ELECTRONIC COMPONENT FOR ELECTRONIC DEVICE WITH LOCKING FUNCTION AND UNLOCKING METHOD THEREOF

An electronic component for an electronic device with a locking function and an unlocking method thereof are provided. The unlocking method includes: receiving a first sound extraction request by a first processing circuit when the electronic device is in a locked mode; determining, by the first processing circuit, whether a first voice input signal is received after receiving the first sound extraction request; determining, by the first processing circuit when the first processing circuit receives the first voice input signal, whether first voice data included in the first voice input signal matches first preset voice data; and transmitting, by the first processing circuit, the first voice input signal to the second processing circuit when the first voice data matches the first preset voice data, to trigger the second processing circuit to determine whether second voice data included in the first voice input signal matches second preset voice data.

CROSS-REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATION

This non-provisional application claims priority under 35 U.S.C. § 119(a) to Patent Application No. 202010524497.2 filed in China, P.R.C. on Jun. 10, 2020, the entire contents of which are hereby incorporated by reference.

BACKGROUND

Technical Field

The present disclosure relates to an electronic component for an electronic device with a locking function and an unlocking method thereof.

Related Art

Face recognition unlock and fingerprint recognition unlock are common unlocking functions of an electronic device, but these two approaches still have some disadvantages that have not been overcome. Face recognition is prone to be affected by illumination conditions, and face recognition may fail when a user wears a mask. A human face may have high variability, and a contour of the human face is not stable. Therefore, a difference between images of human faces recognized at different angles is relatively large. In addition, human faces of different individuals may have high similarity, which also brings a large difficulty in face recognition.

Fingerprint recognition has a high requirement for environments and is sensitive to humidity and cleanness of a finger, and a recognition result may be affected when the finger carries dirt, oil stains, or water. When the user has few fingerprint features, or even no fingerprint, or low-quality fingerprints with desquamation or scars, the recognition may be difficult and result in a low rate of successful recognition. Therefore, it is relatively difficult in recognizing fingerprints of some special populations. Besides, each time when a fingerprint is pressed, a fingerprint stamp may be left on a fingerprint acquisition head, and there is a risk that these fingerprint stamps are used for copying fingerprints. The fingerprint recognition is based on user's direct contact and has a high requirement for operation specification.

SUMMARY

In some embodiments, an unlocking method is provided, applied to an electronic device, the method including: receiving, by a first processing circuit, a first sound extraction request from a second processing circuit when the electronic device is in a locked mode; determining, by the first processing circuit, whether a first voice input signal is received from a sound extraction circuit after receiving the first sound extraction request; determining, by the first processing circuit when the first processing circuit receives the first voice input signal, whether first voice data included in the first voice input signal matches first preset voice data; and transmitting, by the first processing circuit, the first voice input signal to the second processing circuit when the first voice data matches the first preset voice data, to trigger the second processing circuit to determine whether second voice data included in the first voice input signal matches second preset voice data, and enable the second processing circuit to unlock the locked mode of the electronic device when the second voice data matches the second preset voice data.

In some embodiments, an electronic component is provided, applied to an electronic device with a locking function, and the electronic component includes a sound extraction circuit and a first processing circuit. The sound extraction circuit is configured to extract a first voice input signal when the electronic device is in a locked mode. The first processing circuit is coupled to the sound extraction circuit and is configured to receive a first sound extraction request from a second processing circuit of the electronic device, where the first processing circuit triggers, according to the first sound extraction request, the sound extraction circuit to extract the first voice input signal when the electronic device is in a locked mode, to receive the first voice input signal from the sound extraction circuit, determines whether first voice data included in the first voice input signal matches first preset voice data, and transmits the first voice input signal to the second processing circuit when the first voice data matches the first preset voice data, to trigger the second processing circuit to determine whether second voice data included in the first voice input signal matches second preset voice data, and enable the second processing circuit to unlock the locked mode of the electronic device when the second voice data matches the second preset voice data.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION

