Source: http://www.google.com/patents/US7801726?dq=oakley+D523,461&ei=qiI4T-CjGqXf0QHz_PSUCA
Timestamp: 2014-10-21 17:42:45
Document Index: 338470138

Matched Legal Cases: ['Application No. 2006', 'art 102', 'art 102', 'art 102', 'art 102', 'art 102']

Patent US7801726 - Apparatus, method and computer program product for speech processing - Google PatentsSearch Images Maps Play YouTube News Gmail Drive More »Sign inAdvanced Patent SearchPatentsA speech processing apparatus includes a sound input unit that receives an input of a sound including a voice of one of an operator and a person other than the operator; a designation-duration accepting unit that accepts a designation-duration designated by the operator as a time interval that is a target...http://www.google.com/patents/US7801726?utm_source=gb-gplus-sharePatent US7801726 - Apparatus, method and computer program product for speech processingAdvanced Patent SearchPublication numberUS7801726 B2Publication typeGrantApplication numberUS 11/550,236Publication dateSep 21, 2010Filing dateOct 17, 2006Priority dateMar 29, 2006Fee statusPaidAlso published asCN101046958A, US20070233471Publication number11550236, 550236, US 7801726 B2, US 7801726B2, US-B2-7801726, US7801726 B2, US7801726B2InventorsMasahide AriuOriginal AssigneeKabushiki Kaisha ToshibaExport CitationBiBTeX, EndNote, RefManPatent Citations (23), Referenced by (6), Classifications (10), Legal Events (2) External Links: USPTO, USPTO Assignment, EspacenetApparatus, method and computer program product for speech processingUS 7801726 B2Abstract A speech processing apparatus includes a sound input unit that receives an input of a sound including a voice of one of an operator and a person other than the operator; a designation-duration accepting unit that accepts a designation-duration designated by the operator as a time interval that is a target of a speech processing within the input sound; a voice-duration detecting unit that detects a voice-duration that is a time interval in which the voice is present from the input sound; a speaker determining unit that determines whether a speaker of the voice is the operator or the person based on the input sound; and a deciding unit that detects an overlapping period between the designation-duration and the voice-duration, and decides that the voice-duration including the overlapping period is a processing duration, when the overlapping period is detected and the speaker is determined to be the person.
CROSS-REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATIONS This application is based upon and claims the benefit of priority from the prior Japanese Patent Application No. 2006-91995, filed on Mar. 29, 2006; the entire contents of which are incorporated herein by reference.
SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION According to one aspect of the present invention, a speech processing apparatus includes a sound input unit that receives an input of a sound including a voice of one of an operator and a person other than the operator; a designation-duration accepting unit that accepts a designation-duration designated by the operator as a time interval that is a target of a speech processing within the input sound; a voice-duration detecting unit that detects a voice-duration that is a time interval in which the voice is present from the input sound; a speaker determining unit that determines whether a speaker of the voice is the operator or the person other than the operator based on the input sound; and a deciding unit that detects an overlapping period between the accepted designation-duration and the detected voice-duration, and decides that the voice-duration including the overlapping period is a processing duration, when the overlapping period is detected and the speaker is determined to be the person other than the operator by the speaker determining unit.
BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS FIG. 1 is a schematic view explaining a situation of using a speech processing apparatus according to a first embodiment of the present invention;
DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION Exemplary embodiments of the speech processing apparatus, speech processing method and speech processing program product according to the present invention will be explained hereinafter with reference to the accompanying drawings.
A speech processing apparatus according to a first embodiment of the present invention decides a processing duration based on a designation-duration, a voice-duration, and speaker information. The processing duration is a sound duration which is a speech processing target (hereinafter, abbreviated as �target sound�). The designation-duration is a duration designated by an operator. The voice-duration is detected from an input sound. The speaker information is obtained by referring to information on sounds input from a plurality of microphones.
