Patents Examined by Vijay B. Chawan
  • Multisensory speech detection
    Patent number: 10020009
    Abstract: A computer-implemented method of multisensory speech detection is disclosed. The method comprises determining an orientation of a mobile device and determining an operating mode of the mobile device based on the orientation of the mobile device. The method further includes identifying speech detection parameters that specify when speech detection begins or ends based on the determined operating mode and detecting speech from a user of the mobile device based on the speech detection parameters.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: December 28, 2016
    Date of Patent: July 10, 2018
    Assignee: Google LLC
    Inventors: Dave Burke, Michael J. LeBeau, Konrad Gianno, Trausti T. Kristjansson, John Nicholas Jitkoff, Andrew W. Senior
  • Spread spectrum acoustic communication techniques
    Patent number: 10003377
    Abstract: In a transmit method, a set of data eigenvectors that are based on a Prometheus Orthonormal Set (PONS) code construction and orthogonal to each other are stored, wherein each of the data eigenvectors is mapped to a unique multi-bit word. A pilot sequence representing a pilot eigenvector that is based on the PONS code construction and orthogonal to each of the data eigenvectors is generated. Input data is grouped into multi-bit words and ones of the data eigenvectors mapped to the multi-bit words are selected. A spread data sequence including the selected ones of the data eigenvectors and that is synchronized to the pilot sequence is generated. An acoustic signal including the synchronized pilot sequence and the spread data sequence is generated. The acoustic signal is transmitted.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: December 19, 2016
    Date of Patent: June 19, 2018
    Assignee: Cisco Technology, Inc.
    Inventors: Michael A. Ramalho, Mihailo Zilovic, David A. Benham
  • Bandwidth extension of harmonic audio signal
    Patent number: 10002617
    Abstract: Methods and arrangements in a codec for supporting bandwidth extension, BWE, of a harmonic audio signal. The method in the decoder part of the codec comprises receiving a plurality of gain values associated with a frequency band b and a number of adjacent frequency bands of band b. The method further comprises determining whether a reconstructed corresponding frequency band b? comprises a spectral peak. When the band b? comprises a spectral peak, a gain value associated with the band b? is set to a first value based on the received plurality of gain values; and otherwise the gain value is set to a second value based on the received plurality of gain values. The suggested technology enables bringing gain values into agreement with peak positions in a bandwidth extended frequency region.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: March 6, 2017
    Date of Patent: June 19, 2018
    Assignee: Telefonaktiebolaget LM Ericsson (publ)
    Inventors: Sebastian Näslund, Volodya Grancharov, Tomas Jansson Toftgård
  • Conversational understanding
    Patent number: 9996531
    Abstract: Exemplary embodiments relate to methods, mediums, and systems for managing a conversation. In an embodiment, a computer-implemented input interface is provided to receive an input comprising information in natural language. A dialog manager is configured to determine an intent of the input, determine information to fulfill the intent, and identify one or both of information available to the dialog manager or information that is unavailable to the dialog manager. A conversational understanding document documents the intent and the identified information. An output interface forwards the conversational understanding document towards a task completion handler separate and distinct from the dialog manager. Other embodiments are described and claimed.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: March 29, 2016
    Date of Patent: June 12, 2018
    Assignee: FACEBOOK, INC.
    Inventors: Savas Parastatidis, Benoit F Dumoulin, Antoine Raux, Rajen Subba, Stefan Nelson-Lindall, Wenhai Yang
  • Apparatus and method for generating a bandwidth extended signal from a bandwidth limited audio signal
    Patent number: 9997162
    Abstract: An apparatus for generating a bandwidth extended signal from a bandwidth limited audio signal, the bandwidth limited audio signal The patch generator is configured to perform a harmonic patching algorithm to obtain the patched signal. The signal manipulator is configured for manipulating a signal before patching or the patched signal. The timely preceding bandwidth limited time block timely precedes the current bandwidth limited time block in the plurality of consecutive bandwidth limited time blocks of the bandwidth limited audio signal. The combiner is configured for combining the bandwidth limited audio signal having the core frequency band and the manipulated patched signal having the upper frequency band to obtain the bandwidth extended signal.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: March 17, 2015
    Date of Patent: June 12, 2018
    Assignee: FRAUNHOFER-GESELLSCHAFT ZUR FOERDERUNG DER ANGEWANDTEN FORSCHUNG E.V.