FIG. 1is a schematic block diagram of an embodiment of an electronic device1to which an unlocking method is applied according to the present disclosure. Referring toFIG. 1, the electronic device1has a locking function, if a user of the electronic device1stops to operate the electronic device1for a preset period of time, the electronic device1may automatically enter a locked mode, or the user may actively trigger the electronic device1to enter a locked mode, in order to ensure the security of data stored in the electronic device1. After the electronic device1enters the locked mode, the user cannot acquire data stored in the electronic device1. Therefore, in order to unlock the electronic device1, the user may input voice into the electronic device1to enable the electronic device1to receive a voice input signal. Voice data included in voice input signals given out by different users has uniqueness for identification, the electronic device1may perform the unlocking method of the present disclosure according to the uniqueness for identification of the voice input signal so as to unlock the locked mode of the electronic device1. After the electronic device1is switched from the locked mode to unlocked, the user may acquire the data stored in the electronic device1. As shown inFIG. 1, the electronic device1includes a sound extraction circuit11, a first processing circuit12, and a second processing circuit13, where the first processing circuit12is coupled between the sound extraction circuit11and the second processing circuit13. In some embodiments, the electronic device1may be a mobile phone, a tablet computer, a notebook computer, or a display.

In some embodiments, the second processing circuit13is a computation and control center of the electronic device1, and the second processing circuit13may control the electronic device1to enter a locked mode or unlock the electronic device1that is in a locked mode. The first processing circuit12is a control center of voice input of the electronic device1, that is, the first processing circuit12may trigger the sound extraction circuit11to extract the voice input signal. The voice input signal includes first voice data and second voice data that correspond to different phonetic components. When the sound extraction circuit11extracts the voice input signal, the first voice data and the second voice data may be processed by the first processing circuit12and the second processing circuit13respectively. The first processing circuit12may perform a processing procedure and a recognition procedure of the first voice data, and the second processing circuit13may perform a processing procedure and a recognition procedure of the second voice data. The first processing circuit12and the second processing circuit13may collaborate with each other to decide whether to unlock the electronic device1that is in the locked mode according to the voice input signal.

Referring toFIG. 1andFIG. 2together,FIG. 2is a flowchart of an embodiment of the unlocking method according to the present disclosure. When the electronic device1is in a locked mode (step S01), the second processing circuit13transmits a first sound extraction request R1to the first processing circuit12, the first processing circuit12receives the first sound extraction request R1from the second processing circuit13(step S02), to trigger, when the electronic device1is in the locked mode, the sound extraction circuit11to extract, according to the first sound extraction request R1, a voice input signal (hereinafter referred to as a first voice input signal S1) inputted by the user in its surrounding. After the sound extraction circuit is triggered, the first processing circuit12waits to receive the extracted first voice input signal S1transmitted by the sound extraction circuit11, and the first processing circuit12determines whether the first voice input signal S1is received from the sound extraction circuit11(step S03). When the user produces a voice input signal in the surrounding environment of the electronic device1, the sound extraction circuit11may extract the first voice input signal S1. The sound extraction circuit11then transmits the first voice input signal S1to the first processing circuit12, and the first processing circuit12determines whether the first voice input signal S1is received (a determining result is “yes”). The first processing circuit12then determines whether first voice data included in the first voice input signal S1matches preset voice data (hereinafter referred to as first preset voice data) pre-stored for comparison (step S04). When a determining result is that the first voice data matches the first preset voice data (the determining result is “yes”), the first processing circuit12transmits the first voice input signal S1to the second processing circuit13(step S05).

After the second processing circuit13receives the first voice input signal S1, the second processing circuit13is triggered to determine whether second voice data included in the first voice input signal S1matches another preset voice data (hereinafter referred to as second preset voice data) pre-stored for comparison (step S06). When a determining result is that the second voice data matches the second preset voice data (the determining result is “yes”), the second processing circuit13unlocks the locked mode of the electronic device1(step S07).

Based on the foregoing embodiment, compared with the fingerprint or face recognition unlocking method, use the voice unlocking method of the present disclosure to unlock the electronic device1may reduce the influence of the environment factors and focus on the uniqueness for identification of the voice data according to voice input signals provided by different people through speaking. By distinguishing distinct voice data that varies from person to person in the voice input signals, only the user can unlock the electronic device1, thereby improving the security of the electronic device1. In addition, it is convenient to acquire the voice input signal, and a case that the user wears a mask will not affect the voice data included in the voice input signal, so that the costs and the computation workload consumed by acquiring the voice input signal and performing voice data comparison are fewer than those of the fingerprint and face recognition.

