JPS6248855B2 - - Google Patents

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION (1) Technical Field of the Invention The present invention relates to a voice operator guidance control method for electronic equipment such as an office computer, an ECR (electronic cash register), and a FAX (facsimile machine).

(2) Background of the Invention Conventionally, in electronic devices such as office computers, devices have been put into practical use that output operator guidance by voice to give instructions for the next operation to inexperienced operators who are unaccustomed to key input operations. . Furthermore, for convenience, some systems repeatedly utter the same operator guidance until the next key operation or the like is performed. This type of device is convenient until you get used to its operation, but once you get used to it, it often becomes noisy and a nuisance. Also, vocalizes and stops the operator guidance voice.
Some devices are specially equipped with an ON/OFF switch, but it is cumbersome to turn the switch ON/OFF each time.

(3) Purpose of the present invention The present invention has been made against the background of the above-mentioned circumstances, and its purpose is to automatically automatically It is an object of the present invention to provide an operator guidance control method using voice in which operator guidance is not output.

(4) Outline of the present invention A clock means for measuring the time when operator guidance is generated; a stop means for forcibly stopping the operator guidance being uttered by a key-in signal of an arbitrary key provided in a key input device; The voice-based operator guidance control system is provided with a control means for prohibiting the next time the operator guidance is uttered when the time measured from the start of the utterance of the operator guidance until the stop time by the stop means is within a predetermined time.

(5) Embodiments of the present invention Hereinafter, embodiments in which the present invention is applied to a personal computer will be described with reference to the drawings. FIG. 1 is a system configuration diagram of the personal computer. The key input section 1 is provided with keys for inputting numbers, Japanese (Katakana, etc.), English (Alphabet, etc.), and various function keys. One of the function keys is a mode key for switching between the registration mode, which presets program keywords, etc. in memory to start the program by voice, and the start mode, which starts the program by voice, which will be described later. and its registration mode,
Each mode switching signal of the start mode is given to the voice recognition start control section 3. Further, key input data from each key is given to the computer section 4 and the voice guidance control section 5, respectively. Furthermore, if any key of the key input unit 1 is operated while operator guidance is being uttered by voice during execution of a predetermined program, the key operation signal will be used as a forced stop signal to forcibly stop the operator guidance being uttered. The signal is output and given to the voice guidance control section 5 and the voice synthesis section 7.

The speech recognition section 2 has a conventionally well-known configuration, converts speech input from a microphone (not shown) into corresponding digital recognition data, and supplies the data to the speech recognition start control section 3 . In addition, the speech recognition start control section 3 is addressed by the computer section 4, and in the above registration mode, the memory (correspondence table) is
The keyword of the program and its start address are written in by voice, while in the start mode, the keyword input by voice is searched from the above correspondence table, and its start number is given to the computer section 4. Start the program by starting the program by voice.

The computer section 4 is a so-called CPU (central processing unit), and controls all operations of this personal computer. Then, data indicating commands and characters to be uttered by the voice output command "VOICE", which is predefined for the purpose of uttering voices, is sent to the voice synthesis data storage unit 6, and the voice output of commands and characters is turned ON or OFF in this way. signal to cause
VOICE ON, signal VOICE OFF, guidance output when uttering operator guidance
No. (number) and each data and signal specified by guidance are output and given respectively. Further, the guidance designation signal is also given to the voice guidance control section 5.

When the voice guidance control unit 5 inputs No. (number) designation data indicative of operator guidance, for example, six items, from the voice synthesis data storage unit and inputs a guidance designation signal from the computer unit 4, the voice guidance control unit 5 starts vocalizing the operator guidance. The time from the start until it is stopped by the forced stop signal is measured, and if the measured time is within the set time, flag set/reset data for prohibiting the next generation of the operator guidance is stored in the voice synthesis data storage section. Send to 6. For this purpose, it has an internal timer that is started by the guidance designation signal and reset by the forced stop signal.

The voice synthesis data storage unit 6 outputs voice data for voice outputting the operator guidance, program list, and program statements in response to the data and signals having the above-mentioned contents, and the voice synthesis unit 7 give to The voice synthesis section 7 is a conventionally known device that synthesizes voice based on this voice data, and emits the synthesized voice from the speaker 8. Furthermore, when a forced stop signal is input, the speech synthesis operation is stopped.

Note that the CRT display device (not shown) is connected to the computer section 4.
attached to.

FIG. 2 shows a detailed circuit of the computer section 4. The arithmetic control unit 11 consists of an arithmetic circuit, an arithmetic register, an address counter, a ROM (read-on memory) storing a control program, etc., and is usually a RAM (random access memory) called main memory.
Address control and data read/write control for 12 are performed in accordance with key input data.
A plurality of types of programs are preset in the program memory 13, for example, in BASIC language, and the programs are written and read under the control of the arithmetic control section 11. Then, from the program memory 13, the start line number is sent to the arithmetic control section 11.
When the corresponding type of program is input and reading starts, the program data is sequentially input to the instruction decoder 14, each command is decoded, and the above-mentioned data and signal VOICE are input.
ON, signal VOICE OFF, guidance No. guidance designation are output respectively. The instruction decoder 14 also outputs address data of the program data to be read next, and provides it to the arithmetic control section 11.

