Remote control with presence sensor

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-10455322-B2
Application number	US-201815962478-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Apr 25, 2018
Priority date	Aug 18, 2017
Publication date	Oct 22, 2019
Grant date	Oct 22, 2019

Abstract

Disclosed herein are system, apparatus, article of manufacture, method and/or computer program product embodiments, and/or combinations and sub-combinations thereof, for controlling functions of an audio responsive electronic device based on a presence detector (e.g., a motion sensor) to improve power usage and functional performance. In some embodiments, an audio responsive electronic device operates to intelligently turn on and turn off components in response to the detected presence of a user. In some embodiments, an audio responsive electronic device operates to suppress noise from the display device (or other sources of noise), and enhance audio commands from a user (or other sources of audio commands). In some embodiments, a media device is configured to adjust a transmission pattern to an audio responsive electronic device based on user position.

First claim

What is claimed is:

1. An audio responsive electronic device, comprising:
a presence detector configured to detect a presence of a user within a threshold distance of the audio responsive electronic device;
a network interface;
a microphone; and
a processor configured to:
place the network interface and the microphone in a power on state in response to the presence detector detecting the user being in a room quadrant of a plurality of room quadrants; and
place the network interface and the microphone in a power off state in response to the presence detector detecting a lack of presence of the user for a duration of time greater than a threshold temporal value.

2. The audio responsive electronic device of claim 1 , wherein the presence detector comprises a motion sensor configured to detect a motion of the user based on an interaction of radio waves of an Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers (IEEE) 802.11 standard with the user.

3. The audio responsive electronic device of claim 1 , wherein the processor is further configured to establish a peer to peer wireless network connection using the network interface upon placing the network interface in the power on state.

4. The audio responsive electronic device of claim 1 , wherein to place the network interface and the microphone in a power off state, the processor is further configured to:
detect the lack of presence of the user via the presence detector at a current time;
determine a difference between a value associated with the current time and a value associated with a past time of a past user presence detection;
determine the difference is greater than the threshold temporal value; and
place the network interface and the microphone in a power off state in response to the difference being greater than the threshold temporal value.

5. The audio responsive electronic device of claim 2 , wherein the processor is further configured to place the network interface and the microphone in the power on state in response to the presence detector detecting the presence of the user within the threshold distance of the audio responsive electronic device.

6. The audio responsive electronic device of claim 3 , wherein the processor is further configured to transmit a keep alive message over the peer to peer wireless network connection in response the presence detector detecting the presence of the user within the threshold distance of the audio responsive electronic device.

7. The audio responsive electronic device of claim 4 , wherein the processor is further configured to output a prompt for the user to confirm placing the network interface and the microphone in a power off state in response to the difference being greater than the threshold temporal value.

8. An audio responsive electronic device, comprising:
a presence detector configured to detect a position of a user;
a microphone; and
a processor configured to:
determine the user is in a room quadrant among a plurality of room quadrants using the presence detector; and
adjust a reception pattern for the microphone based on the room quadrant.

9. The audio responsive electronic device of claim 8 , wherein the processor is further configured to:
adjust the reception pattern for the microphone based on beam forming techniques.

10. The audio responsive electronic device of claim 8 , wherein the processor is further configured to:
receive audio input using the microphone; and
perform noise cancellation on the audio input based on the room quadrant.

11. The audio responsive electronic device of claim 8 , wherein the processor is further configured to place the microphone in a power off state based on the room quadrant.

12. The audio responsive electronic device of claim 8 , further comprising an additional microphone, and wherein the processor is further configured to place the additional microphone in a power on state based on the room quadrant.

13. The audio responsive electronic device of claim 8 , wherein the processor is further configured to:
determine the user is within a threshold distance of the audio responsive electronic device using the presence detector; and
adjust the reception pattern of the microphone based on the user being within the threshold distance.

14. The audio responsive electronic device of claim 8 , wherein the processor is further configured to:
determine a position of a display device; and
adjust the reception pattern of the microphone based on the position of the display device.

15. A system, comprising:
a network;
a display device;
one or more content sources communicatively coupled to the network;
a remote control communicatively coupled to the network; and
a media device communicatively coupled to the display device and the network, comprising a presence detector, wherein the media device is configured to:
detect a position of a user using the presence detector; and
adjust a transmission pattern to the remote control based on the detected position of the user.

16. The system of claim 15 , wherein the presence detector comprises a motion detector.

17. The system of claim 15 , wherein the processor is further configured to adjust the transmission pattern to the remote control based on beam forming techniques.

18. The system of claim 15 , wherein the processor is further configured to:
determine the user is in a room quadrant among a plurality of room quadrants; and
adjust the transmission pattern to the remote control based on the room quadrant.

Assignees

• Roku Inc

Inventors

• Garner Gregory Mack
• Vassigh Ali
• Riise Soren

Classifications

• H04R3/005

  for combining the signals of two or more microphones (specially adapted for hearing aids H04R25/407) · CPC title

• H04M1/19

  Arrangements of transmitters, receivers, or complete sets to prevent eavesdropping, to attenuate local noise or to prevent undesired transmission; Mouthpieces or receivers specially adapted therefor (circuit arrangements for preventing eavesdropping H04M1/68; telephone cabinets E04H1/14) · CPC title

• H04M1/6066

  including a wireless connection · CPC title

• H04W52/0254

  detecting a user operation or a tactile contact or a motion of the device · CPC title

• G01S3/86

  with means for eliminating undesired waves, e.g. disturbing noises · CPC title