IP Library › Granted Patent US 11,974,082
Granted Patent B2
US 11,974,082 · App. 17/751,928 · Granted Apr 30, 2024

Audio assemblies for electronic devices

Inventors: David Wilson Poole (Palo Alto, CA); Timothy Theodore List (Santa Cruz, CA); Jacobi Colton Grillo (San Francisco, CA); Wei Li (San Jose, CA); Tony David (San Jose, CA)
Assignee: Amazon Technologies, Inc.
H04R1/025G06F3/167H04R1/02H04R1/04H04R3/00G10L15/20H04R2400/00H04R2410/00
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Quick Facts
Patent No.
US 11,974,082
App. No.
17/751,928
Granted
Apr 30, 2024
Kind
B2
Abstract

Voice-controlled devices that include one or more speakers for outputting audio. In some instances, the device includes at least one speaker within a cylindrical housing, with the speaker aimed or pointed away from a microphone coupled to the housing. For instance, if the microphone resides at or near the top of the cylindrical housing, then the speaker may point downwards along the longitudinal axis of the housing and away from the microphone. By pointing the speaker away from the microphone, the microphone will receive less sound from the speaker than if the speaker were pointed toward the microphone). Because the voice-controlled device may perform speech recognition on audio signals generated by the microphone, less sound from the speaker represented in the audio signal may result in more accurate speech recognition, and/or a lesser need to perform acoustic echo cancelation (AEC) on the generated audio signals.

Claims (58)

1. A device comprising:

a housing;

one or more microphones coupled to the housing;

one or more speakers coupled to the housing;

a lighting element coupled to the housing;

one or more processors coupled to the housing; and

one or more non-transitory computer-readable media storing instructions that, when executed by the one or more processors, cause the device to perform operations comprising:

generating audio data, representing user speech, using the one or more microphones;

processing the audio data to determine a command associated with the user speech; and

outputting, using the lighting element, a visual indication based at least in part on the command.

2. The device of claim 1 , the operations further comprising selecting the visual indication based at least in part on processing the audio data.

3. The device of claim 1 , the operations further comprising:

sending, to one or more computing devices, information associated with the audio data; and

receiving, from the one or more computing devices, data representing the visual indication.

4. The device of claim 1 , the operations further comprising outputting, using the one or more speakers, an audible output based at least in part on the audio data.

5. The device of claim 4 , the operations further comprising selecting the audible output based at least in part on processing the audio data.

6. The device of claim 4 , the operations further comprising:

sending, to one or more computing devices, information associated with the audio data; and

receiving, from the one or more computing devices, data representing the audible output.

7. The device of claim 1 , wherein the lighting element comprises one or more light emitting diodes disposed proximate to a surface of the housing.

8. The device of claim 1 , wherein the lighting element comprises a light ring disposed proximate to a surface of the housing.

9. The device of claim 1 , wherein:

the housing includes a top surface and a bottom surface;

the one or more microphones are disposed at a first distance from the top surface;

the one or more speakers are disposed at a second distance from the top surface; and

the second distance is greater than the first distance.

10. The device of claim 1 , wherein the housing includes a top surface opposite a bottom surface; and

wherein the lighting element comprises a light ring disposed proximate to the top surface of the housing.

11. A device comprising:

a housing that includes at least a surface;

a microphone disposed in the housing and configured to generate audio data representing user speech;

a speaker disposed in the housing and configured to emit sound that exits the housing;

a lighting element disposed proximate to the surface of the housing;

one or more processors disposed in the housing; and

one or more non-transitory computer-readable media storing instructions that, when executed by the one or more processors, cause the device to perform operations comprising:

processing the audio data to determine a command associated with the user speech; and

outputting, using the lighting element, a visual indication based at least in part on the command.

12. The device of claim 11 , the operations further comprising selecting the visual indication based at least in part on processing the audio data.

13. The device of claim 11 , the operations further comprising:

sending, to one or more computing devices, information associated with the audio data; and

receiving, from the one or more computing devices, data representing the visual indication.

14. The device of claim 11 , the operations further comprising outputting, using the one or more speakers, an audible output based at least in part on the audio data.

15. The device of claim 14 , the operations further comprising selecting the audible output based at least in part on processing the audio data.

16. The device of claim 14 , the operations further comprising:

sending, to one or more computing devices, information associated with the audio data; and

receiving, from the one or more computing devices, data representing the audible output.

17. The device of claim 11 , wherein the lighting element comprises one or more light emitting diodes disposed proximate to the surface of the housing.

18. The device of claim 11 , wherein the lighting element comprises a light ring disposed proximate to the surface of the housing.

19. The device of claim 11 , wherein:

the housing further includes an additional surface;

the one or more microphones are disposed at a first distance from the surface;

the one or more speakers are disposed at a second distance from the surface; and

the second distance is greater than the first distance.

20. The device of claim 11 , wherein the surface comprises a top surface, and wherein:

the housing includes a bottom surface opposite the top surface;

the one or more microphones are disposed at a first distance from the top surface;

the one or more speakers are disposed at a second distance from the top surface; and

the second distance is greater than the first distance.

Assignments (1)
ASSIGNMENT OF ASSIGNOR'S INTEREST Recorded May 24, 2022
From: POOLE, DAVID WILSON; LIST, TIMOTHY THEODORE; GRILLO, JACOBI COLTON; LI, WEI; DAVID, TONY
To: AMAZON TECHNOLOGIES, INC.
Reel/Frame 059996/0949 →
Continuity (5)
Continuation 16916900 · Jun 30, 2020
Continuation 16193258 · Nov 16, 2018
Continuation 15467267 · Mar 23, 2017
Continuation 14502301 · Sep 30, 2014
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