IP Library Granted Patent US 7,454,339
Granted Patent B2
US 7,454,339 · App. 11/312,981 · Granted Nov 18, 2008

Discriminative training for speaker and speech verification

View Patent ↗
Loading inventors, assignments & file history…
Monitor This Case
Get email alerts when status or documents change.
Order Certified Copies
Most orders are placed with the USPTO same day — all within 24 business hours.
Order via The Patent Place →
Pre-filled with this patent's details
Quick Facts
Patent No.
US 7,454,339
App. No.
11/312,981
Granted
Nov 18, 2008
Kind
B2
Abstract

A method for discriminatively training acoustic models is provided for automated speaker verification (SV) and speech (or utterance) verification (UV) systems. The method includes: defining a likelihood ratio for a given speech segment, whose speaker identity (for SV system) or linguist identity (for UV system) is known, using a corresponding acoustic model, and an alternative acoustic model which represents all other speakers (in SV) or all other linguist identities (in UV); determining an average likelihood ratio score for the likelihood ratio scores over a set of training utterances (referred to as true data set) whose speaker identities (for SV) or linguist identities (for UV) are the same; determining an average likelihood ratio score for the likelihood ratio scores over a competing set of training utterances which excludes the speech data in the true data set (referred to as competing data set); and optimizing a difference between the average likelihood ratio score over the true data set and the average likelihood ratio score over the competing data set, thereby improving the acoustic model.

Claims (593)

1. A method for discriminatively training acoustic models for automated speech verification, comprising:

defining a likelihood ratio for a given speech segment X having a known linguist identity W, using an acoustic model which represents W and an alternative acoustic model which represents linguist identities other than W;

determining an average likelihood ratio score for the likelihood ratio scores over a set of training utterances whose linguist identities are the same, W;

determining an average likelihood ratio score for the likelihood ratio scores over a competing set of training utterances whose linguist identities are not W; and

optimizing a difference between the average likelihood ratio score over the set of training utterances and the average likelihood ratio score over the competing set of training utterances, thereby improving the acoustic model.

2. The method of claim 1 wherein the acoustic models are further defined as hidden Markov models.

3. The method of claim 1 wherein defining a likelihood ratio further comprises using a log-likelihood ratio test, LTR(X), defined as

LRT

(

X

)

=

log

P

(

X

|

λ

W

)

P

(

X

|

λ

W

_

)

=

log

P

(

X

|

λ

W

)

-

log

P

(

X

|

λ

W

_

)

where λ W and λ W represent the acoustic model and the alternative acoustic model, respectively.

4. The method of claim 3 wherein optimizing a difference further comprises defining a training criterion as

Λ

opt

=

arg

max

(

λ

W

,

λ

W

_

)

Q

(

λ

W

,

λ

W

_

)

where Q(λ W ,λ W ) is defined as

Q

(

λ

W

,

λ

W

_

)

=

1

S

T

X

S

T

LRT

(

X

)

-

1

S

C

X

S

C

LRT

(

X

)

-

θ

where S T is the set of training utterances and S C is the competing set of training utterances.

5. The method of claim 3 wherein optimizing a difference further comprises defining a training criterion as

Λ

opt

=

arg

max

(

λ

W

,

λ

W

_

)

Q

1

(

λ

W

,

λ

W

_

)

where Q 1 (λ W ,λ W ) is defined as

Q

1

(

λ

W

,

λ

W

_

)

=

-

1

S

T

X

S

T

LRT

(

X

)

+

1

S

C

X

S

C

LRT

(

X

)

-

θ

where S T is the set of training utterances and S C is the competing set of training utterances.

6. The method of claim 5 further comprises solving the training criterion using a generalized probabilistic descent algorithm or a Quickprop optimization algorithm.

7. The method of claim 3 wherein optimizing a difference further comprises defining a training criterion as

Λ

opt

=

arg

max

(

λ

W

,

λ

W

_

)

Q

2

(

λ

W

,

λ

W

_

)

where Q 2 (λ W ,λ W ) is defined as

Q

2

(

λ

W

,

λ

W

_

)

=

1

S

T

+

S

C

(

X

S

T

LRT

(

X

)

-

X

S

C

LRT

(

X

)

)

-

θ

where S T is the set of training utterances and S C is the competing set of training utterances.

8. The method of claim 1 wherein optimizing a difference further comprises maximizing the difference by iteratively adjusting parameters of the acoustic models.

