# US 9,437,190 B2 · Speech recognition apparatus for recognizing user's utterance > Agents: this data is available as JSON from the patentgrep API and MCP server — see https://patentgrep.com/llms.txt - Number: US 9,437,190 B2 - Document ID: US9437190B2 - Status: Granted - Kind: B2 - Application number: 14/239,315 - Filed: 2012-08-31 - Published: 2014-06-12 - Granted: 2016-09-06 - Earliest claimed: 2011-09-09 - Assignees: Asahi Kasei Kabushiki Kaisha - Applicants: Tomoyuki Kumai; Toshiyuki Miyazaki - Inventors: Tomoyuki Kumai; Toshiyuki Miyazaki - Web page: https://patentgrep.com/patent/US9437190B2 ## CPC - G10L 15/187: Phonemic context, e.g. pronunciation rules, phonotactical constraints or phoneme n-grams - G10L 2015/086: {Recognition of spelled words} - G10L: SPEECH ANALYSIS TECHNIQUES OR SPEECH SYNTHESIS; SPEECH RECOGNITION; SPEECH OR VOICE PROCESSING TECHNIQUES; SPEECH OR AUDIO CODING OR DECODING ## Abstract In accordance with alphabet input method information for each user, a word formed of an alphabet string is registered in a word dictionary, in a state where “dotto” being added before each alphabet and one of a set of alphabets difficult to distinguish from each other like “M and N” and “B and P” is repeated twice. For example, a word “PAM” and a feature of time series corresponding to “dotto P P doddo A dotto M” are registered in association with each other. When a user performs a speech input of “PAM”, in accordance with the user's alphabet input method information, the user utters “dotto P P dotto A dotto M”. A speech recognition is performed on this sound data using the word dictionary corresponding to the user's alphabet input method information. ## Claims ### Claim 1 A speech recognition apparatus operated by a computer for recognizing an utterance by a user, comprising: a user information processor that receives user information inputted into the computer from an external device and generates user input method information representing an utterance method of the user; a sound input device that is connected to the computer to receive a successive character string uttered by the user and converts the successive character string into sound data formed of digital signals; a recognition dictionary; a speech recognition processor that receives the utterance method of the user from the user information processor and the sound data from the sound input device to perform a speech recognition process using the recognition dictionary, wherein: the speech recognition processor requests a recognition data that is registered in the recognition dictionary and corresponds to the utterance method of the user, the recognition data including a target character to be recognized and information on the sound data in association with each other, the sound data representing a pronunciation of the successive character string including a predetermined character string and the target character subsequent to the predetermined character string, the speech recognition processor recognizes the target character from the sound data using a feature of acoustic model representing the target character, and the predetermined character string is a Japanese character string which enhances sound energy of a first phoneme of the target character when the successive character string is uttered, and pronounces as having three or more moras including “tto” as last two moras; and an output device that outputs the target character recognized by the speech recognition processor to a display device of the computer. ### Claim 2 A speech recognition apparatus operated by a computer for recognizing an utterance by a user, comprising: a user information processor that receives user information inputted into the computer from an external device and generates user input method information representing an utterance method of the user; a sound input device that is connected to the computer to receive a successive character string uttered by the user and convert the successive character string into sound data formed of digital signals; a recognition dictionary; and a speech recognition processor that receives the utterance method of the user from the user information processor and the sound data from the sound input device so as to perform a speech recognition process using the recognition dictionary, wherein: the speech recognition processor requests a recognition data that is registered in the recognition dictionary and corresponds to the utterance method of the user, the recognition data including a target character to be recognized and information on the sound data in association with each other, the sound data representing a pronunciation of the successive character string including a predetermined character string and the target character subsequent to the predetermined character string, the speech recognition processor recognizes the target character from the sound data using a feature of acoustic model representing the target character, and the predetermined character string is an English character string which enhances sound energy of a first phoneme of the target character when the successive character string is uttered, and pronounces as being formed of a consonant, a vowel, and a consonant in this order; and an output device that outputs the target character recognized by the speech recognition processor to a display device of the computer. ### Claim 3 A speech recognition apparatus operated by a computer for recognizing an utterance by a user, comprising: a user information processor that receives user information inputted into the computer from an external device and generates user input method information representing an utterance method of the user; a sound input device that is connected to the computer to receive a successive character string uttered by the user and convert the successive character string into sound data formed of digital signals; a recognition dictionary; and a speech recognition processor that receives the utterance method of the user from the user information processor and the sound data from the sound input device so as to perform a speech recognition process using the recognition dictionary, wherein: the speech recognition processor requests a recognition data that is registered in the recognition dictionary and corresponds to the utterance method of the user, the recognition data including a target character to be recognized and information on the sound data in association with each other, the sound data representing a pronunciation of the successive character string including a predetermined character string and the target character subsequent to the predetermined character string, the speech recognition processor recognizes the target character from the sound data using a feature of acoustic model representing the target character, and the predetermined character string is a Chinese character string which enhances sound energy of a first phoneme of the target character when the successive character string is uttered, and pronounces as being classified into a third tone of Chinese tones and has a single syllable; and an output device that outputs the target character recognized by the speech recognition processor to a display device of the computer. ### Claim 4 (depends on 1) The speech recognition apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the recognition data is registered in the recognition dictionary, the recognition data including the target character and the information on the sound data in association with each other, the sound data representing the pronunciation of the successive character string including the predetermined character string and a predetermined number of repetitions of the target characters subsequent to the predetermined character string. ### Claim 5 (depends on 2) The speech recognition apparatus according to claim 2, wherein the recognition data is registered in the recognition dictionary, the recognition data including the target character and the information on the sound data in association with each other, the sound data representing the pronunciation of the successive character string including the predetermined character string and a predetermined number of repetitions of the target characters subsequent to the predetermined character string. ### Claim 6 (depends on 3) The speech recognition apparatus according to claim 3, wherein the recognition data is registered in the recognition dictionary, the recognition data including the target character and the information on the sound data in association with each other, the sound data representing the pronunciation of the successive character string including the predetermined character string and a predetermined number of repetitions of the target characters subsequent to the predetermined character string. ### Claim 7 (depends on 1) The speech recognition apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the target character is an alphabet. ### Claim 8 (depends on 2) The speech recognition apparatus according to claim 2, wherein the target character is an alphabet. ### Claim 9 (depends on 3) The speech recognition apparatus according to claim 3, wherein the target character is an alphabet. ### Claim 10 (depends on 4) The speech recognition apparatus according to claim 4, wherein the target character is an alphabet. ### Claim 11 (depends on 5) The speech recognition apparatus according to claim 5, wherein the target character is an alphabet. ### Claim 12 (depends on 6) The speech recognition apparatus according to claim 6, wherein the target character is an alphabet.