Patents by Inventor Alexander H. Gruenstein

Alexander H. Gruenstein has filed for patents to protect the following inventions. This listing includes patent applications that are pending as well as patents that have already been granted by the United States Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO).

  • Publication number: 20190385604
    Abstract: Methods, systems, and apparatus, including computer programs encoded on a computer storage medium, for hotword detection on multiple devices are disclosed. In one aspect, a method includes the actions of receiving, by a computing device, audio data that corresponds to an utterance. The actions further include determining a likelihood that the utterance includes a hotword. The actions further include determining a loudness score for the audio data. The actions further include based on the loudness score, determining an amount of delay time. The actions further include, after the amount of delay time has elapsed, transmitting a signal that indicates that the computing device will initiate speech recognition processing on the audio data.
    Type: Application
    Filed: June 27, 2019
    Publication date: December 19, 2019
    Inventors: Jakob Nicolaus Foerster, Alexander H. Gruenstein
  • Publication number: 20190362719
    Abstract: Methods, systems, and apparatus, including computer programs encoded on a computer storage medium, for suppressing hotwords are disclosed. In one aspect, a method includes the actions of receiving audio data corresponding to playback of an utterance. The actions further include providing the audio data as an input to a model (i) that is configured to determine whether a given audio data sample includes an audio watermark and (ii) that was trained using watermarked audio data samples that each include an audio watermark sample and non-watermarked audio data samples that do not each include an audio watermark sample. The actions further include receiving, from the model, data indicating whether the audio data includes the audio watermark. The actions further include, based on the data indicating whether the audio data includes the audio watermark, determining to continue or cease processing of the audio data.
    Type: Application
    Filed: May 21, 2019
    Publication date: November 28, 2019
    Inventors: Alexander H. Gruenstein, Taral Pradeep Joglekar, Vijayaditya Peddinti, Michiel A.U. Bacchiani
  • Publication number: 20190304465
    Abstract: Methods, systems, and apparatus, including computer programs encoded on computer storage media, for detecting hotwords using a server. One of the methods includes receiving an audio signal encoding one or more utterances including a first utterance; determining whether at least a portion of the first utterance satisfies a first threshold of being at least a portion of a key phrase; in response to determining that at least the portion of the first utterance satisfies the first threshold of being at least a portion of a key phrase, sending the audio signal to a server system that determines whether the first utterance satisfies a second threshold of being the key phrase, the second threshold being more restrictive than the first threshold; and receiving tagged text data representing the one or more utterances encoded in the audio signal when the server system determines that the first utterance satisfies the second threshold.
    Type: Application
    Filed: April 24, 2019
    Publication date: October 3, 2019
    Inventors: Alexander H. Gruenstein, Petar Aleksic, Johan Schalkwyk, Pedro J. Moreno Mengibar
  • Publication number: 20190295550
    Abstract: Predicting and learning users' intended actions on an electronic device based on free-form speech input. Users' actions can be monitored to develop a list of carrier phrases having one or more actions that correspond to the carrier phrases. A user can speak a command into a device to initiate an action. The spoken command can be parsed and compared to a list of carrier phrases. If the spoken command matches one of the known carrier phrases, the corresponding action(s) can be presented to the user for selection. If the spoken command does not match one of the known carrier phrases, search results (e.g., Internet search results) corresponding to the spoken command can be presented to the user. The actions of the user in response to the presented action(s) and/or the search results can be monitored to update the list of carrier phrases.
    Type: Application
    Filed: April 4, 2019
    Publication date: September 26, 2019
    Inventors: William J. Byrne, Alexander H. Gruenstein, Douglas H. Beeferman
  • Publication number: 20190287534
    Abstract: Methods, systems, and apparatus, including computer programs encoded on a computer storage medium, for hotword detection on multiple devices are disclosed. In one aspect, a method includes the actions of receiving audio data that corresponds to an utterance. The actions further include determining that the utterance likely includes a particular, predefined hotword. The actions further include transmitting (i) data indicating that the computing device likely received the particular, predefined hotword, (ii) data identifying the computing device, and (iii) data identifying a group of nearby computing devices that includes the computing device. The actions further include receiving an instruction to commence speech recognition processing on the audio data. The actions further include in response to receiving the instruction to commence speech recognition processing on the audio data, processing at least a portion of the audio data using an automated speech recognizer on the computing device.
