Patents by Inventor Kavitha Velusamy
Kavitha Velusamy has filed for patents to protect the following inventions. This listing includes patent applications that are pending as well as patents that have already been granted by the United States Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO).
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Patent number: 11624800Abstract: The systems, devices, and processes described herein may identify a beam of a voice-controlled device that is directed toward a reflective surface, such as a wall. The beams may be created by a beamformer. An acoustic echo canceller (AEC) may create filter coefficients for a reference sound. The filter coefficients may be analyzed to identify beams that include multiple peaks. The multiple peaks may indicate presence of one or more reflective surfaces. Using the amplitude and the time delay between the peaks, the device may determine that it is close to a reflective surface in a direction of the beam.Type: GrantFiled: October 14, 2021Date of Patent: April 11, 2023Assignee: Amazon Technologies, Inc.Inventors: William Folwell Barton, Kenneth Edgar Hild, II, Ramya Gopalan, Kavitha Velusamy, Amit Singh Chhetri
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Patent number: 11501792Abstract: A distributed voice controlled system has a primary assistant and at least one secondary assistant. The primary assistant has a housing to hold one or more microphones, one or more speakers, and various computing components. The secondary assistant is similar in structure, but is void of speakers. The voice controlled assistants perform transactions and other functions primarily based on verbal interactions with a user. The assistants within the system are coordinated and synchronized to perform acoustic echo cancellation, selection of a best audio input from among the assistants, and distributed processing.Type: GrantFiled: December 28, 2020Date of Patent: November 15, 2022Assignee: Amazon Technologies, Inc.Inventors: Michael Alan Pogue, Kavitha Velusamy, Preethi Parasseri Narayanan, Tony David, Philip Ryan Hilmes
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Patent number: 11175372Abstract: The systems, devices, and processes described herein may identify a beam of a voice-controlled device that is directed toward a reflective surface, such as a wall. The beams may be created by a beamformer. An acoustic echo canceller (AEC) may create filter coefficients for a reference sound. The filter coefficients may be analyzed to identify beams that include multiple peaks. The multiple peaks may indicate presence of one or more reflective surfaces. Using the amplitude and the time delay between the peaks, the device may determine that it is close to a reflective surface in a direction of the beam.Type: GrantFiled: July 9, 2020Date of Patent: November 16, 2021Assignee: Amazon Technologies, Inc.Inventors: William Folwell Barton, Kenneth Edgar Hild, II, Ramya Gopalan, Kavitha Velusamy, Amit Singh Chhetri
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Patent number: 10878836Abstract: A distributed voice controlled system has a primary assistant and at least one secondary assistant. The primary assistant has a housing to hold one or more microphones, one or more speakers, and various computing components. The secondary assistant is similar in structure, but is void of speakers. The voice controlled assistants perform transactions and other functions primarily based on verbal interactions with a user. The assistants within the system are coordinated and synchronized to perform acoustic echo cancellation, selection of a best audio input from among the assistants, and distributed processing.Type: GrantFiled: November 11, 2019Date of Patent: December 29, 2020Assignee: Amazon Technologies, Inc.Inventors: Michael Alan Pogue, Kavitha Velusamy, Preethi Parasseri Narayanan, Tony David, Philip Ryan Hilmes
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Patent number: 10746840Abstract: The systems, devices, and processes described herein may identify a beam of a voice-controlled device that is directed toward a reflective surface, such as a wall. The beams may be created by a beamformer. An acoustic echo canceller (AEC) may create filter coefficients for a reference sound. The filter coefficients may be analyzed to identify beams that include multiple peaks. The multiple peaks may indicate presence of one or more reflective surfaces. Using the amplitude and the time delay between the peaks, the device may determine that it is close to a reflective surface in a direction of the beam.Type: GrantFiled: May 22, 2017Date of Patent: August 18, 2020Assignee: Amazon Technologies, Inc.Inventors: William Folwell Barton, Kenneth Edgar Hild, II, Ramya Gopalan, Kavitha Velusamy, Amit Singh Chhetri
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Patent number: 10515653Abstract: A distributed voice controlled system has a primary assistant and at least one secondary assistant. The primary assistant has a housing to hold one or more microphones, one or more speakers, and various computing components. The secondary assistant is similar in structure, but is void of speakers. The voice controlled assistants perform transactions and other functions primarily based on verbal interactions with a user. The assistants within the system are coordinated and synchronized to perform acoustic echo cancellation, selection of a best audio input from among the assistants, and distributed processing.Type: GrantFiled: August 28, 2018Date of Patent: December 24, 2019Assignee: Amazon Technologies, Inc.Inventors: Michael Alan Pogue, Kavitha Velusamy, Preethi Parasseri Narayanan, Tony David, Philip Ryan Hilmes
