# US 2021/0241762 A1 · Low delay voice processing system > Agents: this data is available as JSON from the patentgrep API and MCP server — see https://patentgrep.com/llms.txt - Number: US 2021/0241762 A1 - Document ID: US20210241762A1 - Status: Published application - Kind: A1 - Application number: 17/077,943 - Filed: 2020-10-22 - Published: 2021-08-05 - Earliest claimed: 2020-02-04 - Assignees: LG Electronics Inc. - Applicants: LG Electronics Inc. - Inventors: Soonpil JANG; Seongjae JEONG; Wonkyum KIM; Jonghoon CHAE - Web page: https://patentgrep.com/patent/US20210241762A1 ## CPC - G10L 15/22: Procedures used during a speech recognition process, e.g. man-machine dialogue - H04R 3/00: Circuits for transducers (arrangements for producing a reverberation or echo sound G10K15/08; amplifiers H03F) - G06F 3/167: {Audio in a user interface, e.g. using voice commands for navigating, audio feedback} - G06F 40/30: Semantic analysis - G10L 15/1822: {Parsing for meaning understanding} - G10L 15/26: Speech to text systems (G10L15/08 takes precedence) - H04R 29/004: {for microphones (H04R29/007 takes precedence)} - G10L 2015/088: {Word spotting} - G10L 2015/223: {Execution procedure of a spoken command} - G10L: SPEECH ANALYSIS TECHNIQUES OR SPEECH SYNTHESIS; SPEECH RECOGNITION; SPEECH OR VOICE PROCESSING TECHNIQUES; SPEECH OR AUDIO CODING OR DECODING - H04R: LOUDSPEAKERS, MICROPHONES, GRAMOPHONE PICK-UPS OR LIKE ACOUSTIC ELECTROMECHANICAL TRANSDUCERS; ELECTRIC HEARING AIDS; PUBLIC ADDRESS SYSTEMS (producing sounds with frequency not determined by supply frequency G10K) - G06F: ELECTRIC DIGITAL DATA PROCESSING (computer systems based on specific computational models G06N) ## Abstract Disclosed is a speech processing method. The speech processing method controls activation timing of a microphone based on a response pattern of the microphone from a user in order to implement a natural conversation. The speech processing device and the NLP system of the present disclosure may be associated with an artificial intelligence module, a drone (or unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV)), a robot, an augmented reality (AR) device, a virtual reality (VR) device, a device related to 5G service, etc. ## Claims ### Claim 1 A speech processing method comprising: generating information on an activation timing of a microphone, wherein the activation timing corresponds to a time period when a first utterance is received; tagging utterances with the generated information in response to receiving the first utterance; and activating the microphone by generating a signal in response to an event based at least in part on detecting that the event satisfies the activation timing while the first utterance is provided. ### Claim 2 (depends on 1) The speech processing method of claim 1, further comprising providing the first utterance by transmitting, to an external terminal comprising a speaker or a display, audio or text related to the first utterance. ### Claim 3 (depends on 2) The speech processing method of claim 2, wherein the microphone is activated based at least in part on controlling a transceiver to transmit the generated signal to the external terminal. ### Claim 4 (depends on 1) The speech processing method of claim 1, wherein the first utterance comprises a first informing utterance comprising guide information for multiple services stored in a memory and a second informing utterance generated based at least in part on generating the first utterance. ### Claim 5 (depends on 1) The speech processing method of claim 1, wherein generating the information on the activation timing further comprises: analyzing an embedding vector related to the first utterance; and applying the analyzed embedding vector to a neural network model and determining the activation timing corresponding to the first utterance based on an output of the neural network model. ### Claim 6 (depends on 5) The speech processing method of claim 5, wherein the neural network model is pre-trained based on log data related to a timing at which the response to the first utterance is received in association with a total output time of the first utterance. ### Claim 7 (depends on 1) The speech processing method of claim 1, further comprising: receiving a second utterance through the activated microphone; and generating a response to the received second utterance based at least in part on extracting at least one of an intent or a subject of the second utterance. ### Claim 8 (depends on 7) The speech processing method of claim 7, further comprising providing the generated response by transmitting, to an external terminal comprising a speaker or a display, audio or text related to the provided generated response. ### Claim 9 (depends on 7) The speech processing method of claim 7, wherein generating the response further comprises: splitting the second utterance into an N number of sub-sections, wherein N is a first number; and extracting at least one of the intent or the subject from a first extraction section comprising a first sub-section to an M-th sub-section among the N sub-sections, wherein M is a second number smaller than N, wherein the response is generated based on the extracted intent or the extracted subject. ### Claim 10 (depends on 9) The speech processing method of claim 9, wherein based on a determination that a reliability of the extracted intent is less than