BACKGROUND

I. Field of Use

The present application relates generally to the home automation and control arts. More specifically, embodiments of the present invention relate to interactions with intelligent personal assistants.

II. Description of the Related Art

Intelligent personal assistants are becoming commonplace in today's homes. Products such as Amazon's Echo, Google's Google Home, and Apple's Siri are all examples of these assistants. Typically, such assistants are installed at home, coupled to an existing home Wi-Fi network and placed in a convenient location where they may be used most frequently, such as in a family room or kitchen.

Generally, each device listens for a wake word to be spoken, such as “Alexa” for Amazon's Echo and “OK Google” for Google's Home device, followed by a question or a command. The question is typically sent over the Internet to a voice recognition server that interprets the question or command and provides a response that is sent back over the internet for verbal playback via a speaker that is typically integrated into each device, or causing some action to occur, such as lighting lights, playing music, etc.

One of the drawbacks of these assistants is that the wake word must be spoken each time a new question or command is asked by a user. This can become annoying, especially when a series of questions or commands are asked in succession.

It would be desirable to eliminate the need to utter the wake word every time a question is posed to such assistants.

SUMMARY

Embodiments of the present invention are directed towards a more natural way to interact with an intelligent personal assistant. In one embodiment, an intelligent personal assistant comprises an audio transducer (such as one or more microphones) for receiving audio input from an area near the intelligent personal assistant, a memory for storing processor-executable instructions, a camera for providing images of an area around the intelligent personal assistant, a user output for providing audible responses to voice input submitted by a user, a network interface, and a processor coupled to the audio transducer, the memory, the camera the network interface, and the user output, for executing the processor-executable instructions that causes the intelligent personal assistant to determine, by the processor via images provided by the camera, that the user is addressing the intelligent personal assistant, after determining that the user is addressing the intelligent personal assistant, receive, by the processor via the audio transducer, a first signal representative of a first voice input, and provide, by the processor via the network interface, the first signal to a remote server for processing the first signal when the processor determines that the user has addressed the intelligent personal assistant immediately prior to receiving the first voice input.

In another embodiment, a method is described for interacting with an intelligent personal assistant, comprising receiving, by a processor coupled to a digital camera, digital images of an area around the intelligent personal assistant, determining, by the processor from the digital images, that the user is addressing the intelligent personal assistant, after determining that the user is addressing the intelligent personal assistant, receiving, by the processor via an audio transducer, a first signal representative of a first voice input, and providing, by the processor via the network interface, the first signal to a remote server for processing the first signal when the processor determines that the user has addressed the intelligent personal assistant immediately prior to receiving the first voice input.

In yet another embodiment, an intelligent personal assistant comprises a audio transducer for receiving voice input from a user, a memory for storing processor-executable instructions and a wake word, a camera for providing images of an area around the intelligent personal assistant, a user output for providing audible responses to the voice input, a network interface, and a processor coupled to the audio transducer, the memory, the camera the network interface, and the user output, for executing the processor-executable instructions that causes the intelligent personal assistant to receive, by the processor via the audio transducer, a first signal representative of a first voice input from the user, determine, by the processor, that the first signal comprises the wake word stored in the memory, provide, by the processor via the network interface, at least a portion of the first signal to a remote server, receive, by the processor via the network interface, a response from the remote server, provide, by the processor via the user output, the response, receive, by the processor via the audio transducer, a second signal representative of a second voice input from the user, determine, by the processor via images provided by the camera, that the user is addressing the intelligent personal assistant, after determining that the user is addressing the intelligent personal assistant, receive, by the processor via the audio transducer, a second signal representative of a second voice input, and provide, by the processor via the network interface, the second signal to the remote server for processing the second signal when the processor determines that the user has addressed the intelligent personal assistant within a predetermined time period from receiving the first signal.

In yet another embodiment, a method for interacting with an intelligent personal assistant is described, comprising receiving, by a processor coupled to an audio transducer, a first signal representative of a first voice input from the user, determining, by the processor, that the first signal comprises a wake word stored in the memory, providing, by the processor via a network interface, at least a portion of the first signal to a remote server, receiving, by the processor via the network interface, a response from the remote server, providing, by the processor to a user output, the response, receiving, by the processor via the audio transducer, a second signal representative of a second voice input from the user, determining, by the processor via images provided by the camera, that the user is addressing the intelligent personal assistant, after determining that the user is addressing the intelligent personal assistant, receiving, by the processor via the audio transducer, a second signal representative of a second voice input, and providing, by the processor via the network interface, the second signal to the remote server for processing the second signal when the processor determines that the user has addressed the intelligent personal assistant within a predetermined time period from receiving the first signal.

