Digital Commons Network^™

On-Device Query Cache For Digital Assistant, Xin Li, Chen Zhang

Defensive Publications Series

There may be failures or delays in query fulfillment when a digital assistant utilizes server-side query processing to interpret a query and provide an appropriate response. The delay can be worse in certain situations, e.g., a poor network connection when a user places queries while in a moving vehicle. This disclosure leverages the observation that many queries are repeated verbatim by users. The described techniques, with user permission, utilize an on-device query cache to reduce latency in query fulfillment. With user permission, spoken commands are matched with prior queries stored in the on-device cache and if a match is found, …

Speech Recognition Correction Based On Detected Topic In Speech, Victor Carbune, Matthew Sharifi

Defensive Publications Series

This disclosure describes techniques for adjusting speech recognition of a voice dictation based on topics that are detected from the speech during and after the dictation. A topic of the speech content is classified based on recognized speech. Speech recognition of further speech is adjusted to the detected topic, and text that was previously-recognized during the dictation is re-recognized and corrected using the adjustment. Described features can improve accuracy of text transcripts obtained automatically from dictation, reducing the amount of manual corrections required for recognized text.

Vehicle Route Suggestions In Snow Conditions, Sergey Babkin

Defensive Publications Series

This disclosure describes techniques for a navigation system to present suggested driving routes for a vehicle that may include roads subject to snow conditions. Under weather conditions that include snow, road conditions such as presence of snow on the road, road steepness, and road width are checked to determine the safety of a road and whether the road is preferable under the weather conditions. Described features inform and guide a user in determining a safe and quick route for a vehicle in potentially unsafe travel conditions.

Identity And Reputation Verification Via Social Vouching, N/A

Defensive Publications Series

Businesses, governments, and other entities verify the identity of customers in order to assess their trustworthiness and to avoid potential losses. Identity is often determined by confirming the ownership of an identifier, e.g., phone number. However, successfully determining an individual’s ownership of an identifier is insufficient to assess the reputation or trustworthiness of the individual. This disclosure describes the use of social graphs to robustly determine the identity and trustworthiness of an individual via their associations with other individuals or entities. Data from individuals associated with a potential customer are utilized, with permission from respective users, for the purpose of …

Display And Voice-Free Gesture-Based Sleep Timer Control, Alexander Frömmgen, Felix Weissenberger, Miłosz Kmieciak, Bogdan Prisacari

Defensive Publications Series

Interaction with a computing device often causes the device to emit light, e.g., when the interaction causes a turned-off device screen to turn on, or audio, e.g., when the interaction causes an audible beep or other output from the device. Such light or audio emissions are undesirable in certain situations, e.g., when extending a sleep timer. This disclosure provides a voice-free gesture-based sleep timer control that enables extending a sleep timer without light or sound emissions from a device that is performing audio playback. The described techniques can also be used to detect user gestures that are mapped to specific …

Broker Protocol For Automated Event Scheduling By Virtual Assistant, Martin Bäuml, Herbert Jordan, Konrad Jan Miller

Defensive Publications Series

When planning an event, people often need to coordinate and negotiate with other parties to determine a time slot that is suitable for all parties. Figuring out and confirming the most suitable arrangements can involve substantial communication overhead, thus making the process slow and tedious, especially when several parties are involved. Further, such an approach can be invasive because it can require visibility into the calendars of all parties involved. This disclosure describes techniques that enable automated communication and coordination among virtual assistants to schedule an appointment involving multiple parties. User-permitted information such as the user’s calendar, routines and preferences, …

Automatic Generation Of Push Notification Alerts Of Approaching Emergency Vehicles, Dheeraj Agrawal, Piyush Itankar

Defensive Publications Series

In congested cities, it can be difficult for an ambulance or other emergency vehicle to reach a location from which the vehicle is requested. Delay in the arrival of such vehicles is a waste of crucial time due to the emergency nature of the task for such vehicles. This disclosure describes techniques to address the above deficiencies through an alert notification system in a navigation or maps application (app). Vehicles along the route of the emergency vehicle are identified automatically, e.g., based on location information shared from such vehicles via their navigation app. Appropriate notifications are generated and sent to …

Edge Intelligence-Based Self-Healing Network For Large-Scale Low Power And Lossy Network Devices With Ioc, Lele Zhang, Li Zhao, Akram Sheriff, Chuanwei Li, Arvind Tiwari

