TWI426425B - Method of processing touch commands and voice commands in parallel in electronic device supporting speech recognition and electronic device thereof - Google Patents

Description

Method and related electronic device for simultaneously processing touch commands and voice commands in an electronic device supporting voice recognition

The present invention relates to a speech recognition system, and more particularly to a method and related apparatus for simultaneously processing touch commands and voice commands on a touch screen.

The Global Positioning System (GPS)-based navigation device is a well-known device and is widely used in the field of vehicles to provide driver navigation information. A general navigation device has functionality for providing a map repository for displaying navigational indications on a display of the navigation device. The navigation device is usually placed on the dashboard or dashboard of the vehicle in an adsorption mode or other manner.

The term "navigation device" means that a device is capable of providing user navigation information to enable a user to arrive at a predetermined location. The navigation device can include an internal system (such as a GPS receiver) for receiving location data, or simply a device that can connect to a receiver that can receive location data. The navigation device itself can calculate the route or communicate with a remote server to cause the remote server to calculate the route and provide navigation information to the navigation device. Alternatively, the navigation device may be a mixture of the above two modes, that is, both the navigation device itself and the remote server participate in the process of route calculation. The personal GPS navigation device does not have to be integrated into the vehicle, but can be placed in the vehicle or used in the vehicle. In general (non-essential), a personal GPS navigation device is a fully equipped device, such as an internal GPS antenna, navigation software, and a map to depict and display the desired route of travel.

Prior art personal navigation devices typically include a touch screen to accept the user's touch input. In addition, the personal navigation device may additionally include a microphone to accept the user's voice input, and thus the personal navigation device also includes a voice recognition engine to process the voice input and determine which voice commands the personal navigation device receives.

In speech recognition systems, the usual problem arises from the fact that the speech recognition system requires an end point indicator of the speech command at the beginning and end so that the speech recognition system can focus on processing only the relevant stages in the speech. However, in a noisy environment, such as in a car, a large amount of noise caused by a vehicle, radio, or passenger chat will cause the personal navigation device to fail to properly and correctly analyze the voice commands. Therefore, many personal navigation devices allow the user to indicate when the voice command is about to begin and when the voice command has ended.

Some devices use a specific button to tell the device when the voice command begins and ends. When the personal navigation device uses the above-described manner to know the start and end of the voice command, the user can also communicate with the personal navigation device by remote control. However, using a remote control or additional buttons to achieve the above objectives can increase the cost of the personal navigation device. In particular, since the user uses a soft button (input of the touch screen) to communicate with the personal navigation device, the soft button requires a large area, so that the user can smoothly press the correct button when driving. Soft buttons, so setting a soft button on the screen of a personal navigation device is not an ideal solution. In addition, before the voice command is issued, the user is required to search for the soft button on the screen to enter the voice command, which distracts the user's attention, which is contrary to the purpose of voice recognition.

In addition, if other functions are performed on the screen, using the soft buttons on the screen may cause the user to accidentally touch the keyboard and cause the user to perform functions or errors that are not desired by the user. As a result, the user has to spend more time to undo unwanted functions or correct errors. In other words, if the user is driving, the above problems will cause the user to be in danger.

Therefore, the user can easily indicate that the user does not need to add a specific button to instruct the user to enter the voice command, or to set a soft button on the touch screen to allow the user to accurately press the soft button. The beginning and end of the voice command without adding extra cost at the same time becomes an important issue.

The present invention provides a method for simultaneously processing touch commands and voice commands in an electronic device supporting voice recognition. The method includes detecting, when the touch screen of the electronic device senses the touch input, detecting a one-touch event of the touch screen of the electronic device, the touch screen displaying one or more soft buttons Each soft button is activated to execute a corresponding command; according to the detected hold event, a microphone of the electronic device is activated to receive a voice indication; when the touch screen no longer senses the touch During the input mode, detecting a release event; and determining whether a voice command is detected between the hold event and the release event, and if the voice command is detected, the voice command is executed.

