IP Library › Granted Patent US 10,536,286
Granted Patent B1
US 10,536,286 · App. 15/840,960 · Granted Jan 14, 2020

Network conference management and arbitration via voice-capturing devices

Inventors: Jonathan Alan Leblang (Menlo Park, CA); Milo Oostergo (Issaquah, WA); James L. Ford (Bellevue, WA); Kevin Crews (Seattle, WA)
Assignee: Amazon Technologies, Inc.
H04L12/1822G10L15/22G10L25/21H04L12/1818H04L67/306H04M3/563H04W40/244G10L13/00G10L15/1815G10L2015/223H04M2242/30
View Patent ↗
Loading inventors, assignments & file history…
Monitor This Case
Get email alerts when status or documents change.
Order Certified Copies
Most orders are placed with the USPTO same day — all within 24 business hours.
Order via The Patent Place →
Pre-filled with this patent's details
Quick Facts
Patent No.
US 10,536,286
App. No.
15/840,960
Filed
Dec 13, 2017
Granted
Jan 14, 2020
Kind
B1
Art Unit
2461
USPC
370/260
Abstract

Systems and methods are provided for managing a conference call with multiple voice-enabled and voice-capturing devices, such as smart speakers. Reproduced, duplicate voice commands can cause unexpected results in a conference call. The voice commands can be determined to be received from the same conference call. A voice command for a particular voice-enabled device can be selected based on an energy level of an audio signal, event data, time data, and/or user identification.

Claims (70)

1. A system for managing a conference call, the system comprising:

an electronic data store; and

one or more computer hardware processors in communication with the electronic data store, the one or more computer hardware processors configured to execute computer-executable instructions to at least:

poll a plurality of active conference calls a first time, wherein to poll the first time, the one or more computer hardware processors are further configured to:

identify a first voice-enabled device connected to a conference call session;

generate a group of voice-enabled devices from the first voice-enabled device;

poll the plurality of active conference calls a second time, wherein to poll the second time, the one or more computer hardware processors are further configured to:

identify a plurality of voice-enabled devices connected to the conference call session, wherein each of the voice-enabled devices are in different rooms, and wherein voice input from a conference call participant is received by the first voice-enabled device and a second voice-enabled device of the voice-enabled devices;

generate an updated group of voice-enabled devices from the plurality of voice-enabled devices;

identify a voice command received by the first voice-enabled device;

determine, using the updated group, that the second voice-enabled device also received the voice command within a threshold period of time of receipt of the voice command by the first voice-enabled device;

determine that the voice command corresponds to a command to disconnect a voice-enabled device from the conference call session;

select the first voice-enabled device, from the plurality of voice-enabled devices, based on a first energy level for the voice command from the first voice-enabled device and a second energy level for the voice command from the second voice-enabled device; and

execute the voice command, wherein execution of the first voice command causes the first voice-enabled device to disconnect from the conference call session.

2. The system of claim 1 , wherein selecting the first voice-enabled device further comprises determining that the first energy level is higher than the second energy level.

3. The system of claim 1 , wherein selecting the first voice-enabled device further comprises:

determining that the first energy level corresponds to an energy level band; and

determining that the second energy level does not correspond to the energy level band.

4. The system of claim 1 , wherein the one or more computer hardware processors are further configured to:

identify a third voice-enabled device connected to the conference call session; and

add the third voice-enabled device to the plurality of voice-enabled devices.

5. The system of claim 4 , wherein the third voice-enabled device connects to the conference call session after the first voice-enabled device and the second voice-enabled device connected to the conference call session.

6. The system of claim 1 , wherein a first room comprises the first voice-enabled device, and wherein a second room comprises the second voice-enabled device and a speaker device separate from the second voice-enabled device, and wherein the second voice-enabled device is configured to generate an audio signal of the voice input in response to receiving a sound wave emitted from the speaker device, and wherein the sound wave is a reproduction of the voice input of the conference call participant in the first room.

7. A computer-implemented method comprising:

polling a plurality of active conference calls a first time, wherein polling the first time comprises:

identifying a first voice-enabled device connected to a conference call session;

generating a list of voice-enabled devices comprising the first voice-enabled device;

polling the plurality of active conference calls a second time, wherein polling the second time comprises:

identifying a plurality of voice-enabled devices connected to the conference call session, wherein voice input from a conference call participant is received by the first voice-enabled device and a second voice-enabled device of the voice-enabled devices;

generating an updated list of voice-enabled devices from the plurality of voice-enabled devices;

identifying a voice command from the first voice-enabled device;

determining, using the updated list, that the second voice-enabled device also received the voice command;

selecting the first voice-enabled device, from the voice-enabled devices, based on a first energy level for the voice command from the first voice-enabled device and a second energy level for the voice command from the second voice-enabled device; and

executing the voice command for the first voice-enabled device instead of the second voice-enabled device.

