1. A musical instrument tuning apparatus capable of slidingly adjusting a position of a first portion of a musical instrument relative to a second portion of said musical instrument to thereby change a length of an air passage of said musical instrument, the positioning apparatus comprising:
a tuning sleeve having a first sleeve end, a second sleeve end, a sleeve inner surface and a sleeve outer surface, the sleeve inner surface configured to fit over a first portion of a musical instrument, the sleeve outer surface having a first thread;
a tuning collar having a first collar end, a second collar end, a collar inner surface and a collar outer surface, the collar inner surface having a second thread configured to threadingly engage the first thread belonging to the sleeve outer surface, the first collar end configured to abut a second portion of said musical instrument; wherein:
when the tuning apparatus and second portion are mounted on the first portion of the musical instrument with the first collar end in abutment with the second portion, upon rotation of the tuning collar in a first direction, the tuning collar is configured to travel relative to the tuning sleeve and urge the second portion in a direction away from the tuning sleeve, to thereby change a pitch of the musical instrument.
2. The musical instrument tuning apparatus accordingly to claim 1, wherein:
the first portion of the musical instrument is a neck portion of the saxophone;
the second portion of the musical instrument is a mouthpiece of the saxophone; and
the tuning apparatus is configured to adjust a position of the mouthpiece relative to the next portion and thereby adjust a length of an air passage formed by the mouthpiece and neck portion.
3. The musical instrument tuning apparatus of claim 2, wherein the tuning collar further comprises a finger-actuated adjustment portion.
4. The musical instrument tuning apparatus of claim 2, wherein the tuning collar is independent of the mouthpiece so that rotating the tuning collar does not rotate the mouthpiece.
5. A saxophone tuning apparatus for a saxophone having a mouthpiece that is slidable relative to a neck portion thereof, comprising:
a tuning sleeve mountable on a neck portion of a saxophone; and
a tuning collar engageable to the tuning sleeve;
wherein manipulation of the tuning collar changes a position of the mouthpiece relative to the neck portion, thereby adjusting a length of an air passage to change a pitch of the saxophone, when the tuning sleeve is mounted on said neck portion and the tuning collar is operatively engaged to said tuning sleeve and to said mouthpiece.
6. The saxophone tuning apparatus of claim 5, wherein:
an outer surface of the tuning sleeve is provided with a first thread;
an inner surface of the tuning collar is provided with a second thread;
the tuning collar is configured to abut the mouthpiece; and
rotation of the tuning collar moves the mouthpiece and changes the pitch of the saxophone.
7. The saxophone tuning apparatus of 5, wherein the tuning collar further comprises a finger-actuated adjustment portion.
8. A musical instrument in combination with a musical instrument mouthpiece positioning apparatus, the musical instrument comprising a mouthpiece slidable relative to a mounting portion of the musical instrument, the musical instrument mouthpiece positioning apparatus comprising a tuning sleeve and a tuning collar, wherein:
the tuning sleeve is positioned on the mounting portion;
the tuning collar is engaged to the tuning sleeve;
the mouthpiece is in abutment with the tuning collar; and
manipulation of the tuning collar changes a position of the mouthpiece relative to the mounting portion and thereby adjusts a length of an air passage to change a pitch of the musical instrument.
9. The combination of claim 8, wherein the tuning collar further comprises a finger-actuated adjustment portion.
10. The combination of claim 8, wherein the tuning collar is independent of the mouthpiece so that rotating the tuning collar does not rotate the mouthpiece.
11. The combination of claim 8, wherein the tuning sleeve slidably engages the mounting portion.
12. The combination of claim 8, wherein:
the tuning sleeve comprises a smooth inner surface and a threaded outer surface; and
the tuning collar comprises a threaded inner surface.
13. The combination of claim 8, wherein, in an un-tuned position, the mouthpiece abuts the tuning collar.
14. The combination of claim 8, wherein in a tuned position the mouthpiece abuts the tuning collar.
15. The combination of claim 8, wherein the pitch of the instrument is changed by rotating the collar so that the collar moves along the mounting portion in the direction of the mouthpiece.
16. A method of tuning a musical instrument comprising a mouthpiece connectable to a mounting portion of the musical instrument, the method comprising:
mounting a tuning sleeve onto the mounting portion;
threadingly mounting a tuning collar onto the tuning sleeve;
positioning a mouthpiece in abutment with the tuning collar; and
manipulating the tuning collar to thereby change a position of the mouthpiece relative to the mounting portion to thereby adjust a length of an air passage and change a pitch of the musical instrument.
17. The method of claim 16, comprising:
rotating the tuning collar to thereby change a position of the mouthpiece relative to the mounting portion.