The invention further provides an electronic device for simultaneously processing touch commands and voice commands. The electronic device includes a processor for controlling the operation of the electronic device, and a touch screen for detecting a hold event when the touch input is sensed, the touch screen displaying one or more a soft button, each soft button is activated, the processor executes a corresponding command; a microphone is used to start receiving the voice indication according to the hold event detected by the processor and when the touch When the screen no longer senses the touch input, the processor detects a release event and stops the microphone; and a voice recognition module determines whether between the hold event and the release event A voice command is detected, and if the voice command is detected, the processor executes the voice command.

Please refer to Figure 1. 1 is a functional block diagram of an electronic device 10 capable of simultaneously processing touch commands and voice commands in accordance with the present invention. The electronic device 10 can be a personal navigation device (though not limited to the device), or can be any device capable of recognizing voice commands and receiving touch input on a touch screen. As shown in FIG. 1 , the electronic device 10 includes a touch screen 12 to display an image and receive a touch input of a user. The electronic device 10 further includes a microphone 16 and a speaker 18. The microphone 16 receives the user's voice input; the speaker 18 outputs a voice signal. The processor 14 is used to control the operation of the electronic device 10 and execute the speech recognition software 22 and the graphical user interface 24 stored in the memory 20.

In the present invention, the user provides an end point indication to the electronic device 10 to indicate the moment when the voice command is about to begin and the voice command has ended. In order to minimize the distraction of the user to provide an end point indication, in the present invention, the user can press and maintain any portion of the touch screen 12 when the user is about to enter the voice command phase. To enter the voice command. That is to say, when the user is ready to speak a voice command, the user can hold down a certain portion of the touch screen 12. Since the user has pressed the touch screen 12 and the touch screen 12 senses the touch input, the above situation is recognized as a "press event". After the "press and hold event" is generated, the microphone 16 is enabled to receive voice commands, and the user can transmit voice commands to the electronic device 10 via the microphone 16. Then, after the user ends the voice command, the user can release the portion of the touch screen 12 that was originally pressed. Since the user has released the touch screen 12 and the touch screen 12 has not sensed the touch input, the above situation is recognized as a "release event".

All the voices received by the electronic device 10 between the "press and hold event" and the "release event" are analyzed by the speech recognition software 22 executed by the processor 14. In this way, the "hold event" and "release event" can be used as the end point, and the voice recognition software only needs to recognize the voice received between the two events.

Please refer to Figure 2. FIG. 2 is a simplified schematic diagram of the touch screen 12. In the example of Fig. 2, it is assumed that the electronic device 10 is a personal navigation device. Therefore, the touch screen 12 displays a navigation map. The navigation map displays the location of the electronic device 10 associated with the road on a map, as well as other soft buttons 30, 32, 34 and 36. When the soft buttons 30, 32, 34, and 36 are pressed, a touch command is generated correspondingly. For example, the soft button 30 provides the user with a new destination to request the navigation indication of the electronic device 10; the soft button 32 can change the field of view mode of the electronic device 10; the soft buttons 34 and 36 respectively increase and decrease the output of the speaker 18. The volume of the sound signal.

If the electronic device 10 is a personal navigation device, the voice command may be “go to... (name or address of a destination)”, “repeated”, and “Estimated Time of Arrival (ETA)”. , or "remaining distance"...etc. The above voice command does not require the user to look at the soft button on the touch screen 12 to save a lot of time and reduce the risk of driving.

Since the present invention allows the user to press any part of the touch screen 12 to trigger a "press and hold event", the user may press the corresponding position of a button to activate the "hold event". The function associated with the button. In the simplest case, no soft button is set on the touch screen 12, so if the user wants to trigger a "press and hold event", it will not accidentally activate any other functions associated with the soft button, and the electronic device 10 It is only judged to be the beginning of the voice command. When the soft button and the corresponding function are disposed on the touch screen 12, when the user wants to trigger the "press and hold event" and just presses the soft button, when the voice command is transmitted to the processor 14 When the speech recognition software 22 is executed, the function corresponding to the soft button is also executed. Since when the user wants to trigger the "press and hold event", it is not necessarily the function corresponding to the soft button to be activated, but only the beginning of the voice command, so the function corresponding to the soft button needs to be canceled or withdrawn. .