In some embodiments, in step S03, when the first processing circuit12determines that the first voice input signal S1is not received (the determining result is “no”), the first processing circuit12continues to wait for the first voice input signal S1.

In some embodiments, the second processing circuit13may be a central processing unit (CPU) or a system on chip (SOC) of the electronic device1, the first processing circuit12may be a controller included in an independent sound card or audio chip of the electronic device1, and a connection wire between the first processing circuit12and the second processing circuit13may be a universal serial bus (USB), a serial peripheral interface (SPI), or an inter-integrated circuit (I2C) bus. In this configuration, a computing capability of the second processing circuit13is higher than a computing capability of the first processing circuit12, and the second processing circuit13may process voice input signals that are more complicated and with better computing capability than the first processing circuit12. For example, the first processing circuit12may perform determining on comparison between voice keyword data, and the second processing circuit13may perform determination on comparison between voiceprint data. In some embodiments, the voice keyword data is a combination of language and text. For example, the language may be a language family (for example, Chinese, English, or Japanese) of various countries, and the text may be formed by one or more words (for example, “unlock” and “unlock screen”); and the voiceprint data is a voice feature peculiar to a creature, and the voiceprint data is different for each creature. Generally, the computation workload of acquiring the voiceprint data and performing comparison is higher than the computation workload of acquiring the voice keyword data and performing comparison.

According to the foregoing configuration, the first voice data included in the first voice input signal S1may correspond to voice keyword data, and the second voice data included in the first voice input signal S1may correspond to voiceprint data. That is, in step S04, after receiving the first voice input signal S1, the first processing circuit12acquires the first voice data that is the voice keyword data included in the first voice input signal S1, and determines whether the first voice data matches the first preset voice data (the data content is also voice keyword data); and in step S06, after receiving the first voice input signal S1, the second processing circuit13acquires the second voice data that is voiceprint data included in the first voice input signal S1, and determines whether the second voice data matches the second preset voice data (the data content is also voiceprint data). In short, the first processing circuit12performs determining on a voice keyword in the first voice input signal S1, and the second processing circuit13performs determining on a voiceprint of the user in the first voice input signal S1.

In some embodiments, the sound extraction circuit11may be a microphone device built in the electronic device1. Alternatively, the sound extraction circuit11may be different from the foregoing built-in microphone device and may be a microphone device independently disposed in an independent interface card or an independent chipset. If the sound extraction circuit11is the foregoing independently disposed microphone device, the sound extraction circuit11and the first processing circuit12may be integrated together on the independent interface card or the independent chipset. In other words, the sound extraction circuit11and the first processing circuit12may be integrated into an electronic component10in the electronic device1, namely, the electronic device1includes the electronic component10and the second processing circuit13, and the electronic component10is coupled to the second processing circuit13to trigger the second processing circuit13to unlock the electronic device1.

In some embodiments, in step S04, when the first processing circuit12determines that the first voice data which is the voice keyword data included in the first voice input signal S1fail to match the pre-stored first preset voice data, the second processing circuit13does not unlock the electronic device1, and the first processing circuit12may return to step S03to determine whether a second voice input signal that is extracted and transmitted by the sound extraction circuit11is received. When a determining result of the first processing circuit12is that the second voice input signal is received, the first processing circuit12performs step S04, to determine whether voice data (hereinafter referred to as third voice data) included in the second voice input signal matches the pre-stored first preset voice data, where the third voice data and the first voice data correspond to the same voice keyword data. That is, the first processing circuit12may repeat step S03and step S04, and not enter step S05until it is determined that a voice input signal matching a correct voice keyword is received, but the present disclosure is not limited thereto. In some embodiments, a quantity of tries that the first processing circuit12repeats step S03and step S04is limited.

In some embodiments, in step S06, when the second processing circuit13determines that the second voice data which is the voiceprint data included in the first voice input signal S1fail to match the pre-stored second preset voice data, the second processing circuit13does not unlock the electronic device1. The second processing circuit13may retransmit a sound extraction request to the first processing circuit12, and the first processing circuit12performs step S02and step S03to determine whether a third voice input signal that is extracted and transmitted by the sound extraction circuit11is received. When a determining result of the first processing circuit12is that the third voice input signal is received, the first processing circuit12performs step S04to determine whether voice data (hereinafter referred to as fourth voice data) included in the third voice input signal matches the pre-stored first preset voice data, where the fourth voice data and the first voice data correspond to the same voice keyword data. That is, if the second processing circuit13does not receive a voice input signal matching a correct voiceprint, the first processing circuit12may perform determining on the voice keyword again.

