Automatic generation of reservations for a meeting-space for disturbing noise creators

• US 10,733,575 B2
• Filed: 06/06/2017
• Issued: 08/04/2020
• Est. Priority Date: 06/06/2017
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Cisco Technology, Inc. (Cisco Systems, Inc.)
• Original Assignee: Cisco Technology, Inc. (Cisco Systems, Inc.)
• Inventors: Dahir, Hazim Hashim, Akhter, Aamer Saeed, Frahim, Jazib, Niazi, Haseeb Sarwar
• Primary Examiner(s): Flynn, Kevin H
• Assistant Examiner(s): Zeroual, Omar
• Application Number:
  US15/615,176
• Publication Number:
  US 20180349857A1
• Time in Patent Office: 1,155 Days
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 10/02 Reservations, e.g. for tickets, services or events
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 10/1095 Meeting or appointment
• CPC Class Codes: G10L 15/02 Feature extraction for speech recognition; Selection of recognition unit
• CPC Class Codes: G10L 17/00 Speaker identification or verification techniques
• CPC Class Codes: G10L 2025/783 based on threshold decision
• 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

In one embodiment, a supervisory device in a network, configured to interact with one or more sensors positioned in a given area and with a conference room scheduling service, obtains an acoustic feature of the area from one or more of the sensors. The supervisory device makes a determination that a conference room should be reserved based on the acoustic feature and selects a particular conference room based on the determination that a conference room should be reserved. The supervisory device instructs a conference room scheduling service to reserve the particular conference room.

Claims

1. A method comprising:

obtaining, at a processor configured to interact with a plurality of sensors comprising an acoustic sensor and a visual sensor positioned in a given area and with a conference room scheduling service, an acoustic feature of the area from the acoustic sensor and a visual feature of the area from the visual sensor;

making, by the processor, a determination that a conference room should be reserved based on the acoustic feature;

in response to making the determination that a conference room should be reserved, selecting, by the processor, a particular conference room based on the visual feature;

instructing, by the processor, a conference room scheduling service to reserve the particular conference room;

determining, by the processor, an identity of one or more individuals within the area using at least one of the acoustic feature and the visual feature; and

sending, by the processor, a notification that the particular conference room has been scheduled to a user device of each of the one or more individuals whose identity is determined using the at least one of the acoustic feature and the visual feature.

2. The method of claim 1, wherein the acoustic feature includes noise level, sound frequency, duration of sound, sound type, location of sound source, or combinations thereof.

3. The method of claim 1, wherein making a determination that a conference room should be reserved comprises:

determining, by the processor, a relationship between the acoustic feature and a threshold acoustic level.

4. The method of claim 1, wherein selecting a particular conference room comprises:

detecting, by the processor, a source location based on the acoustic feature; and

determining, by the processor, proximity of the source location to available conference rooms.

5. The method of claim 1, wherein selecting a particular conference room comprises:

detecting, by the processor, a source location based on the acoustic feature; and

sending, by the processor, the source location to the conference room scheduling service for determining proximity of the source location to available conference rooms.

6. The method of claim 1, further comprising;

sending, by the processor, instructions to one or more of the visual and acoustic sensors to sense an identifying characteristic of one or more individuals within the area, based on the determination that a conference room should be reserved.

7. An apparatus comprising:

one or more network interfaces to communicate with a network;

a processor coupled to the network interfaces and configured to execute one or more processes; and

a memory configured to store a process executable by the processor, the process when executed configured to;

obtain an acoustic feature of a given area from an acoustic sensor positioned in the given area;

obtain a visual feature of the given area from a visual sensor positioned in the given area;

make a determination that a conference room should be reserved based on the acoustic feature;

in response to making the determination that a conference room should be reserved, select a particular conference room based on the visual feature;

instruct a conference room scheduling service to reserve the particular conference room;

determine an identity of one or more individuals within the area using at least one of the acoustic feature and the visual feature; and

send a notification that the particular conference room has been scheduled to a user device of each of the one or more individuals whose identity is determined using the at least one of the acoustic feature and the visual feature.

8. The apparatus of claim 7, wherein the acoustic feature includes noise level, sound frequency, duration of sound, sound type, location of sound source, or combinations thereof.

9. The apparatus of claim 7, wherein the processor makes a determination that a conference room should be reserved by:

determining a relationship between the acoustic feature and a threshold acoustic level.

10. The apparatus of claim 7, wherein the processor selects a particular conference room by:

detecting a source location based on the acoustic feature; and

determining proximity of the source location to available conference rooms.

11. The apparatus of claim 7, wherein the processor selects a particular conference room by:

detecting a source location based on the acoustic feature; and

sending the source location to the conference room scheduling service for determining proximity of the source location to available conference rooms.

12. The apparatus of claim 7, wherein the process when executed is further operable to:

send instructions to one or more of the visual and acoustic sensors to sense an identifying characteristic of one or more individuals within the area, based on the determination that a conference room should be reserved.

13. A tangible, non-transitory, computer-readable media having software encoded thereon, the software when executed by a processor of a supervisory device in a network configured to:

obtain an acoustic feature of a given area from an acoustic sensor positioned in the given area;

obtain a visual feature of the given area from a visual sensor positioned in the given area;

make a determination that a conference room should be reserved based on the acoustic feature;

in response to making the determination that a conference room should be reserved, select a particular conference room based on the visual feature;

instruct a conference room scheduling service to reserve the particular conference room;

determine an identity of one or more individuals within the area using at least one of the acoustic feature and the visual feature; and

send a notification that the particular conference room has been scheduled to a user device of each of the one or more individuals whose identity is determined using the at least one of the acoustic feature and the visual feature.

14. The computer-readable media of claim 13, wherein making a determination that a conference room should be reserved comprises:

determining a relationship between the acoustic feature and a threshold acoustic level.

15. The computer-readable media of claim 13, wherein selecting a particular conference room comprises:

detecting a source location based on the acoustic feature; and

determining proximity of the source location to available conference rooms.

16. The computer-readable media of claim 13, wherein selecting a particular conference room comprises:

detecting a source location based on the acoustic feature; and

sending the source location to the conference room scheduling service for determining proximity of the source location to available conference rooms.

17. The computer-readable media of claim 13, wherein the software when executed is further operable to:

send instructions to one or more of the visual and acoustic sensors to sense an identifying characteristic of one or more individual is within the area, based on the determination that a conference room should be reserved.