The present invention relates generally to the field of computing, and more particularly to voice recognition software.
The popularity and sophistication of voice recognition software has risen dramatically as users find that interacting with electronic devices such as smartphones by simply speaking may be more convenient and intuitive than traditional input methods.
According to one exemplary embodiment, a method for updating an audio dictionary is provided. The method may include receiving at least one audio file within a plurality of audio files associated with a term. The method may also include receiving at least one user evaluation associated with the at least one audio file, the at least one user evaluation being based on a correlation between nationality characteristics associated with the received at least one audio file and the at least one user evaluation. The method may further include assigning a ranking to the at least one audio file within the plurality of audio files based on the received at least one user evaluation associated with the at least one audio file, wherein the assigned ranking is from a lowest ranking to a highest ranking. The method may also include adding the assigned highest ranking audio file into the audio dictionary.
According to another exemplary embodiment, a computer system for updating an audio dictionary is provided. The computer system may include one or more processors, one or more computer-readable memories, one or more computer-readable tangible storage devices, and program instructions stored on at least one of the one or more storage devices for execution by at least one of the one or more processors via at least one of the one or more memories, wherein the computer system is capable of performing a method. The method may include receiving at least one audio file within a plurality of audio files associated with a term. The method may also include receiving at least one user evaluation associated with the at least one audio file, the at least one user evaluation being based on a correlation between nationality characteristics associated with the received at least one audio file and the at least one user evaluation. The method may further include assigning a ranking to the at least one audio file within the plurality of audio files based on the received at least one user evaluation associated with the at least one audio file, wherein the assigned ranking is from a lowest ranking to a highest ranking. The method may also include adding the assigned highest ranking audio file into the audio dictionary.
According to yet another exemplary embodiment, a computer program product for updating an audio dictionary is provided. The computer program product may include one or more computer-readable storage devices and program instructions stored on at least one of the one or more tangible storage devices, the program instructions executable by a processor. The computer program product may include program instructions to receive at least one audio file within a plurality of audio files associated with a term. The computer program product may also include program instructions to receive at least one user evaluation associated with the at least one audio file, the at least one user evaluation being based on a correlation between nationality characteristics associated with the received at least one audio file and the at least one user evaluation. The computer program product may further include program instructions to assign a ranking to the at least one audio file within the plurality of audio files based on the received at least one user evaluation associated with the at least one audio file, wherein the assigned ranking is from a lowest ranking to a highest ranking. The computer program product may also include program instructions to add the assigned highest ranking audio file into the audio dictionary.
These and other objects, features and advantages of the present invention will become apparent from the following detailed description of illustrative embodiments thereof, which is to be read in connection with the accompanying drawings. The various features of the drawings are not to scale as the illustrations are for clarity in facilitating one skilled in the art in understanding the invention in conjunction with the detailed description. In the drawings:
Detailed embodiments of the claimed structures and methods are disclosed herein; however, it can be understood that the disclosed embodiments are merely illustrative of the claimed structures and methods that may be embodied in various forms. This invention may, however, be embodied in many different forms and should not be construed as limited to the exemplary embodiments set forth herein. Rather, these exemplary embodiments are provided so that this disclosure will be thorough and complete and will fully convey the scope of this invention to those skilled in the art. In the description, details of well-known features and techniques may be omitted to avoid unnecessarily obscuring the presented embodiments.
The present invention may be a system, a method, and/or a computer program product. The computer program product may include a computer readable storage medium (or media) having computer readable program instructions thereon for causing a processor to carry out aspects of the present invention.
The computer readable storage medium can be a tangible device that can retain and store instructions for use by an instruction execution device. The computer readable storage medium may be, for example, but is not limited to, an electronic storage device, a magnetic storage device, an optical storage device, an electromagnetic storage device, a semiconductor storage device, or any suitable combination of the foregoing. A non-exhaustive list of more specific examples of the computer readable storage medium includes the following: a portable computer diskette, a hard disk, a random access memory (RAM), a read-only memory (ROM), an erasable programmable read-only memory (EPROM or Flash memory), a static random access memory (SRAM), a portable compact disc read-only memory (CD-ROM), a digital versatile disk (DVD), a memory stick, a floppy disk, a mechanically encoded device such as punch-cards or raised structures in a groove having instructions recorded thereon, and any suitable combination of the foregoing. A computer readable storage medium, as used herein, is not to be construed as being transitory signals per se, such as radio waves or other freely propagating electromagnetic waves, electromagnetic waves propagating through a waveguide or other transmission media (e.g., light pulses passing through a fiber-optic cable), or electrical signals transmitted through a wire.
