Wearable Earpiece Voice Command Control System and Method

• US 20170110124A1
• Filed: 10/11/2016
• Published: 04/20/2017
• Est. Priority Date: 10/20/2015
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Bragi GmbH
• Original Assignee: Bragi GmbH
• Inventors: Caspari, Johannes, Kennedy, Conor, Penkova, Dayana, Boesen, Peter Vincent
• Granted Patent: US 10,453,450 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 3/04883 for inputting data by handwriting, e.g. gesture or text
• 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 2015/088 Word spotting
• CPC Class Codes: G10L 2015/223 Execution procedure of a spoken command
• CPC Class Codes: H04R 1/1016 Earpieces of the intra-aural type
• CPC Class Codes: H04R 1/1041 Mechanical or electronic switches, or control elements switches in general H01H
• CPC Class Codes: H04R 2420/07 Applications of wireless loudspeakers or wireless microphones

Abstract

An earpiece includes an earpiece housing, an intelligent control disposed within the ear piece housing, at least one audio input sensor operatively connected to the intelligent control, a transceiver operatively connected to the intelligent control, and a user interface operatively connected to the intelligent control and configured for receiving user input. The intelligent control is configured to receive voice input through the at least one audio input sensor and interpret the voice input to determine a voice command from a set of voice commands.

Claims

1. An earpiece comprising:

an earpiece housing;

an intelligent control disposed within the ear piece housing;

at least one audio input sensor operatively connected to the intelligent control;

a transceiver operatively connected to the intelligent control;

a user interface operatively connected to the intelligent control and configured for receiving user input;

wherein the intelligent control is configured to receive voice input through the at least one audio input sensor and interpret the voice input to determine a voice command from a set of voice commands.

2. The earpiece of claim 1 wherein the intelligent control is further configured to convey the voice command from the earpiece to another device through the transceiver of the earpiece.

3. The earpiece of claim 1 wherein the user interface is a gesture based interface.

4. The earpiece of claim 1 wherein the user interface comprises one or more manual inputs.

5. The earpiece of claim 1 wherein the set of voice commands includes an activation command.

6. The earpiece of claim 1 wherein the earpiece is configured to communicate through the e transceiver with a computing device executing a software application for changing settings associated with the earpiece.

8. The earpiece of claim 1 wherein the earpiece is configured to communicate through the transceiver with a computing device.

9. The earpiece of claim 1 wherein the computing device is configured to use a voice assistant and wherein the voice commands include voice commands associated with the voice assistant.

10. The earpiece of claim 1 wherein the earpiece is a left earpiece and the left earpiece is in operative communication with a right earpiece.

11. The earpiece of claim 1 wherein the earpiece is a right earpiece and the right earpiece is in operative communication with a left earpiece.

7. The earpiece of claim 7 wherein the settings include a setting for activating or deactivating voice control for the earpiece.

12. A method for voice control comprising:

providing an earpiece comprising an earpiece housing, an intelligent control disposed within the ear piece housing, at least one audio input sensor operatively connected to the intelligent is control, a transceiver operatively connected to the intelligent control, and a user interface operatively connected to the intelligent control and configured for receiving user input;

receiving voice input, through the at least one audio input sensor;

interpreting the voice input to determine a voice command from a set of voice commands; and

executing the voice command to control the earpiece or a device in operative communication with the earpiece.

13. The method of claim 12 wherein the interpreting the voice input is performed by the intelligent control within the ear piece housing.

14. The method of claim 12 wherein the device in operative communication with the earpiece is a wearable device.

15. The method of claim 12 wherein the device in operative communication with the earpiece is a mobile device.

16. A method for voice control comprising:

providing an earpiece comprising an earpiece housing, an intelligent control disposed within the ear piece housing, at least one audio input sensor operatively connected to the intelligent control, a transceiver operatively connected to the intelligent control, and a user interface operatively connected to the intelligent control and configured for receiving user input, and wherein the earpiece is configured to perform voice assistant functions;

receiving voice input through the at least one audio input sensor;

interpreting the voice input to determine a voice command from a first set of voice commands, wherein the first set of voice commands is associated with the earpiece;

if the voice command is not within the first set of voice commands, communicating the voice input to an electronic device in operative communication with the earpiece wherein the electronic device is configured for voice control.

17. The method of claim 16 wherein the electronic device comprises a voice assistant.

18. The method of claim 17 wherein the voice assistant is integrated into an operating system of the electronic device.

19. The method of claim 17 wherein the voice is assistant is implemented as an app executing, on the electronic device.