Smart home appliances, operating method of thereof, and voice recognition system using the smart home appliances

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-10269344-B2
Application number	US-201415103528-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Nov 4, 2014
Priority date	Dec 11, 2013
Publication date	Apr 23, 2019
Grant date	Apr 23, 2019

Abstract

Provided is a smart home appliance. The smart home appliance includes: a voice input unit collecting a voice; a voice recognition unit recognizing a text corresponding to the voice collected through the voice input unit; a capturing unit collecting an image for detecting a user's visage or face; a memory unit mapping the text recognized by the voice recognition unit and a setting function and storing the mapped information; and a control unit determining whether to perform a voice recognition service on the basis of at least one information of image information collected by the capturing unit and voice information collected by the voice input unit.

First claim

The invention claimed is:

1. A smart home appliance comprising:
a voice input unit collecting a voice of a user, the voice input unit comprising a microphone;
a voice recognition unit recognizing a text corresponding to the voice collected through the voice input unit;
a capturing unit collecting an image for detecting a visage of the user, the capturing unit comprising a camera;
a memory unit mapping the text recognized by the voice recognition unit and a setting function and storing the mapped information, and storing a keyword information that the user may input to start a voice recognition service;
a control unit determining whether to perform a voice recognition service on the basis of at least one information of image information collected by the capturing unit and voice information collected by the voice input unit;
a filter unit removing a noise sound from the voice inputted through the voice input unit; and
a memory unit mapping voice information related to an operation of the smart home appliance and voice information unrelated to an operation of the smart home appliance in the voice inputted through the voice input unit and storing the mapped information;
wherein the control unit comprises a face detection unit recognizing that the user is in a staring state for voice input when image information on the user's visage is collected for more than a setting time through the capturing unit, and
wherein the control unit determines that a voice recognition service standby state is entered when it is recognized that there is keyword information in the user's voice collected through the voice input unit and the user is in the staring state through the face detection unit.

2. The smart home appliance according to claim 1 , further comprising:
a region recognition unit determining a region of the user from among a plurality of regions of the user on the basis of information on the user's voice collected through the voice input unit; and
an output unit outputting region customized information on the basis of information on the region determined by the region recognition unit and information on the setting function.

3. The smart home appliance according to claim 2 , wherein the setting function comprises a plurality of functions divided according to the plurality of regions; and
the region customized information including one function matching the region information determined by the region recognition unit from among the plurality of functions is outputted through the output unit.

4. The smart home appliance according to claim 2 , wherein the output unit outputs the region customized information by using a dialect in the region determined by the region recognition unit.

5. The smart home appliance according to claim 2 , wherein the output unit outputs a key word for security setting and the voice input unit sets a reply word corresponding to the key word.

6. The smart home appliance according to claim 1 , further comprising an emotion recognition unit and an output unit, wherein
the voice recognition unit recognizes a text corresponding to first voice information in the user's voice collected through the voice input unit;
the emotion recognition unit extracts an emotion of the user on the basis of second voice information in the user's voice collected through the voice input unit; and
the output unit outputs user customized information on information on the user's emotion determined by the emotion recognition unit and information on the setting function.

7. The smart home appliance according to claim 6 , wherein the first voice information comprises a language element in the user's voice collected through the voice input unit; and
the second voice information comprises a non-language element related to the user's emotion.

8. The smart home appliance according to claim 6 , wherein
the emotion recognition unit comprises a database where information on voice characteristics of the user and information on an emotion state are mapped; and
the information on the user's voice characteristics comprises information on a speech spectrum having characteristics for the user's emotion.

9. The smart home appliance according to claim 6 , wherein the setting function comprises a plurality of functions to be recommended or selected; and
the user customized information including one function matching the emotion information determined by the emotion recognition unit from among the plurality of functions is outputted through the output unit.

10. The smart home appliance according to claim 1 , further comprising:
a position information recognition unit recognizing position information; and
an output unit outputting information on the setting function on the basis of position information recognized by the position information recognition unit.

11. The smart home appliance according to claim 10 , wherein the position information recognition unit comprises:
a GPS reception unit receiving a position coordinate from a position information transmission unit; and
a first communication module communicably connected to a second communication module equipped in a server.

12. The smart home appliance according to claim 10 , wherein the output unit comprises a voice output unit outputting the information on the setting function as a voice, by using the position information or a dialect.

13. The smart home appliance according to claim 10 , wherein the output unit outputs information optimized for a region recognized by the position information recognition unit among a plurality of information on the setting function.

14. The smart home appliance according to claim 10 , wherein the position information recognized by the position information recognition unit comprises weather information.

15. An operating method of the smart home appliance according to claim 1 , the method comprising:
collecting the user's voice through the voice input unit;
recognizing whether keyword information is included in the collected voice;
collecting image information on the user's visage through the capturing unit; and
entering the standby state of the voice recognition service on the basis of the image information on the user's visage.

16. The operating method according to claim 15 , further comprising performing a security setting,
wherein the performing of the security setting comprises:
outputting a predetermined key word; and
inputting a reply word in response to the outputted key word.

17. The method according to claim 15 , further comprising:
extracting an emotion state of the user on the basis of information on the user's voice collected through the voice input unit; and
recommending an operation mode on the basis of information on the user's emotion state.

18. The method according to claim 15 , further comprising:
recognizing an installation position of the smart home appliance through a position information recognition unit; and
driving the smart home appliance on the basis of information on the installation position.

19. The method according to claim 18 , wherein the recognizing of the installation position of the smart home appliance comprises receiving GPS coordinate information from a GPS satellite or a communication base station.

20. The method according to claim 18 , wherein the recognizing of the installation position of the smart home appliance comprises checking a communication address as a first communication module equipped in the smart home appliance is connected to a second communication module equi

Assignees

• Lg Electronics Inc

Inventors

• Lee Juwan
• Kim Lagyoung
• Shin Taedong
• Seo Daegeun

Classifications

• G10L15/24

  Speech recognition using non-acoustical features · CPC title

• G10L15/08

  Speech classification or search · CPC title

• G06F3/167

  Audio in a user interface, e.g. using voice commands for navigating, audio feedback · CPC title

• G10L2015/227

  of the speaker; Human-factor methodology · CPC title

• H04L12/2803

  Home automation networks · CPC title