a preset reference value, generating the response further comprises: extracting at least one of the intent or the subject from a second extraction section comprising the first sub-section to a P-th sub-section among the N sub-sections, wherein P is a third number that is less than or equal to N and greater than M; and terminating a natural language understanding process based on a determination that a reliability of the extracted intent from the second extraction section is equal to or greater than the preset reference value, wherein the response to the second utterance is generated based on the extracted intent or the extracted subject from the second extraction section. ### Claim 11 (depends on 9) The speech processing method of claim 9, wherein based on a determination that a reliability of the extracted intent is less than a preset reference value, generating the response further comprises extracting at least one of the intent or the subject from a third extraction section including the first sub-section to a K-th sub-section among the N sub-sections, wherein K is a number that is less than or equal to N and greater than M, and wherein K is increased by 1 based at least in part on a determination that a reliability of the extracted intent from the third extraction section is greater than the preset reference value. ### Claim 12 (depends on 7) The speech processing method of claim 7, further comprising controlling a transceiver to transmit the generated response to the second utterance to an external terminal comprising a speaker or a display. ### Claim 13 A speech processing device comprising: a memory storing multiple first utterances; and a processor configured to generate information on an activation timing of a microphone, wherein the activation timing corresponds to a time period when a first utterance is received, tag utterances with the generated information in response to receiving the first utterance, and activate the microphone by generating a signal in response to an event when the event based at least in part on detecting that the event satisfies the activation timing while the first utterance is provided. ### Claim 14 (depends on 13) The speech processing device of claim 13, further comprising the microphone for receiving a speech signal, wherein the processor is further configured to receive a second utterance through the activated microphone and to generate a response to the received second utterance based at least in part on receiving at least one of intent or subject of the second utterance. ### Claim 15 (depends on 14) The speech processing device of claim 14, wherein the processor is further configured to provide the generated response by transmitting, to an external terminal comprising a speaker or a display, audio, or text related to the provided generated response. ### Claim 16 (depends on 14) The speech processing device of claim 14, wherein the processor is further configured to: split the second utterance into an N number of sub-sections, wherein N is a first number; and extract at least one of the intent or the subject from a first extraction section comprising a first sub-section to an M-th sub-section among the N sub-sections, wherein M is a second number smaller than N, wherein the response is generated based on the extracted intent or the extracted subject. ### Claim 17 (depends on 16) The speech processing device of claim 16, wherein based on a determination that a reliability of the extracted intent is less than a preset reference value, generating the response further comprises: extracting at least one of the intent or the subject from a second extraction section comprising the first sub-section to a P-th sub-section among the N sub-sections, wherein P is a third number that is less than or equal to N and greater than M; and terminating a natural language understanding process based on a determination that a reliability of the extracted intent from the second extraction section is equal to or greater than the preset reference value, wherein the response to the second utterance is generated based on the extracted intent or the extracted subject from the second extraction section. ### Claim 18 (depends on 16) The speech processing device of claim 16, wherein based on a determination that a reliability of the extracted intent is less than a preset reference value, generating the response further comprises extracting at least one of the intent or the subject from a third extraction section including the first sub-section to a K-th sub-sections among the N sub-sections, wherein K is a number that is less than or equal to N and greater than M, and wherein K is increased by 1 based at least in part on a determination that a reliability of the extracted intent from the third extraction section is greater than the preset reference value. ### Claim 19 (depends on 14) The speech processing device of claim 14, wherein the processor is further configured to control a transceiver to transmit the generated response to the second utterance to an external terminal comprising a speaker or a display. ### Claim 20 (depends on 13) The speech processing device of claim 13, wherein the first utterance comprises a first informing utterance comprising guide information for multiple services stored in a memory and a second informing utterance generated based at least in part on generating the first utterance.