Patent Publication Number: US-2010121641-A1

Title: External voice identification system and identification process thereof

Description:
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 
     1. Field of the Invention 
     The present invention relates to an external voice identification system and an identification process thereof, and more particularly a voice identification system for a multimedia electronic device activated by inputting a voice message, with a built-in identification module in the voice identification system to control playing and switching voice file in the multimedia electronic device with the externally inputted voice. 
     2. Description of Related Art 
     In the era of the latest technology and unlimited network, audio/video signals of the multimedia can be digitally transmitted and downloaded in a network packet, and the video or voice signals can be downloaded through a legal website and stored into a memory stick, a MP3 (or MP4, MP5) player, an iPod or other multimedia for further playing the voice signals through an external amplifier, a speaker, an acoustic device, an earphone or other megaphone device. However, the user has to use hand to press and control the key, regulator or manual operation interface to switch or select a playing mode while using the common multimedia player. This conventional operation method of the multimedia player is inconvenient for the user and has the following defects. 
     The multimedia player has to be manual operated for controlling, selecting play mode, switching song or turning on/off, and this manual operation is inconvenient when the user is walking, driving or riding a bicycle or a motorcycle. 
     The multimedia player is small and has a limited surface, accordingly, the key and the manual operation interface are correspondingly smaller causing the user to press surrounding key instead of pressing the right one while selecting and inputting, and such inconvenience often cause error on selection and input operations. 
     Therefore, how to overcome the above defect of having operational trouble and mistake while operating, selecting and switching the present multimedia is the target for the manufacturers in the field. 
     SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION 
     An object of the present invention is to provide an external voice identification system and identification process thereof for easy control and operation. 
     According to an aspect of the present invention, the voice identification system can be electrically connected to a multimedia player (for example an iPod player) having a plurality of voice files stored in a storage module in advance; an external voice identification system having a built-in identification module including an identification unit to identify and analyze an externally inputted voice signal, and a voice inputting unit for receiving the external voice signal for the identification module of the voice identification system to identify and analyze for activating the multimedia electronic device to play the voice file (songs), as well to control and operate for selecting, adjusting, or switching a play content by the external voice input. 
    
    
     
       BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWING 
       For a more complete understanding of the present invention, reference will now be made to the following detailed description of preferred embodiments taken in conjunction with the following accompanying drawings. 
         FIG. 1  is a block diagram of an external voice identification system according to an embodiment of the present invention. 
         FIG. 2  is a flowchart illustrating a process for operating an external voice identification system according to an embodiment of the present invention. 
         FIG. 3  is an elevational view of an external voice identification system according to a preferred embodiment of the present invention. 
         FIG. 4  is a side view of an external voice identification system according to a preferred embodiment of the present invention. 
         FIG. 5  is a flowchart of an analysis and identification process of a voice identification module after inputting a voice signal into an external voice identification system according to an embodiment of the present invention. 
         FIG. 6  is a flowchart of a matching process of a constructive concept script of a voice identification module after inputting a voice signal into an external voice identification system according to an embodiment of the present invention. 
     
    
    
