OREANDA-NEWS. October 13, 2011. Fujitsu Laboratories Limited today announced the development of speech interface technology that enables users to retrieve a variety of information by simply speaking into a smartphone, without having to look at the smartphone's display.

After listening to a synthesized speech read the latest news and other information, users can articulate the information that they would like to learn more about. The software will then read details about the topic and other related information (Figure 1). By taking advantage of this technology, users who are driving or working and need to keep their eyes and hands free can use various information services without having to look at or touch the smartphone's display.
Background

Currently, most smartphones and other mobile devices are operated by the user touching the handset while looking at its display. However, mobile devices are also employed in other situations—such as walking, driving, and working—where users must keep their eyes and hands focused on the task at hand. In such scenarios, users can benefit from speech recognition technology that understands human speech and speech synthesis technology where devices are able to read text aloud.

In recent years, by employing devices to remotely access datacenters, where an abundance of computing resources can be utilized, it has become possible to develop speech recognition and synthesis technologies that handle a larger lexicon than has previously been possible on stand-alone devices. This has led to high expectations for the delivery of new and innovative services.

Fujitsu Laboratories has developed industry-leading technologies that include, professional-level quality speech synthesis technology, as well as speech recognition technology that can eliminate background noise while picking up on only the user's voice. The company is currently aiming to enable new speech interfaces, including the development of datacenter-based speech recognition and synthesis technologies.