Materials Handling Speech Interface for Unobtrusive Inventory Actions
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Solution Overview
Problem
Existing inventory management systems in facilities lack efficient and unobtrusive methods to provide users with relevant information and perform actions based on verbal interactions, often requiring explicit user queries.
Innovation Solution
Implementing a speech interaction system that processes natural language speech, utilizes user context data, and integrates with an inventory management system to perform actions such as information retrieval and inventory movement without explicit user requests.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Loss of information
If a traditional inventory management system is used, then the system structure is simple, but the system cannot efficiently provide users with relevant information based on verbal interactions
Solution Approach 1:
The patent introduces a speech interaction system as an intermediary between users and the inventory management system. This intermediary captures user speech, processes it through natural language understanding, and translates it into system actions, thereby efficiently providing information without requiring users to interact directly with complex system interfaces.
Solution Approach 2:
The patent replaces traditional mechanical interaction methods (such as manual querying, button pressing, or explicit commands) with speech-based acoustic interaction. This substitution allows users to communicate naturally through verbal commands, significantly improving information access efficiency while the system handles the complexity of interpretation and action execution.
2Productivity
If explicit user queries are required, then the system operation is straightforward, but the user experience is less efficient and more cumbersome
Solution Approach 1:
The speech interaction system enables the system to proactively understand and respond to user needs without requiring explicit, structured queries. The system automatically processes natural speech, interprets intent, and executes appropriate actions, making the interaction process more convenient while maintaining high operational efficiency through automated speech-to-action conversion.
3Reliability
If the system responds to all user speech, then the user experience is highly responsive, but the system may misinterpret speech not directed to it
Solution Approach 1:
The patent applies local quality by differentiating the system's responsiveness to speech based on context. The speech interaction system uses user context data and environmental cues to determine whether speech is directed to the system or is incidental conversation. This selective responsiveness ensures accurate interpretation of intended commands while maintaining versatility in handling various interaction scenarios.
4Loss of information
If the system uses user context data, then the information provided is more relevant, but the data processing complexity increases
Solution Approach 1:
The system performs preliminary actions by pre-processing and storing user context data (such as user profiles, current tasks, location, and preferences) before speech interaction occurs. This pre-organized context information is then quickly retrieved and integrated with speech input, providing highly relevant responses without requiring complex real-time processing during the actual interaction.
Data Source
AI summary
Described are systems and techniques configured to acquire data from user speech generated by one user of a materials handling facility speaking to themselves or another user. The user speech is processed using natural language processing to determine key words, concepts, meanings, and so forth. Based on the processed data, queries may be executed, data may be presented in user interfaces, operation of the materials handling facility may be modified, and so forth.