Multithreaded speech-to-text processing

A computer-program product tangibly embodied in a non-transitory machine-readable storage medium, the computer-program product including instructions operable to cause at least one processor to perform operations comprising:

• receive, from a requesting device via a network, a request to perform speech-to-text conversion of a first speech data set representing a first speech audio;
• in response to the request, the at least one processor is caused to perform, within a first node device, preprocessing operations comprising:
• perform at least one pause detection technique to identify at least a first set of likely sentence pauses;
• or
• perform at least one speaker diarization technique to identify at least a first set of likely speaker changes;
• and
• in response to the request, the at least one processor is caused to perform, within the first node device, speech-to-text processing operations comprising:
• based on at least one of the first set of likely sentence pauses or the first set of likely speaker changes, divide the first speech data set into multiple data segments that each represent a speech segment of multiple speech segments of the first speech audio;
• use a first instance of an acoustic model with each data segment of the multiple data segments to derive sets of probabilities of speech sounds uttered within the corresponding speech segment;
• store the sets of probabilities in temporal order within a first buffer queue instantiated within the first node device;
• distribute the sets of probabilities, from the first buffer queue and in temporal order, among multiple threads of a first thread pool, wherein each thread of the first thread pool comprises a thread of execution supported by the at least one processor;
• and
• within each thread of the first thread pool, the at least one processor is caused to perform operations comprising:
• derive at least a first candidate word from one or more sets of probabilities that are distributed to the thread from the first buffer queue;
• based on at least the one or more sets of probabilities distributed to the thread, select either the first candidate word or a second candidate word as a next word most likely spoken in the first speech audio, wherein the second candidate word is derived within the thread by the at least one processor using a language model;
• and
• add the next word most likely spoken to a first transcript of the first speech audio.

A computer-implemented method comprising:

• receiving, by at least one processor, and from a requesting device via a network, a request to perform speech-to-text conversion of a first speech data set representing a first speech audio;
• in response to the request, performing, within a first node device, preprocessing operations comprising:
• performing, by the at least one processor, at least one pause detection technique to identify at least a first set of likely sentence pauses;
• or
• performing, by the at least one processor, at least one speaker diarization technique to identify at least a first set of likely speaker changes;
• and
• in response to the request, performing, within the first node device, speech-to-text processing operations comprising:
• based on at least one of the first set of likely sentence pauses or the first set of likely speaker changes, dividing the first speech data set into multiple data segments that each represent a speech segment of multiple speech segments of the first speech audio;
• using, by the at least one processor, a first instance of an acoustic model with each data segment of the multiple data segments to derive sets of probabilities of speech sounds uttered within the corresponding speech segment;
• storing the sets of probabilities in temporal order within a first buffer queue instantiated within the first node device;
• distributing, by the at least one processor, the sets of probabilities, from the first buffer queue and in temporal order, among multiple threads of a first thread pool, wherein each thread of the first thread pool comprises a thread of execution supported by the at least one processor;
• and
• within each thread of the first thread pool, performing operations comprising:
• deriving, by the at least one processor, at least a first candidate word from one or more sets of probabilities that are distributed to the thread from the first buffer queue;
• based on at least the one or more sets of probabilities distributed to the thread, selecting, by the at least one processor, either the first candidate word or a second candidate word as a next word most likely spoken in the first speech audio, wherein the second candidate word is derived within the thread by the at least one processor using a language model;
• and
• adding the next word most likely spoken to a first transcript of the first speech audio.