Smart home device providing intuitive illumination-based status signaling

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-10032343-B2
Application number	US-201715438076-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Feb 21, 2017
Priority date	Oct 7, 2013
Publication date	Jul 24, 2018
Grant date	Jul 24, 2018

Abstract

Various methods and systems for smart home devices are presented. Such smart home devices may include one or more environmental sensors that are configured to detect the presence of one or more environmental conditions. Such smart home devices may include a light comprising a plurality of lighting elements. Such a light may be configured to illuminate using a plurality of colors and, possibly, a plurality of animation patterns. Such smart home devices may include a processing system configured to cause the light to illuminate using the plurality of colors and the plurality of animation patterns in response to a plurality of states of the smart home device.

First claim

What is claimed is:

1. A smart home device, comprising:
a case, the case having an interior and an exterior surface, wherein the interior of the case houses components of the smart home device;
a user input component;
one or more environmental sensors housed in the interior of the case, wherein the one or more environmental sensors detect the presence of one or more types of environmental conditions;
a light that emits light, the light comprising a plurality of lighting elements, wherein:
the light is capable of illuminating in a plurality of colors and in a plurality of animation patterns; and
the light and the case are arranged such that light emitted by the light is emitted around an edge of the user input component and reflects off the exterior surface of the case into an ambient environment of the smart home device; and

a processing system in communication with the one or more environmental sensors and the light, the processing system comprising at least one processor that is configured to:
determine a state of the smart home device; and
cause the light to illuminate using at least one color of the plurality of colors and an animation pattern of the plurality of animation patterns in response to the determined state of the smart home device.

2. The smart home device of claim 1 , wherein when each of the plurality of lighting elements are illuminated, light output by the light creates a continuous ring of light reflected off of the exterior surface of the case.

3. The smart home device of claim 1 , further comprising a presence sensor wherein the processing system is in communication with the presence sensor and the processing system is further configured to:
receive information indicative of a user presence from the presence sensor while causing the light to illuminate using the at least one color and the animation pattern; and
alter the animation pattern used to illuminate the light in response to receiving the information indicative of the user presence.

4. The smart home device of claim 1 , further comprising a microphone wherein the processing system is in communication with the microphone and the processing system is further configured to:
receive audio data from the microphone while causing the light to illuminate using at least one color; and
modulate illumination of the light based on the received audio data from the microphone.

5. The smart home device of claim 4 , wherein the processing system being configured to modulate illumination of the light based on the received audio data from the microphone comprises the processing system being configured to module illumination of the light based on a volume of a user's voice received by the microphone.

6. The smart home device of claim 1 , wherein the processing system is further configured to:
access a stored lookup table that relates a plurality of states to the plurality of colors and the plurality of animation patterns; and
identify the at least one color associated with the determined state and the animation pattern associated with the determined state.

7. The smart home device of claim 1 , wherein the plurality of animation patterns comprise:
a rotating animation in which lighting elements of the plurality of lighting elements are sequentially increased and decreased in brightness; and
a shimmer animation in which light elements of the plurality of lighting elements are cycled through a hue range pattern.

8. The smart home device of claim 1 , wherein the light comprises:
a light ring that receives and disperses light generated by the plurality of lighting elements.

9. The smart home device of claim 1 , further comprising a passive infrared (PIR) detector, wherein the PIR detector is configured to sense infrared light through a user input component of the smart home device that functions as a lens.

10. A method for illuminating a light of a smart home device, the method comprising:
determining, by the smart home device, a state of the smart home device based at least in part on measurements from one or more environmental sensors;
accessing, by the smart home device, a stored lookup table that relates a plurality of states of the smart home device to: 1) a plurality of colors, and 2) a plurality of animations;
identifying, by the smart home device, using the stored lookup table, at least one color associated with the determined state and an animation pattern associated with the determined state; and
causing, by the smart home device, the light of the smart home device to illuminate using the identified at least one color and the identified animation pattern, wherein light emitted by the light is emitted around a user input component and reflects off an exterior surface of a case of the smart home device into an ambient environment of the smart home device.

11. The method for illuminating the light of the smart home device of claim 10 , wherein causing the light of the smart home device to illuminate comprises:
encircling the user input component with light output by the light using the identified at least one color and the identified animation pattern.

12. The method for illuminating the light of the smart home device of claim 10 , wherein causing the light of the smart home device to illuminate comprises:
causing a continuous ring of light to reflect off the exterior surface of the case.

13. The method for illuminating the light of the smart home device of claim 10 , further comprising:
obtaining, by the smart home device, information indicative of a user presence while causing the light to illuminate using the at least one color and the animation pattern; and
setting, by the smart home device, the identified animation pattern used to illuminate the light based on receiving the information indicative of the user presence.

14. The method for illuminating the light of the smart home device of claim 10 , further comprising:
capturing, by the smart home device, audio data while causing the light to illuminate using the at least one color and the animation pattern; and
modulating, by the smart home device, illumination of the light based on the captured audio data.

15. The method for illuminating the light of the smart home device of claim 10 , wherein causing the light to illuminate comprises:
causing the light to illuminate using a rotating animation, wherein the rotating animation comprises illuminating a plurality of lighting elements of the light sequentially.

Assignees

• Google Llc

Inventors

• Boyd Jeffrey A
• Simister James B
• Mittleman Adam D
• Filson John B
• Bould Fred
• Sloo David
• Boettcher Jesse W
• Fadell Anthony M
• Rogers Matthew L

Classifications

• H05B45/20

  Controlling the colour of the light · CPC title

• H05B47/19

  via wireless transmission · CPC title

• H05B47/11

  by determining the brightness or colour temperature of ambient light · CPC title

• G01N27/121

  for determining moisture content, e.g. humidity, of the fluid (moisture content of the tested material G01N27/048) · CPC title

• G08B17/10

  Actuation by presence of smoke or gases {, e.g. automatic alarm devices for analysing flowing fluid materials by the use of optical means} · CPC title