Computer readable program instructions described herein can be downloaded to respective computing/processing devices from a computer readable storage medium or to an external computer or external storage device via a network, for example, the Internet, a local area network, a wide area network and/or a wireless network. The network may comprise copper transmission cables, optical transmission fibers, wireless transmission, routers, firewalls, switches, gateway computers and/or edge servers. A network adapter card or network interface in each computing/processing device receives computer readable program instructions from the network and forwards the computer readable program instructions for storage in a computer readable storage medium within the respective computing/processing device.
Computer readable program instructions for carrying out operations of the present invention may be assembler instructions, instruction-set-architecture (ISA) instructions, machine instructions, machine dependent instructions, microcode, firmware instructions, state-setting data, or either source code or object code written in any combination of one or more programming languages, including an object oriented programming language such as Smalltalk, C++ or the like, and conventional procedural programming languages, such as the āCā programming language or similar programming languages. The computer readable program instructions may execute entirely on the user's computer, partly on the user's computer, as a stand-alone software package, partly on the user's computer and partly on a remote computer or entirely on the remote computer or server. In the latter scenario, the remote computer may be connected to the user's computer through any type of network, including a local area network (LAN) or a wide area network (WAN), or the connection may be made to an external computer (for example, through the Internet using an Internet Service Provider). In some embodiments, electronic circuitry including, for example, programmable logic circuitry, field-programmable gate arrays (FPGA), or programmable logic arrays (PLA) may execute the computer readable program instructions by utilizing state information of the computer readable program instructions to personalize the electronic circuitry, in order to perform aspects of the present invention.
Aspects of the present invention are described herein with reference to flowchart illustrations and/or block diagrams of methods, apparatus (systems), and computer program products according to embodiments of the invention. It will be understood that each block of the flowchart illustrations and/or block diagrams, and combinations of blocks in the flowchart illustrations and/or block diagrams, can be implemented by computer readable program instructions.
These computer readable program instructions may be provided to a processor of a general purpose computer, special purpose computer, or other programmable data processing apparatus to produce a machine, such that the instructions, which execute via the processor of the computer or other programmable data processing apparatus, create means for implementing the functions/acts specified in the flowchart and/or block diagram block or blocks. These computer readable program instructions may also be stored in a computer readable storage medium that can direct a computer, a programmable data processing apparatus, and/or other devices to function in a particular manner, such that the computer readable storage medium having instructions stored therein comprises an article of manufacture including instructions which implement aspects of the function/act specified in the flowchart and/or block diagram block or blocks.
The computer readable program instructions may also be loaded onto a computer, other programmable data processing apparatus, or other device to cause a series of operational steps to be performed on the computer, other programmable apparatus or other device to produce a computer implemented process, such that the instructions which execute on the computer, other programmable apparatus, or other device implement the functions/acts specified in the flowchart and/or block diagram block or blocks.
The flowchart and block diagrams in the Figures illustrate the architecture, functionality, and operation of possible implementations of systems, methods, and computer program products according to various embodiments of the present invention. In this regard, each block in the flowchart or block diagrams may represent a module, segment, or portion of instructions, which comprises one or more executable instructions for implementing the specified logical function(s). In some alternative implementations, the functions noted in the block may occur out of the order noted in the figures. For example, two blocks shown in succession may, in fact, be executed substantially concurrently, or the blocks may sometimes be executed in the reverse order, depending upon the functionality involved. It will also be noted that each block of the block diagrams and/or flowchart illustration, and combinations of blocks in the block diagrams and/or flowchart illustration, can be implemented by special purpose hardware-based systems that perform the specified functions or acts or carry out combinations of special purpose hardware and computer instructions.
The following described exemplary embodiments provide a system, method and program product for an audio dictionary updating system.
As previously described, voice recognition software has become increasingly popular as smartphones and other portable electronic devices become a standard accessory for people. Voice recognition is often employed by voice assistant service software to allow users to verbally interact with their smartphones as an alternative input method. Users may find that speaking commands to their smartphone may be more convenient than traditional methods such as typing on a touchscreen. In situations such as driving, tapping on the user's smartphone touchscreen may be dangerous and against the law whereas verbal interaction with a smartphone may be a safer alternative.
