Virtual assistant identification of nearby computing devices

• US 10,332,523 B2
• Filed: 11/18/2016
• Issued: 06/25/2019
• Est. Priority Date: 11/18/2016
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Google LLC (Alphabet Inc.)
• Original Assignee: Google LLC (Alphabet Inc.)
• Inventors: Leong, Jian Wei
• Primary Examiner(s): Sharma, Neeraj
• Application Number:
  US15/355,336
• Publication Number:
  US 20180144748A1
• Time in Patent Office: 949 Days
• Field of Search: None
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 3/165 Management of the audio stream, e.g. setting of volume, audio stream path
• 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 2015/221 Announcement of recognition results
• CPC Class Codes: G10L 2015/223 Execution procedure of a spoken command

Abstract

In one example, a method includes method comprising: receiving audio data generated by a microphone of a current computing device; identifying, based on the audio data, one or more computing devices that each emitted a respective audio signal in response to speech reception being activated at the current computing device; and selecting either the current computing device or a particular computing device from the identified one or more computing devices to satisfy a spoken utterance determined based on the audio data.

Claims

1. A method comprising:

receiving audio data generated by a microphone of a current computing device that includes a display;

identifying, based on one or more respective audio signals included in the audio data, one or more computing devices that each emitted a respective audio signal in response to speech reception being activated at the current computing device; and

selecting either the current computing device or a particular computing device from the one or more computing devices identified based on the audio data, to satisfy a spoken utterance determined based on the audio data, wherein selecting a computing device from the identified one or more computing devices comprises;

selecting the particular computing device from computing devices included in the identified one or more computing devices that include a display that is larger than the display of the current computing device.

2. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

outputting, by the current computing device, an indication that speech reception has been activated at the current computing device.

3. The method of claim 2, wherein the current computing device is connected to a particular network, and wherein outputting the indication that speech reception has been activated at the current computing device comprises:

causing, by the current computing device, one or more other computing devices connected to the particular network to emit the respective audio signals, wherein the one or more other computing devices connected to the particular network include the identified one or more computing devices.

4. The method of claim 3, wherein the indication that speech reception has been activated at the current computing device is output to a server device, and wherein causing the one or more other computing devices connected to the particular network to emit the respective audio signals comprises:

causing, by the current computing device, the server device to output a request to the one or more other computing devices connected to the particular network to emit respective audio signals.

5. The method of claim 1, wherein the current computing device is associated with a particular user account, and wherein outputting the indication that speech reception has been activated at the current computing device comprises:

causing, by the current computing device, one or more other computing devices associated with the particular user account to emit the respective audio signals, wherein the one or more other computing devices associated with the particular user account include the identified one or more computing devices.

6. The method of claim 5, wherein the indication that speech reception has been activated at the current computing device is output to a server device, and wherein causing the one or more other computing devices associated with the particular user account to emit the respective audio signals comprises:

causing, by the current computing device, the server device to output a request to the one or more other computing devices associated with the particular user account to emit respective audio signals.

7. The method of claim 1, wherein the current computing device is connected to a particular network and is associated with a particular user account, and wherein outputting the indication that speech reception has been activated at the current computing device comprises:

causing, by the current computing device, one or more other computing devices connected to the particular network that are associated with the particular user account to emit the respective audio signals, wherein the one or more other computing devices connected to the particular network that are associated with the particular user account include the identified one or more computing devices.

8. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

identifying, by a server device, one or more computing devices related to the current computing device; and

in response to receiving an indication that speech reception has been activated at the current computing device, outputting, by the server device and to each computing device of the identified one or more computing devices related to the current computing device, a request to emit a respective audio signal.

9. The method of claim 8, wherein identifying the one or more computing devices related to the current computing device comprises:

identifying, by the server device, one or more computing devices that are one or both of;

connected to a same network as the current computing device; and

associated with a same user account as the current computing device.

10. The method of claim 1, wherein identifying comprises:

determining, based on the respective audio signals emitted by the one or more respective computing devices, a respective proximity of each respective computing device relative to the current computing device.

11. The method of claim 1, wherein each audio signal of the respective audio signals has one or more unique audio characteristics.

12. The method of claim 1, wherein the current computing device does not include a display, and wherein selecting comprises:

responsive to determining that a display is needed to satisfy the spoken utterance, selecting the particular computing device from computing devices included in the identified one or more computing devices that include a display.

13. A device comprising:

one or more microphones; and

one or more processors configured to;

receive audio data generated by a microphone of a current computing device that does not include a display;

identify, based on one or more respective audio signals included in the audio data, one or more computing devices that each emitted a respective audio signal in response to speech reception being activated at the current computing device; and

select either the current computing device or a particular computing device from the one or more computing devices identified based on the audio data, to satisfy a spoken utterance determined based on the audio data, wherein the selecting comprises;

responsive to determining that a display is needed to satisfy the spoken utterance, select the particular computing device from computing devices included in the identified one or more computing devices that include a display.

14. The device of claim 13, wherein the device is the current computing device, the current computing device further comprising one or more communication units, and wherein the one or more processors are further configured to:

output, via the one or more communication units, an indication that speech reception has been activated at the current computing device.

15. The device of claim 14, wherein the current computing device is connected to a particular network, and wherein, to output the indication that speech reception has been activated at the current computing device, the one or more processors are configured to:

cause one or more other computing devices connected to the particular network to emit the respective audio signals, wherein the one or more other computing devices connected to the particular network include the identified one or more computing devices.

16. The device of claim 14, wherein the current computing device is associated with a particular user account, and wherein, to output the indication that speech reception has been activated at the current computing device, the one or more processors are configured to:

cause one or more other computing devices associated with the particular user account to emit the respective audio signals, wherein the one or more other computing devices associated with the particular user account include the identified one or more computing devices.

17. The device of claim 13, wherein the one or more processors are further configured to:

identify one or more computing devices related to the current computing device; and

in response to determining that speech reception has been activated at the current computing device, output, to each computing device of the identified one or more computing devices related to the current computing device, a request to emit a respective audio signal.

18. The device of claim 17, wherein, to identify the one or more computing devices related to the current computing device, the one or more processors are configured to:

identify one or more computing devices that are one or both of;

connected to a same network as the current computing device; and

associated with a same user account as the current computing device.

19. A method comprising:

receiving audio data generated by a microphone of a current computing device that does not include a display;

identifying, based on one or more respective audio signals included in the audio data, one or more computing devices that each emitted a respective audio signal in response to speech reception being activated at the current computing device; and

selecting either the current computing device or a particular computing device from the one or more computing devices identified based on the audio data, to satisfy a spoken utterance determined based on the audio data, wherein the selecting comprises;

responsive to determining that a display is needed to satisfy the spoken utterance, selecting the particular computing device from computing devices included in the identified one or more computing devices that include a display.