Bose Patent Describes Enhancing Voice Control With Gesture Commands

Modern voice-control systems rely on “wakeup” words captured in a mic that the system must hear before acting on a spoken command, but those words may be inaudible when a speaker is playing loud music, said a Bose patent application (20180018965) published in January at the Patent and Trademark Office. Bose’s solution is to reduce or mute the music when a gesture command, such as sharp up or down hand motion, is detected. The user can then speak a command, without the need to shout or use a wakeup word, it said: The motion detector can be a camera in the room or accelerometer mounted on headphones. The Bose patent predates a filing from Facebook (20180167677), published June 14, for easing command and control of electronics products by suggesting that everyday “ambient” sounds can be recorded and embedded like watermarks in home entertainment content. Ambient sounds can include machinery noise, the sound of distant human movement and speech, creaks from thermal contraction, and air conditioning and plumbing noises in a household, said the patent.