TECHNICAL FIELD

This disclosure generally relates to the field of collecting statistics. More particularly, this disclosure relates to systems and methods for voice-based collection of statistical data.

BACKGROUND

Collecting statistical data concerning preferences of customers is widely used for many applications, such as advertisements, estimating quality of services and products, business development, and others. One of the important features in collecting the statistical data is determining relationships between preferences of a customer and a group to which the customer belongs. Typically, the customer is being asked to provide their personal data, such as age and gender, either by explicitly typing the personal data information into a questionnaire or authorizing a user device to provide the personal data to an application running on the user device. Another drawback of current methods for collecting statistical data is that the customer is required to type in or select an answer in the survey using the user device or a remote control to a media device. Both these shortcomings may prevent many of the customers from participating in surveys. Therefore, there is a need for a convenient and non-intrusive way to collect statistical data from customers.

SUMMARY

This section introduces a selection of concepts in a simplified form that are further described in the Detailed Description section, below. This summary does not identify key or essential features of the claimed subject matter and is not intended to be an aid in determining the scope of the claimed subject matter.

The present disclosure is directed to systems and methods for voice-based collection of statistical data. Some embodiments of the present disclosure may facilitate collecting answers from users while the users are watching a video or listening to an audio on a user device.

According to an example embodiment, a system for voice-based collection of statistical data is provided. The system may include a user device, an acoustic sensor configured to sense an ambient acoustic signal, and one or more processors communicatively coupled to the user device and the acoustic sensor. The one or more processors may be configured to determine that the user device has played a question prompting a user to answer the question. In an example embodiment, the question may include a prompt for the user to express an opinion concerning a product or a service associated with a provider. The question may further include a prompt for the user to characterize a feature of an item the user possesses. The item may include one of the following: a piece of furniture, a piece of appliances, a vehicle, and so forth. The feature of the item may include an age or any other characteristics of the item.

The one or more processors may be further configured to analyze, in response to the determination that the user device has played the question, the ambient acoustic signal to determine that the user has uttered an answer. The one or more processors may be configured to convert the ambient acoustic signal that includes the uttered answer into audio data. The one or more processors may be further configured to send, via the user device, the audio data to a remote computing system. The remote computing system may be configured to convert the audio data to text and at least one feature associated with the user. The remote computing system may be further configured to generate a record including the text and the at least one feature. The remote computing system may be configured to add the record to the statistical data.

In an example embodiment, the at least one feature associated with the user may be determined based on a background noise in the audio data. In a further example embodiment, the at least one feature may be determined based on a collection of background noise in the audio data received from the user device at different times. The at least one feature may include one of the following: a location of the user, a musical background, a presence of children, a presence of a pet, and so forth. In a further example embodiment, the at least one feature associated with the user may include one or more of the following: a gender of the user, an age of the user, an emotional state of the user, a medical condition of the user, a voice fingerprint of the user, and so forth. In some embodiments, the at least one feature may include a level of activity of the user, a type of activity the user performed, a level of mobility of the user, and the like.

According to another embodiment, a method for voice-based collection of statistical data is disclosed. The method may include sensing, by an acoustic sensor, an ambient acoustic signal. The method may further include determining, by one or more processors communicatively coupled to a user device and the acoustic sensor, that the user device has played a question prompting a user to answer the question. The method may continue with analyzing, by the one or more processors and in response to the determination that the user device has played the question, the ambient acoustic signal to determine that the user has uttered an answer. The method may further include converting, by the one or more processors, the ambient acoustic signal that includes the uttered answer into audio data. The method may proceed with sending, by the one or more processors and via the user device, the audio data to a remote computing system. The method may further include converting, by the remote computing system, the audio data to text and at least one feature associated with the user. The method may continue with generating, by the remote computing system, a record that includes the text and the at least one feature. The method may further include adding, by the remote computing system, the record to the statistical data.

According to yet another aspect of the disclosure, a non-transitory processor-readable medium, which stores processor-readable instructions, is provided. When the processor-readable instructions are executed by a processor, they cause the processor to implement the above-mentioned method for voice-based collection of statistical data.

Other example embodiments of the disclosure and aspects will become apparent from the following description taken in conjunction with the following drawings.

