Through a recently known report from the US patent records, it was revealed that Manzana has been working around Siri and the possibility of implementing a feature for it that would allow it to identify patterns in the voice of users.
By providing this ability to the system behind Siri, the virtual assistant of Apple products can adapt to the context under which an order is issued, responding aloud or whispering, following the tone of the message received.
A response tailored to each context: Siri’s goal
Ten years after the beginning of Siri’s history, the initiative behind this investigation is based on the disadvantageous position that Apple is currently under, with respect to the capabilities of its assistant compared to those of the competition.
As a result of this inquiry, Apple I applied for a patent (whose request was made public on April 1) that accounts for the advances that Apple intends to achieve with Siri, to be able to effectively detect certain variations in sounds within the environment that surrounds it.
Proof of Apple’s backwardness in this matter is the existence of a similar patent, registered by Microsoft in 2019 and the capabilities of other competing assistants such as Alexa, which thanks to its AI already has this ability to distinguish different sound nuances.
With this eventual implementation, Siri could respect the emphasis with which it is spoken, avoiding the discomfort that in certain contexts generates receiving a response aloud. For example, a common case may be forgetting to set an alarm clock. Probably, when speaking to Siri late at night, the command will be issued in a low voice. Adapting to this situation, a whispered response from the assistant could make the experience much more enjoyable.
This adaptability of Siri would not be determined solely based on the sound intake, since other factors such as the location of the device, its distance from the user and the time of day, would also be considered within the formula.
Siri is still unable to recognize the inflection, pitch, and volume of voice commands issued by its users. With this eventual new function, along with providing a practical utility, Siri incidentally takes advantage of regaining some competitiveness in an area that has been neglected for years in his case.
The patent in question lists 156 technical aspects of this system in its application text, which is presented based on a microphone, a processor and memory storage instructions for the system behind this technology, elements common to all devices in which Apple integrates its assistant.