18. A method of tuning a musical instrument comprising a mouthpiece connectable to a mounting portion of the musical instrument, the mounting portion having an external thread associated therewith, the method comprising:
threadingly mounting a tuning collar onto the external thread;
positioning a mouthpiece in abutment with the tuning collar; and
manipulating the tuning collar to thereby change a position of the mouthpiece relative to the mounting portion to thereby adjust a length of an air passage and change a pitch of the musical instrument.
19. The method of claim 18, comprising:
rotating the tuning collar to thereby change a position of the mouthpiece relative to the mounting portion.
The claims below are in addition to those above.
All refrences to claim(s) which appear below refer to the numbering after this setence.
1. A method for handling expected repeat speech queries, the method causing a computing device to perform steps comprising:
detecting a misrecognized speech input from a user;
determining a tendency of the user to repeat speech inputs based on previous user interactions; and
adapting a speech recognition model based on the determined tendency before an expected repeat speech input.
2. The computer-implemented method of claim 1, the method further causing the computing device to recognize the expected repeat speech input from the user based on the adapted speech recognition model.
3. The computer-implemented method of claim 1, wherein adapting the speech recognition model further comprises modifying one of an acoustic model, a language model, and a semantic model.
4. The computer-implemented method of claim 1, wherein adapting the speech recognition model further comprises preparing a personalized search speech recognition model for the expected repeat speech input based on the user’s usage history and entries in a recognition lattice.
5. The computer-implemented method of claim 1, the method further causing the computing device to retain an unmodified speech recognition model in parallel with the adapted speech recognition model.
6. The computer-implemented method of claim 5, the method further causing the computing device to perform steps comprising:
recognizing the repeat input query with the unmodified speech recognition model and with the adapted speech recognition model;
determining a recognition certainty for the unmodified speech recognition model and the adapted speech recognition model; and
basing further interaction with the user on the determined recognition certainty.
7. The computer-implemented method of claim 1, the method further causing the computing device to perform steps comprising:
determining likely speech characteristics of the expected repeat speech input; and
tailoring the adapted speech recognition model to the likely speech characteristics of the expected repeat speech input.
8. The computer-implemented method of claim 1, the method further causing the computing device to record user behavior in a speech input history.
9. A system for handling expected repeat speech queries, the system comprising:
a processor;
a detection module configured to control the processor to detect via a processor a misrecognized input from a user;
a determination module configured to control the processor to determine a tendency of the user to repeat inputs based on previous user interactions; and
an adaptation module configured to control the processor to adapt an input recognition model based on the determined tendency before an expected repeat input query.
10. The system of claim 9, the system further comprising a recognition module configured to control the processor to recognize the expected repeat input from the user based on the adapted input recognition model.
11. The system of claim 9, wherein the adaptation module further controls the processor to modify one of an acoustic model, a language model, and a semantic model.
12. The system of claim 9, wherein adapting the input recognition model further comprises preparing a personalized search input recognition model for the expected repeat input query based on the user’s usage history and entries in a recognition lattice.
13. The system of claim 9, the system further comprising a retention module configured to control the processor to retain an unmodified input recognition model in parallel with the adapted input recognition model.
14. The system of claim 13, the system further comprising:
a recognition module configured to control the processor to recognize the repeat input query with the unmodified input recognition model and with the adapted input recognition model;
a second determination module configured to control the processor to determine a recognition certainty for the unmodified input recognition model and the adapted input recognition model and base further interaction with the user on the determined recognition certainty.
15. A computer-readable storage medium storing a computer program having instructions for controlling a computing device to handle expected repeat speech queries, the instructions comprising:
detecting misrecognized speech from a user to a spoken dialog system;
determining a tendency of the user to repeat input speech based on previous user interactions; and
adapting a speech recognition model based on the determined tendency before an expected repeat input speech.
16. The computer-readable storage medium of claim 15, the instructions further comprising retaining an unmodified speech recognition model in parallel with the adapted speech recognition model.
17. The computer-readable storage medium of claim 16, the instructions further comprising:
recognizing the repeat input speech with the unmodified speech recognition model and with the adapted speech recognition model;
determining a recognition certainty for the unmodified speech recognition model and the adapted speech recognition model; and
basing further interaction with the user on the determined recognition certainty.
18. The computer-readable storage medium of claim 15, the instructions further comprising:
determining likely speech characteristics of the expected repeat input speech; and
tailoring the adapted speech recognition model to the likely speech characteristics of the expected repeat input speech.
19. The computer-readable storage medium of claim 15, wherein determining the tendency of the user to repeat speech queries further comprises:
retrieving an input speech history associated with the user; and
calculating a repeat query likelihood based on similarity of the misrecognized input speech to one or more entries in the retrieved input speech history.
20. The computer-readable storage medium of claim 15, the instructions further comprising recording user behavior in an input speech history.