8. The computer-implemented method of claim 7 , wherein determining that the second voice-enabled device received the voice command further comprises determining receipt of the voice command by the second voice-enabled device occurred within a threshold period of time from receipt of the voice command by the first voice-enabled device.

9. The computer-implemented method of claim 7 , further comprising:

identifying a third voice-enabled device connected to the conference call session; and

adding a third voice-enabled device to the updated list of voice-enabled devices.

10. The computer-implemented method of claim 9 , wherein the third voice-enabled device connects to the conference call session after the first voice-enabled device and the second voice-enabled device connected to the conference call session.

11. The computer-implemented method of claim 9 , wherein determining that the second voice-enabled device of the voice-enabled devices received the voice command further comprises:

monitoring audio signals received from a plurality of voice-enabled devices for an audio signal from a voice-enabled device from the updated list of voice-enabled devices connected to the conference call session.

12. The computer-implemented method of claim 7 , further comprising:

determining the plurality of active conference calls, wherein determining the plurality of active conference calls further comprises requesting information from a conference call system.

13. The computer-implemented method of claim 7 , wherein the updated list comprises a data structure comprising a plurality of voice-enabled device identifiers, wherein each device identifier from the plurality of voice-enabled device identifiers corresponds to a voice-enabled device of the voice-enabled devices, the method further comprising:

storing the list in an electronic data store.

14. A system comprising:

an electronic data store; and

one or more computer hardware processors in communication with the electronic data store, the one or more computer hardware processors configured to execute computer-executable instructions to at least:

poll a plurality of active conference calls a first time, wherein to poll the first time, the one or more computer hardware processors are further configured to:

identify a first voice-enabled device connected to a conference call session;

generate a list of voice-enabled devices from the first voice-enabled device;

poll the plurality of active conference calls a second time, wherein to poll the second time, the one or more computer hardware processors are further configured to:

identify a plurality of voice-enabled devices connected to the conference call session, wherein voice input from a conference call participant is received by the first voice-enabled device and a second voice-enabled device of the voice-enabled devices;

generate an updated list of voice-enabled devices from the plurality of voice-enabled devices;

identify a voice command from the first voice-enabled device;

determine, using the updated list, that the second voice-enabled device also received the voice command;

select the first voice-enabled device, from the voice-enabled devices, based on a first energy level for the voice command from the first voice-enabled device and a second energy level for the voice command from the second voice-enabled device; and

execute the voice command for the first voice-enabled device instead of the second voice-enabled device.

15. The system of claim 14 , wherein selecting the first voice-enabled device further comprises:

determining that the first energy level is within an energy level band; and

determining that the second energy level band is not within the energy level band.

16. The system of claim 14 , wherein the one or more computer hardware processors are further configured to:

determine that the first voice-enabled device disconnected from the conference call session; and

remove the first voice-enabled device from the updated list of voice-enabled devices.

17. The system of claim 14 , wherein the updated list of voice-enabled devices is based on a list of phone numbers that are connected to the conference call session, a list of device identifiers for voice-enabled devices that are connected to the conference call session, or a list of account identifiers for voice-enabled devices that are connected to the conference call session.

18. The system of claim 14 , wherein the first voice-enabled device is located in a room with a speaker device separate from the first voice-enabled device, and wherein audio for the conference call session is provided in the room by the speaker device.

19. The system of claim 14 , wherein the computer hardware processor is further configured to:

receive a first audio signal from the first voice-enabled device, wherein identifying the first voice command for the first voice-enabled device further comprises:

performing automatic speech recognition on the first audio signal.

20. The system of claim 14 , wherein the one or more computer hardware processors are remotely located from the first voice-enabled device and the second voice-enabled device.

Assignments (1)
ASSIGNMENT OF ASSIGNOR'S INTEREST Recorded May 17, 2018
From: LEBLANG, JONATHAN ALAN; OOSTERGO, MILO; FORD, JAMES L.; CREWS, KEVIN
To: AMAZON TECHNOLOGIES, INC.
Reel/Frame 045832/0972 →
Cited By (1)
US 12,475,883