Voice controlled assistant with integrated control knob

• US 9,659,577 B1
• Filed: 03/14/2013
• Issued: 05/23/2017
• Est. Priority Date: 03/14/2013
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Amazon Technologies, Inc. (Amazon.com, Inc.)
• Original Assignee: Amazon Technologies, Inc. (Amazon.com, Inc.)
• Inventors: Langhammer, Heinz-Dominik
• Primary Examiner(s): Kim, Paul S
• Assistant Examiner(s): Yu, Norman
• Application Number:
  US13/804,967
• Time in Patent Office: 1,531 Days
• Field of Search: 381336, 704553, 370260
• CPC Class Codes: G10L 21/06 Transformation of speech into a non-audible representation, e.g. speech visualisation or speech processing for tactile aids G10L15/26 takes precedence
• CPC Class Codes: H04R 1/02 Casings; Cabinets ; Supports therefor; Mountings therein H04R1/28 takes precedence ; attachments for microphones H04R1/08; mounting of transducers in earpieces H04R1/1075
• CPC Class Codes: H04R 2201/401 2D or 3D arrays of transducers
• CPC Class Codes: H04R 2420/07 Applications of wireless loudspeakers or wireless microphones
• CPC Class Codes: H04R 2430/01 Aspects of volume control, not necessarily automatic, in sound systems
• CPC Class Codes: H04R 29/008 Visual indication of individual signal levels visual indication of stereophonic sound image H04S7/40
• CPC Class Codes: H04R 5/02 Spatial or constructional arrangements of loudspeakers
• CPC Class Codes: H04R 5/027 Spatial or constructional arrangements of microphones, e.g. in dummy heads

Abstract

A voice controlled assistant has a housing to hold one or more microphones, one or more speakers, and various computing components. The housing has an elongated cylindrical body extending along a center axis between a base end and a top end. The microphone(s) are mounted in the top end and the speaker(s) are mounted proximal to the base end. A control knob is rotatably mounted to the top end of the housing to rotate about the center axis. The control knob has an outer surface that is substantially flush with an outer surface of the housing to provide a smooth, continuous appearance to the voice controlled assistant.

Claims

1. A device comprising:

a housing comprising a cylindrical-shaped middle section extending between a top end and a base end along a center axis, the middle section having an outer surface at a radius from the center axis;

one or more microphones arranged proximal to the top end of the housing to receive audio;

a processor to process a signal representation of the audio;

memory accessible by the processor;

a network interface to communicate with a network;

one or more speakers arranged proximal to the base end of the housing to output audio sound;

a control knob rotatably mounted proximal to the top end of the housing to rotate about the center axis, the control knob having an outer surface at approximately the radius from the center axis so that the outer surface of the control knob is substantially vertically flush with the outer surface of the cylindrical-shaped middle section of the housing;

a rotary transducer to convert rotation of the control knob into a control signal for use in controlling one or more functions of the device; and

a light conducting pipe mounted around an exterior peripheral edge of the outer surface of the control knob, the light conducting pipe being configured to display light external to the device in different appearance states corresponding to the one or more functions controlled by rotation of the control knob.

2. The device of claim 1, wherein the control signal produced by the rotary transducer is provided to the processor to at least one of adjust volume, adjust base, adjust treble, select a frequency band, or navigate a menu.

3. The device of claim 1, wherein the one or more speakers comprises:

a first speaker to output a first frequency range of audio sound; and

a second speaker to output a second frequency range of audio sound that is different than the first frequency range.

4. The device of claim 1, wherein the housing further comprises an end cap at the top end, wherein a groove is formed between the end cap and the control knob and the one or more microphones are positioned proximal to the groove.

5. The device of claim 1, wherein the housing further comprises an end cap at the top end, and further comprising first and second buttons arranged to be exposed through the end cap, the first and second buttons having different tactile profiles.

17. The device of claim 1, wherein the light conducting pipe comprises an annular ring mounted on the exterior peripheral edge of the control knob.

18. The device of claim 1, wherein the light conducting pipe comprises a plurality of individual light segments mounted on the exterior peripheral edge of the control knob.

19. The device of claim 18, wherein the different appearance states comprise at least one of a:

(i) first appearance state in which a first individual light segment displays a first color and a second individual light segment displays a second color, or (ii) second appearance state in which one or more individual light segments flash in at least one of a pattern or a sequence.

6. A device comprising:

a housing having a center axis extending between a first end and a second end, the housing having an outer surface;

at least one speaker arranged in the housing;

a control knob rotatably mounted to the housing to rotate about the center axis, the control knob having an outer surface that is substantially vertically flush with the outer surface of the housing, wherein rotation of the control knob causes an input to perform at least one function; and

a light conducting pipe mounted around an exterior peripheral edge of the outer surface of the control knob, the light conducting pipe configured to display light external to the device in different appearance states corresponding to the at least one function performed by rotation of the control knob.

7. The device of claim 6, wherein the outer surface of the housing is at a radius from the center axis and the outer surface of the control knob is at approximately the radius from the center axis.

8. The device of claim 6, further comprising at least one microphone arranged at the first end of the housing, and wherein the speaker is arranged at the second end of the housing.

9. The device of claim 6, wherein the at least one function comprises at least one of volume, base audio, treble audio, frequency band selection, or menu navigation.

10. The device of claim 6, wherein the light conducting pipe comprises an annular ring mounted along the exterior peripheral edge of the control knob.

11. An audio device comprising:

a cylindrical housing having a first outer surface at a first radius from a center axis;

at least one microphone to receive audio input;

at least one speaker to output audio sound;

an annular control knob rotatably mounted to the cylindrical housing to rotate about the center axis to facilitate control of at least one function of the audio device, the control knob having a second outer surface at a second radius from the center axis, wherein the first and second radii are substantially equal;

a rotary transducer to convert rotation of the control knob into a control signal for use in controlling the at least one function of the audio device; and

a light conducting pipe mounted around an exterior peripheral edge of the second outer surface of the control knob, the light conducting pipe configured to display light external to the audio device in different appearance states corresponding to the at least one function controlled by rotation of the control knob.

12. The audio device of claim 11, wherein the at least one speaker comprises:

a first speaker to output a first frequency range of audio sound; and

a second speaker to output a second frequency range of audio sound that is different than the first frequency range.

13. The audio device of claim 11, wherein the first and second outer surface are substantially vertically flush.

14. The audio device of claim 11, further comprising an electronic component arranged in the cylindrical housing, the at least one function being performed by the electronic component.

15. The audio device of claim 11, wherein the light conducting pipe comprises an annular ring mounted along the exterior peripheral edge of the control knob.

16. The audio device of claim 11, further comprising:

a processor;

memory accessible by the processor; and

a speech recognition module stored in the memory and executable on the processor to recognize speech in a signal representation of the audio received by the at least one microphone.