    Type: Application
    Filed: March 22, 2019
    Publication date: September 19, 2019
    Inventors: Diego Melendo Casado, Alexander H. Gruenstein, Jakob Nicolaus Foerster
  • Patent number: 10354650
    Abstract: In one aspect, a method comprises accessing audio data generated by a computing device based on audio input from a user, the audio data encoding one or more user utterances. The method further comprises generating a first transcription of the utterances by performing speech recognition on the audio data using a first speech recognizer that employs a language model based on user-specific data. The method further comprises generating a second transcription of the utterances by performing speech recognition on the audio data using a second speech recognizer that employs a language model independent of user-specific data. The method further comprises determining that the second transcription of the utterances includes a term from a predefined set of one or more terms. The method further comprises, based on determining that the second transcription of the utterance includes the term, providing an output of the first transcription of the utterance.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: March 15, 2013
    Date of Patent: July 16, 2019
    Assignee: Google LLC
    Inventors: Alexander H. Gruenstein, Petar Aleksic
  • Patent number: 10347253
    Abstract: Methods, systems, and apparatus, including computer programs encoded on a computer storage medium, for hotword detection on multiple devices are disclosed. In one aspect, a method includes the actions of receiving, by a computing device, audio data that corresponds to an utterance. The actions further include determining a likelihood that the utterance includes a hotword. The actions further include determining a loudness score for the audio data. The actions further include based on the loudness score, determining an amount of delay time. The actions further include, after the amount of delay time has elapsed, transmitting a signal that indicates that the computing device will initiate speech recognition processing on the audio data.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: April 23, 2018
    Date of Patent: July 9, 2019
    Assignee: Google LLC
    Inventors: Jakob Nicolaus Foerster, Alexander H. Gruenstein
  • Patent number: 10311876
    Abstract: Methods, systems, and apparatus, including computer programs encoded on computer storage media, for detecting hotwords using a server. One of the methods includes receiving an audio signal encoding one or more utterances including a first utterance; determining whether at least a portion of the first utterance satisfies a first threshold of being at least a portion of a key phrase; in response to determining that at least the portion of the first utterance satisfies the first threshold of being at least a portion of a key phrase, sending the audio signal to a server system that determines whether the first utterance satisfies a second threshold of being the key phrase, the second threshold being more restrictive than the first threshold; and receiving tagged text data representing the one or more utterances encoded in the audio signal when the server system determines that the first utterance satisfies the second threshold.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: February 14, 2017
    Date of Patent: June 4, 2019
    Assignee: Google LLC
    Inventors: Alexander H. Gruenstein, Petar Aleksic, Johan Schalkwyk, Pedro J. Moreno Mengibar
  • Publication number: 20190156828
    Abstract: A computing system receives requests from client devices to process voice queries that have been detected in local environments of the client devices. The system identifies that a value that is based on a number of requests to process voice queries received by the system during a specified time interval satisfies one or more criteria. In response, the system triggers analysis of at least some of the requests received during the specified time interval to trigger analysis of at least some received requests to determine a set of requests that each identify a common voice query. The system can generate an electronic fingerprint that indicates a distinctive model of the common voice query. The fingerprint can then be used to detect an illegitimate voice query identified in a request from a client device at a later time.
