Acoustic sensory network
First Claim
1. A method for determining which controllable device an audible command is directed towards, the method comprising:
- receiving at each of two or more controlling devices the audible command, the audible command being directed to control at least one of two or more controllable devices controlled by a respective one of the two or more controlling devices;
digitizing each of the received audible commands;
attaching a time-date stamp to each of the digitized audible commands using a time-date stamp generator that employs a time synch protocol, and further attaching a unique identifier to each of the time-date stamped digitized audible commands so as to uniquely correlate it to a respective controlling device;
determining a first received digitized audible command on the basis of an earliest time-date stamp, and further determining to which controlling device the audible command is directed to on the basis of the unique identifier of the first received digitized audible command;
performing speech recognition on the first received digitized audible command to determine a command for a controllable device; and
forwarding the command to the controlling device corresponding to the first received digitized audible command, the command corresponding to the spoken audible command that can be implemented on the controllable device controlled by the controlling device,wherein the step of determining further comprisesdetermining a magnitude of each of the digitized audible commands from respective controlling devices, andverifying that the magnitude of the digitized audible command with the earliest time-date stamp is equal to or larger than any other digitized audible commands; and
applying additional processing to determine which controlling device the received audible command is directed to if the magnitude of the received and digitized audible command with the earliest time-date stamp is less than any other received and digitized audible command,wherein the step of applying additional processing compriseschecking one or more of an occupancy sensor reading, proximity sensor reading, and motion detector reading, each of which is associated with respective controlling devices to determine which controlling device the received audible command is directed to, anddetermining that the occupancy sensor reading associated with a respective controlling device matches the received audible command in order to determine that the received audible command should be applied to the controllable device controlled by the respective controlling device.
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Accused Products
Abstract
A system is provided for determining which controllable device an audible command is directed towards. The system comprises two or more controllable devices, two or more electronic devices, each of which is adapted to receive the audible command, add a respective electronic device identifier to the received audible command, time and date stamp the received audible command, and transmit the respective time and date stamped versions of the audible command, and wherein each of the two or more electronic device are further adapted to controller respective ones of the two or more controllable devices, and a central processor adapted to receive each of the transmitted time and date stamped versions of the audible command and perform processing based on the time and date stamp, wherein the electronic device that reports the earlier time and date stamp, as ascertained by the respective electronic device identifier and a comparison of each of the time and date stamps performed by the central processor, is the electronic device to which the audible command is directed towards.
12 Citations
27 Claims
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1. A method for determining which controllable device an audible command is directed towards, the method comprising:
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receiving at each of two or more controlling devices the audible command, the audible command being directed to control at least one of two or more controllable devices controlled by a respective one of the two or more controlling devices; digitizing each of the received audible commands; attaching a time-date stamp to each of the digitized audible commands using a time-date stamp generator that employs a time synch protocol, and further attaching a unique identifier to each of the time-date stamped digitized audible commands so as to uniquely correlate it to a respective controlling device; determining a first received digitized audible command on the basis of an earliest time-date stamp, and further determining to which controlling device the audible command is directed to on the basis of the unique identifier of the first received digitized audible command; performing speech recognition on the first received digitized audible command to determine a command for a controllable device; and forwarding the command to the controlling device corresponding to the first received digitized audible command, the command corresponding to the spoken audible command that can be implemented on the controllable device controlled by the controlling device, wherein the step of determining further comprises determining a magnitude of each of the digitized audible commands from respective controlling devices, and verifying that the magnitude of the digitized audible command with the earliest time-date stamp is equal to or larger than any other digitized audible commands; and applying additional processing to determine which controlling device the received audible command is directed to if the magnitude of the received and digitized audible command with the earliest time-date stamp is less than any other received and digitized audible command, wherein the step of applying additional processing comprises checking one or more of an occupancy sensor reading, proximity sensor reading, and motion detector reading, each of which is associated with respective controlling devices to determine which controlling device the received audible command is directed to, and determining that the occupancy sensor reading associated with a respective controlling device matches the received audible command in order to determine that the received audible command should be applied to the controllable device controlled by the respective controlling device. - View Dependent Claims (2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13, 14)
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15. An acoustic sensor network comprising:
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two or more controllable devices; two or more controlling devices, each of two or more controlling devices comprising at least one respective microphone, a time-date stamp generator, and an analog to digital converter, each of the two or more controlling devices being adapted to control a respective one of the two or more controllable devices, and wherein each of the two or more controlling devices are further adapted to receive an audible command through its respective microphone, the received audible command being directed to control one of the two or more controllable devices controlled by a respective controlling device, and wherein each of the analog to digital converters are adapted to digitize the received audible command, and wherein each of the two or more controlling devices are further adapted to attach a time-date stamp to each of the digitized audible commands using the time-date stamp generator that employs a time synch protocol and attach a unique identifier to each of the time-date stamped digitized audible commands so as to uniquely correlate the time-date stamped digitized audible command to a respective controlling device; and a central controller adapted to determine, on the basis of an earliest time-date stamp, a first received digitized audible command and the controlling device to which the audible command is directed to, and wherein the central controller is further adapted to perform speech recognition on the first received digitized audible command to determine a command for a controllable device, and wherein the central controller is further adapted to forward the command to the controlling device corresponding to the first received digitized audible command, the command corresponding to the audible command that can be implemented on the controllable device controlled by the controlling device**, and wherein the central controller is further adapted to determine a magnitude of each of the digitized audible commands from respective controlling devices, verify that the magnitude of the digitized audible command with the earliest time-date stamp is equal to or larger than any other digitized audible command signal, apply additional processing to determine which controlling device the received audible command is directed to if the magnitude of the digitized audible command signal with the earliest time-date stamp is less than any other received audible command, check one or more of an occupancy sensor reading, proximity sensor reading, and motion detector reading, each of which is associated with respective controlling devices to determine which controlling device the received audible command is directed to, and determine that the occupancy sensor reading associated with a respective controlling device matches the received audible command in order to determine that the received audible command should be applied to the controllable device controlled by the respective controlling device. - View Dependent Claims (16, 17, 18, 19, 20, 21, 22, 23, 24, 25, 26, 27)
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Specification