Defensive Publications Series

Techniques are presented herein that support the derivation, leveraging machine learning (ML) algorithms, of a cross correlation index of Key Performance Indicators (KPIs) – specific to wireless technologies such as, for example, Internet Protocol version 6 (IPv6) over Networks of Resource-constrained Nodes (6Lo), Wi-Fi, and Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers (IEEE) technical standard 802.15.4 variants – across multiple tenants within a cloud native multi-tenanted environment to proactively optimize routing performance and identify performance optimizations so that the network may be automatically self-healed. Aspects of the presented techniques provide intelligent fault management capabilities for a customer (having, for example, outdoor …

Real-Time Updates For Earthquake Events Based On User Queries, Avi Rosenschein, Mor Schlesinger, Arbel Zinger, Dor Graidy, Itai Tzur

Defensive Publications Series

This disclosure describes techniques for generation of timely earthquake alerts based on crowdsourced user search queries that are posed in near real-time to an earthquake event. With user permission, user intent about a search query is determined based on search query keywords entered by a user. If it is determined that the user likely felt an earthquake, the user is served with a yes/no question asking whether they felt shaking. User responses from multiple users and/or other indicators such as analysis of device IMU data, social media posts, etc. are aggregated and analyzed to determine whether an earthquake event has …

Utilizing A Light Source To Encode And Transmit Information, D Shin

Defensive Publications Series

Electronic devices that include screens can provide different QR codes corresponding to different actions or applications. However, devices that lack a screen are limited to a single QR code that is printed on the device (or device package). This disclosure describes the use of LED transmission to optically encode and send information that can be received and decoded by a camera, to enable a device without a screen information similar to a QR code. The information is encoded, e.g., using a Bernoulli fingerprint method to make the signal robust and to address noise in optical transmissions that can result from …

Picking Best Suited Smart Device To Provide Response To A Query, Michael Schäer, Agoston Weisz, Vitaly Gatsko

Defensive Publications Series

Users can issue commands, e.g., spoken commands, to virtual assistants available on various smart devices that have different capabilities. Responses to different types of queries may be best served on specific device types. This disclosure describes techniques to provide responses to a user query, e.g., a spoken query to a virtual assistant, via an automatically selected device from available user devices. Such selection can be based on explicit user preferences or can be based on user-permitted data, as well as be based on the type of query. Implementation of the described techniques can provide an enhanced user experience of interaction …

Passive Sleep Detection, Kathy Chen, Tajinder Gadh, Marc Stogaitis

Defensive Publications Series

A system is described that enables a computing system (e.g., a mobile phone, a smartwatch, a tablet computer, etc.) to passively detect a user’s sleep duration. That is, without a user configuring the computing system into a sleep mode or otherwise inputting a sleep duration, the computing system may, after receiving explicit permission from the user, monitor various contextual signals to automatically determine the user’s sleep duration. The computing system may passively capture various data using sensors (e.g., accelerometers, ambient light sensors, microphones, etc.) in the computing system and analyze the captured data to estimate a user’s sleep duration. For …

Method And System For Facilitating Payment Transactions In Offline Mode, Mohankumar Ramachandran

Defensive Publications Series

The present disclosure relates to a method and a system for facilitating payment transactions in offline mode. The system comprises a mobile device associated with user, a POS terminal, and a server. At first, the user provides details of mobile number at the POS terminal which is forwarded to the server as a message. The server creates a unique ID based on the mobile number and provides the unique ID to the POS terminal. At the POS terminal, the user provides password which is set during registration of user with the server using which another unique ID is generated by …

Ultrasonic Room Thermometry Using A Smart Speaker, D Shin, Wei Li, Jian Guo

Defensive Publications Series

Heating, ventilation, and cooling (HVAC) systems regulate ambient temperature in a room based on temperature values detected by dedicated temperature sensors. Such sensors are expensive. This disclosure describes obtaining temperature values in a room based on emitting ultrasonic pulses from a speaker and detecting back-reflected ultrasonic signals from the room to obtain the ultrasonic impulse response of the room. Changes in the ultrasonic impulse response are detected and corresponding temperature values are predicted using a Gaussian mixture model (GMM) or other suitable technique. The described techniques can enable any device capable of transmitting and detecting ultrasound to act as a …

Contextually Performing Query Processing On-Device Or On A Remote Server, Vinod Das Krishnan, Vikram Aggarwal

Defensive Publications Series

When a user issues a query, e.g., a spoken query to a user device such as a smartphone, smart speaker, in-car device, etc., the query may be processed locally on-device and additionally, remotely on a server (if permitted by the user). The determination of whether a query is processed locally or on a remote device is typically based on whether the device has a network connection. Local processing of queries can consume device resources. When the device is simultaneously in use for other critical tasks, such resource demand can have a negative impact on such tasks. This disclosure describes the …

Call Manager For An Incoming Phone Call, Tyler Gunn, Brad Ebinger

Defensive Publications Series

This publication describes methods and techniques directed at enabling a user of a mobile device to receive an incoming phone call on the device, trigger functionality implemented on the mobile device to temporarily place the call in a hold state, and utilize the functionality to bring the call out of the hold state to speak with the caller, for example, once the user moves to an appropriate location to take the call. The functionality may be implemented in a software application installed on the device or as a feature of the operating system of the device.

