Special Issue _____ Zero UI Automatic Interpreter Selected as International Standard
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Zero Language Barrier, Zero User Interface
Korea’s Automatic Interpretation Technology Sets International Standard
The “Zero UI” automatic interpretation technology developed by ETRI researchers was finally approved as the international standard at the Paris conference of the International Organization for Standardization. User interfaces enable interaction between machines and human beings. From a keyboard, mouse, monitor, and speaker used for personal computers, to the screen-touch function for smartphones, user interfaces allow device users to operate machines and let them work as users desire. Zero UI (user interface) now allows smart devices to make decisions based on situation awareness and recognize a user’s voice and gestures without requiring the user to directly touch the screen or a manipulate keyboard. With ETRI’s Zero UI automatic interpreter, users can leave their smartphones inside their pockets or purses and still use Bluetooth headsets for interpretation services.
Zero UI for Communication beyond Conversation
In recent years, automatic interpretation technology has increasingly been commercialized based on improved performance delivered by deep-learning technology. Before the recent progress, most automatic interpretation technologies required users to touch the smartphone screen before speaking, with the interpretation results provided on the screen or through the speaker. This was far from enabling free conversations due to slow speed and intermittent interruption, preventing the interpreter service from being widely employed. On the other hand, when Zero UI interpreter users put on a wearable headset and speak into the device, their voice is delivered to their smartphone for interpretation. As the interpreted voice is automatically transmitted into the other person’s headset via the person’s smartphone, communication proceeds just like a normal conversation. In particular, ETRI employed two-channel voice processing technology and barge-in technology, the core technologies that became the international standards. This allows the users to look at the face of the person they are talking with and have a natural conversation without looking at or manipulating their smartphones.
Promising Prospect for Automatic Interpreter Market
ETRI applied for international standard patents with regard to seven core technologies including Bluetooth-based technology to search for sentences to interpret. This includes the function of detecting words to interpret, automatically selecting the relevant language, and providing instant interpretation service when the user approaches a person and starts talking. This new technology is expected to have significant value at international events, such as the 2018 PyeongChang Winter Olympics. Another advantage is that this automatic interpreter would result in less malfunction and fewer errors and less difficulty using the service in noisy places because each speaker’s voice directly goes into his or her own microphone. Zero UI interpreter was developed as part of ETRI’s project to strengthen industrial competitiveness of automatic interpretation/translation to realize a country without language barriers and was sponsored by the National Research Council of Science & Technology. Adopted as the international standard, the technology has made the future market for automatic interpretation services more promising. This is also significant in that the new technology brings us a step closer to genuinely lowering the language barrier in the era of globalization. ETRI is planning to conduct additional research on users’ habits and technical issues to ensure adaptation to diverse changes.
