Voice control of playback device using voice assistant service(s)

• US 10,354,658 B2
• Filed: 10/29/2018
• Issued: 07/16/2019
• Est. Priority Date: 08/05/2016
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Sonos, Inc.
• Original Assignee: Sonos, Inc.
• Inventors: Wilberding, Dayn
• Primary Examiner(s): Leland, III, Edwin S
• Application Number:
  US16/173,797
• Publication Number:
  US 20190074014A1
• Time in Patent Office: 260 Days
• Field of Search: 704275
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 3/167 Audio in a user interface, e.g. using voice commands for navigating, audio feedback
• CPC Class Codes: G10L 15/22 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 17/02 Preprocessing operations, e.g. segment selection; Pattern representation or modelling, e.g. based on linear discriminant analysis [LDA] or principal components; Feature selection or extraction
• CPC Class Codes: G10L 17/22 Interactive procedures; Man-machine interfaces
• CPC Class Codes: G10L 2015/088 Word spotting
• CPC Class Codes: G10L 2015/223 Execution procedure of a spoken command
• CPC Class Codes: H05B 47/165 following a pre-assigned programmed sequence; Logic control [LC]

Abstract

Disclosed herein are example techniques to identify a voice service to process a voice input. An example implementation may involve a playback device capturing, via a microphone array, audio into one or more buffers. The playback device analyzes analyzing the captured audio using multiple wake-word detection algorithms. When a particular wake-word detection algorithm detects a wake-word corresponding to a particular voice assistant service, the playback device transmits the captured audio to the particular voice assistant service. The captured audio includes a voice input that includes a command to modify at least one playback setting of a media playback system. After transmitting the captured audio, the playback device receives, from the particular voice assistant service, instructions to modify the at least one playback setting according to the command, modifies the at least one playback setting, and with the at least one playback setting modified, plays back at least one audio track.

Claims

1. A playback device comprising:

one or more amplifiers configured to drive one or more speakers;

a microphone array;

a network interface;

one or more processors;

tangible, non-transitory computer-readable media having stored therein instructions executable by the one or more processors to cause the playback device to perform a method comprising;

continuously capturing, via the microphone array, audio into one or more buffers;

analyzing the captured audio using multiple wake-word detection algorithms running concurrently on the one or more processors, each wake-word detection algorithm corresponding to a respective voice assistant service among multiple voice assistant services supported by the playback device;

when a particular wake-word detection algorithm of the multiple wake-word detection algorithms detects, in the captured audio, a wake-word corresponding to a particular voice assistant service, transmitting, via the network interface, the captured audio to the particular voice assistant service, wherein the captured audio comprises a voice input, wherein the voice input comprises a command to modify at least one playback setting of a media playback system, and wherein the media playback system comprises the playback device;

after transmitting the captured audio, receiving, from one or more servers of the particular voice assistant service via the network interface, instructions to modify the at least one playback setting according to the command;

modifying the at least one playback setting based on the instructions; and

with the at least one playback setting modified, playing back at least one audio track via the one or more amplifiers configured to drive the one or more speakers.

2. The playback device of claim 1, wherein the method further comprises:

transmitting, via the network interface, a search query, to the particular voice assistant service; and

receiving, from one or more servers of the particular voice assistant service via the network interface in response to the search query, data representing search results, the search results including audio tracks corresponding to the search query, wherein the search results are unique to the particular voice assistant service among the multiple voice assistant services, and wherein the search results comprise the at least one audio track.

3. The playback device of claim 2, wherein the captured audio is captured first audio, and wherein the method further comprises before capturing the first audio:

continuously capturing, via the microphone array, second audio into the one or more buffers;

analyzing the captured second audio using the multiple wake-word detection algorithms running concurrently on the one or more processors; and

detecting, in the captured second audio, the wake-word corresponding to the particular voice assistant service, wherein the captured second audio comprises a voice command, and wherein the voice command comprises the search query.

4. The playback device of claim 1, wherein the playback device is a first playback device, wherein modifying the at least one playback setting based on the instructions comprises joining a synchrony group comprising the first playback device and a second playback device, and wherein the method further comprises receiving the at least one audio track from the second playback device via the network interface.

5. The playback device of claim 1, wherein the playback device is a first playback device, wherein modifying the at least one playback setting based on the instructions comprises forming a synchrony group comprising the first playback device and a second playback device, and wherein playing back the at least one audio track comprises playing back the at least one audio track in synchrony with the second playback device of the synchrony group.

6. The playback device of claim 5, wherein the method further comprises transmitting the at least one audio track to the second playback device via the network interface.

7. The playback device of claim 1, wherein modifying the at least one playback setting based on the instructions comprises selecting a music source of the at least one audio track.

