Sometimes it feels like we ’re inching nigher to a time to come like the movie Her , where humans spend their time wandering around , constantly visit to their own personal AI assistants . Today , service like Siri , Alexa , and Google Assistant are getting better at responding to some types of requests , but because they can misconceive questions and are n’t cognizant of their surroundings , they ’re often extremely clumsy to use in public spaces around other people . But a patent filed by Apple and made public today suggests Siri may someday find when you ’re whispering at it , and in turn know when to whisper back .
Apple has attempt to patent “ a digital assistant that is capable of detecting a whispered speech comment and render a whispered speech answer . ” In the document , Apple provide a few scenario when a whisper helper might come in handy , like “ while study in a library where speaking loud may be prohibited ” or “ while working at a cubicle with other co - workers surround the user . ” The diligence also cites “ protecting the user ’s privacy ” as a ground why Siri might need to better detect and understand a whisper substance abuser , and why it ’d be necessary for Siri to quietly whisper back .
observe that Apple itself is using the term “ whisper . ”
The filing trace how a gadget , like an iPhone or an Apple Watch , might discover the difference of opinion between a whisper and regular speech . It would influence whether the speaker was whisper by doing thing like measuring an input ’s amplitude and frequency patterns . It also describes how an helper like Siri might adjust its own tone based on the exploiter ’s tone , so it could really whisper back — not just adjust its volume . We ’re basically talking about an assistant that would respond more like a normal man does . If someone quiet asks you , “ where ’s the comfort station ? ” You do n’t shout back , “ HELLO , I FOUND TWO comfort station NEARBY ! ”
Just because Apple has filed a patent for this engineering science does n’t guarantee it ’ll wrap up inside Siri soon , or ever . Apple , like all tech companies , regularly lodge patent of invention to protect approximation that sometimes never make it into consumer production . In 2009 , Apple patented a“sponge - like ” iPhone dock . In 2012 , Apple got a patent for5D technology(there are only four known dimension ) .
Patent filing , however , do designate some level of interest group in a given engineering , as well as a desire to protect it . It ’s one of the few ways close companies like Apple disclose unreleased concepts to the world . And despite this filing , it ’s potential other companies , like Amazon or Google , could unloose similar assistants with their own whisper - detection methods .
ask if this form of technology could possibly be released any time before long , Alex Rudnicky , a prof at Carnegie Mellon University ’s Language Technologies Institute , told Gizmodo that it “ could come out any metre because the component technologies are middling straightforward , ” Rudnicky said . “ The ways that they ’re doing this is kind of textbook speech processing , ” but “ forge up an algorithm to decide when to go into whisper mode ” would be more complicated . “ I ca n’t really say why nobody ’s come up with this solvent . But once you discover it , it sounds really reasonable . Why not ? ”
you may catch the full document below .
Apple
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