Techniques To Read Aloud And Enhance Text Content, N/A

Defensive Publications Series

This publication describes techniques to read text aloud and enhance text content to produce an audio experience. A user identifies text to read (e.g., news articles, email threads, social-media feeds, stories) on their computing device and saves the text to a Text Manager. The Text Manager may use a machine-learned model implemented on the computing device to produce high-quality text-to-speech that, for example, is conversational, well-paced, uses correct pauses, and uses an appropriate tone based on context. The machine-learned model may also determine context of the text to determine, for example, relevant sounds or music that may enhance the speech. …

Aggressive Smartphone Thermal Mitigation At High Temperatures, Shivank Nayak, Siddharth Ray, Blake Kragten

Defensive Publications Series

Thermal mitigation at a smartphone is improved by employing an emergency disconnect mode that is entered in response to heat at the smartphone exceeding a specified threshold. In the emergency disconnect mode, the smartphone is disconnected from a cellular network. This allows the components of a radio front-end of the smartphone to be turned off or placed in a low power mode while the smartphone is in the emergency disconnect mode, thereby rapidly decreasing the amount of heat generated at the device and allowing the smartphone to return to a normal mode of operation more quickly.

Delivering Virtual Assistant Responses In A User-Specified Alternate Language, Victor Carbune, Matthew Sharifi

Defensive Publications Series

Many households have multiple smart devices, with each device being tagged or named to indicate the room in which it is situated. Users typically interact with smart devices via voice-based virtual assistant software that provides voice responses to spoken queries, e.g., in the same language as that of the query. This disclosure describes techniques that enable users to configure their smart devices such that the smart device always responds in a fixed language, independent of the language in which input commands are provided. Such an operation allows users to receive virtual assistant responses in a language of their choice. Similarly, …

Techniques To Enable Time Of Day Loading In Pluggable Optics Based On Obtaining A 1pps Signal Utilizing A Repurposed Pin For An Optical Connector, Raghupathi S, Manoj Kumar, Prashant Anand

Defensive Publications Series

Obtaining a 1 Pulse Per Second (1PPS) signal is essential for delivering latency and jitter sensitive applications over a packet network through pluggable optics based on a disaggregated solution that may be applicable to service provider (SP) routing and/or server products for various applications. Techniques are presented herein that enable a 1PPS signal to be provided from a network router to an enhanced Small Form Factor Pluggable (SFP+) device by re-purposing an existing pin of an SFP+ connector for the SFP+ device.

Techniques To Quickly Save Reminders And Be Reminded At The Right Time, N/A

Defensive Publications Series

This publication describes techniques for setting context-based reminders on a computing device responsive to receiving user input. A user triggers the Reminder Manager on the lock screen of a computing device to input information (e.g., text, audio, image) relevant to a desired reminder. The Reminder Manager receives the input, determines context associated with the input, generates a prediction of a reminder desired by the user based on the input and context, and prompts the user of the reminder at the right time. A machine-learned model implemented on the computing device may use semantic contextual understanding to determine the …

Microphone With Improved Dynamic Range, Dick Lyon

Defensive Publications Series

This publication describes systems and techniques for a microphone with an improved dynamic range. Electronic devices, including smartphones, generally include a microphone to enable users to interact with the electronic device vocally. Microphones in electronic devices, especially portable electronic devices, are often operated in a low-power mode to conserve battery power. In a low-power mode, the microphones are generally operated with reduced bandwidth and may not accurately detect communications outside that bandwidth. The disclosed systems and techniques provide a microphone that uses an adaptive sigma-delta modulator to improve its dynamic range in low-power mode.