    Inventors: Frederik Nagel, Stephan Wilde
  • System and method for performing automatic gain control using an accelerometer in a headset
    Patent number: 9997173
    Abstract: A method performing automatic gain control (AGC) using an accelerometer in a headset starts with an accelerometer-based voice activity detector (VADa) generating a VADa output based on (i) acoustic signals received from at least one microphone included in a pair of earbuds and (ii) data output by at least one accelerometer that is included in the pair of earbuds. The at least one accelerometer detects vibration of the user's vocal chords. The headset includes the pair of earbuds. An AGC controller then performs automatic gain control (AGC) on the acoustic signals from the at least one microphone based on the VADa output. Other embodiments are also described.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: March 14, 2016
    Date of Patent: June 12, 2018
    Assignee: APPLE INC.
    Inventors: Sorin V. Dusan, Baptiste Paquier, Aram Lindahl, Dubravko Biruski
  • Handheld communication device and method(s) of use
    Patent number: 9997086
    Abstract: A handheld communication device is described. Embodiments of the handheld communication device include, but are not limited to, a device for the hearing impaired that may be implemented in two modes. A first mode may be implemented when the device user interacts with another individual face to face. The second mode can be implemented when the device user wants to communicate with one or more other users each having a handheld communication device.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: November 29, 2017
    Date of Patent: June 12, 2018
    Inventor: Richard P. Braden
  • System and method of automated language model adaptation
    Patent number: 9990920
    Abstract: Systems and methods of automated adaptation of a language model for transcription of audio data include obtaining audio data. The audio data is transcribed with a language model to produce a plurality of audio file transcriptions. A quality of the plurality of audio file transcriptions is evaluated. At least one best transcription from a plurality of audio file transcriptions is selected based upon the evaluated quality. Statistics are calculated from the selected at least one best transcription from the plurality of audio file transcriptions. The language model is modified from the calculated statistics.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: October 24, 2016
    Date of Patent: June 5, 2018
    Assignee: VERINT SYSTEMS LTD.
    Inventors: Ran Achituv, Omer Ziv, Ido Shapira, Daniel Baum
  • Quantization step sizes for compression of spatial components of a sound field
    Patent number: 9980074
    Abstract: In general, techniques are described for determining quantization step sizes for compression of spatial components of a sound field. A device comprising one or more processors may be configured to perform the techniques. In other words, the one or more processors may be configured to determine a quantization step size to be used when compressing a spatial component of a sound field, where the spatial component generated by performing a vector based synthesis with respect to a plurality of spherical harmonic coefficients.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: May 28, 2014
    Date of Patent: May 22, 2018
    Assignee: QUALCOMM Incorporated
    Inventors: Dipanjan Sen, Sang-Uk Ryu
  • Framework for user-created device applications
    Patent number: 9973604
    Abstract: A method to provide an interface for launching applications is described. The method includes receiving information indicative of a record stored in an electronic device application. The method also includes determining whether the record is associated with a software application command. In response to determining that the record is associated with a software application command, the software application command is activated. Apparatus and computer readable media are also described.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: June 21, 2016
    Date of Patent: May 15, 2018
    Assignee: Nokia Technologies Oy
    Inventor: Sailesh K. Sathish
  • Voice interfaces in process control systems
    Patent number: 9972321
    Abstract: Voice interfaces in process control systems are disclosed herein. One disclosed example method includes authenticating an RFID device, and, based on authenticating the RFID device, receiving voice instructions, where the voice instructions include settings data for a process control device of a process control system. The example method also includes determining, using a processor, the settings data based on the voice instructions, and storing the settings data.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: March 15, 2016
    Date of Patent: May 15, 2018
    Assignee: Bristol, Inc.
    Inventors: Ranjithkumar Panneerselvam, Scott Gregory Szurek, Tyler Scott Stapler
  • Electronic devices with voice command and contextual data processing capabilities
    Patent number: 9959867
    Abstract: An electronic device may capture a voice command from a user. The electronic device may store contextual information about the state of the electronic device when the voice command is received. The electronic device may transmit the voice command and the contextual information to computing equipment such as a desktop computer or a remote server. The computing equipment may perform a speech recognition operation on the voice command and may process the contextual information. The computing equipment may respond to the voice command. The computing equipment may also transmit information to the electronic device that allows the electronic device to respond to the voice command.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: July 11, 2016
    Date of Patent: May 1, 2018
    Assignee: Apple Inc.