While voice assistance services have become more sophisticated, voice assistant service software may still have difficulty accurately recognizing varied human accents when speaking. Voice assistant service software also may not accurately recognize national terms (e.g., trademarks, geographic location names, etc.) and names of persons derived from different languages. For example, a name originating from China may be pronounced differently in English than in Chinese. Thus, a user pronouncing the Chinese name in the original Chinese form, may cause voice assistant service software trained to recognize the name in English to fail to recognize the user's vocalization of the name. Likewise, voice assistant service software may also fail to recognize a Chinese user speaking a term in English with a Chinese accent. As such, it may be advantageous, among other things, to implement a method for real-time audio dictionary updating that allows users to train voice assistance services to accurately recognize the user's speech despite the user's accent or the user's pronunciation of terms, and correctly associate the user's speech with the user's intended terms.
Referring now to
The client computer 102 may communicate with server computer 112 via the communications network 110. The communications network 110 may include connections, such as wire, wireless communication links, or fiber optic cables. As will be discussed with reference to
A program, such as a real-time audio dictionary updating program 108A and 108B may run on the client computer 102 or on the server computer 112. The real-time audio dictionary updating program 108A and 108B may be used for updating an audio dictionary in real-time based on user submitted audio files and user evaluations of the submitted audio files. The real-time audio dictionary updating program 108A and 108B is explained in further detail below with respect to
The NTN service 202 may also utilize a frontend 212 to facilitate user 214a-f interaction with the NTN service 202 (i.e., backend). According to one implementation, the frontend 212 may be a web-based graphical user interface (GUI). According to one other implementation, the frontend 212 may be an application having a GUI that is run on a smartphone or tablet. The frontend 212 may be implemented with a user account system that may include a password-controlled user login and user profile. The user profile may store information related to the user's 214a-f nationality, education, occupation, and links to external user 214a-f social media accounts.
Users 214a-f using the real-time audio dictionary updating system 200 may have a national group 216a-b characteristic (i.e., nationality characteristic). According to at least one implementation, the national group 216a-b may correspond to a nationality (e.g., Chinese). The users 214a-f may be identified as a national group 216a-b to increase the accuracy and consistency of the real-time audio dictionary updating system 200 by restricting the recording and evaluation of audio files to users 214a-f of the same national group 216a-b. For example, a user 214a of a national group (e.g., 216a, Chinese) may wish to update an NTNAD to recognize a pronunciation for a name (e.g., Xiaoyun, or as originally denoted by the Chinese characters of the same national group (e.g., 216a, Chinese) by submitting an audio file recording of the user 214a vocalizing the name (e.g., Xiaoyun). Users 214a-f of the same national group 216a-b may be able to more competently evaluate the accuracy of audio files submitted for proposed NTNAD updates corresponding to terms of the same national group 216a-b. Thus, the real-time audio dictionary updating system 200 may, according to at least one implementation, only accept evaluations from users 214a-f having the same national group (e.g., 216a) characteristic as the user (e.g., 214a) who submitted the audio file.
The NTN recording service 204 may be a part of the NTN service 202 that prepares audio file recordings for evaluation. According to at least one implementation, the NTN recording service 204 may utilize one or more microphones, one or more speakers, and one or more other input devices (e.g., touch screens, mice, keyboards, etc.) through the frontend 212 to create an audio file recording of the user 214a-f vocalizing a term. According to at least one other implementation, the NTN recording service 204 may receive an audio file that was recorded by some other program. The NTN recording service 204 is explained in further detail below with reference to
The NTN evaluation service 206 may be a part of the NTN service 202 that receives user evaluations for the audio files provided by the NTN recording service 204. According to at least one implementation, the NTN evaluation service 206 may utilize the frontend 212 to play one or more audio files for users 212a-f and collect one or more user evaluations corresponding to the played one or more audio files. The NTN evaluation service 206 is explained in further detail below with respect to
The NTNAD 208 may correspond to a data repository, such as a database, delineating the relationship between audio inputs (e.g., a user's 214a-f vocalization) and terms (e.g., words or phrases). The NTNAD 208 may be updated by the NTN evaluation service 206. Additionally, the NTNAD 208 may be utilized by the voice assistance service 210 to lookup what term corresponds to user 214a-f audio input.