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Patent number: 10297250Abstract: The systems, devices, and processes described herein may asynchronously transfer audio signals from a voice-controlled device to a remote device. The audio signals may correspond to sound that is captured by multiple microphones of the voice-controlled device, which may then process the audio signals. The audio signals may also be transferred to the remote device for processing. Moreover, a determination of whether the voice-controlled device or the remote device is to process the audio signals may be based at least in part on the bandwidth of a network communicatively coupled to the voice-controlled device. The voice-controlled device may also cache and log the audio signals, and then asynchronously stream the audio signals to the remote device after the audio signals are initially processed, which may be based on the bandwidth of the network. The remote device may utilize the unprocessed audio signals to improve subsequent processing of audio signals.Type: GrantFiled: March 11, 2013Date of Patent: May 21, 2019Assignee: Amazon Technologies, Inc.Inventors: Scott Ian Blanksteen, Nikko Strom, Kavitha Velusamy, Tony David, Edward Dietz Crump
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Patent number: 10249299Abstract: Techniques for tailoring beamforming techniques to environments such that processing resources may be devoted to a portion of an audio signal corresponding to a lobe of a beampattern that is most likely to contain user speech. The techniques take into account both acoustic characteristics of an environment and heuristics regarding lobes that have previously been found to include user speech.Type: GrantFiled: May 1, 2017Date of Patent: April 2, 2019Assignee: Amazon Technologies, Inc.Inventors: Gregory Michael Hart, Kavitha Velusamy, William Spencer Worley, III
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Patent number: 10242695Abstract: Techniques for enhancing an acoustic echo canceller based on visual cues are described herein. The techniques include changing adaptation of a filter of the acoustic echo canceller, calibrating the filter, or reducing background noise from an audio signal processed by the acoustic echo canceller. The changing, calibrating, and reducing are responsive to visual cues that describe acoustic characteristics of a location of a device that includes the acoustic echo canceller. Such visual cues may indicate that no human being is present at the location, that some subject(s) are engaged in speaking or sound generating activities, or that motion associated with an echo path change has occurred at the location.Type: GrantFiled: September 14, 2017Date of Patent: March 26, 2019Assignee: Amazon Technologies, Inc.Inventors: Kavitha Velusamy, Wai C. Chu, Ramya Gopalan, Amit S. Chhetri
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Patent number: 10147441Abstract: A distributed voice controlled system has a primary assistant and at least one secondary assistant. The primary assistant has a housing to hold one or more microphones, one or more speakers, and various computing components. The secondary assistant is similar in structure, but is void of speakers. The voice controlled assistants perform transactions and other functions primarily based on verbal interactions with a user. The assistants within the system are coordinated and synchronized to perform acoustic echo cancellation, selection of a best audio input from among the assistants, and distributed processing.Type: GrantFiled: December 19, 2013Date of Patent: December 4, 2018Assignee: Amazon Technologies, Inc.Inventors: Michael Alan Pogue, Kavitha Velusamy, Preethi Parasseri Narayanan, Tony David, Philip Ryan Hilmes
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Patent number: 10062372Abstract: An audio device may be configured to produce output audio and to capture input audio for speech recognition. In some cases, a second device may also be used to capture input audio to improve isolation of input audio with respect to the output audio. In addition, acoustic echo cancellation (AEC) may be used to remove components of output audio from input signals of the first and second devices. AEC may be implemented by an adaptive filter based on dynamically optimized filter coefficients. The filter coefficients may be analyzed to detect situations in which the first and second devices are too close to each other, and the user may then be prompted to increase the distance between the two devices.Type: GrantFiled: May 9, 2016Date of Patent: August 28, 2018Assignee: Amazon Technologies, Inc.Inventors: William Folwell Barton, Philip Ryan Hilmes, Kavitha Velusamy
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Patent number: 9973848Abstract: An augmented reality environment allows interaction between virtual and real objects. Beamforming techniques are applied to signals acquired by an array of microphones to allow for simultaneous spatial tracking and signal acquisition from multiple users. Localization information such as from other sensors in the environment may be used to select a particular set of beamformer coefficients and resulting beampattern focused on a signal source. Alternately, a series of beampatterns may be used iteratively to localize the signal source in a computationally efficient fashion. The beamformer coefficients may be pre-computed.Type: GrantFiled: June 21, 2011Date of Patent: May 15, 2018Assignee: Amazon Technologies, Inc.Inventors: Amit S. Chhetri, Kavitha Velusamy, Edward Dietz Crump
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Patent number: 9866964Abstract: A computing system with multiple audio devices local to an environment to provide synchronized audio output to a user. A remote system receives a local audio signal representing sound captured from an environment from a local audio device and a remote audio signal representing sound captured from the environment from the remote audio device. The server determines a delay associated with the local audio signal and a delay associated with the remote audio signals and, based on the delays, synchronizes the audio being output by the local and remote devices.Type: GrantFiled: February 27, 2013Date of Patent: January 9, 2018Assignee: Amazon Technologies, Inc.Inventors: Menashe Haskin, Kavitha Velusamy, Daniel Christopher Bay, Jason Zimmer