If the voice recognition software 22 recognizes the received voice command and is active in the current operating state of the electronic device 10, the electronic device 10 will perform any cancellation or withdrawal of the corresponding function caused by the accidental touch of the soft button, and The corresponding operation is performed according to the received valid voice command; and if the received voice command is confirmed to be invalid after the voice recognition software 22 is invalid, the present invention can perform the corresponding function triggered by pressing the soft button previously. The processor 14 can delay the function corresponding to the soft button until the "press and hold event" is generated and the voice command is not recognized between the "hold event" and the "release event". In other words, the present invention can perform the button function immediately upon receiving the "press and hold event", and if the voice command is recognized, the executed button function is cancelled if necessary. Alternatively, the execution of the button function can be delayed after the "press and hold event" until it is determined that there is actually no voice command before the button function is executed.

When a "press and hold event" occurs, a timer can be started at the same time. If the timer expires after a certain length of time (such as 5 or 10 seconds), the "release event" has not occurred, it is judged that the voice command mode has been entered, and any button function will be ignored.

If the user touches the finger on the screen while touching the touch screen 12, the screen may be moved or enlarged/reduced. The touch screen 12 can be updated as the action progresses, but if the voice command is subsequently recognized, the action needs to be still repliable.

An indicator can be displayed on the screen to indicate that the speech analysis is being processed. The indicator is displayed when a "press and hold event" is detected, and is removed after the "release event" is detected. Alternatively, the indicator can be removed if it is determined that no sound command is recognized.

Please refer to Figure 3. FIG. 3 is a flow chart illustrating a method for simultaneously recognizing a touch command and a voice command according to the present invention. The steps are as follows: Step 100: Start; Step 102: Receive a "press and hold event" with the touch screen 12; Step 104: Start the microphone 16 and start the timer according to the received "press and hold event" to start timing; 106: determining whether an executable soft button is pressed during the "press and hold event"; if yes, proceeding to step 108; if not, proceeding to step 110; step 108: performing an action associated with the pressing button; or, determining After the voice command is not recognized, the action related to the push button is started; step 110: determining whether the "release event" is detected; if yes, proceeding to step 114; if not, proceeding to step 112; step 112: determining Whether the timer expires; if yes, go to step 114; if not, go back to step 110; step 114: disable the microphone 16 because the voice input is no longer analyzed; step 116: determine whether to detect and recognize the voice command; if so, Go to step 118; if not, go to step 122; Step 118: cancel the action caused by pressing the button on the "press and hold event"; if there is no press Caused by the operation buttons is performed, this step may be omitted; Step 120: perform the voice recognition command, step 124; step 122: identify the absence of any voice commands, voice input is ignored; Step 124: End.

In summary, the present invention provides a method for simultaneously processing touch commands and voice commands. A user of the electronic device of the present invention can touch any portion of the touch screen to issue a voice command without wasting time searching for a particular button on the electronic device to enter the voice mode. In this way, the user of the electronic device of the present invention can concentrate less on the work at hand while distracting less attention when issuing voice commands. In addition, the electronic device of the present invention can focus on analyzing the voice commands received between the “press and hold event” and the “release event”, thereby improving the accuracy of the voice recognition and saving the resources required for the processing process. Give users greater convenience.

The above are only the preferred embodiments of the present invention, and all changes and modifications made to the scope of the present invention should be within the scope of the present invention.

10. . . Personal navigation device

12. . . Touch screen

14. . . processor

16. . . microphone

18. . . speaker

20. . . Memory

twenty two. . . Speech recognition software

twenty four. . . Graphical user interface software

12. . . Picture

38. . . map

30~36. . . Soft button

100~124. . . step

1 is a functional block diagram of an electronic device 10 capable of simultaneously processing touch commands and voice commands in accordance with the present invention.