    Type: Application
    Filed: November 21, 2018
    Publication date: May 23, 2019
    Inventors: Alexander H. Gruenstein, Aleksandar Kacun, Matthew Sharifi
  • Patent number: 10297252
    Abstract: Predicting and learning users' intended actions on an electronic device based on free-form speech input. Users' actions can be monitored to develop a list of carrier phrases having one or more actions that correspond to the carrier phrases. A user can speak a command into a device to initiate an action. The spoken command can be parsed and compared to a list of carrier phrases. If the spoken command matches one of the known carrier phrases, the corresponding action(s) can be presented to the user for selection. If the spoken command does not match one of the known carrier phrases, search results (e.g., Internet search results) corresponding to the spoken command can be presented to the user. The actions of the user in response to the presented action(s) and/or the search results can be monitored to update the list of carrier phrases.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: July 5, 2016
    Date of Patent: May 21, 2019
    Assignee: Google LLC
    Inventors: William J. Byrne, Alexander H. Gruenstein, Douglas H. Beeferman
  • Patent number: 10242676
    Abstract: Methods, systems, and apparatus, including computer programs encoded on a computer storage medium, for hotword detection on multiple devices are disclosed. In one aspect, a method includes the actions of receiving audio data that corresponds to an utterance. The actions further include determining that the utterance likely includes a particular, predefined hotword. The actions further include transmitting (i) data indicating that the computing device likely received the particular, predefined hotword, (ii) data identifying the computing device, and (iii) data identifying a group of nearby computing devices that includes the computing device. The actions further include receiving an instruction to commence speech recognition processing on the audio data. The actions further include in response to receiving the instruction to commence speech recognition processing on the audio data, processing at least a portion of the audio data using an automated speech recognizer on the computing device.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: April 13, 2018
    Date of Patent: March 26, 2019
    Assignee: Google LLC
    Inventors: Diego Melendo Casado, Alexander H. Gruenstein, Jakob N. Foerster
  • Patent number: 10170112
    Abstract: A computing system receives requests from client devices to process voice queries that have been detected in local environments of the client devices. The system identifies that a value that is based on a number of requests to process voice queries received by the system during a specified time interval satisfies one or more criteria. In response, the system triggers analysis of at least some of the requests received during the specified time interval to trigger analysis of at least some received requests to determine a set of requests that each identify a common voice query. The system can generate an electronic fingerprint that indicates a distinctive model of the common voice query. The fingerprint can then be used to detect an illegitimate voice query identified in a request from a client device at a later time.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: May 11, 2017
    Date of Patent: January 1, 2019
    Assignee: Google LLC
    Inventors: Alexander H. Gruenstein, Aleksandar Kracun, Matthew Sharifi
  • Patent number: 10140978
    Abstract: Methods, systems, and apparatus, including computer programs encoded on a computer storage medium, for selecting alternates in speech recognition. In some implementations, data is received that indicates multiple speech recognition hypotheses for an utterance. Based on the multiple speech recognition hypotheses, multiple alternates for a particular portion of a transcription of the utterance are identified. For each of the identified alternates, one or more features scores are determined, the features scores are input to a trained classifier, and an output is received from the classifier. A subset of the identified alternates is selected, based on the classifier outputs, to provide for display. Data indicating the selected subset of the alternates is provided for display.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: September 13, 2017
    Date of Patent: November 27, 2018
    Assignee: Google LLC
    Inventors: Alexander H. Gruenstein, Dave Harwath, Ian C. McGraw
  • Publication number: 20180330728
    Abstract: A computing system receives requests from client devices to process voice queries that have been detected in local environments of the client devices. The system identifies that a value that is based on a number of requests to process voice queries received by the system during a specified time interval satisfies one or more criteria. In response, the system triggers analysis of at least some of the requests received during the specified time interval to trigger analysis of at least some received requests to determine a set of requests that each identify a common voice query. The system can generate an electronic fingerprint that indicates a distinctive model of the common voice query. The fingerprint can then be used to detect an illegitimate voice query identified in a request from a client device at a later time.
    Type: Application
    Filed: May 11, 2017
    Publication date: November 15, 2018
    Inventors: Alexander H. Gruenstein, Aleksandar Kracun, Matthew Sharifi
  • Publication number: 20180315424
    Abstract: Methods, systems, and apparatus, including computer programs encoded on a computer storage medium, for hotword detection on multiple devices are disclosed. In one aspect, a method includes the actions of receiving, by a computing device, audio data that corresponds to an utterance. The actions further include determining a likelihood that the utterance includes a hotword. The actions further include determining a loudness score for the audio data. The actions further include based on the loudness score, determining an amount of delay time. The actions further include, after the amount of delay time has elapsed, transmitting a signal that indicates that the computing device will initiate speech recognition processing on the audio data.