Bass Response Enhancement For Smart Home Devices, Anonymous

Defensive Publications Series

This disclosure describes techniques for obtaining improved bass response from a smart home device that has a small factor. An exciter positioned at the base of the smart home device is utilized to improve the bass response by generating additional sound pressure from the surface that the smart display is placed upon. The type of surface is determined based on transmitting a gated (low pass filtered) impulse. Based on received feedback, the exciter(s) are selectively activated. Inputs from a microphone and an accelerometer are utilized to determine the transfer impedance of the contact surface. A smart amplifier is utilized to …

Advertisement Software Development Kit Unbundling, Giles Hogben, Chris Palmer, Nick Kralevich, Bram Bonné, Sudhi Herle

Defensive Publications Series

A system described herein enables advertisement software development kits (SDKs) to be unbundled from applications that use advertisement SDKs. The system provides SDK proxy libraries and advertisement services developed based on the advertisement SDKs. The SDK proxy libraries replace original calls to advertisement SDKs with inter-protocol communication (IPC) calls. The advertisements services receive the IPC calls and, in response, generate views that include advertisements. The advertisement services provide the views to the applications. Rather than the application determining the advertisement views and/or clicks, the system described herein enables the advertisement services to validate views and/or clicks of the advertisement separately …

Enhancing Virtual Assistant Clarification Questions By Predicting Missing Parameters, Matthew Sharifi, Victor Carbune

Defensive Publications Series

User interactions with virtual assistants often involve commands that require the user to specify one or more relevant parameters. If one or more of the needed parameters is missing, the interaction can turn into an extended dialog involving multiple turns for the virtual assistant to obtain the necessary parameters from the user. This disclosure describes techniques to enhance user interactions with a virtual assistant in cases that require clarification questions to obtain one or more required parameters missing from the original request. Clarification questions are refined based on user-permitted contextual information and can include suggestions of the most likely parameter …

System, Method, And Computer Program Product For Predicting Profile Activity Of A User Profile Based On User Profiles Associated With A Geographic Region, Yuran Zhou, Yiwei Zhang, Nishtha Gandhi, Lawson Lau, Debesh Kumar

Defensive Publications Series

Systems, computer-implemented methods, and computer program products for predicting profile activity of a user profile based on user profiles associated with a geographic region may include receiving a plurality of user profiles; extracting a first set of user profiles based on an address of a respective user for each respective user profile; and extracting a first subset, a second subset, and a third subset of user profiles. Transaction data of each user profile of the second subset of user profiles may include at least one payment transaction associated with a first merchant system. The third subset of user profiles may …

Early Abandonment Of On-Device Query Processing When Fulfillment Is Deemed Infeasible, Matthew Sharifi, Victor Carbune

Defensive Publications Series

Devices that provide voice assistant features can handle voice commands or spoken queries locally on device or by offloading the processing to an external server. Local query processing can eliminate the latency and potential unreliability of server-side processing. When local processing and fulfillment is infeasible or unlikely, query fulfillment is performed on a server, if permitted by the user. In such a case, the computation involved in the unsuccessful attempt at local processing consumes local resources without a usable result. This disclosure describes techniques to determine locally if a spoken query cannot be served by the device and abandoning local …

Programmable Hardware Accelerator For Regular Expression Queries, N/A

Defensive Publications Series

Regular expression (regex) queries are used extensively in data analytics applications. Hardware-based regex searches can make searches efficient across a variety of application domains. However, hardware accelerators that can support arbitrary regular expressions are currently infeasible due to the very large number of possible states and state transitions. This disclosure describes techniques to map an input regular expression to a non-deterministic finite automaton and hardware such as FPGA or ASIC that can be programmed to filter an input data stream to search for arbitrary (customer-given) regular expressions.

Real-Time Contextual Searches To Assist Speakers, Dheeraj Agrawal, Piyush Itankar

Defensive Publications Series

Persons who speak professionally to audiences, e.g., teachers, typically spend substantial time and effort to prepare presentation or lecture materials. Answers to follow-up questions from the audience can become more meaningful if the speaker has access to relevant backup material, which, however, may not always be on hand. This disclosure describes techniques to assist speakers in a dynamic, real-time, and automatic manner. Speaker presentation materials and spoken statements are obtained with permission and are used to formulate contextual queries. Results of the queries that include contextually relevant content are grouped by topic and are displayed in a user interface, e.g., …

Training High Quality Spam-Detection Models Using Weak Labels, Chong Luo, Cassandra Xia, Haidong Shao

Defensive Publications Series

To be effective in detecting spam in online content sharing networks, it is necessary that techniques used to detect spam have good precision, high recall, and the ability to adapt to new types of spam. A bottleneck in developing such machine learning techniques is the lack of availability of high quality labeled training data. Human labeling to obtain high quality labeled data is expensive and not scalable. Current approaches such as unsupervised learning or semi-supervised learning can only produce low quality labels.

Generally, the present disclosure is directed to a weak supervision approach to train a machine learning model to …