US 9,870,719 B1Granted

Apparatus and method for wireless sound recognition to notify users of detected sounds

OwnerGreyson Kendall Watkins, Zachary Baltzer +1inventors

InventorsGreyson Kendall Watkins, Zachary Baltzer, Nicholas Lamb

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Abstract

The described examples provide for a sound recognition and notification process and apparatus that provides a notification to a hearing impaired person via a portable device in response to the recognition of a selected sound. A processor of the sound notification apparatus is configured to compare the detected sound data to a model for recognition. If the sound data matches the model, features are extracted from the detected sound data and used by the processor to generate reference data, e.g. an updated sound model. The reference is retained in a memory of the apparatus to facilitate subsequent sound recognition without having to rely upon an external device for analysis. Recognition of a sound, based on a substantial match to stored reference data, may trigger transmission of a notification message indicating an occurrence of the corresponding sound.

Claims23

Dependent claims

An apparatus, comprising:

a housing;
a wireless transceiver configured to communicate via a first radio frequency communication protocol;
a sound detection circuit comprising a microphone and a converter coupled to the microphone, the sound detection circuit configured to:
detect sound in an area of a premises in which the apparatus is located, and
generate sound data based on the detected sound;
a memory storing programming instructions and one or more simplified sound models;
and
a processor coupled to the sound detection circuit, the wireless transceiver and the memory, the processor when executing the programming instructions is configured to:
establish a communication path with a portable device via the wireless transceiver;
identify the portable device as at least one intended recipient device to receive notifications from the apparatus when the apparatus is in a sound recognition mode;
send, via the communication path, a request to the portable device requesting selection of an exigent sound of interest to a hearing-impaired person;
upon receiving from the portable device an exigent sound selection in response to the request, retrieve a pre-stored, simplified sound model corresponding to the exigent sound selection from the memory;
receive sound data generated by the sound detection circuit in response to sound detected in the area of the premises in which the apparatus is located;
compare the generated sound data received from the sound detection circuit to the retrieved, simplified sound model corresponding to the exigent sound selection;
in response to a result of the comparison indicating that the generated sound data is similar to the simplified sound model corresponding to the exigent sound selection, extract features from the generated sound data;
store the extracted features in the memory as reference sound data for the selected exigent sound;
and
enter a sound recognition mode to monitor the area of the premises in which the apparatus is located to recognize an occurrence of an exigent sound that, based on the reference sound data, is similar to the selected exigent sound,
wherein the processor, the memory, the sound detection circuit and the wireless transceiver are coupled together within the housing.

16 more elements

A method, comprising:

establishing a communication path between a portable device and a sound notification apparatus via a wireless transceiver of the sound notification apparatus;
in response to receiving by the sound notification apparatus a selection of an exigent sound, retrieve from a memory of the sound notification apparatus a pre-stored, simplified sound model corresponding to the selected exigent sound;
receiving sound data generated by a sound detection circuit of the sound notification apparatus in response to detecting a sound in an area of a premises where the sound notification apparatus is located;
comparing by a processor of the sound notification apparatus the generated sound data to the retrieved simplified model;
in response to a result of the comparison indicating that the generated sound data is similar to the simplified model, extracting features from the generated sound data;
storing the extracted features from the generated sound data as reference sound data for the selected exigent sound in the memory;
and
entering a sound recognition mode to monitor the area of the premises to recognize a subsequent occurrence of an exigent sound that, based on the reference sound data, is similar to the selected exigent sound.

5 more elements

A sound notification apparatus, comprising:

a housing;
a wall plug coupled to the housing and configured to be inserted into an electrical outlet from which the apparatus receives electrical power;
a wireless transceiver configured to communicate via a first radio frequency communication protocol;
a sound detection circuit configured to:
detect a sound in an area in which the apparatus is receiving electrical power, and
generate sound data based on the detected sound;
a memory storing programming instructions and a set of simplified sound models;
and
a processor coupled to the sound detection circuit, the transceiver and the memory within the housing, the processor when executing the programming instructions is configured to:
establish a communication path with a portable device via the wireless transceiver to conduct a sound notification apparatus setup;
request selection of a sound of interest to a hearing-impaired person for the sound notification apparatus setup;
in response to receiving a sound selection, retrieve a simplified sound model of the selected sound from the set of simplified sound models stored in the memory, the simplified sound model having additional sound-related information including an area of a premises in which the selected sound is most probable to occur;
sample sound data of a sound detected by the sound detection circuit that exceeds a noise floor;
and
compare the sampled sound data to the retrieved simplified model of the selected sound;
in response to the comparison indicating a substantial match between the sampled sound data and the simplified model of the selected sound, extract features from the sampled sound that uniquely identify the sampled sound as the selected sound;
store the extracted features in the memory;
enter a sound recognition mode to notify an identified device of detection of the selected sound based upon data generated from a subsequent sound substantially matching the extracted features;
and
in response to detection of data generated from the subsequent sound substantially matching extracted features while in the sound recognition mode, output a notification message indicating an occurrence of the selected sound for transmission to the identified device.

17 more elements

Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.