US 2019/0295555 A1Published application

Playback Device Supporting Concurrent Voice Assistant Services

AssigneeSonos, Inc.

InventorDayn Wilberding

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Abstract

Disclosed herein are example techniques to support multiple voice assistant services. An example implementation may involve a playback device continuously capturing, via the at least one microphone, audio into one or more buffers and analyzing the captured audio using a first wake-word detection algorithm and a second wake-word detection algorithm. When one of the first wake-word detection algorithm or the second wake-word detection algorithm detects, in the captured audio, a wake-word corresponding to a particular voice assistant service of (a) the first voice assistant service or (b) the second voice assistant service, the playback device transmits the captured audio to one or more servers associated with the particular voice assistant service. After transmitting the captured audio, the playback device receives, via the network interface, at least one instruction based on the captured audio; and performs one or more actions based on the at least one instruction.

Claims20

Dependent claims

A playback device comprising:

one or more amplifiers configured to drive one or more speakers;
at least one microphone;
a network interface;
one or more processors;
and
data storage having stored therein instructions executable by the one or more processors to cause the playback device to perform a method comprising:
registering the playback device with a first voice assistant service;
after registering the playback device with the first voice assistant service, receiving from a computing device, an instruction to register the playback device with a second voice assistant service;
after receiving the instruction to register the playback device with the second voice assistant service, registering the playback device with the second voice assistant service such that the playback device is concurrently registered to the first and second voice assistant services;
continuously capturing, via the at least one microphone, audio into one or more buffers;
analyzing the captured audio using a first wake-word detection algorithm and a second wake-word detection algorithm, wherein the first wake-word detection algorithm corresponds to a first wake word associated with the first voice assistant service, and wherein the second wake-word detection algorithm corresponds to a second wake word associated with the second voice assistant service;
when one of the first wake-word detection algorithm and the second wake-word detection algorithm detects, in the captured audio, a wake word corresponding to a particular voice assistant service of (a) the first voice assistant service or (b) the second voice assistant service, transmitting the captured audio to one or more servers associated with the particular voice assistant service;
after transmitting the captured audio, receiving, via the network interface, at least one instruction based on the captured audio;
and
after receiving the at least one instruction, performing one or more actions based on the at least one instruction.

12 more elements

A method to be performed by a playback device comprising a network interface, at least one microphone, and one or more amplifiers configured to drive one or more speakers, the method comprising:

registering the playback device with a first voice assistant service;
after registering the playback device with the first voice assistant service, receiving from a computing device an instruction to register the playback device with a second voice assistant service;
after receiving the instruction to register the playback device with the second voice assistant service, registering the playback device with the second voice assistant service such that the playback device is concurrently registered to the first and second voice assistant services;
continuously capturing, via the at least one microphone, audio into one or more buffers;
analyzing the captured audio using a first wake-word detection algorithm and a second wake-word detection algorithm, wherein the first wake-word detection algorithm corresponds to a first wake word associated with the first voice assistant service, and wherein the second wake-word detection algorithm corresponds to a second wake word associated with the second voice assistant service;
when one of the first wake-word detection algorithm and the second wake-word detection algorithm detects, in the captured audio, a wake word corresponding to a particular voice assistant service of (a) the first voice assistant service or (b) the second voice assistant service, transmitting the captured audio to one or more servers associated with the particular voice assistant service;
after transmitting the captured audio, receiving, via the network interface, at least one instruction based on the captured audio;
and
after receiving the at least one instruction, performing one or more actions based on the at least one instruction.

6 more elements

A non-transitory computer-readable medium having instructions stored thereon that are executable by one or more processors to cause a playback device to perform a method, the playback device comprising a network interface, at least one microphone, and one or more amplifiers configured to drive one or more speakers, the method comprising:

registering the playback device with a first voice assistant service;
after registering the playback device with the first voice assistant service, receiving from a computing device an instruction to register the playback device with a second voice assistant service;
after receiving the instruction to register the playback device with the second voice assistant service, registering the playback device with the second voice assistant service such that the playback device is concurrently registered to the first and second voice assistant services;
continuously capturing, via the at least one microphone, audio into one or more buffers;
analyzing the captured audio using a first wake-word detection algorithm and a second wake-word detection algorithm, wherein the first wake-word detection algorithm corresponds to a first wake word associated with the first voice assistant service, and wherein the second wake-word detection algorithm corresponds to a second wake word associated with the second voice assistant service;
when one of the first wake-word detection algorithm and the second wake-word detection algorithm detects, in the captured audio, a wake word corresponding to a particular voice assistant service of (a) the first voice assistant service or (b) the second voice assistant service, transmitting the captured audio to one or more servers associated with the particular voice assistant service;
after transmitting the captured audio, receiving, via the network interface, at least one instruction based on the captured audio;
and
after receiving the at least one instruction, performing one or more actions based on the at least one instruction.

6 more elements

Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.

Facts

Application: 16/437,437Filed 11 Jun 2019
Priority: 5 Aug 2016
Published: 26 Sep 2019
Term ends: Not estimatedThe source records don’t support an estimate.

Classification11 codes

G06F 3/167
Sound input; Sound output: audio in a user interface, e.g. using voice commands for navigating, audio feedback
H05B 47/165
Controlling the light source: following a pre-assigned programmed sequence; Logic control [LC]
G10L 15/22
Speech recognition: procedures used during a speech recognition process, e.g. man-machine dialogue
G10L 15/30
Constructional details of speech recognition systems: distributed recognition, e.g. in client-server systems, for mobile phones or network…

Family

Application15/229,868Continuation · filed 5 Aug 2016
Application16/173,797Continuation · filed 29 Oct 2018
Application16/437,437Continuation
US 10,115,400 B2Related patent
US 10,354,658 B2Related patent
US 10,565,998 B2Related patent
US 2018/0040324 A1Published application
US 2019/0074014 A1Published application
US 2019/0295555 A1This patent

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

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