    Inventor: Aram M. Lindahl
  • Identifying word-senses based on linguistic variations
    Patent number: 9946708
    Abstract: One or more words are received. A set of frequency of occurrence values of the received word(s) within a set of domain tables is determined. A domain table in the set of domain tables is associated to the received word(s), based on the set of frequency of occurrence values meeting a threshold value. A word-sense of the received word(s) is determined based on a corresponding word-sense in the associated domain table and/or corresponding domain dictionary.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: January 12, 2017
    Date of Patent: April 17, 2018
    Assignee: International Business Machines Corporation
    Inventors: Timothy A. Bishop, Stephen A. Boxwell, Benjamin L. Brumfield, Nirav P. Desai, Stanley J. Vernier
  • Identifying word-senses based on linguistic variations
    Patent number: 9946709
    Abstract: One or more words are received. A set of frequency of occurrence values of the received word(s) within a set of domain tables is determined. A domain table in the set of domain tables is associated to the received word(s), based on the set of frequency of occurrence values meeting a threshold value. A word-sense of the received word(s) is determined based on a corresponding word-sense in the associated domain table and/or corresponding domain dictionary.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: January 12, 2017
    Date of Patent: April 17, 2018
    Assignee: International Business Machines Corporation
    Inventors: Timothy A. Bishop, Stephen A. Boxwell, Benjamin L. Brumfield, Nirav P. Desai, Stanley J. Vernier
  • Automatic disclosure detection
    Patent number: 9934792
    Abstract: A method of detecting pre-determined phrases to determine compliance quality of an agent includes determining a presence of a predetermined input based on a comparison between stored pre-determined phrases and a received communication, and determining a compliance rating of the agent based on a presence of a pre-determined phrase associated with the predetermined input in the communication.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: January 31, 2017
    Date of Patent: April 3, 2018
    Assignee: AT&T INTELLECTUAL PROPERTY I, L.P.
    Inventors: I. Dan Melamed, Andrej Ljolje, Bernard S. Renger, David J. Smith, Yeon-Jun Kim
  • Speech recognition and transcription among users having heterogeneous protocols
    Patent number: 9934786
    Abstract: A system is disclosed for facilitating free form dictation, including directed dictation and constrained recognition and/or structured transcription among users having heterogeneous native (legacy) protocols for generating, transcribing, and exchanging recognized and transcribed speech. The system includes at least one system transaction manager having a “system protocol,” to receive a verified, streamed speech information request from at least one authorized user employing a first legacy user protocol. The speech information request which includes spoken text and system commands is generated using a user interface capable of bi-directional communication with the system transaction manager and supporting dictation applications, including prompts to direct user dictation in response to user system protocol commands and systems transaction manager commands.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: January 6, 2017
    Date of Patent: April 3, 2018
    Assignee: Advanced Voice Recognition Systems, Inc.
    Inventors: Joseph H. Miglietta, Michael K. Davis
  • Approach to reducing the response time of a speech interface
    Patent number: 9922647
    Abstract: A method for reducing response time in a speech interface including constructing a partially completed word sequence from a partially received utterance from a speaker received by an audio sensor, modeling a remainder portion using a processor based on a rich predictive model to predict the remainder portion, and responding to the partially completed word sequence and the predicted remainder portion using a natural language vocalization generator with a vocalization, wherein the vocalization is prepared before a complete utterance is received from the speaker and conveyed to the speaker by an audio transducer.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: January 29, 2016
    Date of Patent: March 20, 2018
    Assignee: International Business Machines Corporation
    Inventors: Gakuto Kurata, Tohru Nagano
  • Method and apparatus for exemplary diphone synthesizer
    Patent number: 9905218
    Abstract: Method and apparatus for diphone or concatenative synthesis to compensate for insufficient or missing diphones.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: April 18, 2014
    Date of Patent: February 27, 2018
    Assignee: SPEECH MORPHING SYSTEMS, INC.
    Inventors: Benjamin Reaves, Steve Pearson, Fathy Yassa
  • Multimodal information processing device
    Patent number: 9899022
    Abstract: An output information generator generates abstract output information unrelated to the types of outputters according to information from an input unit. Semantic interpreters of the outputters generate pieces of embodied output information from the abstract output information on the basis of monitor results from status monitors which monitor the operating statuses of the corresponding outputters. Processing performers perform processes corresponding to the pieces of embodied output information.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: September 18, 2014
    Date of Patent: February 20, 2018
    Assignee: MITSUBISHI ELECTRIC CORPORATION
    Inventors: Keigo Kawashima, Takahiro Otsuka, Tadashi Yamaura
  • System and method for mobile automatic speech recognition
    Patent number: 9892728
    Abstract: A system and method of updating automatic speech recognition parameters on a mobile device are disclosed. The method comprises storing user account-specific adaptation data associated with ASR on a computing device associated with a wireless network, generating new ASR adaptation parameters based on transmitted information from the mobile device when a communication channel between the computing device and the mobile device becomes available and transmitting the new ASR adaptation data to the mobile device when a communication channel between the computing device and the mobile device becomes available. The new ASR adaptation data on the mobile device more accurately recognizes user utterances.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: March 16, 2016
    Date of Patent: February 13, 2018
    Assignee: Nuance Communications, Inc.
    Inventors: Sarangarajan Parthasarathy, Richard Cameron Rose