    Type: Application
    Filed: April 23, 2018
    Publication date: November 1, 2018
    Inventors: Jakob Nicolaus Foerster, Alexander H. Gruenstein
  • Publication number: 20180308491
    Abstract: In some implementations, authentication tokens corresponding to known users of a device are stored on the device. An utterance from a speaker is received. The utterance is classified as spoken by a particular known user of the known users. A query that includes a representation of the utterance and an indication of the particular known user as the speaker is provided using the authentication token of the particular known user.
    Type: Application
    Filed: April 18, 2018
    Publication date: October 25, 2018
    Inventors: Meltem Oktem, Taral Pradeep Joglekar, Fnu Heryandi, Pu-sen Chao, Ignacio Lopez Moreno, Salil Rajadhyaksha, Alexander H. Gruenstein, Diego Melendo Casado
  • Publication number: 20180286406
    Abstract: Methods, systems, and apparatus, including computer programs encoded on a computer storage medium, for hotword detection on multiple devices are disclosed. In one aspect, a method includes the actions of receiving audio data that corresponds to an utterance. The actions further include determining that the utterance likely includes a particular, predefined hotword. The actions further include transmitting (i) data indicating that the computing device likely received the particular, predefined hotword, (ii) data identifying the computing device, and (iii) data identifying a group of nearby computing devices that includes the computing device. The actions further include receiving an instruction to commence speech recognition processing on the audio data. The actions further include in response to receiving the instruction to commence speech recognition processing on the audio data, processing at least a portion of the audio data using an automated speech recognizer on the computing device.
    Type: Application
    Filed: April 13, 2018
    Publication date: October 4, 2018
    Inventors: Diego Melendo Casado, Alexander H. Gruenstein, Jakob N. Foerster
  • Publication number: 20180233150
    Abstract: Methods, systems, and apparatus, including computer programs encoded on computer storage media, for detecting hotwords using a server. One of the methods includes receiving an audio signal encoding one or more utterances including a first utterance; determining whether at least a portion of the first utterance satisfies a first threshold of being at least a portion of a key phrase; in response to determining that at least the portion of the first utterance satisfies the first threshold of being at least a portion of a key phrase, sending the audio signal to a server system that determines whether the first utterance satisfies a second threshold of being the key phrase, the second threshold being more restrictive than the first threshold; and receiving tagged text data representing the one or more utterances encoded in the audio signal when the server system determines that the first utterance satisfies the second threshold.
    Type: Application
    Filed: February 14, 2017
    Publication date: August 16, 2018
    Inventors: Alexander H. Gruenstein, Petar Aleksic, Johan Schalkwyk, Pedro J. Moreno Mengibar
  • Publication number: 20180197543
    Abstract: In one aspect, a method comprises accessing audio data generated by a computing device based on audio input from a user, the audio data encoding one or more user utterances. The method further comprises generating a first transcription of the utterances by performing speech recognition on the audio data using a first speech recognizer that employs a language model based on user-specific data. The method further comprises generating a second transcription of the utterances by performing speech recognition on the audio data using a second speech recognizer that employs a language model independent of user-specific data. The method further comprises determining that the second transcription of the utterances includes a term from a predefined set of one or more terms. The method further comprises, based on determining that the second transcription of the utterance includes the term, providing an output of the first transcription of the utterance.
    Type: Application
    Filed: March 6, 2018
    Publication date: July 12, 2018
    Inventors: Alexander H. Gruenstein, Petar Aleksic
  • Patent number: 10008207
    Abstract: Methods, systems, and apparatus, including computer programs encoded on a computer storage medium, for multi-stage hotword detection are disclosed. In one aspect, a method includes the actions of receiving, by a second stage hotword detector of a multi-stage hotword detection system that includes at least a first stage hotword detector and the second stage hotword detector, audio data that corresponds to an initial portion of an utterance. The actions further include determining a likelihood that the initial portion of the utterance includes a hotword. The actions further include determining that the likelihood that the initial portion of the utterance includes the hotword satisfies a threshold. The actions further include, in response to determining that the likelihood satisfies the threshold, transmitting a request for the first stage hotword detector to cease providing additional audio data that corresponds to one or more subsequent portions of the utterance.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: August 10, 2016
    Date of Patent: June 26, 2018
    Assignee: Google LLC
    Inventors: Jakob Nicolaus Foerster, Alexander H. Gruenstein, Diego Melendo Casado