US 2019/0377898 A1Published application

System, device and method for enforcing privacy during a communication session with a voice assistant

AssigneeThe Toronto-Dominion Bank

InventorsMilos Dunjic, David Samuel Tax, Arthur Carroll Chow, Peter Glen Nairn, Edward James Hood, Martin Albert Lozon, John Jong-Suk Lee, Arun Victor Jagga

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Abstract

A system, device and method for enforcing privacy during a communication session with a voice assistant are disclosed. A user is authenticated via one or more first criteria in response to a request to initiate a communication session with a voice assistant. Periodically during the communication session with the voice assistant, sensor data is acquired. The sensor data is processed to determine a number of persons present in an environment of the voice assistant via one or more second criteria. The communication of private data by the voice assistant is enabled when one person is in the environment and that person is the authenticated user. The communication of private data by the voice assistant is disabled when one person is in the environment and that person is not the authenticated user. When more than one person is present in the environment of the voice assistant, the communication of private data by the voice assistant is only enabled when the environment of the voice assistant is determined to match the one or more predetermined privacy criteria for a multi-person environment.

Claims29

Dependent claims

An electronic device, comprising:

a processor;
a speaker, a plurality of sensors for sensing an environment of the electronic device, and a memory, each of the speaker, the plurality of sensors and the memory being coupled to the processor, wherein the plurality of sensors comprises one or more microphones;
a privacy module stored in the memory, the privacy module comprising executable instructions that, when executed by the processor, cause the electronic device to:
authenticate a user via one or more first criteria in response to a request to initiate a communication session with a voice assistant;
initiate the communication session with the voice assistant in response to a successful authentication of the user;
periodically during the communication session with the voice assistant:
acquire sensor data from one or more sensors of the plurality of sensors;
process the sensor data to determine a number of persons present in the environment of the electronic device via one or more second criteria;
when one person is present in the environment of the electronic device:
process the sensor data to identify the one person, determine whether the one person is the authenticated user based on whether the one person is identified as the authenticated user, enable communication of private data by the voice assistant when the one person in the environment is determined to be the authenticated user, and disable communication of private data by the voice assistant when the one person in the environment is determined not to be the authenticated user;
and
when more than one person is present in the environment of the electronic device:
process the sensor data to determine whether the environment of the electronic device matches one or more predetermined privacy criteria for a multi-person environment, enable communication of private data by the voice assistant when the environment of the electronic device is determined to match the one or more predetermined privacy criteria for the multi-person environment, and disable communication of private data by the voice assistant when the environment of the electronic device is determined not to match the one or more predetermined privacy criteria for the multi-person environment.

10 more elements

An electronic device, comprising:

a processor;
a speaker, a plurality of sensors for sensing an environment of the electronic device, a communication subsystem and a memory, each of the speaker, the plurality of sensors and the memory being coupled to the processor, wherein the plurality of sensors comprises one or more microphones;
a privacy module stored in the memory, the privacy module comprising executable instructions that, when executed by the processor, cause the electronic device to:
authenticate a user via one or more first criteria in response to a request to initiate a communication session with a voice assistant;
initiate the communication session with the voice assistant in response to a successful authentication of the user;
periodically during the communication session with the voice assistant:
acquire sensor data from one or more sensors of the plurality of sensors;
send the sensor data to a remote server to process the sensor data;
receive privacy enforcement instructions from the remote server in response to processing the sensor data;
and
apply the privacy enforcement instructions, wherein application of the privacy enforcement instructions by the voice assistant device causes the voice assistant device to:
enable communication of private data by the voice assistant when one person is present in the environment of the electronic device and the one person in the environment has been determined to be the authenticated user;
disable communication of private data by the voice assistant when one person is present in the environment of the electronic device and the one person in the environment is determined not to be the authenticated user;
enable communication of private data by the voice assistant when more than one person is present in the environment of the electronic device and the environment of the electronic device is determined to match the one or more predetermined privacy criteria for a multi-person environment;
and
disable communication of private data by the voice assistant when more than one person is present in the environment of the electronic device and the environment of the electronic device is determined not to match the one or more predetermined privacy criteria for a multi-person environment.

13 more elements

A server device, comprising:

a processor;
a communication subsystem and a memory each coupled to the processor;
a privacy module stored in the memory, the privacy module comprising executable instructions that, when executed by the processor, cause the electronic device to:
receive sensor data acquired by one or more sensors of plurality of sensors;
process the sensor data to determine a number of persons present in the environment of the electronic device via one or more second criteria;
process the sensor data to identify the one person and determine whether the one person is the authenticated user when one person is present in the environment of the electronic device;
process the sensor data to determine whether the environment of the electronic device matches one or more predetermined privacy criteria for a multi-person environment when more than one person is present in the environment of the electronic device;
generate privacy enforcement instructions in response to processing the sensor data;
and
send the privacy enforcement instructions to a voice assistant device on which the privacy enforcement instructions are to be applied, wherein application of the privacy enforcement instructions by the voice assistant device causes the voice assistant device to:
enable communication of private data by the voice assistant when one person is present in the environment of the electronic device and the one person in the environment has been determined to be the authenticated user;
disable communication of private data by the voice assistant when one person is present in the environment of the electronic device and the one person in the environment is determined not to be the authenticated user;
enable communication of private data by the voice assistant when more than one person is present in the environment of the electronic device and the environment of the electronic device is determined to match the one or more predetermined privacy criteria for a multi-person environment;
and
disable communication of private data by the voice assistant when more than one person is present in the environment of the electronic device and the environment of the electronic device is determined not to match the one or more predetermined privacy criteria for a multi-person environment.

12 more elements

Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.

Facts

Application: 16/003,691Filed 8 Jun 2018
Published: 12 Dec 2019
Term ends: Not estimatedThe source records don’t support an estimate.

Classification15 codes

H04L 63/0861
For authentication of entities: using biometrical features, e.g. fingerprint, retina-scan
G06F 21/32
User authentication: using biometric data, e.g. fingerprints, iris scans or voiceprints
G06F 21/6245
To a system of files or objects, e.g. local or distributed file system or database: protecting personal data, e.g. for financial or medical purposes
G10L 15/1822
Using natural language modelling: parsing for meaning understanding

Family

US 10,831,923 B2Related patent
US 2019/0377898 A1This patent

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

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