# US 11,308,950 B2 · Personal location system for virtual assistant > Agents: this data is available as JSON from the patentgrep API and MCP server — see https://patentgrep.com/llms.txt - Number: US 11,308,950 B2 - Document ID: US11308950B2 - Status: Granted - Kind: B2 - Application number: 16/406,227 - Filed: 2019-05-08 - Published: 2019-11-14 - Granted: 2022-04-19 - Earliest claimed: 2018-05-09 - Assignees: 4PLAN Corporation - Applicants: 4PLAN Corporation - Inventors: Parminder Mann; Gerard Rizkallah; Firass Badaruzzaman - Web page: https://patentgrep.com/patent/US11308950B2 ## CPC - G10L 15/22: Procedures used during a speech recognition process, e.g. man-machine dialogue - H04L 67/12: specially adapted for proprietary or special-purpose networking environments, e.g. medical networks, sensor networks, networks in vehicles or remote metering networks - G10L 15/30: Distributed recognition, e.g. in client-server systems, for mobile phones or network applications - H04L 67/10: in which an application is distributed across nodes in the network (software deployment G06F8/60; multiprogramming arrangements G06F9/46) - H04L 67/52: specially adapted for the location of the user terminal - H04W 4/02: Services making use of location information - H04W 4/029: Location-based management or tracking services - 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) - H04W: WIRELESS COMMUNICATION NETWORKS (broadcast communication H04H; communication systems using wireless links for non-selective communication, e.g. wireless extensions H04M1/72) ## Abstract A beacon system is used to monitor the location and identity of individuals using stationary sniffers and to provide that information to a virtual assistant for improved functionality and better context derived from location with respect to standard virtual assistant queries. The system provides a heuristic mapping process providing increasingly precise mapping of the individual with minimal consumer input. ## Claims ### Claim 1 A virtual assistant system comprising: a virtual assistant at a first stationary location providing audio communication in a room with a user in the room through a microphone and a speaker and communicating over an Internet with a remote server to receive requests for information from the user and to communicate with the remote server to provide responsive information to the user through the speaker: a sensor system for identifying a second location of the user, the second location of the user is independent of the first stationary location of the virtual assistant, and identifying an identity of the user within the room and providing identity information and location information to the virtual assistant wherein the sensor system includes (a) at least one sniffer at a fixed location within the room and having a transceiver adapted to receive dynamic signals indicating a location of the user as the user moves within the room and (b) a wearable beacon adapted to be carried by the user delivering the dynamic signals measurable by the at least one sniffer to deduce the location information; whereby the virtual assistant uses each of the identity information and the location information together with the requests for information to respond to user requests; wherein the sensor system generates a mapping of the room with based on a history of the location information of the user over time as the user moves around the room and based on the at least one sniffer receiving the dynamic signals from the wearable beacon worn by the user to provide floorplan information of the room to the virtual assistant. ### Claim 2 (depends on 1) The system of claim 1 wherein the sensor system includes at least one central interface, wherein the central interface has a processor communicating with the at least one sniffer and the virtual assistant and a memory communicating with the processor and holding a program executable by the processor to identify the location of the user based on the signals and to provide the location to the virtual assistant. ### Claim 3 (depends on 2) The system of claim 2 wherein the at least one sniffer includes at least one sensor selected from a microphone, a light sensor, a passive infrared sensor, an active infrared sensor, and an environmental sensor detecting at least one of a temperature, barometric pressure, air quality and humidity. ### Claim 4 (depends on 3) The system of claim 3 wherein the program executable by the processor identifies the location of the user based on a change in at least one of a temperature, barometric pressure, air quality and humidity from the sensor of the at least one sniffer. ### Claim 5 (depends on 3) The system of claim 3 wherein the program executable by the processor identifies the location of the user based on voice signals from the microphone of the at least one sniffer. ### Claim 6 (depends on 1) The system of claim 1 wherein the at least one sniffer includes an identification indicating a location of each sniffer and recognizable by the virtual assistant. ### Claim 7 (depends on 1) The system of claim 1 wherein the beacon transmits an identification signal to the sniffers indicating the identity of the user or object carrying the beacon and recognizable