5 ms·

To perform voice search you have to say "ok, google", so phone needs to listen and to send to server every phrase it hears in order to check whether you said "o

by jerry40 10y ago

To perform voice search you have to say "ok, google", so phone needs to listen and to send to server every phrase it hears in order to check whether you said "ok, google" or just ordered a beer in a pub. I'm just trying to theorise.

emmab 10y ago
I thought that was client side? Dunno
- jerry40 10y ago
  Possibly, but who knows
  - profmonocle 10y ago
    It's easy to tell otherwise. If the OK Google detection was server-side, there'd be a constant flow of data trickling from the device to some server (at least when the phone detected sound). No such flow is seen.
cbr 10y ago
Reasons to think it's client side: * Sending all microphone input to a remote server would be really bad for battery life and data usage. * It still works even in airplane mode. * On ChromeOS (which isn't Android, but may share the same code) their privacy whitepaper [1] says: If you opt-in to the feature, Chrome OS will listen for you to say "Ok Google" and then send the audio of the next thing you say, plus a few seconds before, to Google. Detection of the phrase "Ok Google" is performed locally on your computer, and the audio is only sent to Google after it detects "Ok Google"." [1] https://www.google.com/chrome/browser/privacy/whitepaper.html https://www.google.com/chrome/browser/privacy/whitepaper.htm...
- danieldk 10y ago
  Sending all microphone input to a remote server would be really bad for battery life and data usage. It still works even in airplane mode. I agree that they probably only send speech recorded after the activation words. However, I don't arguments think your arguments hold up. Speech data compresses exceptionally well and generally requires lower sampling rates and/or resolutions. So, it's feasible to compress the speech signal (possibly hardware-assisted), buffer it, and send it to the server at some regular interval or when the user wakes the phone.
  - organsnyder 10y ago
    Yes, it is possible for them to be sending all recorded sounds (even if the hotwords are not detected) to a remote server. However, as discussed above, there would be no legitimate reason for doing so—it is demonstrably true that the phone is able to recognize the hotwords even when a remote server is not reachable.
  - Symmetry 10y ago
    If you're only interested in spying, sure. If you want the phone to respond when a user says "ok, google" rather than a minute later it wouldn't work.
- jerry40 10y ago
  Reasonable, thanks. Question is if I said "ok ..." in a noisy environment or my accent is awful or I'm eating an apple, will android try to reqognize the phrase on server or not? If so, phrases similar to "ok, google" may be saved by google.
  - GrinningFool 10y ago
    Like just the other day, I was having a conversation with my friend Snu. I said, "Okay Snoogle, it's time to dispose of the bodies of that couple we killed downtown last night.
- edraferi 10y ago
  Also, keyword detection algorithms are different from general purpose speech transcription algorithms. The general pattern is to write a specialized model that's really good at robustly identifying the key phrase, run that continuously, then trigger recording and full transcription only when the key phrase is heard. Those keyword identification algorithms can be implemented at the hardware level. I believe this is done for specialized devices like Echo and Kinect, not sure how phones do it.
  - cbr 10y ago
    The 1st generation Moto X had a special minimal chip used just to detect you saying "Ok Google Now" (or a custom phrase) to turn the phone on when it was sleeping. But I think phones that only detect a start word when the screen is on probably don't have custom low-power hardware for it.
- ta223 10y ago
  > * Sending all microphone input to a remote server would be really bad for battery life and data usage. Not if you transcribe it first, and upload compressed text.
- ryanmaynard 10y ago
  It may specify it within their patent [1]; "Contextual advertising for video and audio media " . [1] https://www.google.com/patents/US9087331 https://www.google.com/patents/US9087331
deleted 10y ago
[deleted]
Symmetry 10y ago
Transmitting every piece of audio the phone receives would kill your battery in less than an hour. They absolutely need to do the "ok, google" detection on board and the reason for differential adoption between various phones seems to be that for always on with reasonable battery times they need to do it on a DSP rather than the application processor.

by jerry40 10y ago

emmab 10y ago

I thought that was client side? Dunno

jerry40 10y ago
Possibly, but who knows
- profmonocle 10y ago
  It's easy to tell otherwise. If the OK Google detection was server-side, there'd be a constant flow of data trickling from the device to some server (at least when the phone detected sound). No such flow is seen.

cbr 10y ago

Reasons to think it's client side: * Sending all microphone input to a remote server would be really bad for battery life and data usage. * It still works even in airplane mode. * On ChromeOS (which isn't Android, but may share the same code) their privacy whitepaper [1] says: If you opt-in to the feature, Chrome OS will listen for you to say "Ok Google" and then send the audio of the next thing you say, plus a few seconds before, to Google. Detection of the phrase "Ok Google" is performed locally on your computer, and the audio is only sent to Google after it detects "Ok Google"." [1] https://www.google.com/chrome/browser/privacy/whitepaper.html https://www.google.com/chrome/browser/privacy/whitepaper.htm...

danieldk 10y ago
Sending all microphone input to a remote server would be really bad for battery life and data usage. It still works even in airplane mode. I agree that they probably only send speech recorded after the activation words. However, I don't arguments think your arguments hold up. Speech data compresses exceptionally well and generally requires lower sampling rates and/or resolutions. So, it's feasible to compress the speech signal (possibly hardware-assisted), buffer it, and send it to the server at some regular interval or when the user wakes the phone.
- organsnyder 10y ago
  Yes, it is possible for them to be sending all recorded sounds (even if the hotwords are not detected) to a remote server. However, as discussed above, there would be no legitimate reason for doing so—it is demonstrably true that the phone is able to recognize the hotwords even when a remote server is not reachable.
- Symmetry 10y ago
  If you're only interested in spying, sure. If you want the phone to respond when a user says "ok, google" rather than a minute later it wouldn't work.
jerry40 10y ago
Reasonable, thanks. Question is if I said "ok ..." in a noisy environment or my accent is awful or I'm eating an apple, will android try to reqognize the phrase on server or not? If so, phrases similar to "ok, google" may be saved by google.
- GrinningFool 10y ago
  Like just the other day, I was having a conversation with my friend Snu. I said, "Okay Snoogle, it's time to dispose of the bodies of that couple we killed downtown last night.
edraferi 10y ago
Also, keyword detection algorithms are different from general purpose speech transcription algorithms. The general pattern is to write a specialized model that's really good at robustly identifying the key phrase, run that continuously, then trigger recording and full transcription only when the key phrase is heard. Those keyword identification algorithms can be implemented at the hardware level. I believe this is done for specialized devices like Echo and Kinect, not sure how phones do it.
- cbr 10y ago
  The 1st generation Moto X had a special minimal chip used just to detect you saying "Ok Google Now" (or a custom phrase) to turn the phone on when it was sleeping. But I think phones that only detect a start word when the screen is on probably don't have custom low-power hardware for it.
ta223 10y ago
> * Sending all microphone input to a remote server would be really bad for battery life and data usage. Not if you transcribe it first, and upload compressed text.
ryanmaynard 10y ago
It may specify it within their patent [1]; "Contextual advertising for video and audio media " . [1] https://www.google.com/patents/US9087331 https://www.google.com/patents/US9087331

deleted 10y ago

[deleted]

Symmetry 10y ago

Transmitting every piece of audio the phone receives would kill your battery in less than an hour. They absolutely need to do the "ok, google" detection on board and the reason for differential adoption between various phones seems to be that for always on with reasonable battery times they need to do it on a DSP rather than the application processor.