FIG. 2 is a simplified schematic diagram of the touch screen 12.

FIG. 3 is a flow chart illustrating a method for simultaneously recognizing a touch command and a voice command according to the present invention.

100~124. . . step

Claims (18)

A method for simultaneously processing a touch command and a voice command in an electronic device supporting voice recognition, comprising: detecting a touch of the electronic device when the touch screen of the electronic device senses the touch input One of the control screens, the touch screen displays one or more soft buttons, each of which executes a corresponding command when activated; determines whether a soft button is activated through the hold event; The detected hold event activates a microphone of the electronic device to receive a voice indication; when the touch screen no longer senses the touch input, detecting a release event; determining to press and hold Whether a voice command is detected between the event and the release event, and if the voice command is detected, the voice command is executed; and according to the detected release event, if the hold event is determined The voice command does not exist between the release event and the instruction corresponding to the soft button that is activated by the hold event. The method of claim 1, further comprising: if it is determined that the voice command exists between the hold event and the release event, canceling the softness corresponding to the button activated by the hold event instruction. The method of claim 1, further comprising: According to detecting the hold event, a timer is started to start timing; and if the timer expires, the instruction corresponding to the soft button activated by the hold event is canceled. The method of claim 3, further comprising: displaying an indicator on the touch screen to indicate that the microphone is receiving a voice indication according to the detected hold event; and if the timer expires, Stop displaying the indicator. The method of claim 1, further comprising: displaying an indicator on the touch screen to indicate that the microphone is receiving the voice indication according to the detected hold event; and according to the detected Release the event and stop displaying the indicator. The method of claim 1, wherein the hold event is detected when any portion of the touch screen is pressed. The method of claim 1, further comprising stopping the activation of the microphone based on the detected release event. The method of claim 1, wherein the electronic device is a one-person navigation device. The method of claim 1, wherein the execution of the instruction corresponding to the soft button It is not cancelable. An electronic device for simultaneously processing a touch command and a voice command includes: a processor for controlling the operation of the electronic device; and a touch screen for detecting a touch when the touch input is sensed In the event, the touch screen displays one or more soft buttons. When each soft button is activated, the processor executes a corresponding command; a microphone is used to detect the hold event detected by the processor. Initiating to receive the voice indication and when the touch screen no longer senses the touch input, the processor detects a release event and stops the microphone; and a voice recognition module is used to determine Whether a voice command is detected between the hold event and the release event, and if the voice command is detected, the processor executes the voice command; wherein the processor determines whether there is a soft button through the hold The event is activated, and according to the detected release event, if it is determined that the voice command does not exist between the hold event and the release event, performing the soft button initiated by the hold event Corresponding to the instruction. The electronic device of claim 10, wherein the processor, if it is determined that there is a voice command between the hold event and the release event, cancels execution of the soft button that is activated by the hold event The instruction. The electronic device of claim 10, wherein the processor detects the hold And start a timer to start timing, and if the timer expires, the processor cancels the instruction corresponding to the soft button that is activated by the hold event. The electronic device of claim 12, wherein the processor controls an indicator displayed on the touch screen to indicate that the microphone is receiving a voice indication according to the detected hold event; if the timer expires The processor controls the touch screen to stop displaying the indicator. The electronic device of claim 10, wherein the processor controls an indicator displayed on the touch screen to indicate that the microphone is receiving a voice indication according to the detected hold event; the processor is responsive to the detection The detected release event controls the touch screen to stop displaying the indicator. The electronic device of claim 10, wherein the hold event is detected when any portion of the touch screen is pressed. The electronic device of claim 10, further comprising the processor stopping to activate the microphone based on the detected release event. The electronic device of claim 10, wherein the electronic device is a one-person navigation device. The electronic device of claim 10, wherein the execution of the instruction corresponding to the soft button is non-cancelable.