US 11,769,511 B2
Systems and methods for power-efficient keyword detection
Aaron Jones, San Diego, CA (US); Saeed Bagheri Sereshki, Goleta, CA (US); and Daniele Giacobello, Los Angeles, CA (US)
Assigned to Sonos, Inc., Santa Barbara, CA (US)
Filed by Sonos, Inc., Santa Barbara, CA (US)
Filed on Nov. 30, 2022, as Appl. No. 18/60,176.
Application 18/060,176 is a continuation of application No. 17/248,427, filed on Jan. 25, 2021, granted, now 11,551,700.
Prior Publication US 2023/0186923 A1, Jun. 15, 2023
This patent is subject to a terminal disclaimer.
Int. Cl. G10L 17/22 (2013.01); G10L 15/02 (2006.01); G10L 15/05 (2013.01); G10L 15/22 (2006.01); G10L 17/02 (2013.01)
CPC G10L 17/22 (2013.01) [G10L 15/02 (2013.01); G10L 15/05 (2013.01); G10L 15/22 (2013.01); G10L 17/02 (2013.01); G10L 2015/223 (2013.01)] 20 Claims
OG exemplary drawing
 
1. A network microphone device (NMD) comprising:
a plurality of microphones;
a network interface;
one or more processors; and
a tangible, non-transitory, computer-readable medium storing instructions that, when executed by the one or more processors, cause the NMD to perform operations comprising:
detecting first sound data via at least one of the microphones;
determining, via a voice activity detection process, that the first sound data does not include voice activity;
storing the first sound data in a buffer;
after determining that the first sound data does not include voice activity, forgoing spatial processing of the first sound data;
capturing second sound data via the at least one microphone;
determining, via the voice activity detection process, that the second sound data includes voice activity;
after determining that the second sound data includes voice activity, spatially processing the second sound data using a spatial processor to produce filtered sound data;
storing the filtered sound data in the buffer;
detecting, via a wake-word engine, a wake word based on data in the buffer; and
after detecting the wake word, determining an action to be performed based on the data in the buffer.