US 10,313,531 B2Granted

Voice controlled room system

AssigneeBullhead Innovations Ltd.

InventorPeter S. Warrick

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Abstract

A universal data gate converts between interface format types of interconnected systems. The data gate learns new interface types and greatly simplifies the requirement for a human user to reprogram the new interface types. A library of known interface types is built up over time and allows re-use of known interface types as required. Voice based room control is enabled by automatically activating the voice control on a guest device when the guest is checked in to a hotel room. Text corresponding to voice commands captured from the user's voice is passed to a hotel app. The system automatically pairs the guest device with the user's assigned room and determines which in-room controllable devices are to be operated by the user's voice commands. When the user switches to a new guest room during travel, the system automatically updates the room pairing and new voice commands operate the new in-room devices.

Claims20

Dependent claims

A system for controlling devices in a guest room of a hospitality establishment, the system comprising:

a user device operated by a guest of the hospitality establishment, the user device including a storage device storing therein a software application, and the user device having a microphone and a network interface;
and
a room controller coupled to a computer network;
wherein the user device is operable to capture audio from the microphone and convert the audio into a text transcript utilizing a voice-to-text conversion service;
by one or more processors of the user device executing the software application, the software application is operable to temporarily register itself with a pre-existing voice assistant software running on the user device in response to a first trigger and to deregister itself from the pre-existing voice assistant software in response to a second trigger;
the user device is operable to send the text transcript received from the voice-to-text service to the software application only while the software application is registered with the pre-existing voice assistant software running on the user device, such that other text transcripts received from the voice-to-text service while the software application is not registered with the pre-existing voice assistant software are not sent to the software application;
the room controller is operable to receive a message with a command corresponding to the text transcript as sent by the software application running on the user device;
the room controller is operable to determine a particular room of the hospitality establishment with which the user device is currently associated;
the room controller is operable to determine one or more target in-room controllable devices of the particular room to which the command pertains;
and
the room controller is operable to send one or more network messages to the one or more target in-room controllable device thereby causing the one or more target in-room controllable devices to carry out the command.

8 more elements

A user device for controlling devices in a guest room of a hospitality establishment, the user device being operated by a guest of the hospitality establishment and comprising:

a microphone;
a network interface coupled to a computer network;
a storage device storing therein software instructions at least including a pre-existing voice assistance software and a software application;
and
one or more processors;
wherein, by the one or more processors executing the software instructions loaded from the storage device, the one or more processors are configured to:
capture audio from the microphone and convert the audio into a text transcript utilizing a voice-to-text conversion service;
register the software application temporarily with the pre-existing voice assistant software running on the user device in response to a first trigger and deregister the software application from the pre-existing voice assistant software in response to a second trigger,
send the text transcript received from the voice-to-text service to the software application only while the software application is registered with the pre-existing voice assistant software running on the user device, such that other text transcripts received from the voice-to-text service while the software application is not registered with the pre-existing voice assistant software are not sent to the software application, and
transmit a message with a command corresponding to the text transcript from the software application to a room controller via the computer network;
wherein the room controller determines a particular room of the hospitality establishment with which the user device is currently associated, determines one or more target in-room controllable devices of the particular room to which the command pertains, and sends one or more network messages to the one or more target in-room controllable device thereby causing the one or more target in-room controllable devices to carry out the command.

8 more elements

A non-transitory computer-readable medium comprising computer executable instructions that when executed by a computer cause the computer to perform steps at least comprising:

registering a software application temporarily with a pre-existing voice assistant software running on a user device in response to a first trigger and deregistering the software application from the pre-existing voice assistant software in response to a second trigger, the pre-existing voice assistant software capturing audio from a microphone of the user device and converting the audio into a text transcript utilizing a voice-to-text conversion service;
receiving by the software application the text transcript from the pre-existing voice assistant software only while the software application is registered with the pre-existing voice assistant software;
and
transmitting a message with a command corresponding to the text transcript from the software application to a room controller via a computer network in response to receiving the text transcript from the pre-existing voice assistant software;
wherein the room controller determines a particular room of a hospitality establishment with which the user device is currently associated, determines one or more target in-room controllable devices of the particular room to which the command pertains, and sends one or more network messages to the one or more target in-room controllable device thereby causing the one or more target in-room controllable devices to carry out the command.

2 more elements

Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.

Facts

Application: 15/834,961Filed 7 Dec 2017 · us provisional application
Priority: 13 Dec 2016
Published: US 2018/0167516 A114 Jun 2018
Granted: 4 Jun 2019
Term ends: Not estimatedThe source records don’t support an estimate.

Classification19 codes

H04M 11/007
Telephonic communication systems specially adapted for combination with other electrical systems: with remote control systems
G05B 19/042
Program control other than numerical control, i.e. in sequence controllers or logic controllers: using digital processors
G06F 3/16
Input arrangements for transferring data to be processed into a form capable of being handled by the computer; Output arrangements for…: sound…
G06F 3/167
Sound input; Sound output: audio in a user interface, e.g. using voice commands for navigating, audio feedback

Family

Application62/433,693Us provisional application · filed 13 Dec 2016
US 2018/0167516 A1Pre-grant publication · published 14 Jun 2018
US 10,313,531 B2This patent

From the US filing history. Foreign family members aren’t listed.

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