FIG. 3 shows details of the speech synthesis data storage section 6. VOICE is a signal that turns ON or OFF the voice output of each statement of the program being input using the voice output command "VOICE".
ON and VOICE OFF signals are respectively input to the set input terminal S or reset input terminal R of the SR type flip-flop 23, and the set output signal Q thereof is inputted to the designation circuits 24, 25 and the selector 26 as a control signal. There is. In the designated circuit 24,
For example, codes indicating the commands "GOTO", "FOR", etc. used in a BASIC language program are input as data, and the designation circuit 25 is input with, for example, Japanese "vertical", "horizontal", " Takasa”
A code indicating each character such as is input as data. Then, the code input to the designation circuit 24 is applied as address data to the voice command data storage section 27, and the corresponding voice command data from the voice command data storage section 27, that is,
Data such as the commands "GOTO" and "FOR" are read out and output as audio data via the selector 26. Further, the code input to the designation circuit 25 is applied to the single note data storage section 28 as address data. This single sound data storage section 28 stores data for vocalizing the Japanese single sounds "a", "i", "u", etc., and the read single sound data is outputted as audio data via the selector 26.

On the other hand, the guidance designation signal is input to both the designation circuit 29 and the selector 26 as a control signal. Then, the guidance number data is input to the designation circuit 29. The guidance No. data inputted to this designation circuit 29 is applied to a flag memory 30 consisting of a 6-bit register and a voice guidance memory 31, respectively, and is also output as No. designation data and sent to the voice guidance control section 5. sent to.
The flag memory 30 is made up of registers each having a capacity of 6 bits, as described above, corresponding to the above-mentioned six items of operator guidance, and flags are set at positions corresponding to the operator guidance specified by the No. specification data. In addition to this, flags are also set by flag set/reset data generated by outputting a forced stop signal. Similarly, the voice guidance memory 31 and the flag memory 3
One piece of voice guidance data is stored in each area corresponding to 0, and each address is designated by the No. designation data and the flag of the corresponding bit of the flag memory 30, and the read voice guidance data is It is output as audio data via the selector 26. However, when a flag is set in the flag memory 30, it is set as OFF, and therefore the voice of the operator guidance is prohibited, and on the other hand, when no flag is set in the flag memory 30, it is set as ON, and therefore, the voice is prohibited. The prohibition of speaking guidance is lifted. That is, the flag in the flag memory 30 in this embodiment is an audio stop flag.

FIG. 4 shows details of the voice guidance control section 5. The timer 35 starts its timing operation when the guidance designation signal is input, and is reset when the forced stop signal is output. The time measurement data is then input to the comparator circuit 36. On the other hand, time data set in the buffer 37 by the key input operation of the key input section 1 is also input to the comparison circuit 36. Therefore, the comparison circuit 36 compares both data, and the matching signal is sent to the discrimination circuit 38.
give to A guidance designation signal, a No. designation signal, and a forced stop signal are also input to this discrimination circuit 38, and the timer clock data is input to the buffer 3.
When the forced stop signal is input before the set time data in 7 is reached and the match signal is output from the comparator circuit 36, a stop flag is set in the corresponding bit position in the flag memory 30 corresponding to the operator guidance. The determining circuit 38 has a function of outputting flag set/reset data to be set.

Next, the operation of the above embodiment will be explained. It is now assumed that a predetermined program has been written into the program memory 13 in the computer section 4 by key input from the key input section 1, for example, in BASIC language. It is also assumed that six predetermined items of audio guidance data associated with the execution of this program have been preset in the audio guidance data memory 31.
For example, if the operator considers that the operator guidance is not necessary if a forced stop is applied within 3 seconds after the voice operator guidance begins to be uttered, enter the time data "3 seconds" and enter the time data in the buffer 37. Set it.

When execution of the above program is started from the above state, the timer 35 is reset at the beginning, and the flag memory 30 is also reset. When it is time for one item of operator guidance to be uttered, the computer section 4 outputs the data of that guidance number and applies it to the designated circuit 29, and at the same time outputs the guidance designation signal to the designated circuit 29,
The signal is applied to the selector 26, timer 35, and discrimination circuit 38, respectively. As a result, first, both the designation circuit 29 and the selector are opened, and at the same time, the timer 35 starts timing operation. Further, No. designation data is outputted from the designation circuit 29 and given to the flag memory 30, voice guidance data memory 31, and discrimination circuit 38, respectively. Therefore, the voice guidance memory 31 is
The voice guidance data for the first item is addressed, but since the flag is not set at the corresponding bit position in the flag memory 30, the voice guidance data for the first item is read out and output from the selector 26. Speech synthesis unit 7 as audio data
supplied to Therefore, the first item of operator guidance begins to be emitted from the speaker 8. When the operator turns on any key of the key input section 1 within 3 seconds after hearing this, a forced stop signal is output and applied to the voice guidance control section 5 and the voice synthesis section 7. In response to this, the voice synthesis section 7 immediately stops speaking the operator guidance for one item, and the timer 35 is reset in the voice guidance control section 5. Therefore, the discrimination circuit 38
Now, 3 seconds from the start of voice guidance based on the guidance designation signal, No., and designation data for the first item being input, as well as the non-active (“0”) match signal and the active (“1”) forced stop signal. It is determined that the forced stop signal has been output within the time limit, and flag set/reset data for setting the stop flag in the first bit of the flag memory 30 is output. Therefore, even if the first item of operator guidance is uttered from next time onwards, the first bit of the stop flag in the flag memory 30 will have been set, so the voice guidance data for the first item from the voice guidance data memory 31 will be uttered. Reading is prohibited, ie, its utterance will not occur.

