Audio alerts in physical environments
AssigneeHewlett-Packard Company
InventorsAndrew Thomas, Stephen John Hinde, Martin Sadler
Life of this patent
Estimating the term…
Abstract
Audio alerts are provided in an environment, such as a house, concerning categorized events to be reported. Examples of the events are receipt of e-mails and voice mails. The presence of a person entering or leaving a space of the environment is detected and a processing system determines reportable event categories that have occurred. Each possible event category has a corresponding audio signature. The event categories signatures that have occurred are played either simultaneously or sequentially, within the hearing of the person detected.
Claims18
A method of providing, in a physical environment, audio alerts in respect of categorized events to be reported;
- the method comprising the steps of:
- (a) detecting, without identifying, a person crossing a boundary of a space of the environment;
- (b) no later than immediately following the detection of the person in step (a), determining what categories of events that are to be reported, have occurred, each event being categorized at least according to the person or persons to be alerted in respect thereof;
- (c) selecting from a set of predetermined audio signatures that each corresponds to a different possible category of event, the signature or signatures appropriate for the event categories determined in step (b);
- and
- (d) outputting, within the hearing of the person detected in step (a), the signatures selected in step (c).
A system for providing, in a physical environment, audio alerts in respect of categorized events to be reported;
- the apparatus comprising:
- a sensor arrangement for detecting, without identifying, a person crossing a boundary of a space of the environment;
- a processing subsystem arranged for (a) determining what categories of events that are to be reported, have occurred, each event being categorized at least according to the person or persons to be alerted in respect thereof;
- and (b) selecting from a set of predetermined audio signatures that each corresponds to a different possible category of event, the signature or signatures appropriate for the event categories determined by the first means;
- the determination being made no later than immediately following the detection of a person crossing a boundary by the sensor arrangement;
- and
- an audio output arrangement for outputting, within the hearing of the person detected by the sensor arrangement, the signatures selected by the second means of the processing subsystem either simultaneously or sequentially.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.