Device designation for audio input monitoring

• US 9,632,748 B2
• Filed: 07/29/2014
• Issued: 04/25/2017
• Est. Priority Date: 06/24/2014
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Google LLC (Alphabet Inc.)
• Original Assignee: Google Inc. (Alphabet Inc.)
• Inventors: Faaborg, Alexander
• Primary Examiner(s): Riley, Marcus T
• Application Number:
  US14/445,255
• Publication Number:
  US 20150370531A1
• Time in Patent Office: 1,001 Days
• Field of Search: None
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 3/162 Interface to dedicated audio devices, e.g. audio drivers, interface to CODECs
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 3/167 Audio in a user interface, e.g. using voice commands for navigating, audio feedback
• CPC Class Codes: G10L 15/08 Speech classification or search
• CPC Class Codes: G10L 15/22 Procedures used during a speech recognition process, e.g. man-machine dialogue
• CPC Class Codes: G10L 15/26 Speech to text systems G10L15/08 takes precedence
• CPC Class Codes: G10L 15/28 Constructional details of speech recognition systems
• 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: G10L 2015/223 Execution procedure of a spoken command
• CPC Class Codes: G10L 25/78 Detection of presence or absence of voice signals switching of direction of transmission by voice frequency in two-way loud-speaking telephone systems H04M9/10

Abstract

A computing device comprises at least one processor, and at least one module operable by the at least one processor to designate a particular computing device from a plurality of computing devices to process audio input, wherein the computing device comprises a first computing device from the plurality of computing devices. The at least one module may be further operable by the at least one processor to, if the particular computing device is not the first computing device, cease processing of audio input, and if the particular computing device is the first computing device, receive first audio input and process the first audio input to determine whether the first audio input includes a predetermined audio command.

Claims

1. A method comprising:

receiving, by a first computing device of a plurality of computing devices in physical proximity to one another, a spoken audio input that is also received by one or more additional computing devices of the plurality of computing devices;

determining, by the first computing device and based at least in part on information received from the one or more additional computing devices, whether the first computing device should perform speech recognition on the spoken audio input; and

responsive to determining that the first computing device should perform speech recognition on the spoken audio input;

sending, by the first computing device and to at least a second computing device from the plurality of computing devices, a command to temporarily refrain from performing speech recognition;

performing, by the first computing device, speech recognition on the spoken audio input;

determining, by the first computing device, based on performing speech recognition on the spoken audio input, whether the spoken audio input includes a predetermined spoken audio command; and

responsive to determining that the spoken audio input includes the predetermined spoken audio command, executing, by the first computing device, an action associated with the predetermined spoken audio command.

2. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

determining, by the first computing device, a current context of the first computing device,

wherein determining whether the first computing device should perform speech recognition on the spoken audio input is further based on the current context of the first computing device.

3. The method of claim 2, wherein determining the current context of the first computing device comprises determining one or more of:

a location of the first computing device, a current time as defined by the first computing device, one or more applications installed at the sec-end first computing device, one or more applications currently executing at the first computing device, one or more networks available to the first computing device, one or more other computing devices in proximity to the first computing device, an operating mode of the first computing device, an ambient temperature of the location of the first computing device, an ambient noise level of the location of the first computing device, an ambient light level of the location of the first computing device, a movement of the first computing device, a name of a user of the first computing device, a user identification (UID) of the user of the first computing device, a social media network service account associated with the user of the first computing device, one or more calendars associated with the user, or one or more social relationships of the user of the first computing device.

4. The method of claim 1,

wherein the information received from the one or more additional computing devices includes an indication of an audio input quality associated with a second computing device from one or more additional computing devices, and

wherein determining whether the first computing device should perform speech recognition on the spoken audio input is further based on the audio input quality associated with the second computing device and an audio input quality associated with the first computing device.

5. The method of claim 1,

wherein the information received from the one or more additional computing devices includes an indication of a type of a second computing device from the one or more additional computing devices, and

wherein determining whether the first computing device should perform speech recognition on the spoken audio input is further based on a configured hierarchy of two or more device types, a type of the first computing device, and the type of the second computing device.

6. The method of claim 5, wherein the configured hierarchy of two or more device types is configured based at least in part on user input.

18. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

determining, by the first computing device, based on a network connection of the first computing device and a respective network connection of the one or more additional computing devices, that the one or more additional computing devices are in proximity to the first computing device,

wherein determining whether the first computing device should perform speech recognition on the spoken audio input is responsive to determining that the one or more additional computing devices are in proximity to the first computing device.

19. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

determining, by the first computing device, based on a signal strength of a wireless communication between the first computing device and the one or more additional computing devices, that the one or more additional computing devices are in proximity to the first computing device,

wherein determining whether the first computing device should perform speech recognition on the spoken audio input is responsive to determining that the one or more additional computing devices are in proximity to the first computing device.

20. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

determining, by the first computing device, based on location information from a GPS sensor of the first computing device and location information from respective GPS sensors of the one or more additional computing devices, that the one or more additional computing devices are within a threshold distance of the first computing device; and

responsive to determining that the one or more additional computing devices are within a threshold distance of the first computing device, determining, by the first computing device, that the one or more additional computing devices are in physical proximity to the first computing device,

wherein determining whether the first computing device should perform speech recognition on the spoken audio input is responsive to determining that the one or more additional computing devices are in proximity to the first computing device.

