# US 11,308,966 B2 · Speech input device, speech input method, and recording medium

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- Number: US 11,308,966 B2
- Document ID: US11308966B2
- Status: Granted
- Kind: B2
- Application number: 16/828,018
- Filed: 2020-03-24
- Published: 2020-10-01
- Granted: 2022-04-19
- Earliest claimed: 2019-03-27
- Assignees: Panasonic Intellectual Property Corporation of America
- Applicants: Panasonic Intellectual Property Corporation of America
- Inventors: Tsuyoki Nishikawa
- Web page: https://patentgrep.com/patent/US11308966B2

## CPC

- G10L 17/00: Speaker identification or verification techniques
- G10L 17/02: Preprocessing operations, e.g. segment selection; Pattern representation or modelling, e.g. based on linear discriminant analysis [LDA] or principal components; Feature selection or extraction
- G10L 17/04: Training, enrolment or model building
- G10L 17/10: Multimodal systems, i.e. based on the integration of multiple recognition engines or fusion of expert systems
- G10L: SPEECH ANALYSIS TECHNIQUES OR SPEECH SYNTHESIS; SPEECH RECOGNITION; SPEECH OR VOICE PROCESSING TECHNIQUES; SPEECH OR AUDIO CODING OR DECODING

## Abstract

A speaker recognition device includes: an obtaining unit which obtains a speech uttered by a speaker included in one or more speakers; a storage which stores the speech obtained by the obtaining unit; a trigger input unit which receives a trigger; an utterance start detector which detects a start position of the speech stored in the storage, when the trigger input unit receives the trigger, the start position being a position at which utterance of the speech has started; and a speaker identification unit which identifies the speaker of the speech from the one or more speakers based on at least first timing and second timing, the first timing being timing at which the trigger input unit has received the trigger, the second timing being timing indicating the start position of the speech detected by the utterance start detector.

## Claims

### Claim 1

A speech input device, comprising:
an obtaining unit which obtains a speech uttered by a speaker included in one or more speakers;
a storage which stores the speech obtained by the obtaining unit;
a trigger input unit which receives a trigger;
an utterance start detector which detects a start position of the speech stored in the storage, when the trigger input unit receives the trigger, the start position being a position at which utterance of the speech has started;
a speaker identification unit which identifies the speaker of the speech from the one or more speakers based on at least first timing and second timing, the first timing being timing at which the trigger input unit has received the trigger, the second timing being temporally different from the first timing and being timing indicating the start position of the speech detected by the utterance start detector; and
an utterance timing registration unit which registers at least a condition indicating which one of the first timing and the second timing is earlier,
wherein the condition is stored in one of the storage and the utterance timing registration unit, and
the speaker identification unit identifies the speaker of the speech from the one or more speakers based on the first timing, the second timing, and plural items of registration information registered by the utterance timing registration unit and each indicating a temporal position of the second timing with respect to the first timing.

### Claim 2 (depends on 1)

The speech input device according to claim 1,
wherein
when registering timing of utterance for each of the one or more speakers, the utterance timing registration unit:
registers first registration information which is registration information associating first time information with a speaker included in the one or more speakers, the first time information indicating that the second timing which indicates the start position is later than the first timing at which the trigger input unit receives the trigger; and
registers second registration information which is registration information associating second time information with an other speaker included in the one or more speakers, the second time information indicating that the second timing which indicates the start position is earlier than the first timing at which the trigger input unit receives the trigger.

### Claim 3 (depends on 1)

The speech input device according to claim 1,
wherein
the speaker identification unit:
calculates the temporal position of the second timing with respect to the first timing; and
checks a calculation result indicating the temporal position calculated, against the plural items of registration information, and determines that (i) the speaker of the speech is a first speaker when the second timing is later than the first timing, and (ii) the speaker of the speech is a second speaker different from the first speaker when the second timing is earlier than the first timing.

### Claim 4 (depends on 1)

The speech input device according to claim 1, wherein
the trigger input unit is a speech input interface which receives a pre-set speech, and
the trigger input unit receives the pre-set speech as the trigger.

### Claim 5 (depends on 1)

The speech input device according to claim 1, wherein
the trigger input unit is an operation button provided to the speech input device, and
the trigger input unit receives an operation as the trigger.

### Claim 6

A speech input method, comprising:
obtaining, using an obtaining unit, a speech uttered by a speaker included in one or more speakers;
storing, in a storage, the speech obtained;
receiving, using a trigger input unit, a trigger;
detecting, using an utterance start detector, a start position of the speech stored in the storage, when the trigger is received, the start position being a position at which utterance of the speech has started;
identifying, using a speaker identification unit, the speaker of the speech from the one or more speakers based on at least first timing and second timing, the first timing being timing at which the trigger has been received, the second timing being timing being temporally different from the first timing and being timing indicating the start position of the speech detected; and
registering, using an utterance timing registration unit, at least a condition indicating which one of the first timing and the second timing is earlier,
wherein the condition is stored in one of the storage and the utterance timing registration unit, and
the speaker identification unit identifies the speaker of the speech from the one or more speakers based on the first timing, the second timing, and plural items of registration information registered by the utterance timing registration unit and each indicating a temporal position of the second timing with respect to the first timing.

### Claim 7 (depends on 6)

A non-transitory computer-readable recording medium for use in a computer, the recording medium having a computer program recorded thereon for causing the computer to execute the speech input method according to claim 6.