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US 9,070,363 B2Granted
Speech translation with back-channeling cues
AssigneeFacebook, Inc.
InventorsAlexander Waibel, Ian R. Lane
Life of this patent
Estimating the term…
Abstract
A field maintainable class-based translation system and apparatus with components that ease use by linguistically untrained users is disclosed. The apparatus includes modules for recovering errors, extending and customizing language coverage and increasing the speed of effective communication.
Claims25
A method of translating speech from a first language to a second language, the method comprising:
- recognizing speech by a speaker;
- identifying the speech by the speaker as being in the first language;
- initiating a translation of the speech in the first language, by a speech translation system, into the second language;
- recognizing, by the speech translation system, one or more prosodic cues in the speech in the first language, one or more of the prosodic cues being of a specific type of prosodic cue;
- responsive to recognizing the prosodic cues, producing a back-channel cue corresponding to the specific type of prosodic cue;
- providing, by the speech translation system, the produced back-channel cue to the speaker, the back-channel cue comprising an audible confirmation that initiation of the translation of the speech in the first language has occurred;
- and
- determining a translation result in the second language.
5 more elements
A speech translation system, comprising:
- a processor;
- a speech recognition module that identifies sound comprising speech spoken in a first language by a speaker;
- a prosodic module that recognizes prosodic cues in the speech in the first language, one or more of the prosodic cues being of a specific type of prosodic cue;
- a speech synthesis module that produces, responsive to recognizing the prosodic cues, a back-channel cue corresponding to the specific type of prosodic cue and provides the produced back-channel cue to the speaker, the back-channel cue comprising an audible confirmation that initiation of the translation of the speech in the first language has occurred;
- and
- a translation module that translates and outputs, in a second language, the speech spoken in the first language by the speaker.
3 more elements
A computer program product comprising a non-transitory computer readable storage medium having instructions encoded thereon that, when executed by a processor, cause the processor to:
- recognize speech by a speaker;
- identify the speech by the speaker as being in the first language;
- initiate a translation of the speech in the first language, by a speech translation system, into the second language;
- recognize, by the speech translation system, one or more prosodic cues in the speech in the first language, one or more of the prosodic cues being of a specific type of prosodic cue;
- responsive to recognizing the prosodic cues, produce a back-channel cue corresponding to the specific type of prosodic cue;
- provide, by the speech translation system, the produced back-channel cue to the speaker, the back-channel cue comprising an audible confirmation that initiation of the translation of the speech in the first language has occurred;
- and
- determine a translation result in the second language.
5 more elements
A method comprising:
- recognizing speech by a speaker;
- identifying the speech by the speaker as being in a first language;
- initiating a translation of the speech in the first language, by a speech translation system, into a second language;
- recognizing, by the speech translation system, one or more prosodic cues in the speech in the first language, one or more of the prosodic cues being of a specific type of prosodic cue;
- responsive to recognizing the prosodic cues, producing a back-channel cue corresponding to the specific type of prosodic cues;
- providing, responsive to recognizing a back-channel cue to the speaker, the back-channel cue comprising an audible confirmation that the speech translation system is ready to receive additional speech for translation;
- determining a translation result in the second language.
4 more elements
A computer program product comprising a non-transitory computer readable storage medium having instructions encoded thereon that, when executed by a processor, cause the processor to:
- recognizing speech by a speaker;
- identifying the speech by the speaker as being in a first language;
- initiating a translation of the speech in the first language, by a speech translation system, into a second language;
- recognizing, by the speech translation system, one or more prosodic cues in the speech in the first language, one or more of the prosodic cues being of a specific type of prosodic cue;
- responsive to recognizing the prosodic cues, producing a back-channel cue corresponding to the specific type of prosodic cues;
- providing, responsive to recognizing a back-channel cue to the speaker, the back-channel cue comprising an audible confirmation that the speech translation system is ready to receive additional speech for translation;
- determining a translation result in the second language.
4 more elements
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.