     DETAIL DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION 
       FIG. 1  is a block diagram of an external voice identification system according to an embodiment of the present invention.  FIG. 2  is a flowchart illustrating a process for operating an external voice identification system according to an embodiment of the present invention.  FIG. 3  is an elevational view of an external voice identification system according to a preferred embodiment of the present invention.  FIG. 4  is a side view of an external voice identification system according to a preferred embodiment of the present invention. Referring to  FIGS. 1-4 , a multimedia electronic device  1  may be an iPod player, a multimedia player or a MP3 player including a built-in storage module  11 , a transmission interface  12  and a manual operation interface  13  for controlling a built-in program and editing stored signals. 
     A voice identification system  2  comprises a built-in identification module  21  for identifying and analyzing a voice. The identification module  21  comprises a built-in storage unit  211  for storing voice signals, a play unit  212  having a built-in play program, an edit unit  213  for editing internal programs and system units or switching the inputted signals, and an identification unit  214  for identifying the voices. The identification module  21  comprises a connection interface  22  and an adapting interface  23 , and the adapting interface  23  may be connected to an external voice input unit  24 , and also connected to an amplifier  25 , for example a speaker, a acoustic device or an earphone for amplifying the sound. 
     To assemble the above components, a plurality of voice signals (for example songs, music or voice recording) is stored in advance into the internal storage module  11  of the multimedia electronic device  1 , and the transmission interface  12  is electrically connected to the connection interface  22  of the voice identification system  2 . The multimedia electronic device  1  is activated through the connection interface  22  and transmission interface  12  according to the identified voice signal, and thus enable inputting the voice signals (for example a speaking voice) by the voice input unit  24  to let the built-in identification module  21  to analyze and identify the inputted voice signals, and the built-in storage unit  211  of the identification module  21  stores the voice signal. The identification unit  214  further identifies the voice signal, and the edit unit  213  reads the voice signal pre-stored in the storage module  11  of the multimedia electronic device  1  through the connection interface  22  and the transmission interface  12 . Meanwhile, the edit unit  213  selects, switches and edits the voice signals pre-stored in the storage module  11 , and the play unit  212  activates the amplifier  25  of the voice identification system  2  to play the voice signal. 
     The process for inputting and identifying voice according to the present invention is described as follows. 
     At step  100 , the transmission interface  12  of the multimedia electronic device  1  is electrically connected to the connection interface  22  of the external voice identification system  2 . 
     At step  101 , the edit unit  213  of the voice identification system  2  reads the pre-stored voice signals (for example songs, music or voice recording) in the storage module  11  through the connection interface  22  and the transmission interface  12 . 
     At step  102 , voice signals are input through the voice input unit  24  (a microphone or a headset microphone) electrically connected to the adapting interface  23  of the voice identification system  2 . 
     At step  103 , the voice signals are stored in the storage unit  211  of the identification module  21  after identification and processing by the identification unit  214 . 
     At step  104 , the identification unit  214  reads the voice signal stored in the storage unit  211  for further identification and analysis. 
     At step  105 , the built-in edit unit  213  of the identification module  21  reads the voice signals pre-stored in the storage module  11  through the connection interface  22  and the transmission interface  12 . 
     At step  106 , the built-in edit unit  213  of the identification module  21  starts to select song and process among the voice signal stored in the storage module  11 ; meanwhile, switching, volume regulation or other choice, as well as conversion of the command are processed. 
     At step  107 , the voice signal processed by the edit unit  213  is played by the amplifier  25  activated by the play unit  212 . 
     Referring to  FIG. 5 , an analysis and identification process of the identification unit  214  of the identification module  21  after inputting a voice signal by the voice input unit  24  of the present invention is as the following steps. 
     At step  200 , the connection interface  22  of the voice identification system  2  is electrically connected to the transmission interface  12  of the multimedia electronic device  1 . 
     At step  201 , the external voice signal is input into the voice input unit  24  connected to the voice identification system  2  and stored into the storage unit  211  of the built-in identification module  21 . 
     At step  202 , the identification unit  214  reads the voice signals stored in the storage unit  211  to process voice identification. 
     At step  203 , the sentential form is checked to verify if the text of the voice signals qualify for a particular form. 
     At step  204 , words are segmented and processed for the text of the inputted voice signals. 
     At step  205 , classifying according to the professional field for giving an attribution of the text after word segmentation, for example, classified according to terminology, common terms, verbs, and so on. 
     At step  206 , checking keyword set, and checking from every text after word segmentation whether any keyword set exist for displaying the key requirement in two major classifications, one representing a specific even or background, the other representing various criteria of the information. 
