Peripheral-based selection of audio sources

• US 10,236,016 B1
• Filed: 06/16/2014
• Issued: 03/19/2019
• Est. Priority Date: 06/16/2014
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Amazon Technologies, Inc. (Amazon.com, Inc.)
• Original Assignee: Amazon Technologies, Inc. (Amazon.com, Inc.)
• Inventors: Li, Meng, Sjoberg, Robert Warren, Piercy, Aimee Therese, Burton, Robert Franklin
• Primary Examiner(s): Tzeng, Forrest F
• Application Number:
  US14/306,004
• Time in Patent Office: 1,737 Days
• Field of Search: 704275
• CPC Class Codes: G10L 15/26 Speech to text systems G10L15/08 takes precedence
• CPC Class Codes: G10L 2015/223 Execution procedure of a spoken command
• CPC Class Codes: G10L 21/00 Speech or voice signal processing techniques to produce another audible or non-audible signal, e.g. visual or tactile, in order to modify its quality or its intelligibility G10L19/00 takes precedence
• CPC Class Codes: H04R 1/00 Details of transducers, loudspeakers or microphones
• CPC Class Codes: H04R 2420/07 Applications of wireless loudspeakers or wireless microphones
• CPC Class Codes: H04R 3/00 Circuits for transducers , loudspeakers or microphones

Abstract

A speech interface device may be configured to act as a remote speaker peripheral for multiple audio sources such as media players and phones. Upon receiving a request from a user to connect to an audio device, the speech interface device determines which of the multiple audio devices are currently available, selects one of the audio devices based on information about or received from the user, establishes an audio connection with the selected one of the audio devices, and begins acting as a remote speaker or speakerphone for the selected audio device.

Claims

1. A system comprising:

one or more processors;

a microphone;

a speaker;

a wireless communications interface configured to establish communication pairings with a first communication device and a second communication device; and

computer-readable media storing computer-executable instructions that, when executed by the one or more processors, cause the one or more processors to perform actions comprising;

associating the first communication device with a first identity of a first user;

associating the second communication device with a second identity of a second user;

generating, by the microphone, a first audio signal based on sound in an environment of the microphone;

sending the first audio signal to a speech-recognition service;

receiving, from the speech-recognition service, data indicating that the first audio signal includes a voice command comprising a request for the wireless communications interface to communicate with a communication device;

determining that the first communication device and the second communication device are each within a range to the wireless communications interface for establishing a wireless connection;

determining that a voice associated with the voice command corresponds to the first identity; and

based at least in part on determining that the voice associated with the voice command corresponds to the first identity, establishing a wireless connection with the first communication device.

2. The system of claim 1, wherein determining that the voice associated with the voice command corresponds to the first identity comprises one or more of:

performing speaker recognition on the voice command;

or

performing speech recognition on the voice command.

3. The system of claim 1, the actions further comprising:

capturing near-end sound via the microphone;

generating a second audio signal representing the near-end sound;

sending the second audio signal to the first communication device;

receiving a third audio signal representing far-end sound from the first communication device; and

outputting the far-end sound represented in the third audio signal on the speaker.

4. The system of claim 1, the actions further comprising:

receiving a second audio signal from the first communication device, wherein the second audio signal represents music; and

playing the music on the speaker.

17. The system of claim 1, the actions further comprising:

determining that the wireless connection was disconnected due to the first communication device moving outside of the range;

establishing another wireless connection between the wireless communications interface and the second communication device;

determining that the first communication device moves back into the range;

responsive to the first communication device moving back into the range;

disconnecting the other wireless connection between the wireless communications interface and the second communication device; and

re-establishing the wireless connection between the wireless communications interface and the first communication device.

18. The system of claim 1, wherein the range comprises a maximum distance from the wireless communications interface to the first communication device over which a personal area networking protocol signal can be used to communicate.

