GB2258936A

GB2258936A - Voice recognition apparatus

Info

Publication number: GB2258936A
Application number: GB9221767A
Authority: GB
Inventors: Yasuyuki Masai
Original assignee: Toshiba Corp
Current assignee: Toshiba Corp
Priority date: 1988-12-29
Filing date: 1992-10-15
Publication date: 1993-02-24
Anticipated expiration: 2012-10-15
Also published as: GB9221767D0; GB2226675A; GB8929267D0; GB2258936B; KR930005223B1; KR900010649A; JPH02178698A; GB2226675B; JP2793213B2

Description

22539-)o 1 VOICE RECOGNITION APPARATUS The present invention relates to

voice recognition apparatus and to such apparatus when combined with a telephone set.

In recent years, a telephone set which dials a telephone number corresponding to the name of a subscriber, which has been stored in advance, according to the result of voice recognition of a person who spoke the name, has been put in practical use.

It is an object of the present invention to provide voice recognition apparatus which is improved over such previously known apparatus.

The present invention provides voice recognition apparatus for recognising voice by comparing a voice with reference to standard voice pattern data previously produced from voice pattern data corresponding to voices with a same meaning spoken by a plurality of persons and registered therein and outputting a confirmation voice corresponding to the standard voice pattern data, wherein the apparatus comprises voice recorder means for recording a voice either associated with the registered voice pattern data or independently thereof as a confirmation voice to be output 2 corresponding to the result of recognition of the standard voice pattern data by input of the voices.

In order that the invention may be more readily understood, it will now be described, by way of example with reference to the accompanying drawings, in which:- Figure 1 is a block diagram showing the configuration of voice recognition apparatus according to the present invention; and Figure 2 is a plan showing the external view of a telephone set equipped with the voice recognition apparatus shown in Figure 1.

Referring now to the drawings, and more particularly to Fig. 1, there is shown an arrangement of the voice recognition apparatus according to the invention which is applied to a telephone set for automatically dialing a telephone number corresponding to a result of recognition of a voice by which personal names, corporation names, etc. desired to be called are input.

-1 k 3 In Fig. 1, a switch 21 selects four mode states of the voice recognition apparatus in this embodiment.

When a contact b of the switch 21 Is closed, the Input voice pattern is stored and the voice from 44:a which the vOice pattern is derived is recorded at the same time (Mode 2). When a contact c is closed, the input voice pattern only is stored and the corresponding voice Is not recorded (Mode 3). When a contact a is closed, no voice pattern Is recorded (Mode 1). When a contact d is closed, the voice recognition state results (Mode 4).

Next, the state where the contact b of the switch 21 Is closed will be explained In detail.

When a voice Is input through the voice input portion 22, that input voice is applied to a voice section detector 23 and at the same time, it is stored or recorded In a voice memory 24.

The voice section detector 23 Is set a threshold value for the level of the input voice. The voice section detector 23 detects a voice section by discriminating the voice section from the absence of sound and noises according to the threshold value.

The voice memory 24 selectively stores only the voice sIgnal of the voice section, based on data on a voice section detected by the voice section detector 23. Then, this extracted voice signal of the voice section is stored In the voice memory 24 under control of the detector 23, In correspondence with the voice pattern obtained by the sound 4 analyzer 25.

More particularly, the detector 23 also gates the detected voice section to the sound analyzer 25. The sound analyzer 25 analyzes a voice characteristic parameter sequence by filtering the detected voice section which is stored In a pattern memory 26 as a standard voice pattern.

After storing the standard voice pattern In the voice pattern memory 26 as described above, and Mode 4 is selected at the time of voice recognition, the voice section Is detected by the voice section detector 23 for voices which are Input through the voice input portion 22. Similarity of the voice pattern obtained by the sound analyzer 25 for the detected voice section with the standard pattern stored In the voice pattern memory 26 is calculated by the voice recognizer 27, and the result of recognition for the Input voice Is obtained by mutually comparing the similarity values.

As the voice recognizing process method used In the voice recognizer 27, the voice recognizing algorithm which has been so far proposed in addition to the similarity calculation may be adopted as appropriate.

A voice signal In the voice storage 24 corresponding to the result of recognition obtained as mentioned above Is. given to the voice reproducer 28, and a voice for confirming the result of recognition is reproduced and output.

Next, a case where the contact c of the switch 21 Is closed will be explainecl in detail.

