USER INTERACTION WITH BUILDING CONTROLLER DEVICE USING A REMOTE SERVER AND A DUPLEX CONNECTION

• US 20150276254A1
• Filed: 06/11/2015
• Published: 10/01/2015
• Est. Priority Date: 08/21/2013
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Ademco Inc. (Resideo Technologies, Inc.)
• Original Assignee: Honeywell International Inc.
• Inventors: Nemcek, Adam, Becvar, Daniel, Hrebicek, Tomas
• Granted Patent: US 10,030,878 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 1/1
• CPC Class Codes: F24F 11/30 for purposes related to the operation of the system, e.g. for safety or monitoring
• CPC Class Codes: F24F 11/52 Indication arrangements, e.g. displays
• CPC Class Codes: F24F 11/526 giving audible indications
• CPC Class Codes: F24F 11/56 Remote control
• CPC Class Codes: F24F 11/58 using Internet communication
• CPC Class Codes: F24F 11/62 characterised by the type of control or by internal processing, e.g. using fuzzy logic, adaptive control or estimation of values
• CPC Class Codes: F24F 11/66 Sleep mode
• CPC Class Codes: F24F 2110/00 Control inputs relating to air properties
• CPC Class Codes: F24F 2120/00 Control inputs relating to users or occupants
• CPC Class Codes: F24F 2130/40 Noise
• CPC Class Codes: G05B 15/02 electric
• CPC Class Codes: G05D 23/1905 associated with tele control
• 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 2015/088 Word spotting
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 12/2816 Controlling appliance services of a home automation network by calling their functionalities arrangements in telecontrol or telemetry systems for selectively calling a substation from a main station; in which substation desired apparatus is selected for applying a control signal thereto or for obtaining measured values therefrom H04Q9/00

Abstract

An HVAC controller may be controlled in response to a natural language audio message that is not recognizable by the HVAC controller as a command, where the natural language audio message is translated into a command recognizable by the HVAC controller. Voice recognition software identifies a trigger phrase included in the natural language audio message and in response the HVAC controller performs an action. In response to identifying a trigger phrase at the HVAC controller, the HVAC controller may establish a single duplex connection with a remote server having a voice interaction module. An end user may then have a continuous dialog with the voice interaction module via the HVAC controller over the established single duplex connection. The voice interaction module may allow for an end user to interrupt the dialog at any time, as desired.

Claims

1. A building controller device configured to control one or more building automation components of a building automation system, the building controller device comprising:

a housing, the housing configured to house;

an environmental sensor;

a microphone;

a controller operatively coupled to the environmental sensor and the microphone; and

wherein the controller is configured to identify an audio trigger received by the microphone, and in response to identifying the audio trigger, establish a duplex connection between the building controller device and a remote server.

2. The building controller device claim 1, wherein the audio trigger is a trigger phrase contained in an audio voice stream.

3. The building controller device of claim 1, wherein the audio trigger is identified by the controller of the building controller device.

4. The building controller device of claim 1, further comprising:

a speaker at least partially housed by the housing; and

wherein the controller is configured to play an audio voice message on the speaker, wherein the audio voice message is received from the remote server via the established duplex connection.

5. The building controller device of claim 1, wherein the established duplex connection between the building controller device and the remote server includes a plurality of sub-channels.

6. The building controller device of claim 5, wherein the plurality of sub-channels include a first sub-channel configured to send audio data to the remote server, a second sub-channel configured to receive audio data from the remote server, and a third sub-channel configured to receive one or more controller understandable commands from the remote server.

7. The building controller device of claim 6, wherein the controller of the building controller device is configured to receive audio data from the remote server over the second sub-channel while at the same time send audio data from the controller to the remote server over the first sub-channel.

8. The building controller device of claim 1, wherein the established duplex connection between the building controller device and the remote server uses a single Transmission Control Protocol (TCP).

9. The building controller device of claim 1, wherein the duplex connection between the controller and the remote server is established using a multi-channel protocol.

10. The building controller device of claim 1, wherein:

the building controller device comprises a thermostat that is configured to control one or more HVAC components of an HVAC system, and

the environmental sensor is a temperature sensor.

11. A method of operating a building controller device of a building automation system, the method comprising:

identifying a trigger at the building controller device;

initiating a duplex connection between the building controller device and a remote server in response to identifying the trigger at the building controller device.

12. The method of claim 11, further comprising:

receiving a voice stream via a microphone of the building controller device after identifying the trigger; and

sending at least a portion of the voice stream from the building controller device to the remote server over the duplex connection.

13. The method of claim 11, wherein identifying the trigger includes identifying a trigger phrase in a voice stream that is received via a microphone of the building controller device.

14. The method of claim 11, further comprising:

receiving an audio message at the building controller device from the remote server.

15. The method of claim 14, further comprising:

sending a voice stream from the building controller device to the remote server over the duplex connection while receiving the audio message from the remote server.

16. A server configured to communicate with one or more building controller devices of one or more building automation systems, the server comprising:

a communications module for establishing a duplex connection with a building controller device upon a request by the building controller device;

a voice interaction module operatively coupled to the communications module, wherein the voice interaction module is configured to provide an interactive audio dialog with a user of the building controller device by identifying one or more words in a voice stream received from the building controller device over the duplex connection, and in response, sending a return voice message to the building controller device over the duplex connection.

17. The server of claim 16, wherein the return voice message is sent to the building controller device over the duplex connection while still receiving the voice stream from the building controller device.

18. The server of claim 17, wherein the voice interaction module is configured to interrupt the return voice message if the voice interaction module identifies one or more subsequent words in the voice stream that indicate that the return voice message is no longer applicable.

19. The server of claim 16, wherein in response to identifying one or more words in a voice stream, the voice interaction module is configured to send a control command to the building controller device to change at least one control parameter of the building controller device.

20. The server of claim 16, wherein the voice interaction module is configured to terminate the duplex connection between the server and the building controller device in response to the voice interaction module determining that the interactive audio dialogue is over.