5. A method, comprising:

receiving a first audio signal representing first sound captured by a microphone of a speech interface device;

sending the first audio signal to a speech-recognition service;

receiving, from the speech-recognition service, data indicating that the first audio signal represents a spoken request for the speech interface device to communicate with a computing device;

determining that a first computing device and a second computing device are each within a range to the speech interface device to establish a wireless connection with the speech interface device, wherein the first computing device is associated with a voice identity of a user;

determining that a voice associated with the spoken request corresponds to the voice identity of the user; and

based at least in part on the voice associated with the spoken request corresponding to the voice identity of the user, establishing a wireless connection between the speech interface device and the first computing device.

6. The method of claim 5, further comprising:

performing speech recognition on the first audio signal to identify a word or phrase included in the spoken request; and

determining that the word or phrase identifies the first computing device.

7. The method of claim 5, further comprising automatically re-establishing the wireless connection with the first computing device after a disconnection.

8. The method of claim 5, wherein the first computing device a phone, the method further comprising:

receiving an indication of an incoming call from the phone; and

outputting, via a speaker associated with the speech interface device, second sound indicating the incoming call, wherein the second sound identifies the phone.

9. The method of claim 5, further comprising closing another wireless connection before establishing the wireless connection.

10. The method of claim 5, further comprising:

establishing a first communication pairing between the speech interface device and the first computing device using a personal area networking protocol; and

establishing a second communication pairing between the speech interface device and the second computing device using the personal area networking protocol.

11. The method of claim 5, wherein establishing the wireless connection comprises one or more of:

establishing a personal area networking Hands-Free Profile (HFP) connection with the first computing device;

establishing a personal area networking Advanced Audio Distribution Profile (A2DP) connection with the first computing device;

or

establishing a personal area networking Audio Visual Remote Control Profile (AVRCP) connection with the first computing device.

16. The method of claim 5, wherein determining that the first computing device and the second computing device are each within the range to the speech interface device to establish a wireless connection comprises:

determining that the first computing device and the second computing device are each paired to the speech interface device;

sending a first request to communicate to the first computing device; and

sending a second request to communicate to the second computing device.

12. A system comprising:

one or more processors;

a speaker;

a microphone;

a wireless communications interface configured to communicate with a first audio device and a second audio device;

computer-readable media storing computer-executable instructions that, when executed by the one or more processors, cause the one or more processors to perform actions comprising;

generating, by the microphone, a first audio signal representing first sound captured by the microphone;

sending, to a speech-recognition service, the first audio signal representing the first sound captured by the microphone;

receiving, from the speech-recognition service, data indicating the first audio signal represents a spoken request for the wireless communications interface to communicate with an audio device;

determining that the first audio device and the second audio device are associated with a user;

determining that the first audio device and the second audio device are available to establish a wireless connection;

determining the first audio device is associated with a type of the communication represented by the spoken request; and

based at least in part on determining that the first audio device is associated with the type of the communication represented by the spoken request, establishing a wireless connection with the first audio device.

13. The system of claim 12, wherein the first audio device comprises a phone, the actions further comprising acting as a hands-free audio device for the phone using the microphone and the speaker.

14. The system of claim 12, wherein the first audio device comprises a phone, the actions further comprising:

receiving, from the phone, an indication of an incoming call at the phone; and

outputting, via the speaker, a second sound indicating the incoming call, wherein the second sound identifies the phone.

15. The system of claim 12, wherein establishing the wireless connection with the first audio device comprises one or more of:

establishing a personal area networking Hands-Free Profile (HFP) connection with the first audio device;

establishing a personal area networking Advanced Audio Distribution Profile (A2DP) connection with the first audio device;

or

establishing a personal area networking Audio Visual Remote Control Profile (AVRCP) connection with the first audio device.

19. The system of claim 12, wherein:

the type of the communication comprises a phone call; and

determining that the first audio device is associated with the type of the communication comprises determining that the first audio device is a phone.