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Patent number: 9779731Abstract: An audio processing system configured to generate, based at least in part on captured sound, an audio signal that includes a speech component corresponding to a user's speech utterance and an audio component corresponding to audio output of another device is described herein. The audio processing system is also configured to receive a reference signal that corresponds to the audio output of the other device. The reference signal may be received as ultrasonic audio output of the other device or from a remote server. The audio processing device then processes the generated audio signal to remove at least a part of the generated audio signal that corresponds to the reference signal.Type: GrantFiled: August 20, 2012Date of Patent: October 3, 2017Assignee: Amazon Technologies, Inc.Inventors: Menashe Haskin, Kavitha Velusamy
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Patent number: 9774998Abstract: A computing system with multiple devices local to an environment facilitates active transfer among the multiple devices as a user moves about the environment. The devices may sense a presence or non-presence of the user and attempt to coordinate transfer to a device proximal to the user. In another implementation, the devices may communicate with a remote system that monitors a location of the user within the environment and causes content associated with the user to transfer between computing devices of the system based on the location and movement of the user.Type: GrantFiled: October 4, 2016Date of Patent: September 26, 2017Assignee: Amazon Technologies, Inc.Inventors: Olusanya Temitope Soyannwo, Tina Yung-Ting Chen, Edward Dietz Crump, Kurt Wesley Piersol, Kavitha Velusamy
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Patent number: 9767828Abstract: Techniques for enhancing an acoustic echo canceller based on visual cues are described herein. The techniques include changing adaptation of a filter of the acoustic echo canceller, calibrating the filter, or reducing background noise from an audio signal processed by the acoustic echo canceller. The changing, calibrating, and reducing are responsive to visual cues that describe acoustic characteristics of a location of a device that includes the acoustic echo canceller. Such visual cues may indicate that no human being is present at the location, that some subject(s) are engaged in speaking or sound generating activities, or that motion associated with an echo path change has occurred at the location.Type: GrantFiled: June 27, 2012Date of Patent: September 19, 2017Assignee: Amazon Technologies, Inc.Inventors: Kavitha Velusamy, Wai C. Chu, Ramya Gopalan, Amit S. Chhetri
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Patent number: 9753119Abstract: A system may utilize sound localization techniques, such as time-difference-of-arrival techniques, to estimate an audio-based sound source position from which a sound originates. An optical image or depth map of an area containing the sound source location may then captured and analyzed to detect an object that is known or expected to have produced the sound. The position of the object may also be determined based on the analysis of the optical image or depth map. The position of the sound source may then be determined based at least in part on the position of the detected object or on a combination of the audio-based sound source position and the determined position of the object.Type: GrantFiled: January 29, 2014Date of Patent: September 5, 2017Assignee: Amazon Technologies, Inc.Inventors: Kavitha Velusamy, Ning Yao, Wai Chung Chu, Sowmya Gopalan, Qiang Liu, Rahul Agrawal, Manika Puri
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Patent number: 9689960Abstract: The systems, devices, and processes described herein may identify a beam of a voice-controlled device that is directed toward a reflective surface, such as a wall. The beams may be created by a beamformer. An acoustic echo canceller (AEC) may create filter coefficients for a reference sound. The filter coefficients may be analyzed to identify beams that include multiple peaks. The multiple peaks may indicate presence of one or more reflective surfaces. Using the amplitude and the time delay between the peaks, the device may determine that it is close to a reflective surface in a direction of the beam.Type: GrantFiled: April 4, 2013Date of Patent: June 27, 2017Assignee: Amazon Technologies, Inc.Inventors: William Folwell Barton, Kenneth Edgar Hild, II, Ramya Gopalan, Kavitha Velusamy, Amit Singh Chhetri
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Patent number: 9640179Abstract: Techniques for tailoring beamforming techniques to environments such that processing resources may be devoted to a portion of an audio signal corresponding to a lobe of a beampattern that is most likely to contain user speech. The techniques take into account both acoustic characteristics of an environment and heuristics regarding lobes that have previously been found to include user speech.Type: GrantFiled: June 27, 2013Date of Patent: May 2, 2017Assignee: Amazon Technologies, Inc.Inventors: Gregory Michael Hart, Kavitha Velusamy, William Spencer Worley, III
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Patent number: 9491033Abstract: A computing system with multiple devices local to an environment facilitates active transfer among the multiple devices as a user moves about the environment. The devices may sense a presence or non-presence of the user and attempt to coordinate transfer to a device proximal to the user. In another implementation, the devices may communicate with a remote system that monitors a location of the user within the environment and causes content associated with the user to transfer between computing devices of the system based on the location and movement of the user.Type: GrantFiled: April 22, 2013Date of Patent: November 8, 2016Assignee: Amazon Technologies, Inc.Inventors: Olusanya Temitope Soyannwo, Kurt Wesley Piersol, Kavitha Velusamy, Tina Yung-Ting Chen, Edward Dietz Crump