In some embodiments, the second processing circuit13includes a working mode and a sleep mode. After the second processing circuit13enters a locked mode and is idle for a period of time, the second processing circuit13may switch from the working mode to the sleep mode, and the second processing circuit13may reduce power consumed for operation in the sleep mode. To be specific, referring toFIG. 3,FIG. 3is another flowchart of an embodiment of the unlocking method according to the present disclosure. After transmitting the first sound extraction request R1in step S02, the second processing circuit13may switch from the working mode to the sleep mode (step S08). That is, when the first processing circuit12performs step S03, the second processing circuit13is in the sleep mode.

In addition, after the first processing circuit12performs step S04and a determining result is that voice data (including the first voice data, the third voice data, and the fourth voice data) matches the first preset voice data (including a corresponding voice keyword) (means the determining result is “yes”), the first processing circuit12transmits a wake-up signal to unlock the sleep mode of the second processing circuit13(step S09) and the second processing circuit13switches from the sleep mode to the working mode. The first processing circuit12continues to perform step S05to transmit the first voice input signal S1(or the second voice input signal, or the third voice input signal) to the second processing circuit13when the second processing circuit13is in the working mode, in order to enable the second processing circuit13to compare the voiceprint data in the first voice input signal S1(or the second voice input signal, or the third voice input signal) and the second preset voice data (including a corresponding voiceprint) in the working mode. On the other hand, when a determining result generated after the first processing circuit12performs step S04is “no”, the first processing circuit12does not wake up the second processing circuit13that is in the sleep mode. That is, the first processing circuit12does not transmit the wake-up signal to the second processing circuit13.

It should be understood that, in the foregoing embodiment, the first processing circuit12and the second processing circuit13determine whether the voice data in the voice input signal matches the preset voice data or not is not based on an absolute standard. Because comparison algorithms, user settings, or system tolerances used by the first processing circuit12and the second processing circuit13may be different, determination standards of the first processing circuit12and the second processing circuit13may be adjustable. For example, a determination standard including a tolerance value may be set according to a subtle voiceprint difference caused by changes of physical conditions of the user. However, the present disclosure is not limited thereto.

In some embodiments, refer toFIG. 4AandFIG. 4Btogether. Before step S01(as shown inFIG. 4B), namely, before the electronic device1is operated in the locked mode (step S10as shown inFIG. 4A), the user may first perform a registration procedure, and register voice keyword data and voiceprint data of a voice input signal in the electronic device1. In the registration process, the second processing circuit13transmits a second sound extraction request R2(referring toFIG. 5) to the first processing circuit12, and the first processing circuit12receives the second sound extraction request R2from the second processing circuit13(step S11), to trigger the sound extraction circuit11to extract, according to the second sound extraction request R2, a fourth voice input signal S2inputted by the user in the surrounding environment. In this case, the first processing circuit12starts to wait to receive the fourth voice input signal S2that is extracted and transmitted by the sound extraction circuit11. After the sound extraction circuit11extracts the fourth voice input signal S2, the sound extraction circuit11transmits the fourth voice input signal S2to the first processing circuit12. When the sound extraction circuit11does not extract the fourth voice input signal S2, the first processing circuit12continues to wait to receive the fourth voice input signal S2that is extracted and transmitted by the sound extraction circuit11.

When the first processing circuit12waits to receive the fourth voice input signal S2that is extracted and transmitted by the sound extraction circuit11, namely, the first processing circuit12determines whether the fourth voice input signal S2is received from the sound extraction circuit11(step S12), and when the first processing circuit12determines that the fourth voice input signal S2is received (a determining result is “yes”), the first processing circuit12performs a first preset algorithm on the fourth voice input signal S2to compute voice keyword data of the fourth voice input signal S2as the first preset voice data (step S13). The first preset algorithm may include preprocessing, a Mel-scale Frequency Cepstral Coefficient (MFCC) algorithm, and a training model, to filter unnecessary noise in the fourth voice input signal S2out, and generate a plurality of feature values according to Discrete Cosine Transform (DCT) in the MFCC algorithm. The voice keyword data of the fourth voice input signal S2may be computed as the first preset voice data after several model training cycles are performed on the plurality of feature values.

