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US 11,606,657 B2Granted
Privacy device for smart speakers
OwnerThomas Stachurainventor
Life of this patent
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Abstract
Systems, apparatuses, and methods are described for a privacy blocking device configured to prevent receipt, by a listening device, of video and/or audio data until a trigger occurs. A blocker may be configured to prevent receipt of video and/or audio data by one or more microphones and/or one or more cameras of a listening device. The blocker may use the one or more microphones, the one or more cameras, and/or one or more second microphones and/or one or more second cameras to monitor for a trigger. The blocker may process the data. Upon detecting the trigger, the blocker may transmit data to the listening device. For example, the blocker may transmit all or a part of a spoken phrase to the listening device.
Claims28
A smart device comprising:
- at least one microphone;
- one or more processors;
- and
- blocking circuitry configured to:
- prevent receipt, by the one or more processors, of first signals generated by the at least one microphone while the blocking circuitry is in an untriggered state, wherein each communication path between the at least one microphone and the one or more processors is conducted via the blocking circuitry;
- detect, via an input of the blocking circuitry, a first trigger associated with activating the blocking circuitry;
- determine whether the first trigger originated from a user authorized to communicate with the smart device;
- based on detecting the first trigger and based on a determination that the first trigger originated from a user authorized to communicate with the smart device, temporarily enter a triggered state;
- receive, by the at least one microphone, second signals;
- filter the second signals to identify a command by removing one or more second voices from the second signals;
- convert the command into an intermediary form by detecting at least one of a syllable, a phoneme, or a linguistic segment;
- generate a synthetic representation of the command based on the intermediary form;
- and
- output, based on the blocking circuitry being in the triggered state, the synthetic representation of the command to the one or more processors.
11 more elements
A method comprising:
- preventing, by blocking circuitry, receipt, by one or more processors of a smart device, of first signals generated by at least one microphone of the smart device while the blocking circuitry is in an untriggered state, wherein each communication path between the at least one microphone and the one or more processors is conducted via the blocking circuitry;
- detecting, by the blocking circuitry and via an input of the blocking circuitry, a first trigger associated with activating the blocking circuitry, wherein the first trigger is different from a second trigger associated with activating the smart device;
- determining whether the first trigger originated from a user authorized to communicate with the smart device;
- based on detecting the first trigger and based on a determination that the first trigger originated from a user authorized to communicate with the smart device, temporarily entering, by the blocking device, a triggered state;
- receiving, by the blocking circuitry, second signals from the at least one microphone;
- filtering the second signals to identify a command by removing one or more second voices from the second signals;
- converting the command into an intermediary form by detecting at least one of a syllable, a phoneme, or a linguistic segment;
- generating a synthetic representation of the command based on the intermediary form;
- and
- outputting, based on the blocking circuitry being in the triggered state, the synthetic representation of the command to the one or more processors of the smart device.
7 more elements
Blocking circuitry configured to:
- prevent receipt, by one or more processors of a smart device, of first signals generated by at least one microphone of the smart device while the blocking circuitry is in an untriggered state, wherein each communication path between the at least one microphone and the one or more processors is conducted via the blocking circuitry;
- determine whether the first trigger originated from a user authorized to communicate with the smart device;
- detect, via an input of the blocking circuitry, a first trigger associated with activating the blocking circuitry, wherein the first trigger is different from a second trigger associated with activating the smart device;
- based on detecting the trigger and based on a determination that the first trigger originated from a user authorized to communicate with the smart device, temporarily enter a triggered state;
- receive, via the input of the blocking circuitry, second signals;
- filter the second signals to identify a command by removing one or more second voices from the second signals;
- convert the command into an intermediary form by detecting at least one of a syllable, a phoneme, or a linguistic segment;
- generate a synthetic representation of the command based on the intermediary form;
- and
- output, based on the blocking circuitry being in the triggered state, the synthetic representation of the command to the one or more processors of the smart device.
7 more elements
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.