     At step  207 , checking for the synonymy or synonymy set, checking whether the synonymy of the professional terminology or the synonymy set of the keyword set existing in the text. 
     At step  208 , a constructive concept script representing the user&#39;s inquiry is generated. 
     At step  209 , the voice identification system  2  reads the voice information stored in the storage module  11  of the multimedia electronic device  1  through the connection interface  22  and the transmission interface  12  for searching for the voice signal matching with the constructive concept script. 
     At step  210 , the voice signal analyzed by the edit unit  213  of the voice identification system  2  and played by the amplifier  25 . 
     Referring to  FIG. 6 , after the identification module  21  analyzes the inputted voice signal to generate the constructive concept script, the process of matching with the constructive concept scripts stored in the storage module  11  of the multimedia electronic device  1  is described as follows. 
     At step  300 , identical or similar constructive concept script is searched from the storage module  11  of the multimedia electronic device  1 . 
     At step  301 , the professional terminology lexicon of every constructive concept script is searched from the storage module  11  according to the professional terminology of the constructive concept script generated by the voice signal. 
     At step  302 , the related keyword set from the storage module  11  is searched according to the resulting professional terminology. 
     At step  303 , all the key events and criteria are further searched from the storage module  11  according to the resulting keyword set. 
     At step  304 , the most matching constructive concept script is retrieved according to all the related key events and criteria. 
     At step  305 , the amplifier  25  of the voice identification system  2  to process play. 
     The above the multimedia electronic device  1  may have the plurality of voice signals (for example signals of songs, music or voice recording) stored in the internal storage module  11  through the transmission interface  12  in advance, and the manual operation interface  13  provides to control the built-in programs and system to edit or classify the voice signals (to classify the songs according to titles, artists, albums, languages, for instance Mandarin, Taiwanese or foreign languages). The voice signal is input selected (for instance to input song selection, voice recording, artist name, song title, album title, switching song, and so on) and stored in the storage unit  211  of the identification module  21 . The identification unit  214  analyzes the voice signals stored in the storage unit  211  for searching and retrieving the matched item. Furthermore, the amplifier  25  is activated by the play unit  212  for playing the voice signals. The edit unit  213  can switch and select songs, regulate volume and process other functions, and thus rapidly process voice control the voice signals stored in the storage module  11  of the multimedia electronic device  1 ; instead of manual hand operation, the voice control can overcome the problem of wrong operation or miss pressing the key. 
     The transmission interface  12  of the multimedia electronic device  1 , the connection interface  22  and the adapting interface  23  of the voice identification system  2  may be a connector interface of a USB, SATA or eSATA for transmitting the voice signals. 
     The above depiction is for illustrating the embodiment of the present invention, and is not intended for limiting the scope of the present invention. The multimedia electronic device  1  may be externally connected to the voice identification system  2  for inputting voice signals into the voice input unit  24  of the voice identification system  2 , and stored in the storage unit  211  of the voice identification module  21 . After identification and analysis by the identification unit  214 , the edit unit  213  reads the voice signals stored in the storage module  11  in advanced, and the play unit  212  activates the amplifier  25  to play the voice signals. Any illustrative or modification shall be construed to be within the scope of the present invention. 
     The voice identification system and the identification process thereof of the present invention have at least the following advantages. 
     The multimedia electronic device  1  is externally connected to the voice identification system  2  for inputting voice signals into the voice input unit  24 , and the identification module  21  can switch and select songs, regulate volume and process other functions to enable the user to control selection and switching of the multimedia electronic device  1  while walking or moving. 
     The multimedia electronic device  1  is externally connected to the voice identification system  2  for inputting voice signals without manual operation, and thus miss pressing of key or pressing of the wrong key may be avoided and thereby promote the operation accuracy. 
     The multimedia electronic device  1  of the prevention has the external voice identification system to input voice for voice controlling the multimedia electronic device  1  is the main feature of the present invention. Any illustrative or modification shall be construed to be within the scope of the present invention. 
     While the invention has been described in conjunction with a specific best mode, it is to be understood that many alternatives, modifications, and variations will be apparent to those skilled in the art in light of the foregoing description. Accordingly, it is intended to embrace all such alternatives, modifications, and variations in which fall within the spirit and scope of the included claims. All matters set forth herein or shown in the accompanying drawings are to be interpreted in an illustrative and non-limiting sense.