VAS toggle based on device orientation

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-12374333-B2
Application number	US-202318398489-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Dec 28, 2023
Priority date	Oct 22, 2019
Publication date	Jul 29, 2025
Grant date	Jul 29, 2025

Abstract

As noted above, example techniques relate to toggling a cloud-based VAS between enabled and disabled modes. An example implementation involves a NMD detecting that the housing is in a first orientation and enabling a first mode. Enabling the first mode includes disabling voice input processing via a cloud-based VAS and enabling local voice input processing. In the first mode, the NMD captures sound data associated with a first voice input and detects, via a local natural language unit, that the first voice input comprises sound data matching one or more keywords. The NMD determines an intent of the first voice input and performs a first command according to the determined intent. The NMD may detect that the housing is in a second orientation and enables the second mode. Enabling the second mode includes enabling voice input processing via the cloud-based VAS.

First claim

The invention claimed is:

1. A network microphone device (NMD) comprising:
at least one physical control;
one or more microphones;
a network interface;
at least one processor;
a housing carrying the at least one physical control, the one or more microphones, the network interface, and the at least one processor, and
at least one non-transitory computer-readable medium comprising program instructions that are executable by the at least one processor such that the NMD is configured to:
according to a first input to the at least one physical control, enable a first mode, wherein the instructions that are executable by the at least one processor such that the NMD is configured to enable the first mode comprise instructions that are executable by the at least one processor such that the NMD is configured to: (a) disable voice input processing via a cloud-based voice assistant service and (b) enable voice input processing via a local natural language unit;
while the first mode is enabled: (i) capture sound data associated with a first voice input via the one or more microphones and (ii) detect, via the local natural language unit, that the first voice input comprises sound data matching one or more keywords from a local natural language unit library of the local natural language unit;
determine, via the local natural language unit, an intent of the first voice input based on at least one of the one or more keywords;
perform a first command according to the determined intent of the first voice input; and
according to a second input to the at least one physical control, enable a second mode, wherein the instructions that are executable by the at least one processor such that the NMD is configured to enable the second mode comprise instructions that are executable by the at least one processor such that the NMD is configured to: (a) enable voice input processing via the cloud-based voice assistant service and (b) enable voice input processing via the local natural language unit.

2. The network microphone device of claim 1 , wherein the at least one non-transitory computer-readable medium further comprises program instructions that are executable by the at least one processor such that the NMD is configured to:
while the second mode is enabled, (i) capture additional sound data associated with a second voice input via the one or more microphones; (ii) detect a wake-word in the additional sound data; and (iii) after detection of the wake-word, send at least a portion of the additional sound data to one or more remote computing devices of the cloud-based voice assistant service for processing of the second voice input.

3. The network microphone device of claim 2 , wherein the at least one non-transitory computer-readable medium further comprises program instructions that are executable by the at least one processor such that the NMD is configured to:
while the second mode is enabled: (i) capture further sound data associated with a third voice input via the one or more microphones and (ii) detect, via the local natural language unit, that the third voice input comprises sound data matching one or more keywords from the local natural language unit library of the local natural language unit;
determine that the local natural language unit is unable to process the third voice input; and
based on the determination that the local natural language unit is unable to process the third voice input, send at least a portion of the further sound data to the one or more remote computing devices of the cloud-based voice assistant service for processing of the third voice input.

4. The network microphone device of claim 1 , wherein the at least one physical control comprises a physical toggle control, and wherein the physical toggle control is selectable to toggle between the first mode and the second mode.

5. The network microphone device of claim 1 , wherein the at least one physical control comprises one or more orientation sensors carried in the housing, wherein a first orientation of the housing corresponds to the first mode and a second orientation of the housing corresponds to the second mode; and wherein the at least one non-transitory computer-readable medium further comprises program instructions that are executable by the at least one processor such that the NMD is configured to:
receive, via the one or more orientation sensors, sensor data representing orientation of the housing;
detect, via the sensor data, a re-orientation of the housing from the second orientation to the second orientation, wherein the re-orientation of the housing from the second orientation to the first orientation corresponds to the first input; and
detect, via the sensor data, a re-orientation of the housing from the first orientation to the first orientation, wherein the re-orientation of the housing from the first orientation to the second orientation corresponds to the second input.

6. The network microphone device of claim 5 , wherein the one or more microphones comprise at least one first microphone carried by the housing and at least one second microphone carried by the housing, and wherein the at least one non-transitory computer-readable medium further comprises program instructions that are executable by the at least one processor such that the NMD is configured to:
disable the at least one second microphone while in the first mode.

7. The network microphone device of claim 6 , wherein the housing comprises a first end and a second end, and wherein the at least one first microphone is carried by the housing on the first end and the at least one second microphone is carried by the housing on the second end.

8. The network microphone device of claim 1 , wherein the network microphone device is paired to a network smart device, and wherein the program instructions that are executable by the at least one processor such that the NMD is configured to perform the first command comprise program instructions that are executable by the at least one processor such that the NMD is configured to:
transmit, via the network interface over a local area network, an instruction to the network smart device.

9. The network microphone device of claim 8 , wherein the network smart device comprises a smart illumination device, and wherein the first command comprises a command to toggle an illumination state of the smart illumination device.

10. At least one non-transitory computer-readable medium comprising program instructions that are executable by at least one processor such that a network microphone device (NMD) is configured to:
according to a first input to at least one physical control of the NMD, enable a first mode, wherein the instructions that are executable by the at least one processor such that the NMD is configured to enable the first mode comprise instructions that are executable by the at least one processor such that the NMD is configured to: (a) disable voice input processing via a cloud-based voice assistant service and (b) enable voice input processing via a local natural language unit, wherein the NMD comprises one or more microphones, a network interface; the at least one processor, and a housing carrying the at least one physical control, the one or more microphones, the network interface, and the at least one processor;
while the first mode is enabled: (i) capture sound data associated with a first voice input via the one or more microphones and (ii) detect, via the local natural language unit, that the first voice input comprises sound data matching one or more keywords from a local natural language unit library of the local natural language unit;
determine, via the local natural language unit, an intent of the first voice input

Assignees

• Sonos Inc

Inventors

• Schillmoeller Fiede
• Smith Connor

Classifications

• G10L17/22

  Interactive procedures; Man-machine interfaces · CPC title

• G10L15/26

  Speech to text systems (G10L15/08 takes precedence) · CPC title

• G10L15/1822

  Parsing for meaning understanding · CPC title

• G10L15/1815

  Semantic context, e.g. disambiguation of the recognition hypotheses based on word meaning · CPC title

• G06F3/167

  Audio in a user interface, e.g. using voice commands for navigating, audio feedback · CPC title