7. A first computing device comprising:

at least one processor; and

at least one module operable by the at least one processor to;

receive a spoken audio input that is also received by one or more additional computing devices in physical proximity to the first computing device;

determine, based at least in part on information received from the one or more additional computing devices, whether the first computing device should perform speech recognition on the spoken audio input; and

responsive to determining that the first computing device should perform speech recognition on the spoken audio input;

send, to at least a second computing device from a plurality of computing devices, a command to temporarily refrain from performing speech recognition;

perform speech recognition on the spoken audio input;

determine, based on performing speech recognition on the spoken audio input, whether the spoken audio input includes a predetermined spoken audio command; and

responsive to determining that the spoken audio input includes the predetermined spoken audio command, execute an action associated with the predetermined spoken audio command.

8. The first computing device of claim 7,

wherein the information received from the one or more additional computing devices includes an indication of a type of a second computing device from the one or more additional computing devices, and

wherein the at least one module is operable by the at least one processor to

determine whether the first computing device should perform speech recognition on the spoken audio input further based on a configured hierarchy of two or more device types, a type of the first computing device, and the type of the second computing device.

9. The computing device of claim 7,

wherein the at least one module is further operable by the at least one processor to determine a current context of the first computing device, and

wherein the at least one module is operable by the at least one processor to determine whether the first computing device should perform speech recognition on the spoken audio input further based on the current context of the first computing device.

10. The computing device of claim 9, wherein the at least one module operable to determine the current context of the first computing device is operable by the at least one processor to determine one or more of:

a location of the first computing device, a current time as defined by the first computing device, one or more applications installed at the first computing device, one or more applications currently executing at the first computing device, one or more networks available to the first computing device, one or more other computing devices in proximity to the first computing device, an operating mode of the first computing device, an ambient temperature of the location of the first computing device, an ambient noise level of the location of the first computing device, an ambient light level of the location of the first computing device, a movement of the first computing device, a name of a user of the first computing device, a user identification (UID) of the user of the first computing device, a social media network service account associated with the user of the first computing device, one or more calendars associated with the user of the first computing device, or one or more social relationships of the user of the first computing device.

15. The first computing device of claim 7,

wherein the information received from the one or more additional computing devices includes an indication of an audio input quality associated with a second computing device from the one or more additional computing devices, and

wherein the at least one module is operable by the at least one processor to determine whether the first computing device should perform speech recognition on the spoken audio input further based at least in part on the audio input quality associated with the second computing device and an audio input quality associated with the first computing device.

16. The first computing device of claim 7, wherein the at least one module is further operable by the at least one processor to:

determine, based on a network connection of the first computing device and a respective network connection of the one or more additional computing devices, that the one or more additional computing devices are in proximity to the first computing device,

wherein the at least one module is operable by the at least one processor to determine whether the first computing device should perform speech recognition on the spoken audio input in response to determining that the one or more additional computing devices are in proximity to the first computing device.

17. The first computing device of claim 7, wherein the at least one module is further operable by the at least one processor to:

determine, based on a signal strength of a wireless communication between the first computing device and the one or more additional computing devices, that the one or more additional computing devices are in proximity to the first computing device,

wherein the at least one module is operable by the at least one processor to determine whether the first computing device should perform speech recognition on the spoken audio input in response to determining that the one or more additional computing devices are in proximity to the first computing device.

11. A non-transitory computer-readable storage medium encoded with instructions that, when executed, cause at least one processor of a first computing device to:

receive a spoken audio input that is also received by one or more additional computing devices in physical proximity to the first computing device;

determine, based at least in part on information received from the one or more additional computing devices, whether the first computing device should perform speech recognition on the spoken audio input; and

responsive to determining that the first computing device should perform speech recognition on the spoken audio input;

send, to at least a second computing device from a plurality of computing devices, a command to temporarily refrain from performing speech recognition;

perform speech recognition on the spoken audio input;

determine, based on performing speech recognition on the spoken audio input, whether the first audio input includes a predetermined spoken audio command; and

responsive to determining that the spoken audio input includes the predetermined spoken audio command, execute an action associated with the predetermined spoken audio command.

12. The non-transitory computer-readable storage medium of claim 11, further encoded with instructions that, when executed, cause the at least one processor to:

determine a current context of the first computing device,

wherein the instructions cause the at least one processor to determine whether the first computing device should perform speech recognition on the spoken audio input further based on the current context of the first computing device.

13. The non-transitory computer-readable storage medium of claim 11, wherein the information received from the one or more additional computing devices includes an indication of a type of a second computing device from the one or more additional computing devices, and

wherein the instructions cause the at least one processor to

determine whether the first computing device should perform speech recognition on the spoken audio input further based on a configured hierarchy of two or more device types, a type of the first computing device, and the type of the second computing device.

14. The non-transitory computer-readable storage medium of claim 11,

wherein the information received from the one or more additional computing devices includes an indication of audio input quality associated with a second computing device from the one or more additional computing devices, and

wherein the instructions cause the at least one processor to determine whether the first computing device should perform speech recognition on the spoken audio input further based on the audio input quality associated with the second computing device and an audio input quality associated with the first computing device.