IP Library › Granted Patent US 10,395,653
Granted Patent B2
US 10,395,653 · App. 15/598,504 · Granted Aug 27, 2019

Voice dialog device and voice dialog method

Inventors: Atsushi Ikeno (Kyoto, JP); Muneaki Shimada (Tokyo-to, JP); Kota Hatanaka (Kama, JP); Toshifumi Nishijima (Kasugai, JP); Fuminori Kataoka (Nisshin, JP); Hiromi Tonegawa (Okazaki, JP); Norihide Umeyama (Nisshin, JP)
Assignee: TOYOTA JIDOSHA KABUSHIKI KAISHA
G10L15/22G06F3/013G06F3/0304G06F3/167G10L15/02G10L15/08G10L15/24G10L25/78G06F2203/0381G06K9/0061G06K9/00255G06K9/00281G06K9/00604G10L2015/223G10L2015/227
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Quick Facts
Patent No.
US 10,395,653
App. No.
15/598,504
Granted
Aug 27, 2019
Kind
B2
Abstract

A voice dialog device, comprises a sight line detection unit configured to detect a sight line of a user; a voice processing unit configured to obtain voice pronounced by the user and a result of recognizing the voice; a dialog determination unit configured to determine whether or not the voice dialog device has a dialog with the user; and an answer generation unit configured to generate an answer, based on a result of recognizing the voice, wherein the dialog determination unit determines whether or not the user has started the dialog, based on both the sight line of the user and the obtained voice.

Claims (25)

1. A voice dialog device, comprising:

a sight line detection unit configured to detect a sight line of a user;

a state determination unit configured to determine a state of the user;

a voice processing unit configured to obtain voice pronounced by the user and a result of recognizing the voice;

a dialog determination unit configured to determine whether or not the voice dialog device has a dialog with the user; and

an answer generation unit configured to generate an answer, based on a result of recognizing the voice,

wherein the dialog determination unit determines whether or not the user has started the dialog, based on both the sight line of the user and the obtained voice by:

when the determined state of the user is driving a vehicle, the detected sight line of the user is in a vehicle forward direction, and a start keyword has been detected from the voice, the dialog determination unit determines that the user has started a dialog,

when the determined state of the user is driving a vehicle and either the detected sight line of the user is not in the vehicle forward direction or the start keyword has not been detected from the voice, the dialog determination unit determines that the user has not started a dialog,

when the determined state of the user is not driving a vehicle, the detected sight line of the user is in a direction toward the voice dialogue device, and a start keyword has been detected from the voice, the dialog determination unit determines that the user has started a dialog, and

when the determined state of the user is not driving a vehicle and either the detected sight line of the user is not in the direction toward the voice dialogue device or the start keyword has not been detected from the voice, the dialog determination unit determines that the user has not started a dialog.

2. The voice dialog device according to claim 1 , wherein

when the voice dialog device has the dialog with the user and a termination keyword has been detected from the voice, the dialog determination unit determines that the dialog has been terminated.

3. A voice dialog method performed by a voice dialog device, comprising:

a sight line detecting step of detecting a sight line of a user;

a state determining step of determining a state of the user;

a voice processing step of obtaining voice pronounced by the user and a result of recognizing the voice;

a dialog determining step of determining whether or not the voice dialog device has a dialog with the user; and

an answer generating step of generating an answer, based on a result of recognizing the voice,

wherein, the dialog determining step includes determining whether or not the user has started the dialog based on both the sight line of the user and the obtained voice by:

when state of the user determined by the state determining step is driving a vehicle, the sight line of the user detected by the sight line detecting step is in a vehicle forward direction, and a start keyword has been detected from the voice by the voice processing step, the dialog determining step determines that the user has started a dialog,

when the state of the user determined by the state determining step is driving a vehicle and either the sight line of the user detected by the sight line detecting step is not in the vehicle forward direction or the start keyword has not been detected from the voice by the voice processing step, the dialog determining step determines that the user has not started a dialog,

when the state of the user determined by the state determining step is not driving a vehicle, the sight line of the user detected by the sight line detecting step is in a direction toward the voice dialogue device, and a start keyword has been detected from the voice by the voice processing step, the dialog determining step determines that the user has started a dialog, and

when the state of the user determined by the state determining step is not driving a vehicle and either the sight line of the user detected by the sight line detecting step is not in the direction toward the voice dialogue device or the start keyword has not been detected from the voice, the start keyword has not been detected from the voice by the voice processing step, the dialog determining step determines that the user has not started a dialog.

4. A non-transitory computer readable storing medium recording a computer program for causing a computer to perform the voice dialog method according to claim 3 .

Assignments (1)
ASSIGNMENT OF ASSIGNOR'S INTEREST Recorded May 18, 2017
From: IKENO, ATSUSHI; SHIMADA, MUNEAKI; HATANAKA, KOTA; NISHIJIMA, TOSHIFUMI; KATAOKA, FUMINORI; TONEGAWA, HIROMI; UMEYAMA, NORIHIDE
To: TOYOTA JIDOSHA KABUSHIKI KAISHA
Reel/Frame 042422/0474 →
Priority Claims (1)
JP 2016-106692 · May 27, 2016 · national
Continuity (1)
Related Publication 20170345425A1 · Nov 30, 2017
Cited By (1)
US 12,567,406