US 12,394,422 B2
Laboratory system with portable microphone device
Oliver Kroehl, Cologne (DE); Gaetano Blanda, Haltern am See (DE); Stefan Silber, Krefeld (DE); Ulf Schoeneberg, Berlin (DE); Inga Husen, Dortmund (DE); Michael Bardas, Weiterstadt (DE); Andreas Timm, Berlin (DE); Thomas Lange, Dortmund (DE); Sandra Bittorf, Witten (DE); and Philipp Isken, Altenberge (DE)
Assigned to Evonik Operations GmbH, Essen (DE)
Appl. No. 17/439,965
Filed by EVONIK OPERATIONS GMBH, Essen (DE)
PCT Filed Mar. 13, 2020, PCT No. PCT/EP2020/056962
§ 371(c)(1), (2) Date Sep. 16, 2021,
PCT Pub. No. WO2020/187789, PCT Pub. Date Sep. 24, 2020.
Claims priority of application No. 19163512 (EP), filed on Mar. 18, 2019.
Prior Publication US 2022/0254353 A1, Aug. 11, 2022
Int. Cl. G10L 17/22 (2013.01); G01N 35/00 (2006.01); G06F 40/166 (2020.01); G06F 40/40 (2020.01); G10L 17/06 (2013.01)
CPC G10L 17/22 (2013.01) [G01N 35/00722 (2013.01); G06F 40/166 (2020.01); G06F 40/40 (2020.01); G10L 17/06 (2013.01)] 20 Claims
OG exemplary drawing
 
1. A laboratory system, comprising:
at least one laboratory device which is designed to analyse and/or synthesise a chemical substance;
at least one laboratory software module which is designed to process data obtained from the at least one laboratory device;
a data processing device with control software that provides an interface for operating the at least one laboratory device and/or the at least one laboratory software module; and
a portable device with a microphone, the portable device being connected interoperably to the control software via a network, the portable device being designed, in interoperation with the control software, to allow a user to operate the at least one laboratory device and/or the at least one laboratory software module without manual intervention, by speaking into the microphone,
wherein the control software is configured to
identify at least one target system based on keywords included in a voice signal picked up by the microphone, the at least one target system including the at least one laboratory device and/or the at least one laboratory software module, and the at least one target system being among a plurality of target systems,
determine a first input format corresponding to the at least one target system, each of the plurality of target systems corresponding to a respective input format among a plurality of input formats, and the plurality of input formats including a natural language format,
generate text including specifications based on the voice signal, and
prompt the at least one target system to perform the analysis, synthesis and/or software function in accordance with the text including,
converting the text into the first input format in response to determining the first input format is not the natural language format, and
directly inputting the text into the at least one target system in response to determining the first input format is the natural language format.