Sometime soon, you may not have to utter the word “Siri” to issue a writ to your HomePod. Instead, the HomePod may ready itself to receive a writ or request by simply “looking” to see if you’re looking its way.
Do you overly say “Hey Siri” to your iPhone or Apple Watch, but the HomePod mini sitting in the same room responds? If you’re searching for information that would be displayed on your iPhone’s screen, it’s a bit frustrating when the HomePod mini responds instead.
Then, you have to deal with someone on the television who says “Hey Siri,” (or if the HomePod thinks they said “Hey Siri,”) your HomePod activates, startling whoever is sitting the closest to it.
A newly granted patent entitled “Device tenancy using gaze information” indicates that Apple is working to resolve the whilom issue, as the patent shows a method of how a device might snift where a user is looking to determine which device the user is talking to.
The system uses an variety of cameras and other sensors. It would first determine the location of the user, as well as the direction they are looking, to determine what the user is gazing at. The device would then urgently listen, waiting to receive instructions.
This would indulge the device to siphon out the command, without the need to say “Siri.” Users could still say the “Hey Siri” trigger word to get the device’s sustentation without looking at the device.
Multiple devices in a single room would use gaze detection to determine which device needs to be activated, preventing responses from the other devices in that room.
The system could moreover indulge a HomePod to snift if a user is looking at a specific object that they wish to interact with, and using the context of the user’s gaze, could snift which lamp needs to be turned on or off.
The patent was originally filed on August 28, 2019. The inventors listed on the patent are Sean B. Kelly, Felipe Bacim De Araujo E Silva, and Karlin Y. Bark.
Apple is granted numerous patents each year, and the granting of a patent doesn’t necessarily midpoint the Cupertino firm will implement an invention in an very product.