Spoken Item Selection With Visual Guidance to Cut Response Latency
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Solution Overview
Problem
Existing computer-based approaches for selecting a subset of items, such as vehicle features or menu items, suffer from high latency due to the need for thorough review of options and sequential rendering of audible synthesized responses, which can be impractical for users with limited dexterity or in noisy environments.
Innovation Solution
A system that enables users to select items using only spoken input, with visual output guiding the selection process, omitting or minimizing audible synthesized output, and utilizing a semantic parser and display-dependent parser to quickly render and comprehend visual cues, allowing for non-spoken and non-touch selection.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Loss of information
If audible synthesized spoken responses are used to guide user selection, then users can receive verbal feedback and disambiguation, but latency increases due to sequential rendering time
Solution Approach 1:
The patent replaces the mechanical sequence of audio rendering with a parallel visual display system. Instead of waiting for synthesized speech to complete before showing options, the system displays visual representations of candidate items simultaneously while audio processing occurs, eliminating the sequential bottleneck and reducing latency.
Solution Approach 2:
The patent transitions from a single-dimensional audio feedback channel to a multi-dimensional interface combining visual displays with audio. By adding the visual dimension, the system provides feedback through multiple channels simultaneously, eliminating the need to wait for audio rendering to complete before presenting information.
2Ease of operation
If touchscreens and hierarchical navigation are used for item selection, then users can interact with detailed options, but latency increases due to thorough review requirements and navigation backtracking
Solution Approach 1:
The patent replaces manual touchscreen navigation with voice-based navigation commands. Users can navigate hierarchical menus and select items through spoken instructions rather than manually drilling through multiple screen levels, eliminating the time required for visual scanning and finger navigation while maintaining selection precision.
Solution Approach 2:
The system performs preliminary actions by predicting user intent from partial voice input and pre-loading or pre-highlighting likely candidate items before the user completes their selection. This reduces the navigation time by anticipating user needs and preparing the interface in advance.
3Adaptability or versatility
If turn-based audible dialogs are used for spoken input, then users can provide natural language input, but latency increases due to ambiguous input requiring disambiguation
Solution Approach 1:
The patent implements immediate visual feedback that displays all candidate items matching the user's spoken input simultaneously. When ambiguity is detected, the system presents visual representations of multiple candidate items with their distinguishing features, allowing users to quickly disambiguate by visual inspection rather than waiting for sequential audio descriptions.
Solution Approach 2:
The patent adds a visual dimension to the turn-based dialog system. Instead of relying solely on sequential audio feedback for disambiguation, the system displays visual candidate items simultaneously on screen, allowing users to resolve ambiguity through visual comparison rather than temporal audio processing.
4Loss of information
If synthesized spoken output is rendered to confirm selections, then users receive verbal confirmation, but resource utilization increases and throughput decreases
Solution Approach 1:
The patent replaces resource-intensive synthesized speech rendering with efficient visual display for confirmation. Visual confirmation of selections is rendered instantly without requiring audio synthesis resources, significantly reducing computational overhead and increasing system throughput while maintaining confirmation clarity.
Data Source
AI summary
Mitigating latency in guiding a user, during an interaction between the user and a computing system, in selecting a subset of item(s), from a superset of candidate items, and causing performance of further action(s) based on the selected subset of item(s). In guiding a user in selecting the subset of items, various implementations enable the user to provide only spoken input(s) in selecting the subset of item(s), and provide visual output(s) that are responsive to the spoken input(s) and that guide the user in selecting the item(s). In some of those various implementations, there is not any (or there is only de minimis) audible spoken synthesized spoken output rendered by the computing system in guiding the user in selecting the subset of item(s).