Sensor activated power reduction in voice activated mobile platform

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-2016219524-A1
Application number	US-201514608091-A
Country	US
Kind code	A1
Filing date	Jan 28, 2015
Priority date	Jan 28, 2015
Publication date	Jul 28, 2016
Grant date	—

Abstract

A method of controlling power consumption of a voice activation system in a mobile platform includes monitoring one or more sensors of the mobile platform. Next, it is determined whether a microphone of the mobile platform is concealed or obstructed in response to the monitoring of the one or more sensors. If so, the mobile platform transitions one or more components of the voice activation system from a normal power consumption power state to a low power consumption state.

First claim

What is claimed is:

1 . A method of controlling power consumption of a voice activation system in a mobile platform, the method comprising:
monitoring one or more sensors of the mobile platform; determining concealment or obstruction of a microphone of the mobile platform in response to the monitoring of the one or more sensors; and transitioning one or more components of the voice activation system from a normal power consumption state to a low power consumption state in response to determining concealment or obstruction of the microphone.

2 . The method of claim 1 , wherein the one or more sensors includes a proximity detector, and wherein determining concealment or obstruction of the microphone includes detecting a proximity state change of the mobile platform.

3 . The method of claim 2 , wherein the one or more sensors further includes an accelerometer, and wherein determining concealment or obstruction of the microphone includes retrieving accelerometer data within a time window that includes one or more of a period of time before or a period of time after the proximity state change of the mobile platform.

4 . The method of claim 3 , wherein the mobile platform further comprises a buffer to store at least some accelerometer data, and wherein retrieving accelerometer data from the accelerometer includes retrieving accelerometer data from the buffer corresponding to a time immediately preceding the proximity state change.

5 . The method of claim 3 , wherein the proximity detector and the accelerometer are in an always-on power state to continuously collect proximity and accelerometer data.

6 . The method of claim 3 , wherein the proximity detector is in an always-on power state to continuously collect proximity data and wherein the accelerometer is configured to transition from the low power consumption state to the normal power consumption state in response to the proximity detector detecting the proximity state change.

7 . The method of claim 1 , wherein transitioning one or more components of the voice activation system to the low power consumption state includes disabling the one or more components.

8 . The method of claim 1 , wherein the one or more components includes a hardware voice detection unit, a software voice detection unit, a software keyword detection unit, or any combination thereof.

9 . The method of claim 1 , wherein one or more of the components is at a normal power state while one or more other components are transitioned to a low power consumption.

10 . The method of claim 1 , further comprising:
continuing to monitor the one or more sensors of the mobile platform after transitioning the one or more components of the voice activation system to the low power consumption state; determining whether the microphone of the mobile platform is no longer concealed or obstructed in response to the continual monitoring of the one or more sensors; and transitioning the one or more components of the voice activation system from the low power consumption state to the normal power consumption state in response to determining that the microphone is no longer concealed or obstructed.

11 . A non-transitory computer-readable medium including program code stored thereon for controlling power consumption of a voice activated system in a mobile platform, the program code comprising instructions to:
monitor one or more sensors of the mobile platform; determine concealment or obstruction of a microphone of the mobile platform in response to the monitoring of the one or more sensors; and transition one or more components of the voice activation system from a normal power consumption power state to a low power consumption state in response to determining concealment or obstruction of the microphone.

12 . The medium of claim 11 , wherein the one or more sensors includes a proximity detector, and wherein the instructions to determine concealment or obstruction of the microphone includes instructions to detect a proximity state change of the mobile platform.

13 . The medium of claim 12 , wherein the one or more sensors further includes an accelerometer, and wherein determining concealment or obstruction of the microphone includes retrieving accelerometer data within a time window that includes one or more of a period of time before or a period of time after the proximity state change of the mobile platform.

14 . The medium of claim 13 , wherein the mobile platform further comprises a buffer to store at least some accelerometer data, and wherein the instructions to retrieve accelerometer data from the accelerometer includes instructions to retrieve accelerometer data from the buffer corresponding to a time immediately preceding the proximity state change.

15 . The medium of claim 13 , wherein the proximity detector and the accelerometer are in an always-on power state to continuously collect proximity and accelerometer data.

16 . The medium of claim 13 , wherein the proximity detector is in an always-on power state to continuously collect proximity data and wherein the accelerometer is configured to transition from the low power consumption state to the normal power consumption state in response to the proximity detector detecting the proximity state change.

17 . The medium of claim 11 , wherein the instructions to transition one or more components of the voice activation system to the low power consumption state includes instructions to disable the one or more components.

18 . The medium of claim 11 , further comprising instructions to:
continue monitoring the one or more sensors of the mobile platform after transitioning the one or more components of the voice activation system to the low power consumption state; determine whether the microphone of the mobile platform is no longer concealed or obstructed in response to the continual monitoring of the one or more sensors; and transition the one or more components of the voice activation system from the low power consumption state to the normal power consumption state in response to determining that the microphone is no longer concealed or obstructed.

19 . A mobile platform, comprising:
a voice activation system coupled to the microphone to enable a user to control the mobile platform via voice commands; a sensor system including one or more sensors; memory adapted to store program code for controlling power consumption of the voice activation system; and a processing unit adapted to access and execute instructions included in the program code, wherein when the instructions are executed by the processing unit, the processing unit directs the mobile platform to:
monitor the one or more sensors of the sensor system;
determine concealment or obstruction of a microphone of the mobile platform in response to the monitoring of the one or more sensors; and
transition one or more components of the voice activation system from a normal power consumption power state to a low power consumption state in response to determining concealment or obstruction of the microphone.

20 . The mobile platform of claim 19 , wherein the one or more sensors includes a proximity detector, and wherein the instructions to direct the mobile platform to determine concealment or obstruction of the microphone includes instructions to detect a proximity state change of the mobile platform.

21 . The mobile platform of claim 20 , wherein the one or more sensors further includes an accelerometer, and wherein determining concealment o

Assignees

• Qualcomm Inc

Inventors

• Xu Qing
• Puig Carlos Manuel
• Sadasivam Shankar

Classifications

• H04W52/0251 Primary

  using monitoring of local events, e.g. events related to user activity · CPC title

• Y02D30/70

  in wireless communication networks · CPC title

• H04W52/0254

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