In some embodiments, the first processing circuit12may transmit the fourth voice input signal S2to the second processing circuit13(step S15) after receiving the fourth voice input signal S2. After receiving the fourth voice input signal S2, the second processing circuit13performs a second preset algorithm on the fourth voice input signal S2to compute voiceprint data of the fourth voice input signal S2as the second preset voice data (step S16). The representation form of a voiceprint varies from person to person, and the complexity of processing a voiceprint is higher than the complexity of processing a keyword. Therefore, the computation workload of the second preset algorithm is higher than the computation workload of the first preset algorithm. The second preset algorithm further includes a training model performed on the voiceprint of the fourth voice input signal S2, and the voiceprint data of the fourth voice input signal S2may be computed as the second preset voice data after a plurality of times of model training are performed.

In some embodiments, referring toFIG. 5, the electronic device1may include a first storage circuit121, and the first storage circuit121is connected to the first processing circuit12. The first processing circuit12may store the computed first preset voice data in the first storage circuit121(step S14) for use when the first processing circuit12determines and compares voice input signals in step S04. Moreover, as shown inFIG. 5, the electronic device1may further include a second storage circuit131, and the second storage circuit131is connected to the second processing circuit13. The second processing circuit13may store the computed second preset voice data in the second storage circuit131for use when the second processing circuit13determines and compares voice input signals in step S06. After the second processing circuit13stores the second preset voice data, the user completes registration of the voice keyword data and the voiceprint data in the electronic device1. Therefore, after the registration, when the electronic device1is in the locked mode, the electronic device1may perform step S01to step S07according to the first preset voice data and the second preset voice data that are stored, to unlock the locked mode of the electronic device1.

The electronic device1of the present disclosure is not limited to the foregoing embodiments. In some other embodiments, the computing capability of the first processing circuit12is higher than the computing capability of the second processing circuit13. In this case, the first processing circuit12can process voice input signals that are more complicated and with a higher computation workload than the second processing circuit13can. For example, because the computation workload of acquiring the voiceprint data is higher than the computation workload of acquiring the voice keyword data, in this case, the first processing circuit12determines the comparison between voiceprint data and the second processing circuit13determines the comparison between voice keyword data.

Therefore, the first voice data included in the first voice input signal S1(or the fourth voice data included in the third voice input signal, or the third voice data included in the second voice input signal) may correspond to voiceprint data, and the second voice data included in the first voice input signal S1may correspond to voice keyword data. That is, in step S04, the first processing circuit12determines whether the first voice data (or the third voice data, or the fourth voice data) which is voiceprint data matches the second preset voice data which is also voiceprint data; and in step S06, the second processing circuit13determines whether the second voice data which is voice keyword data matches the first preset voice data which is also voice keyword data. In addition, in step S14, the first preset voice data stored in the first processing circuit12of the first storage circuit121is voiceprint data, and in step S16, the second preset voice data stored in the second processing circuit13of the second storage circuit131is voice keyword data.

In some embodiments, the first processing circuit12and the second processing circuit13may be microcontrollers (MCUs), central processing units (CPUs), application specific integrated circuits (ASICs), or embedded controllers (ECs). The first storage circuit121and the second storage circuit131may be external memories, solid state drives (SSDs), or read-only memories (ROMs). The sound extraction circuit11may be a circuit including a sound collection function, such as a circuit of a microphone.

To sum up, according to the voice unlocking method for unlocking an electronic device of the present disclosure, compared with the fingerprint or face recognition unlocking method, the environment factor can hardly affect the voice unlocking method. In addition, according to voice keyword data and voiceprint data of voice input signals provided by different people. It provides more flexibility for the user to input and set different voice keyword data. Since the voiceprint data has uniqueness for identification, only the user can unlock the electronic device, thereby improving the security of the electronic device. In addition, it is convenient to acquire the voice input signal, and a case that the user wears a mask will not affect the voice data included in the voice input signal, so that the costs and the computation workload consumed by acquiring the voice input signal and performing voice data comparison are fewer than those of the fingerprint and face recognition.