Patent EP-3826003-A1 (EP)
Inventor: SERGI LEONARDO
IPC: G10L15/30
Filed: 2020-11-17
Abstract: A method is described for controlling and/or communicating with a household appliance 100 by means of a voice command and with the recognition of the language by means of which the voice command is expressed.The method comprises the steps of receiving a voice acoustic signal SV, corresponding to a voice utterance of a query and/or request pronounced by a user, and generating a corresponding first electric signal SE representative of the voice acoustic signal SV, by voice receiving means 2 integrated in the household appliance 100.The method further includes generating a query and/or request electric signal SR, on the basis of the first electric signal SE received, by first processing means 3 integrated in the household appliance 100 operatively connected to the voice reception means 2; and transmitting the query and/or request electric signal SR to second processing means 4.The method then comprises the step of acquiring information relating to an expression language of the user, by means of which the voice expression of a query and/or request uttered by the user has been expressed, based on a processing of the query and/or request electric signal SR, or on the basis of a command by the user.The method further includes verifying, by the second processing means 4, whether the expression language of the user belongs to a predefined set of manageable languages or not.If the expression language of the user belongs to the predefined set of manageable languages, the method further comprises the following steps: recognizing the expression language of the user; considering such a recognized language as the operating language; analyzing the aforesaid query and/or request electric signal SR, on the basis of the recognized operating language, to identify a user query and/or request; determining a response to be provided to the user, in the recognized operating language, on the basis of the user query and/or request identified; generating a response electric signal C corresponding to the determined response; and transmitting the response electric signal C to the first processing means 3 of the household appliance.If instead, during the verification step, a language belonging to the predefined set of manageable languages is not identified, the method comprises the following further steps: generating and sending to the user an interlocutory response in one or more languages predefined as the standard language or languages for an interlocutory communication, in which such an interlocutory response comprises a request to the user for further information and/or indications for the user.The method finally includes providing the user with a visual and/or written and/or voice response, corresponding to the aforesaid determined response, expressed in the recognized operating language (if the language of expression of the user has been recognized as one of the manageable languages), or corresponding to the aforesaid interlocutory response, expressed in the standard language (if the language of expression of the user has not been recognized as belonging to the set of manageable languages).