Voice router

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-9546005-B2
Application number	US-201514680676-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Apr 7, 2015
Priority date	Apr 7, 2015
Publication date	Jan 17, 2017
Grant date	Jan 17, 2017

Abstract

A voice router for a vehicle and a method for operating a voice router are provided. The voice router, for example, may include, but is not limited to, an interface configured to be coupled to a microphone and a plurality of subsystems of an aircraft, and a processor coupled to the interface, the processor configured to receive, from the microphone, voice command audio data, convert, using an avionic language model, the voice command audio data into voice command text data, determine, using a distribution model, whether a command corresponding to the voice command text data can be executed, transmitting, to at least one of the plurality of subsystems, instructions to execute the command when the voice router determines that the command can be executed, and providing, using the output system, feedback when the command is executed.

First claim

What is claimed is:

1. An aircraft, comprising:
a plurality of subsystems;
an interface device; and
a voice router communicatively coupled to the interface device and to at least one of the plurality of subsystems, the voice router configured to:
receive, from the interface device, voice command audio data;
convert, using an avionic language model, the voice command audio data into voice command text data;
determine, when one or more safety rules are associated with a command corresponding to the voice command text data, whether the command can be executed by determining which one or more of the plurality of sub systems controls data associated with the one or more safety rules;
transmit a request for data associated with the one or more safety rules to the one or more of the plurality of sub systems;
evaluate the one or more safety rules based upon data received from the one or more of the plurality of sub systems in response to the request; and
transmit, to at least one of the plurality of subsystems, instructions to execute the command when the voice router determines that the command can be executed safely based upon the evaluated one or more safety rules.

2. The aircraft of claim 1 , wherein the voice router determines from which of the at least one of the plurality of subsystems to request the data for evaluating the safety rule based upon a distribution model.

3. The aircraft of claim 2 , wherein the distribution model controls procedures for executing the command.

4. The aircraft of claim 1 , wherein when the voice router determines that the command cannot be executed, the voice router outputs audio feedback.

5. The aircraft of claim 1 , wherein the avionic language model defines vocabulary, grammar and command parameters for a plurality of voice commands.

6. The aircraft of claim 5 , wherein the converting the voice command audio data into voice command text data further comprises:
performing speech recognition upon the voice command audio data; and
determining the voice command text data based upon an output of the speech recognition and the vocabulary, grammar and command parameters for the plurality of voice commands.

7. A method for controlling an aircraft, comprising:
receiving, by a voice router, audio data;
determining, by the voice router, a command corresponding to the audio data based upon an avionic language model;
determining, by the voice router when one or more safety rules are associated with the command, whether the command can be executed by determining which one or more of a plurality of sub systems controls data associated with the one or more safety rules;
transmitting, by the voice router, a request for data associated with the one or more safety rules to the one or more of the plurality of sub systems;
evaluating, by the voice router, the one or more safety rules based upon data received from the one or more of the plurality of sub systems in response to the request; and
executing, when the voice router determines that the command can be executed safely based upon the evaluated one or more safety rules, the command.

8. The method of claim 7 , wherein the determining the command further comprises:
performing, by the voice router, speech recognition on the audio data to convert the audio data into text data; and
correlating, by the voice router, the text data to the command based upon grammar, vocabulary and command parameters of the text data to determine the command.

9. The method of claim 7 , wherein the transmitting further comprises:
determining, by the voice router, a format for instructing the at least one subsystem using the distribution model; and
transmitting, by the voice router, the request for data to the at least one subsystem of the aircraft according to the format.

10. The method of claim 7 , wherein the executing further comprises:
determining, determining, by the voice router, a format for instructing the at least one subsystem to execute the command using the distribution model; and
transmitting, by the voice router, the instruction to execute the command to the at least one subsystem of the aircraft.

11. A voice router, comprising:
an interface configured to be coupled to a microphone and a plurality of subsystems of an aircraft; and
a processor coupled to the interface, the processor configured to
receive, from the microphone, voice command audio data;
convert, using an avionic language model, the voice command audio data into voice command text data;
determine, when one or more safety rules are associated with a command corresponding to the voice command text data, whether the command can be executed by determining which one or more of the plurality of sub systems controls data associated with the one or more safety rules;
transmit a request for data associated with the one or more safety rules to the one or more of the plurality of sub systems;
evaluate the one or more safety rules based upon data received from the one or more of the plurality of sub systems in response to the request;
transmitting, to at least one of the plurality of subsystems, instructions to execute the command when the voice router determines that the command can be safely executed based upon the evaluated one or more safety rules; and
providing, using the output system, feedback when the command is executed.

12. The voice router of claim 11 , wherein the avionic language model defines vocabulary, grammar and command parameters for a plurality of voice commands.

13. The voice router of claim 12 , wherein the converting the voice command audio data into voice command text data further comprises:
performing speech recognition upon the voice command audio data; and
determining the voice command text data based upon an output of the speech recognition and the vocabulary, grammar and command parameters for the plurality of voice commands.

Assignees

• Honeywell Int Inc

Inventors

• Li Chao
• Chen Lucas

Classifications

• B64D47/00 Primary

  Equipment not otherwise provided for · CPC title

• G10L2015/223

  Execution procedure of a spoken command · CPC title

• G10L15/26

  Speech to text systems (G10L15/08 takes precedence) · CPC title

• G10L15/22

  Procedures used during a speech recognition process, e.g. man-machine dialogue · CPC title

• G08G5/26

  Transmission of traffic-related information between aircraft and ground stations · CPC title