Voice control of appliances

• US 10,325,596 B1
• Filed: 05/25/2018
• Issued: 06/18/2019
• Est. Priority Date: 05/25/2018
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Bao Tran
• Original Assignee: Bao Tran
• Inventors: Tran, Bao, Tran, Ha
• Primary Examiner(s): He, Jialong
• Application Number:
  US15/989,550
• Time in Patent Office: 389 Days
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 21/32 using biometric data, e.g. fingerprints, iris scans or voiceprints
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 2221/2113 Multi-level security, e.g. mandatory access control
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 3/167 Audio in a user interface, e.g. using voice commands for navigating, audio feedback
• CPC Class Codes: G10L 15/1822 Parsing for meaning understanding
• CPC Class Codes: G10L 15/22 Procedures used during a speech recognition process, e.g. man-machine dialogue
• CPC Class Codes: G10L 15/30 Distributed recognition, e.g. in client-server systems, for mobile phones or network applications
• CPC Class Codes: G10L 2015/223 Execution procedure of a spoken command
• CPC Class Codes: G10L 2021/02082 the noise being echo, reverberation of the speech
• CPC Class Codes: G10L 21/0232 Processing in the frequency domain
• CPC Class Codes: G10L 25/84 for discriminating voice from noise
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 12/2809 indicating that an appliance service is present in a home automation network monitoring functionality H04L43/0817; discovery or management thereof, e.g. service location protocol [SLP] or web services, H04L67/51
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 12/283 Processing of data at an internetworking point of a home automation network
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 2012/285 Generic home appliances, e.g. refrigerators
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 63/0442 wherein the sending and receiving network entities apply asymmetric encryption, i.e. different keys for encryption and decryption cryptographic mechanisms or cryptographic arrangements for public-key encryption H04L9/30
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 63/105 Multiple levels of security
• CPC Class Codes: H04R 1/24 Structural combinations of separate transducers or of two parts of the same transducer and responsive respectively to two or more frequency ranges
• CPC Class Codes: H04R 2227/005 Audio distribution systems for home, i.e. multi-room use
• CPC Class Codes: H04S 7/305 Electronic adaptation of stereophonic audio signals to reverberation of the listening space H04S7/301 takes precedence
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 12/06 Authentication

Abstract

A device includes at least one microphone to receive audio; a processor to process a signal representation of the audio to recognize speech and reduce acoustic echoes detected in the signal representation; at least one speaker mounted in the housing and oriented to output sound away from the microphone; a gateway coupled to the processor to communicate with home appliances, the gateway communicating with a plurality of home area network (HAN) protocols including Zigbee (IEEE 802.15.4), Bluetooth (IEEE 802.15.1) and Z-Wave, the gateway translating HAN data from one protocol to another and providing interoperability among appliances; and one or more home appliances having a security level requiring additional check prior to granting access by requiring video, speaker voice, or mobile device authentication.

Claims

1. A device comprising:

a housing;

at least one microphone to receive audio;

a processor to process a signal representation of the audio, wherein the processor is configured to (a) recognize speech in the signal representation of the audio, (b) reduce acoustic echoes detected in the signal representation, (c) execute a first security level authentication, (d) if encountering a secured request, execute a second security level authentication by checking voice signature of a user or authenticating the user by turning on a camera, and (e) if the second security level authentication is unsuccessful, increase a counter to specify a period to wait before allowing another authentication;

at least one speaker mounted in the housing and oriented to output sound away from the microphone;

a gateway coupled to the processor to communicate with home appliances, the gateway communicating with a plurality of home area network (HAN) protocols, the gateway translating HAN data from one protocol to another and providing interoperability among appliances, wherein the processor is adapted to communicate using the gateway with an appliance having the second security level authentication requiring additional check prior to granting full control of the appliance by using voice commands.

2. The device of claim 1, further comprising a smart phone to provide an additional authentication or confirmation before granting full control of the appliance by using the voice commands.

3. The device of claim 1, comprising a mobile device with a public user key in an encrypted communication with the processor, wherein the processor authenticates the user based on a private user key.

4. The device of claim 1, wherein the device communicates with a remote server to analyze user dependent voice commands.

5. A method comprising:

receiving audio, via one or more microphones, in a device having the one or more microphones positioned at a top end;

processing a signal representation of the audio, via a processor, to (1) recognize speech in the signal representation of the audio, (2) cancel acoustic echoes detected in the signal representation of the audio, (3) execute a first security level authentication, and (4) if encountering a secured request, execute a second security level authentication by checking voice signature of a user or authenticating the user by turning on a camera, and (5) if the second security level authentication is unsuccessful, increase a counter to specify a period to wait before allowing another authentication;

translating HAN data from one protocol to another by a gateway and providing interoperability among appliances, wherein the processor is adapted to communicate using the gateway with an appliance having the second security level authentication requiring additional check prior to granting full control of the appliance by using voice commands; and

outputting sound via one or more speakers arranged in a base end of the device, wherein the sound is output from the one or more speakers in a downward direction toward the base end directionally opposite to the one or more microphones at the top end.

6. The method of claim 5, wherein recognizing the speech comprises processing the signal representation to parse the speech.

7. The method of claim 5, further comprising processing the signal representation to reduce double talk detected in the signal representation, in conjunction with cancelling the acoustic echoes detected in the signal representation.

8. The method of claim 5, wherein processing the signal representation comprises substantially cancelling acoustic echoes detected in the signal representation, and then parsing the speech in the signal representation.

9. A device comprising:

a housing having a base to support the housing on a surface and a distal end;

at least one microphone mounted at the distal end of the housing to receive audio;

a processor mounted within the housing to process a signal representation of the audio to (a) recognize speech in the signal representation of the audio, (b) substantially cancel acoustic echoes detected in the signal representation of the audio, (c) execute first security level authentication, (d) if encountering a secured request, execute a second security level authentication by checking voice signature of a user or authenticating the user by turning on a camera, and (e) if the second security level authentication is unsuccessful, increase a counter to specify a period to wait before allowing another authentication;

a gateway coupled to the processor to communicate with home appliances, the gateway communicating with a plurality of home area network (HAN) protocols the gateway translating HAN data from one protocol to another and providing interoperability among appliances, wherein the processor is adapted to communicate using the gateway with an appliance having the second security level authentication requiring additional check prior to granting full control of the appliance by using voice commands; and

at least one speaker arranged inside the housing and oriented to output sound in a direction away from the at least one microphone.

10. The device of claim 9, further comprising a smart phone to provide an additional authentication or confirmation before granting full control of the appliance by using voice commands.

11. The device of claim 9, wherein the gateway communicating with a plurality of home area network (HAN) protocols including Zigbee (IEEE 802.15.4), Bluetooth (IEEE 802.15.1) and WiFi, the gateway translating Zigbee, Bluetooth and WiFi data from one protocol to another.

12. The device of claim 9, wherein the at least one speaker and the at least one microphone are coaxially aligned.

13. The device of claim 9, further comprising a sound distribution cone arranged inside of the housing to distribute the sound emitted from the at least one speaker.

14. The device of claim 13, wherein the at least one speaker and the sound distribution cone are coaxially aligned.

15. The device of claim 13, wherein the sound distribution cone directs the sound at least partially in a radial outward direction.

16. The device of claim 13, wherein the sound distribution cone directs the sound outward from the housing proximal to the base.