Apple patent hints at Siri recognising multi-user voices, giving personal replies

tech2 News StaffSep 10, 2018 16:42:58 IST

Apple introduced its "Hey Siri" feature with the iPhone 6, enabled through iOS 8, which allowed users to call out to Siri and ask it do something without even touching the phone. Siri then processed the words uttered by the user after "Hey Siri" as requests that were made to it.

But currently, Siri is not equipped to support multiple users i.e it still is not capable of differentiating between two or more voices of different users. So if someone wants to read your personal messages or information, maybe through Apple Homepod, they can simply activate Siri and ask it to read it out.

Apple HomePod.

But, a new patent for "user profiling for voice input processing," is said to have been granted to Apple by US Patent and Trademark Office.

According to the details in the patent, it says that the voice recognition could identify the user by the phrasing of their speech or the type of requests they make on the basis of a "pre-existing registered user profile." This recognition of the user is speculated to take place in ways such as biometric information, so this feature is more like a "voice print" which is unique to every user.

On 14 August, Apple also seems to have been granted with about 56 patents revolving around various aspects such as a new health wearable device and also a method that can help in transitioning to a vehicle network.

According to another report in AppleInsider, a large chunk of patent applications get submitted and a lot of them get granted, but the mere existence of a granted patent is not an assurance that the ideas discussed will see the light of day in upcoming products.

Also, the patent for voice recognition may come across as a bit confusing with regards to its focus. A report in 9to5 Mac states that whether Apple is aiming to enable Siri to respond appropriately to each user or merely not giving access to any other user is the question that remains to be answered.