8. A tangible, non-transitory computer-readable medium having stored therein instructions executable by one or more processors to cause a playback device to perform a method comprising:

continuously capturing, via a microphone array of the playback device, audio into one or more buffers;

analyzing the captured audio using multiple wake-word detection algorithms running concurrently on one or more processors of the playback device, each wake-word detection algorithm corresponding to a respective voice assistant service among multiple voice assistant services supported by the playback device;

when a particular wake-word detection algorithm of the multiple wake-word detection algorithms detects, in the captured audio, a wake-word corresponding to a particular voice assistant service, transmitting, via a network interface of the playback device, the captured audio to the particular voice assistant service, wherein the captured audio comprises a voice input, wherein the voice input comprises a command to modify at least one playback setting of a media playback system, and wherein the media playback system comprises the playback device;

after transmitting the captured audio, receiving, from one or more servers of the particular voice assistant service via the network interface, instructions to modify the at least one playback setting according to the command;

modifying the at least one playback setting based on the instructions; and

with the at least one playback setting modified, playing back at least one audio track via one or more amplifiers configured to drive one or more speakers.

9. The tangible, non-transitory computer-readable medium of claim 8, wherein the method further comprises:

transmitting, via the network interface, a search query, to the particular voice assistant service; and

receiving, from one or more servers of the particular voice assistant service via the network interface in response to the search query, data representing search results, the search results including audio tracks corresponding to the search query, wherein the search results are unique to the particular voice assistant service among the multiple voice assistant services, and wherein the search results comprise the at least one audio track.

10. The tangible, non-transitory computer-readable medium of claim 9, wherein the captured audio is captured first audio, and wherein the method further comprises before capturing the first audio:

continuously capturing, via the microphone array, second audio into the one or more buffers;

analyzing the captured second audio using the multiple wake-word detection algorithms running concurrently on the one or more processors; and

detecting, in the captured second audio, the wake-word corresponding to the particular voice assistant service, wherein the captured second audio comprises a voice command, and wherein the voice command comprises the search query.

11. The tangible, non-transitory computer-readable medium of claim 8, wherein the playback device is a first playback device, wherein modifying the at least one playback setting based on the instructions comprises joining a synchrony group comprising the first playback device and a second playback device, and wherein the method further comprises receiving the at least one audio track from the second playback device via the network interface.

12. The tangible, non-transitory computer-readable medium of claim 8, wherein the playback device is a first playback device, wherein modifying the at least one playback setting based on the instructions comprises forming a synchrony group comprising the first playback device and a second playback device, and wherein playing back the at least one audio track comprises playing back the at least one audio track in synchrony with the second playback device of the synchrony group.

13. The tangible, non-transitory computer-readable medium of claim 12, wherein the method further comprises transmitting the at least one audio track to the second playback device via the network interface.

14. The tangible, non-transitory computer-readable medium of claim 8, wherein modifying the at least one playback setting based on the instructions comprises selecting a music source of the at least one audio track.

15. A method comprising:

continuously capturing, via a microphone array of a playback device, audio into one or more buffers;

analyzing the captured audio using multiple wake-word detection algorithms running concurrently on one or more processors of the playback device, each wake-word detection algorithm corresponding to a respective voice assistant service among multiple voice assistant services supported by the playback device;

when a particular wake-word detection algorithm of the multiple wake-word detection algorithms detects, in the captured audio, a wake-word corresponding to a particular voice assistant service, transmitting, via a network interface of the playback device, the captured audio to the particular voice assistant service, wherein the captured audio comprises a voice input, wherein the voice input comprises a command to modify at least one playback setting of a media playback system, and wherein the media playback system comprises the playback device;

after transmitting the captured audio, receiving, from one or more servers of the particular voice assistant service via the network interface, instructions to modify the at least one playback setting according to the command;

modifying the at least one playback setting based on the instructions; and

with the at least one playback setting modified, playing back at least one audio track via one or more amplifiers configured to drive one or more speakers.

16. The method of claim 15, further comprising:

transmitting, via the network interface, a search query, to the particular voice assistant service; and

receiving, from one or more servers of the particular voice assistant service via the network interface in response to the search query, data representing search results, the search results including audio tracks corresponding to the search query, wherein the search results are unique to the particular voice assistant service among the multiple voice assistant services, and wherein the search results comprise the at least one audio track.

17. The method of claim 16, wherein the captured audio is captured first audio, and wherein the method further comprises before capturing the first audio:

continuously capturing, via the microphone array, second audio into the one or more buffers;

analyzing the captured second audio using the multiple wake-word detection algorithms running concurrently on the one or more processors; and

detecting, in the captured second audio, the wake-word corresponding to the particular voice assistant service, wherein the captured second audio comprises a voice command, and wherein the voice command comprises the search query.

18. The method of claim 15, wherein the playback device is a first playback device, wherein modifying the at least one playback setting based on the instructions comprises joining a synchrony group comprising the first playback device and a second playback device, and wherein the method further comprises receiving the at least one audio track from the second playback device via the network interface.

19. The method of claim 15, wherein the playback device is a first playback device, wherein modifying the at least one playback setting based on the instructions comprises forming a synchrony group comprising the first playback device and a second playback device, and wherein playing back the at least one audio track comprises playing back the at least one audio track in synchrony with the second playback device of the synchrony group.

20. The method of claim 15, wherein modifying the at least one playback setting based on the instructions comprises selecting a music source of the at least one audio track.