9. A method for discriminatively training acoustic models for automated speaker verification, comprising:

defining a likelihood ratio for a given speech segment X having a known speaker identity, K, using an acoustic model which represents K and an alternative acoustic model which represents speakers other than K;

determining an average likelihood ratio score for the likelihood ratio scores over a set of training utterances which are spoken by speaker K;

determining an average likelihood ratio score for the likelihood ratio scores over a competing set of training utterances which are spoken by speakers other than speaker K; and

optimizing a difference between the average likelihood ratio score over the set of training utterances and the average likelihood ratio score over the competing set of training utterances, thereby improving the acoustic model.

10. The method of claim 9 wherein defining a likelihood ratio further comprises using a log-likelihood ratio test, LRT(X) defined as

LRT

(

X

)

=

log

P

(

X

|

λ

K

)

P

(

X

|

λ

K

_

)

=

log

P

(

X

|

λ

K

)

-

log

P

(

X

|

λ

K

_

)

where λ K and λ K represent the acoustic model and the alternative acoustic model, respectively.

11. The method of claim 10 wherein optimizing a difference further comprises defining a training criterion as

Λ

opt

=

arg

max

(

λ

K

,

λ

K

_

)

Q

(

λ

K

,

λ

K

_

)

where Q(λ K , λ K ) is defined as

Q

(

λ

K

,

λ

K

_

)

=

1

S

T

X

S

T

LRT

(

X

)

-

1

S

C

X

S

C

LRT

(

X

)

-

θ

where S T is the set of training utterances and S C is the competing set of training utterances.

12. The method of claim 10 wherein optimizing a difference further comprises defining a training criterion as

Λ

opt

=

arg

min

(

λ

K

,

λ

K

_

)

Q

(

λ

K

,

λ

K

_

)

where Q(λ K ,λ K ) is defined as

Q

(

λ

K

,

λ

K

_

)

=

-

1

S

T

X

S

T

LRT

(

X

)

+

1

S

C

X

S

C

LRT

(

X

)

-

θ

where S T is the set of training utterances and S C is the competing set of training utterances.

13. The method of claim 12 further comprises solving the training criterion using a generalized probabilistic descent algorithm or a Quickprop optimization algorithm.

14. The method of claim 10 wherein optimizing a difference further comprises defining a training criterion as

Λ

opt

=

arg

min

(

λ

K

,

λ

K

_

)

Q

2

(

λ

K

,

λ

K

_

)

where Q 2 (λ K ,λ K ) is defined as

Q

2

(

λ

K

,

λ

K

_

)

=

1

S

T

+

S

C

(

X

S

T

LRT

(

X

)

-

X

S

C

LRT

(

X

)

)

-

θ

where S T is the set of training utterances and S C is the competing set of training utterances.

15. The method of claim 9 wherein optimizing a difference further comprises maximizing the difference by iteratively adjusting parameters of the acoustic model.

Assignments (6)
ASSIGNMENT OF ASSIGNOR'S INTEREST Recorded Jun 5, 2019
From: PANASONIC INTELLECTUAL PROPERTY CORPORATION OF AMERICA
To: SOVEREIGN PEAK VENTURES, LLC
Reel/Frame 049383/0752 →
CORRECTIVE ASSIGNMENT TO CORRECT THE ASSIGNEE ADDRESS PREVIOUSLY RECORDED ON REEL 048829 FRAME 0921. ASSIGNOR(S) HEREBY CONFIRMS THE ASSIGNMENT. Recorded Apr 10, 2019
From: PANASONIC CORPORATION
To: SOVEREIGN PEAK VENTURES, LLC
Reel/Frame 048846/0041 →
ASSIGNMENT OF ASSIGNOR'S INTEREST Recorded Apr 9, 2019
From: PANASONIC CORPORATION
To: SOVEREIGN PEAK VENTURES, LLC
Reel/Frame 048829/0921 →
ASSIGNMENT OF ASSIGNOR'S INTEREST Recorded May 27, 2014
From: PANASONIC CORPORATION
To: PANASONIC INTELLECTUAL PROPERTY CORPORATION OF AMERICA
Reel/Frame 033033/0163 →
CHANGE OF NAME Recorded Nov 24, 2008
From: MATSUSHITA ELECTRIC INDUSTRIAL CO., LTD.
To: PANASONIC CORPORATION
Reel/Frame 021897/0707 →
ASSIGNMENT OF ASSIGNOR'S INTEREST Recorded Dec 20, 2005
From: LIU, CHAOJUN; KRYZE, DAVID; RIGAZIO, LUCA
To: MATSUSHITA ELECTRIC INDUSTRIAL CO., LTD.
Reel/Frame 017403/0993 →