In this case, a voice Input through the voice input portion 22 Is given to the voice detector 23 only and Is not given to the voice memory 24, and therefore, no voice signal 1 Is stored An the voice section detector 24. The voice applied to the voice section detector 23 is processed by the same manner as in the case where the contact b of the switch 21 Is closed, and the voice pattern is stored In the voice pattern memory 26.

Lastly, a case where the contact a Is closed will be explained in detail.

In this case, a voice input through the voice Input portion 22 Is applied only to the voice memory 24 and not to the voice section detector 23 and therefore, no voice pattern Is stored in the voice pattern memory 26.

The voice memory 24 stores all voices (Including noise, no-sound section, etc.) Input through the voice Input portion 22 for the entire period of the voice storage operation without reference to detection of the Input voice section. As no process for detecting the voice section Is performed, it becomes possible to output voices including a no-sound section like a sentence as a response to confirm the result of voice recognition. Here, by a voice to voice pattern correspondence designator 29, It Is designated to which voice pattern stored In the voice pattern memory 26 a voice stored In the voice memory 24 corresponds.

Thus, by designating the correspondence of the voice to the voice pattern, it is possible to output a verbal confirmation other than lwordn as a response of the result of recognition.

Fig. 2 shows a telephone set equipped with the voice recognition apparatus shown in Fig.l.

In Fig. 2, numeral 30 designates a telephone casing, 31 a handset, and 32 a dial keyboard provided on the surface of 6 the telephone casing 30. Further, numeral 33 designates a mode selector switch, Including four pushbuttons corresponding to the switch 21 In Fig. 1. These four pushbutton switches are structured such that more than two buttons cannot be pushed simultaneously. Numeral 34 designates a key for designating the correspondence of voice with the voice pattern together with the dial keyboard 32, and 35 designates a function selector key used for various telephone services.

Next explained is a case where two users (A and B) each store a voice pattern of a voice pronouncing a personal name "Tanakal In the voice recognition apparatus, and the apparatus produces a response as a result of recognition by means of the voice of 0Tanakal registered by the user.

When the user A Is to register his voice pattern, he sets the mode selector switch 33 In Mode 2, speaks "Tanakal and registers his voice pattern and the voice. Then, assume that the user B Is to register his voice pattern, and he sets the mode selector switch 33 in Mode 3, speaks 'Tanakal and tries to register his voice pattern. At this time, the voice 'Tanakaw spoken by the user B will not be recorded Thus, in this example, when the voice patterns by two users are registered, the verbal confirmation for the result of recognition is always output by the voice of the user A whose voice and voice pattern were entered and stored In Mode 2.

Further, if the user B registers his voice pattern in Mode 2, the voice of the user B is overwritten to the voice of the user A and the verbal confirmation for the result of recognition is output by the voice of the user B. 1 ei 7 When it is desired to provide a confirmation response to the users A and B in the voice of another user C, it is necessary to select Mode 1 and register the voice of the user C.

Thus, according to the voice recognition apparatus in this embodiment, whether a voice spoken when storing the voice pattern is to be recorded can be set by the mode selector switch 33, and whose voice is to be used to output the verbal confirmation for the result of recognition can also be decided optionally. In addition, It Is possible to return a response by a "word" other than a "word' desired to be recognized by recording a confirming response voice Independently of storage of a voice pattern.

As described above, according to the present Invention, only by designating a desired name where it As reproduced by hearing a voice spoken to that name, it is possible to perform a prescribed processing such as deletion of a voice corresponding to the name and the voice patterns, etc. and to reduce significantly a burden on users.

In addition, it is also possible to set and output any voice as a confirming response voice for the result of recognition, as desired.

As described above, the present invention can provide an extremely preferable voice recognition apparatus and a telephone set equipped with the apparatus.

8

Claims

Claims:

1. voice recognition apparatus for recognising voice by comparing a voice with reference to standard voice pattern data previously produced from voice pattern data corresponding to voices with a same meaning spoken by a plurality of persons and registered therein and outputting a confirmation voice corresponding to the standard voice pattern data, wherein the apparatus comprises voice recorder means for recording a voice either associated with the registered voice pattern data or independently thereof as a confirmation voice to be output corresponding to the result of recognition of the standard voice pattern data by input of the voices.

2. Voice recognition apparatus as claimed in claim 1, which apparatus additionally comprises switching means for turning ON or OFF the recording of the verbal confirmation as occasion demands.

3. voice recognition apparatus as claimed in Claims 1 or 2, which apparatus responds in a prescribed manner in response to voice pattern data.

4. Voice recognition apparatus as claimed in any preceding Claims, wherein the apparatus is in combination with a telephone set.