton, Robert David Owen, Diamond Bishop, Eliav Samuel Zimmern Kahan
  • Detection of TV state using sub-audible signal
    Patent number: 10847176
    Abstract: A computer-implemented method includes receiving, at a microphone of a voice-controlled device, a speech input, generating an electrical signal having a first gain level that is below a gain threshold for audible detection by a user, transmitting the electrical signal to the speaker and detecting, by the microphone, an audio signal that includes a combination of ambient noise and a probe audio signal, wherein the probe audio signal is output by the speaker based on the electrical signal. The method further includes determining a power level of the probe audio signal and determining a state of the display based on the power level of the probe audio signal.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: March 12, 2018
    Date of Patent: November 24, 2020
    Assignee: Amazon Technologies, Inc.
    Inventors: Trausti Thor Kristjansson, Srivatsan Kandadai, Mark Lawrence, Balsa Laban, Anna Chen Santos, Joseph Pedro Tavares, Miroslav Ristic, Valere Joseph Vanderschaegen
  • Full duplex communication for conversation between chatbot and human
    Patent number: 10847155
    Abstract: The present disclosure provides a technical solution related to full duplex communication for voice conversation between chatbot and human beings. More particularly, by using such technique, the conventional conversation mode with message as center in the art is subverted so as to realize a conversation mode in full duplex mode. The entire expression that a user intents to express may be predicted when obtaining intermediate result of speech recognition, and response messages may be generated in advance based on the predicted whole expression so that the generated response message may be output immediately when a response condition is satisfied, e.g., it is determined that a user has finished a paragraph of talking. With such technical solution, the latency from the end of voice input of a user and the start of speech output of a chatbot may be minimized.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: September 6, 2018
    Date of Patent: November 24, 2020
    Assignee: Microsoft Technology Licensing, LLC
    Inventor: Li Zhou
  • Adapting voice input processing based on voice input characteristics
    Patent number: 10811005
    Abstract: One embodiment provides a method, including: receiving, at an audio receiver, user voice data; identifying, using a processor, at least one characteristic of the voice data; obtaining, using the processor, a speech recognition processing result of the voice data; and changing a standard response to the user voice data to an adapted response based on the at least one characteristic and the speech recognition processing result. Other aspects are described and claimed.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: June 19, 2015
    Date of Patent: October 20, 2020
    Assignee: Lenovo (Singapore) Pte. Ltd.
    Inventors: Rod D. Waltermann, Hermann Franz Burgmeier, Antoine Roland Raux