Next, the operation of voice output using the voice output command "VOICE" will be briefly explained. Then,
The voice output command "VOICE" is a command specially defined for outputting voice in this personal computer. For example, if you input VOICE "vertical" from the key input section 1, the computer section 4 outputs the signal VOICE ON.
is output, the flip-flop 23 in the speech synthesis data storage section 6 is set, and the designation circuits 24, 25 and the selector 26 are activated by the set output. Further, the computer section 4 outputs each data indicating the chords of the single notes "ta" and "te", and the designation circuit 24,
25. For this reason, the single note data storage unit 28
The single-tone data of "ta" and "te" are read out and sent to the speech synthesis section 7 via the selector 26. As a result, the sound "vertical" is emitted in response to the key input. Similarly, when VOICE PRINT "TAKASA" is input, the voice output "TAKASA" is obtained in the same manner as described above, and "TAKASA" is displayed on the CRT display device (not shown).

When VOICE ON is input, the data of the program to be input thereafter is applied to the designation circuits 24 and 25, and the corresponding voice command data is sent from the voice command data storage unit 27 for the commands in each statement. is read out and input to the selector 26,
For characters in a statement, corresponding character data is read from the single-note data storage section 28 and input to the selector 26, and one statement is outputted as a voice each time it is input. It is also displayed on a CRT display. On the other hand, when VOICE OFF is entered from the key, the computer section 4 outputs the signal VOICE OFF.
is output and the flip-flop 23 is reset. Therefore, the designation circuits 24, 25, selector 2
6 is closed, and audio output is prohibited for each input statement of the program described above.

Although the present invention was applied to a personal computer in the above embodiment, the present invention can also be applied to other computers such as office computers, and electronic devices to which a voice recognition device can be connected, such as ECR and FAX. . Also, the type and number of programs,
Similarly, the types and number of operator guidances are also arbitrary. Furthermore, it is not limited to BASIC languages.
Languages such as FORTRAN and assembler may also be used. . Further, the time data set in the buffer 37 in the above embodiment is arbitrary.

(6) Effects of the present invention As explained above, the present invention measures the time at which operator guidance occurs, and when the operator guidance is forcibly stopped by the stop means within the set time, it will be stopped next time. Since we have provided a voice-based operator guidance control method that prohibits the utterance of operator guidance, the same operator guidance will not be repeated and become noisy, making it easier for experienced operators to perform special operations. This is practical because the operator guidance will no longer be uttered automatically without having to do so. Furthermore, when there is operator guidance for a plurality of items, only the operator guidance that has been completely memorized will no longer be uttered, which is extremely effective.

[Brief explanation of the drawing]

FIG. 1 is a system configuration diagram of an embodiment in which the present invention is applied to a personal computer, FIG. 2 is a specific configuration diagram of the computer section 4, FIG. 3 is a specific configuration diagram of the speech synthesis data storage section 6, and FIG. The figure is a specific configuration diagram of the voice guidance control section 5. 1... Key input section, 2... Voice recognition section, 3...
Voice recognition start control section, 4... Computer section, 5...
...Voice guidance control unit, 6...Speech synthesis data storage unit, 7...Speech synthesis unit, 8...Speaker, 1
1... Arithmetic control unit, 13... Program memory,
23...Flip-flop, 27...Voice command data storage section, 28...Single note data storage section, 3
0...Flag memory, 31...Voice guidance data memory, 35...Timer, 37...Buffer, 38...Discrimination circuit.

Claims (1)

[Scope of Claims] 1. An electronic device that utters voice operator guidance, comprising: a timer for timing the utterance time of the operator guidance, a stop means for forcibly stopping the operator guidance that is being uttered, and the operator guidance. It is determined whether or not the time measured by the timing means from the start of the utterance to the time when it is stopped by the stop means is within a predetermined time, and if it is determined that it is within the predetermined time, the operator guidance from the next time is determined. 1. A voice-based operator guidance control method, comprising: a control means for prohibiting the utterance of the voice. 2. The voice operator guidance control system according to claim 1, wherein the stop means is any key provided on a key input device. 3. Claims 1 or 2, characterized in that a plurality of operator guidances uttered by voice are provided, and the timekeeping means, stop means, and control means operate individually for the plurality of operator guidances. Operator guidance control method described.