In the speech processing, the processing-content determining unit 205 decides the processing duration and the processing-content based on processing results output from the voice-duration detecting unit 202, the speaker determining unit 203, and the designation-duration accepting unit 204 for every predetermined time unit (hereinafter, abbreviated as �frame�). In addition, the speech processing unit 206 performs the speech processing on the sound.
First, the voice-duration detecting unit 202 acquires a volume per frame for a preset number of frames (hereinafter, abbreviated as �X�) since the time t (step S401). The volume per frame can be calculated using the digital signal input from the input receiving unit 201. The voice-duration detecting unit 202 determines whether the volume per frame is higher than a predetermined threshold (hereinafter, �threshold T1�) during the X frames (step S402). If the volume per frame is not higher than the threshold T1 (step S402: NO), the flow returns to the step S401 and repeats the processing.
Next, the voice-duration detecting unit 202 acquires a volume per a preset number of frames (hereinafter, abbreviated as �Y�) since a certain time u (step S404).
The voice-duration detecting unit 202 determines whether the volume per frame is lower than a predetermined threshold (hereinafter, �threshold T2�) during Y frames (step S405). If the volume per frame is not lower than the threshold T2 (step S405: NO), the flow returns to the step S404 and repeatedly performs the processing. If the volume per frame is lower than the threshold T2 (step S405: YES), the voice-duration detecting unit 202 detects the time u as an end of the voice-duration (step S406). In this manner, the voice-duration detecting unit 202 detects the duration from the detected start of the voice-duration to the detected end of the voice as the voice-duration.
Referring back to FIG. 10, the example (3) is an example of a situation in which the processing duration and the processing-content are decided in the manner like the step S904. Specifically, the example (3) represents the situation in which the system operator (B) speaks and in which the voice-duration is divided into two voice-durations and the two divided voice-durations are detected because a pause is inserted in the middle of the voice. The example (3) also represents the situation in which the system operator (B) produces a voice of an unnecessary word meaning �er� at the start of the first voice-duration. In FIG. 10, a black-painted duration of the voice of the system operator (B) represents the unnecessary word part.
By doing so, if the system operator 101 speaks �er, I (pause) want to go to the station� and depresses the press-to-talk button 105 at a part �I (pause) want to go to the station�, the unnecessary word �er� is not processed. In addition, the part �I want to go to the station� is regarded as the target sound without dividing the part into the part �I� and the part �want to go to the station�. It is, therefore, possible to grasp that the subject and the object of �want to go� are �I� and �the station�, respectively, and perform high accuracy translation.
In the first and second embodiments, it is assumed that the counterpart 102 speaks �it is fine today (pause) and comfortable� and that the system operator 101 responds to the counterpart 102 saying �yeah� at the pause. Even if the designation-duration is continuously designated, the problem of dividing the voice-duration into two voice-durations possibly occurs.
As a result, the speech processing is performed three times, that is, translation of �it is fine today� from the language L2 into the language L1, translation of �yeah� from the language L1 into the language L2, and translation of �comfortable� from the language L2 into the language L1. If a sentence is divided, the accuracy for the speech processing is deteriorated and the processing result may possibly inappropriate.
Because of the above functions, if the system operator 101 continuously designate the designation-duration at, for example, the part of �it is fine today�, the speaker in the designation-duration is fixed to the counterpart 102. Furthermore, if it is not determined that the speech ends at the pause, the entire voice of �it is fine today and comfortable� can be set as the speech in the processing duration. Moreover, because the speaker in the processing duration can be determined as the counterpart 102, it is possible to gather the voice only from the microphone 104 b oriented to the counterpart 102 without gathering surrounding and unnecessary short voices.
After performing the voice-duration-end processing or the designation-duration-end processing, the processing-content determining unit 205 decides a frame having the highest reliability calculated at the step S1403 as the start of the processing duration among a preset number of (hereinafter, �n�) before and after frames (step S1507).
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