Audio-based load control system

• US 10,694,608 B2
• Filed: 02/07/2018
• Issued: 06/23/2020
• Est. Priority Date: 02/07/2017
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Lutron Technology Company LLC
• Original Assignee: Lutron Technology Company LLC
• Inventors: Baker, Rhodes B., Harte, Matthew V., Karc, Jeffrey, Knode, Galen E., Nill, John B., Shukla, Jaykrishna A.
• Primary Examiner(s): Kim, Seokjin
• Application Number:
  US15/891,079
• Publication Number:
  US 20180228006A1
• Time in Patent Office: 867 Days
• 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 2015/223 Execution procedure of a spoken command
• CPC Class Codes: G10L 2015/228 of application context
• CPC Class Codes: H05B 47/115 by determining the presence or movement of objects or living beings
• CPC Class Codes: H05B 47/12 by detecting audible sound
• CPC Class Codes: H05B 47/13 by using passive infrared detectors
• CPC Class Codes: H05B 47/19 via wireless transmission
• CPC Class Codes: H05B 47/195 the transmission using visible or infrared light
• CPC Class Codes: Y02B 20/40 Control techniques providing energy savings, e.g. smart controller or presence detection

Abstract

A scalable, distributed load control system for home automation based on a network of microphones may include control devices (e.g., load control devices) that may include microphones for monitoring the system and communicating audio data to a cloud server for processing. The control devices of the load control system may receive a single voice command and may be configured to choose one of the load control devices to transmit the voice command to the cloud server. The load control devices may be configured to receive a voice command, control a connected load according to the voice command if the voice command is a validated command, and transmit the voice command to a voice service in the cloud if the voice command is not a validated command. The voice service to which the load control devices transmit audio data to may be selectable.

Claims

1. A load control device for controlling an amount of power to an electrical load in a zone, the load control device comprising:

a microphone for receiving voice commands;

an occupancy sensor for detecting occupancy in the zone;

at least one communication circuit;

a controllably conductive device configured to control the amount of power to the electrical load; and

a control circuit operably connected to the microphone, the at least one communication circuit, and the controllably conductive device, the control circuit configured to;

receive a voice command via the microphone;

determine, based on a signal from the occupancy sensor, whether the zone is occupied;

based on determining that the zone is not occupied, do not transmit the voice command to a voice service;

based on determining that the zone is occupied, transmit via the at least one communication circuit the voice command received via the microphone to a voice service;

receive a response from the voice service;

interpret the response to determine a command;

interpret the response to determine whether the response comprises an indication of a zone;

in response to determining that the response comprises the indication of the zone, determine whether the indication of the zone matches the zone in which the load control device is located;

in response to determining that the indication of the zone matches the zone in which the load control device is located, control the controllably conductive device to control the amount of power to the electrical load in response to the command; and

in response to determining that the indication of the zone does not match the zone in which the load control device is located, do not control the controllably conductive device in response to the command.

2. The load control device of claim 1, wherein the control circuit is further configured to:

in response to determining that the response does not comprise the indication of the zone, control the controllably conductive device to control the amount of power to the electrical load in response to the command.

3. The load control device of claim 1, wherein the control circuit is further configured to:

in response to determining that the response comprises the indication of the zone;

communicate via the at least one communication circuit the command and the indication of the zone to a second load control device, wherein the second load control device is configured to determine whether the second load control device is located in the zone and to control an electrical load based on the command when located in the zone.

4. The load control device of claim 1, wherein the control circuit is further configured to:

in response to determining that the response comprises the indication of the zone;

determine another load control device located in the zone; and

communicate via the at least one communication circuit the command to the another load control device based on the another load control device being determined to be located in the zone, wherein the another load control device is configured to control an electrical load based on the command.

5. The device of claim 1, wherein the control circuit is further configured to:

receive via the at least one communication circuit from a second load control device a communication that the second load control device received the voice command;

determine from the voice command received via the microphone and the communication received from the second load control device that the voice command received via the microphone is of a higher quality than the voice command received by the second load control device; and

wherein to transmit the voice command to the voice service comprises to transmit the voice command to the voice service based at least in part on the determination.

6. The device of claim 5, wherein to determine that that the voice command received via the microphone is of a higher quality than the voice command received by the second load control device comprises to make the determination based on one or more of:

a volume of the voice command received via the microphone and a volume of the voice command received by the second load control device;

a signal-to-noise ratio of the voice command received via the microphone and a signal-to-interference ratio of the voice command received by the second load control device; and

a multipath interference of the voice command received via the microphone and a multipath interference of the voice command received by the second load control device.

7. The device of claim 5, wherein the communication received from the second load control device comprises on one or more of:

an indication of a volume of the voice command received by the second load control device;

an indication of a signal-to-noise ratio of the voice command received by the second load control device; and

an indication of a multipath interference of the voice command received by the second load control device.

8. The load control device of claim 1, wherein the control circuit is further configured to:

in response to determining that the response does not comprise the indication of the zone;

control the controllably conductive device to control the amount of power to the electrical load in response to the command; and

based at least in part on receiving the communication from the second load control device, communicate the command to the second load control device, wherein the second load control device is configured to control a second electrical load based on the command.

9. The load control device of claim 1, wherein the zone comprises a room in a building.