Voice assistance service 210 may be a part of the NTN service 202 that may receive user (e.g., 214c) audio input and may respond to the received audio input. For example, a user (e.g., 214c) may vocalize an audio command to a smartphone to dial the phone number of a person in the user's (e.g., 214c) contact list. The voice assistance service 210 may respond to the audio command by producing an audio output confirming the audio command and then dial the phone number corresponding to the person in the user's (e.g., 214c) contact list that the user (e.g., 214c) commanded the voice assistance service 210 to call. In responding to the user's (e.g., 214c) audio command, the voice assistance service 210 may access an audio dictionary, such as the NTNAD 208, to determine what action the user (e.g., 214c) intends the voice assistance service 210 to perform.
Referring now to
Next, at 304, the recording process 300 may prompt the user (e.g., 214a:
However, if the user (e.g., 214a:
At 310, the result of the analysis performed at 308 may be compared against a predetermined threshold. For example, a threshold may be set to reject recorded audio files that may have frequencies outside of the typical range of a human voice present for more than 5% of the total audio file. If the recorded audio file does not exceed the quality threshold, the recorded audio file may be deleted at 312.
However, if at 310, the recorded audio file's quality is determined to have exceeded the threshold (e.g., the recorded audio file does not have frequencies outside of the typical range of a human voice present for more than 5% of the total audio file), the recorded audio file may be saved for evaluation by users 214a-f (
For example, a user (e.g., 214b:
At 404, the evaluation process 400 may play one or more audio files corresponding to a term (e.g., Xiaoyun) for evaluation by the evaluating user (e.g., 214b:
Next, at 408, the audio file user evaluation scores may be ranked to identify the highest scored audio file associated with the term being evaluated. According to at least one implementation, audio file scores may be ranked based on a combination of the user evaluation score (e.g., from a scale of one to ten) and the number of evaluating users (e.g., 214b:
At 410, the evaluation process 400 may update the NTNAD 208 (
Data processing system 800, 900 is representative of any electronic device capable of executing machine-readable program instructions. Data processing system 800, 900 may be representative of a smart phone, a computer system, PDA, or other electronic devices. Examples of computing systems, environments, and/or configurations that may represented by data processing system 800, 900 include, but are not limited to, personal computer systems, server computer systems, thin clients, thick clients, hand-held or laptop devices, multiprocessor systems, microprocessor-based systems, network PCs, minicomputer systems, and distributed cloud computing environments that include any of the above systems or devices.
User client computer 102 (
Each set of internal components 800a, b also includes a R/W drive or interface 832 to read from and write to one or more portable computer-readable tangible storage devices 936 such as a CD-ROM, DVD, memory stick, magnetic tape, magnetic disk, optical disk or semiconductor storage device. The real-time audio dictionary updating program 108A and 108B (
Each set of internal components 800a, b may also include network adapters (or switch port cards) or interfaces 836 such as a TCP/IP adapter cards, wireless wi-fi interface cards, or 3G or 4G wireless interface cards or other wired or wireless communication links. The real-time audio dictionary updating program 108A (
Each of the sets of external components 900a, b can include a computer display monitor 920, a keyboard 930, and a computer mouse 934. External components 900a, b can also include touch screens, virtual keyboards, touch pads, pointing devices, microphones, speakers, and other human interface devices. Each of the sets of internal components 800a, b also includes device drivers 840 to interface to computer display monitor 920, keyboard 930 and computer mouse 934. The device drivers 840, R/W drive or interface 832 and network adapter or interface 836 comprise hardware and software (stored in storage device 830 and/or ROM 824).
The descriptions of the various embodiments of the present invention have been presented for purposes of illustration, but are not intended to be exhaustive or limited to the embodiments disclosed. Many modifications and variations will be apparent to those of ordinary skill in the art without departing from the scope of the described embodiments. The terminology used herein was chosen to best explain the principles of the embodiments, the practical application or technical improvement over technologies found in the marketplace, or to enable others of ordinary skill in the art to understand the embodiments disclosed herein.
The present application is a continuation of and claims priority under 35 U.S.C. §120 of U.S. patent application Ser. No. 14/279,743, filed on May 16, 2014, which is incorporated by reference in its entirety.
Number | Date | Country | |
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Parent | 14279743 | May 2014 | US |
Child | 14511544 | US |