Pausing functions of an assistant device during an active telephone call

• US 10,368,292 B2
• Filed: 10/26/2018
• Issued: 07/30/2019
• Est. Priority Date: 02/20/2017
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: International Business Machines Corporation
• Original Assignee: International Business Machines Corporation
• Inventors: Deluca, Lisa Seacat, Greenberger, Jeremy A.
• Primary Examiner(s): Taylor, Barry W
• Application Number:
  US16/171,666
• Publication Number:
  US 20190069217A1
• Time in Patent Office: 277 Days
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 3/165 Management of the audio stream, e.g. setting of volume, audio stream path
• 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 2015/228 of application context
• CPC Class Codes: G10L 25/87 Detection of discrete points within a voice signal
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 12/282 based on user interaction within the home receiver circuitry for displaying additional information being controlled by a remote control apparatus H04N21/42204
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 12/2821 Avoiding conflicts related to the use of home appliances cryptographic protocols H04L9/00; protocols for network security H04L63/00
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 65/1059 End-user terminal functionalities specially adapted for real-time communication
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 67/10 in which an application is distributed across nodes in the network software deployment G06F8/60; multiprogramming arrangements G06F9/46
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 24/08 Testing, supervising or monitoring using real traffic
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 48/02 Access restriction performed under specific conditions

Abstract

A computer-implemented method includes: monitoring, by a user device, calling activity on the user device; detecting, by the user device and based on the monitoring, that a call has started on the user device; providing, by the user device, a pause instruction to an assistant device based on detecting that the call has started on the user device, causing the assistant device to disable speech response functions; detecting, by the user device and based on the monitoring, that the call has ended on the user device; and providing, by the user device, a resume instruction to the assistant device based on detecting that the call has ended on the user device, causing the assistant device to resume speech response functions.

Claims

1. A computer-implemented method comprising:

monitoring, by a user device, calling activity on the user device;

detecting, by the user device and based on the monitoring, that a call has started on the user device;

providing, by the user device, a pause instruction to an assistant device via an assistant cloud control device based on detecting that the call has started on the user device, causing the assistant device to disable speech response functions; and

providing a resume instruction to the assistant device via the assistant cloud control device based on detecting that a mute function of the user device has been activated based on the monitoring the calling activity;

wherein the providing the pause instruction and the resume instruction via the assistant cloud control device comprises providing location information of the user device, causing the assistant cloud control device to provide the pause instruction and the resume instruction to a subset of a plurality of assistant control devices having a known location within a threshold distance of the user device.

2. The method of claim 1, wherein providing the pause instruction causes the assistant device to perform at least one selected from a group consisting of:

muting an audio input device of the assistant device; and

ignoring speech input received by the audio input device.

3. The method of claim 2, wherein providing the resume instruction causes the assistant device to perform at least one selected from a group consisting of:

unmute the audio input device of the assistant device; and

resume responding to speech input received by the audio input device.

4. The method of claim 2, wherein the ignoring speech input received by the audio input device includes ignoring a wake command.

5. The method of claim 1, further comprising providing a subsequent pause instruction based on detecting that the mute function of the user device has been deactivated based on the monitoring the calling activity.

6. The method of claim 1, wherein providing the pause instruction and the resume instruction via the assistant cloud control device causes the assistant cloud control device to provide the pause instruction and the resume instruction to the plurality of assistant control devices registered to the user device.

7. The method of claim 1, wherein providing the pause instruction occurs based on at least one selected from the group consisting of:

detecting speech from a particular user received via an audio input device of the user device; and

a name of a particular caller that is on the call.

8. The method of claim 1, wherein a service provider at least one of creates, maintains, deploys and supports the computing device.

9. The method of claim 1, wherein the monitoring the calling activity, the detecting that the call has started, the providing the pause instruction, the detecting that the call has ended, and the providing the resume instruction are provided by a service provider on a subscription, advertising, and/or fee basis.

10. The method of claim 1, wherein the computing device includes software provided as a service in a cloud environment.

11. The method of claim 1, further comprising deploying a system for preventing unintended responses to speech commands by the assistant device during an active telephone call on the user device, comprising providing a computer infrastructure operable to perform the monitoring the calling activity, the detecting that the call has started, the providing the pause instruction, the detecting that the call has ended, and the providing the resume instruction.

12. A computer program product for preventing unintended responses to speech commands by an assistant device during an active telephone call on a user device, the computer program product comprising a computer readable storage medium having program instructions embodied therewith, the program instructions executable by a computer device to cause the computer device to:

receive a pause instruction from the user device based on the user device detecting that a call as started on the user device;

identify one or more assistant devices registered to the user device;

provide the pause instruction to the one or more assistant devices, causing the one or more assistant devices to disable speech response functions;

receive a resume instruction from the user device based on the user device detecting that a call has ended on the user device;

provide the resume instruction to the one or more assistant devices, causing the one or more assistant devices to resume speech response functions; and

receive user device location information, wherein the providing the pause instruction and the providing the resume instruction includes providing the pause instruction and the resume instruction to a subset of the one or more assistant devices having a known location within a threshold distance of the user device.

13. The computer program product of claim 12, wherein the program instructions further cause the computing device to receive user device identification information as part of receiving the pause instruction, wherein the identifying the one or more assistant devices registered to the user device is based on receiving the user device identification information.

14. The computer program product of claim 12, wherein providing the pause instruction causes the one or more assistant devices to ignore a wake command.

15. A system comprising:

a CPU, a computer readable memory and a computer readable storage medium associated with an assistant device;

program instructions to receive a pause instruction based on a user device detecting that a call has started on the user device;

program instructions to disable speech input response functions based on receiving the pause instruction;

program instructions to receive a resume instruction from the user device wherein the user device provides the resume instruction to the assistant device based on detecting that a mute function of the user device has been activated based on the monitoring calling activity on the user device;

program instructions to resume speech input response functions based on receiving the resume instruction; and

program instructions to receive user device location information, wherein the receiving the pause instruction and the receiving the resume instruction include receiving the pause instruction and the resume instruction at the assistant device having a known location within a threshold distance of the user device,

wherein the program instructions are stored on the computer readable storage medium for execution by the CPU via the computer readable memory.

16. The system of claim 15, wherein the pause instruction and the resume instruction are received via an assistant control cloud device.