# US 10,313,531 B2 · Voice controlled room system

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- Number: US 10,313,531 B2
- Document ID: US10313531B2
- Status: Granted
- Kind: B2
- Application number: 15/834,961
- Filed: 2017-12-07
- Published: 2018-06-14
- Granted: 2019-06-04
- Earliest claimed: 2016-12-13
- Assignees: Bullhead Innovations Ltd.
- Applicants: Bullhead Innovations Ltd.
- Inventors: Peter S. Warrick
- Web page: https://patentgrep.com/patent/US10313531B2

## CPC

- H04M 11/007: {with remote control systems (remote control in general G08C)}
- G05B 19/042: using digital processors (G05B19/05 takes precedence)
- G06F 3/16: Sound input; Sound output (speech processing G10L)
- G06F 3/167: {Audio in a user interface, e.g. using voice commands for navigating, audio feedback}
- G10L 13/04: Details of speech synthesis systems, e.g. synthesiser structure or memory management
- G10L 15/26: Speech to text systems (G10L15/08 takes precedence)
- H04L 12/66: Arrangements for connecting between networks having differing types of switching systems, e.g. gateways
- H04M 11/00: Telephonic communication systems specially adapted for combination with other electrical systems
- G05B 2219/2642: Domotique, domestic, home control, automation, smart house
- G06Q 50/12: Hotels or restaurants
- H04M 11/10: with dictation recording and playback systems
- H04M 2207/203: composed of PSTN and data network, e.g. the Internet
- H04M 2242/30: Determination of the location of a subscriber
- H04M: TELEPHONIC COMMUNICATION (circuits for controlling other apparatus via a telephone cable and not involving telephone switching apparatus G08)
- G05B: CONTROL OR REGULATING SYSTEMS IN GENERAL; FUNCTIONAL ELEMENTS OF SUCH SYSTEMS; MONITORING OR TESTING ARRANGEMENTS FOR SUCH SYSTEMS OR ELEMENTS (systems for controlling or regulating non-electric variables G05D; systems for regulating electric or magnetic variables G05F; control devices or systems insofar as characterised by mechanical features only G05G)
- G06F: ELECTRIC DIGITAL DATA PROCESSING (computer systems based on specific computational models G06N)
- G10L: SPEECH ANALYSIS TECHNIQUES OR SPEECH SYNTHESIS; SPEECH RECOGNITION; SPEECH OR VOICE PROCESSING TECHNIQUES; SPEECH OR AUDIO CODING OR DECODING
- H04L: TRANSMISSION OF DIGITAL INFORMATION, e.g. TELEGRAPHIC COMMUNICATION (arrangements common to telegraphic and telephonic communication H04M)
- G06Q: INFORMATION AND COMMUNICATION TECHNOLOGY [ICT] SPECIALLY ADAPTED FOR ADMINISTRATIVE, COMMERCIAL, FINANCIAL, MANAGERIAL OR SUPERVISORY PURPOSES; SYSTEMS OR METHODS SPECIALLY ADAPTED FOR ADMINISTRATIVE, COMMERCIAL, FINANCIAL, MANAGERIAL OR SUPERVISORY PURPOSES, NOT OTHERWISE PROVIDED FOR

## 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.

## Claims

### Claim 1

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.

### Claim 2 (depends on 1)

The system of claim 1, wherein the software application temporarily registers itself with the pre-existing voice assistant software in response to the software application receiving a check-in message from a property management system (PMS) of the hospitality establishment.

### Claim 3 (depends on 1)

The system of claim 1, wherein the software application temporarily registers itself with the pre-existing voice assistant software in response to the user device successfully authenticating itself with a service of the hospitality establishment.

### Claim 4 (depends on 3)

The system of claim 3, wherein the service of the hospitality establishment is a high speed internet access (HSIA) service.

### Claim 5 (depends on 1)

The system of claim 1, wherein the software application temporarily registers itself with the pre-existing voice assistant software in response to detecting a predetermined service on the computer network.

### Claim 6 (depends on 1)

The system of claim 1, wherein the software application temporarily registers itself with the pre-existing voice assistant software in response to a global position system (GPS) chip within the user device indicating a current position of the user device matches a known position of the hospitality establishment.

### Claim 7 (depends on 1)

The system of claim 1, wherein the user device is operable to pass the message to the room controller via the computer network.

### Claim 8 (depends on 1)

The system of claim 1, wherein the user device is operable to indirectly pass the message to the room controller via a hotel app server coupled to the computer network.

### Claim 9

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.

### Claim 10 (depends on 9)

The user device of claim 9, wherein the software application temporarily registers itself with the pre-existing voice assistant software in response to the software application receiving a check-in message from a property management system (PMS) of the hospitality establishment.

### Claim 11 (depends on 9)

The user device of claim 9, wherein the software application temporarily registers itself with the pre-existing voice assistant software in response to the user device successfully authenticating itself with a service of the hospitality establishment.

### Claim 12 (depends on 11)

The user device of claim 11, wherein the service of the hospitality establishment is a high speed internet access (HSIA) service.

### Claim 13 (depends on 9)

The user device of claim 9, wherein the software application temporarily registers itself with the pre-existing voice assistant software in response to detecting a predetermined service on the computer network.

### Claim 14 (depends on 9)

The user device of claim 9, wherein the software application temporarily registers itself with the pre-existing voice assistant software in response to a global position system (GPS) chip within the user device indicating a current position of the user device matches a known position of the hospitality establishment.

### Claim 15

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.

### Claim 16 (depends on 15)

The non-transitory computer-readable medium of claim 15, wherein the computer executable instructions further cause the computer to temporarily register the software application with the pre-existing voice assistant software in response to the software application receiving a check-in message from a property management system (PMS) of the hospitality establishment.

### Claim 17 (depends on 15)

The non-transitory computer-readable medium of claim 15, wherein the computer executable instructions further cause the computer to temporarily register the software application with the pre-existing voice assistant software in response to the user device successfully authenticating itself with a service of the hospitality establishment.

### Claim 18 (depends on 17)

The non-transitory computer-readable medium of claim 17, wherein the service of the hospitality establishment is a high speed internet access (HSIA) service.

### Claim 19 (depends on 15)

The non-transitory computer-readable medium of claim 15, wherein the computer executable instructions further cause the computer to temporarily register the software application with the pre-existing voice assistant software in response to detecting a predetermined service on the computer network.

### Claim 20 (depends on 15)

The non-transitory computer-readable medium of claim 15, wherein the computer executable instructions further cause the computer to temporarily register the software application with the pre-existing voice assistant software in response to a global position system (GPS) chip within the user device indicating a current position of the user device matches a known position of the hospitality establishment.