Dai Nippon Printing Co., Ltd. (DNP) and Advanced Media Corporation, which has outstanding know-how in voice recognition technology, have developed Japan's first voice recognition system specifically designed for food products, which makes it easier to order food and other items via smartphone in response to the expanding use of online supermarkets.
[Background of development]
In recent years, with the diversification of consumer lifestyles and advances in network infrastructure, there has been a surge in demand for online supermarkets that deliver food and other items ordered online to homes, and the food products they handle are diverse, including fresh produce, processed foods, seasonings, and beverages. However, since the average number of items purchased per user is high at about 1*20, users must frequently navigate through screens and perform text searches to find and order the desired product from among a wide variety of products. This poses the issue that such ordering systems are difficult to use for people who are not familiar with operating smartphones.
To address this issue, DNP and Advanced Media have developed high-performance voice recognition technology. AmiVoice ® *2, we have developed Japan's first voice recognition search system dedicated to food, which allows users to easily search and order by voice input.
*1) Based on a survey by the Distribution Economics Research Institute (published in September 2012).
*Four) AmiVoice ® The speech recognition engine realizes "speaker-independent" functionality, recognizing the voices of unspecified users and displaying appropriate words, without the need for prior enrollment in the voice and words of a specific user.
[About the system]
The system is equipped with approximately 6 food-related words. In addition, the company that introduced the system has registered (created a voice dictionary) its own words for product names and food origins, improving the accuracy of voice recognition and enabling quick and easy ordering. DNP provides the system as a dedicated food ordering app for online supermarkets, which consumers install and use. After launching the app, consumers can say the name of the desired product by voice and place their order by touching the displayed product.
[Features of this system]
1. Use a food thesaurus
Using a thesaurus of food names, the system searches for and displays the appropriate food based on the voice of the order. For example, for "chicken," the system registers a variety of related and similar words such as "tori," "torinikku," "toritsumomo," and "torimunenikku."
2. Highly accurate discrimination of food names with similar pronunciation
Even food names that are easily misrecognized due to similar pronunciation, such as "cucumber and kiwi" or "shijimi and chijimi," can be distinguished with greater accuracy using our unique voice recognition technology.
3. You can register your own product name
Proper nouns such as the names and origins of unique products handled by companies that operate online supermarkets or food delivery services can be individually registered in the voice dictionary, and by associating them with product information, customization can be made to improve recognition accuracy during voice searches.
[Future Developments]
DNP will work with online supermarkets, food delivery companies and others to carry out demonstration experiments aimed at commercializing the system, utilising Advanced Media's voice recognition technology, with the aim of commencing service in fiscal year 2013.
Dai Nippon Printing Co., Ltd. Headquarters: Tokyo President: Yoshitoshi Kitajima Capital: 1,144 billion yen
Advanced Media Inc. Headquarters: Tokyo President: Kiyoyuki Suzuki Capital: 45 million yen
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[Contact from the press]
Dai Nippon Printing Co., Ltd.
Public Relations Office Shimada
TEL：03-5225-8225
E-Mail: Shimada-Y2@mail.dnp.co.jp
Advanced Media, Inc.
Business Management Department Public Relations Team
TEL：03-5958-1307
Email: press@advanced-media.co.jp
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