by the virtual assistant. ### Claim 8 (depends on 1) The system of claim 1 wherein the signal is a Bluetooth signal. ### Claim 9 (depends on 1) The system of claim 1 wherein the beacon further includes at least one of an accelerometer and a gyroscope wherein the sensor system identifies the location of the beacon by inertial guidance using signals of the at least one accelerometer and gyroscope. ### Claim 10 (depends on 1) The system of claim 1 wherein the beacon further includes an environmental sensor detecting at least one of a temperature, barometric pressure, air quality, and humidity wherein the sensor system identifies the location of the beacon using predictive algorithms based on a change in at least one of a temperature, barometric pressure, air quality and humidity. ### Claim 11 (depends on 1) The system of claim 1 wherein the at least one sniffer are positioned in an electrical switch or outlet plates and connectable to a local electrical power line. ### Claim 12 (depends on 1) The system of claim 1 wherein the at least one sniffer is one sniffer and the location information of the user is deduced by the one sniffer only. ### Claim 13 (depends on 1) The system of claim 1 wherein the dynamic signals are powered by a long life battery carried by the user. ### Claim 14 A method of using a virtual assistant at a first stationary location comprising: using a sensor system at a second location of a user independent of the first stationary location of the virtual assistant to locate the user within a room and to provide information to the virtual assistant about an identity of the user and a location of the user within the room wherein the sensor system includes (a) at least one sniffer fixed in location with respect to the room and having a transceiver adapted to receive dynamic signals indicating the location of the user as the user moves within the room and (b) a wearable beacon adapted to be carried by the user delivering the dynamic signals measurable by the at least one sniffer to deduce location information wherein the dynamic signals are of a predetermined signal strength measurable by the at least one sniffer to deduce distance; generating a mapping of the room based on a history of location information of the user over time as the user moves around the room and based on the at least one sniffer receiving the dynamic signals from the wearable beacon worn by the user to provide floorplan information of the room to the virtual assistant; receiving a request for information by the user through the microphone of the virtual assistant; combining the request for information by the user with the mapping of the room to create an augmented request for information; and responding to the augmented request for information by the virtual assistant. ### Claim 15 (depends on 14) The method of claim 14 further comprising: receiving by the virtual assistant a request as to the location of the user or an object within the area by the user through the microphone of the virtual assistant; responding to the request for information by the virtual assistant. ### Claim 16 (depends on 14) The method of claim 14 further comprising providing automatic alerts by the virtual assistant based on trigger events combining location information and identity information from the sensor system. ### Claim 17 A mapping system adapted to communicate with a virtual assistant at a first stationary location providing audio communication in a room with a user through a microphone and a speaker and communicate over an Internet with a remote server to receive requests for information from the user and to communicate with the remote server to provide responsive information to the user through the speaker comprising: a sensor system for identifying a second location of the user independent of the first stationary location of the virtual assistant and identity of the user within the room and providing identity information and location information to the virtual assistant and providing a layout of obstacles and walls of the room based on a history of locations of the user within the room over time as the user moves around the room and based on the at least one sniffer receiving the dynamic signals from the wearable beacon worn by the user to provide floorplan information of the room to the virtual assistant, including at least one sniffer at a fixed location within the room and having a transceiver adapted to receive signals indicating the identity of the user and location of the user recognizable by the virtual assistant and wherein the at least one sniffer includes an identification indicating a location of each sniffer recognizable by the virtual assistant; and a central interface having a processor communicating with the transceiver and the virtual assistant and a memory communicating with the processor and holding a program executable by the processor to identify the identity of the user and the location of the user based on the signals and to provide the identity information and location information to the virtual assistant whereby the virtual assistant uses each of the identity information and location information together with the requests through the microphone to respond to user queries.