Amazon Technologies, Inc.

Christo Frank Devaraj

Ran Mokady

Gregory Michael Hart

Brian Alexander Oliver

Sumedha Arvind Kshirsagar

Tony Roy Hardie

James Alexander Stanton

Vikram Kumar Gundeti

James Marvin Freeman, Ii

Sandra Lemon

Nick Ciubotariu

Manish Kumar Dalmia

Scott Southwood

Benjamin F Jones

Brandon V Taylor

Tapas Kanti Roy

Mahesh Rajagopalan

Peter Chin

Farookh P Mohammed

Venkatesh Kancharla

Christopher Geiger Parker

Aaron Takayanagi Barnet

Brett E Lounsbury

Lakshya Bhagat

Katelyn Doran

Neil Christopher Fritz

Samuel Scott Gigliotti

Kathryn L Parker

Ryan Christopher Rapp

Zhaoqing Ma

David Michael Rowell

Douglas Vincent O'Dell

Roman Yusufov

Jonathan Leonard Da Silva

Ian Michael Menzies

Hale Sostock

Nancy Yi Liang

Blair Harold Beebe

Venkata Krishnan Ramamoorthy

Chris G Parker

Neelesh Deo Dani

Roopali Vasant Kaujalgi

Micheal Arokiaraj Alexis Ponniah

Qin Wang

Gerardo Montoya Velazquez

Systems and methods for establishing communication connections using speech, such as establishing calls between speech-controlled devices, are described. A first speech-controlled device receives a communication request in the form of audio and sends audio data corresponding to the captured audio to a server. The server performs speech processing on the audio data to determine a recipient, a subject for the call, and a device associated with the recipient. The server then sends a message indicating the communication request and audio data corresponding to the communication topic to the recipient's speech-controlled device. The recipient device outputs audio to the recipient requesting whether the recipient accepts the communication request. The recipient audibly refuses or accepts the communication request, and the recipient's speech-controlled device sends an indication of the recipient's audible decision to the server. If the recipient accepted the communication request, the server causes a communication connection be established between the two speech-controlled devices.

Voice-controlled communication requests and responses

Techniques for accessing shared content based on a recipient's subscriptions are described. A recipient user may receive a notification that a sender user shared content. The recipient user may request to output the shared content. The system may determine which content providers the recipient user is subscribed to, and may perform entity resolution processing to identify potential content, from the subscribed content providers, corresponding to the shared content. The system may output the identified potential content in response to the request to output the shared content.

Sharing of content

Systems, methods, and devices for outputting indications regarding voice-based interactions are described. A first speech-controlled device detects spoken audio corresponding to recipient information. The first device captures the audio and sends audio data corresponding to the captured audio to a server. The server determines a second speech-controlled device of the recipient and sends a signal to the recipient's second speech-controlled device representing a message is forthcoming. The recipient's second speech-controlled device outputs and indication representing a message is forthcoming.

Indicator for voice-based communications

Methods and systems for facilitating communications between shared electronic devices are described herein. In some embodiments, a group account may be assigned to a shared electronic device. The group account may include one or more user accounts, where individuals associated with those user accounts may interact with the shared electronic device, and also may form a part of the group account. When a message is sent from one shared electronic device to another personal device or shared electronic device, the message may be indicated as being sent from the group account, as if the shared electronic device corresponds to its own separate account. In some embodiments, speaker identification processing may be employed to determine a speaker of the message and, if the speaker is able to be identified, the message may be sent from the corresponding speaker's user account instead of the shared electronic device's corresponding group account.

Messaging from a shared device

Systems and methods for sender profile and/or recipient profile disambiguation and/or confirmation are disclosed. In instances where a sender profile is not indicated by a user sending a communication from a communal device, heuristic data may be utilized to infer the sender profile. Similar heuristic data may also be used when selection of the sender profile is associated with a low confidence level. Heuristic data may also be used to infer the recipient profile when the user does not indicate the recipient profile or when selection of the recipient profile is associated with a low confidence. Various confirmations may result from the sender and recipient profile disambiguation.

Sender and recipient disambiguation

Audio data, corresponding to an utterance spoken by a person within a detection range of a voice communications device, can include an audio message portion. The audio data can be captured and analyzed to determine the intent to send a message. Based at least in part upon that intent, a remaining portion of the audio data can be analyzed to determine the intended message target or recipient, as well as the portion corresponding to the actual message payload. Once determined, the audio file can be trimmed to the message payload, and the message payload of the audio data can be delivered as an audio message to the target recipient.

Audio message extraction

A system that determines that devices are co-located in an acoustic region and selects a single device to which to send incoming notifications for the acoustic region. The system may group devices into separate acoustic regions based on selection data that selects between similar audio data received from multiple devices. The system may select the best device for each acoustic region based on a frequency that the device was selected previously, input/output capabilities of the device, a proximity to a user, or the like. The system may send a notification to a single device in each of the acoustic regions so that a user receives a single notification instead of multiple unsynchronized notifications. The system may also determine that acoustic regions are associated with different locations and select acoustic regions to which to send a notification based on location.

Outputting notifications using device groups

Techniques for synchronizing communication across devices are described. A system receives an input command corresponding to an announcement and sends data representing the announcement to devices of the system. The system receives responses from the devices and causes the device that originated the announcement to output content corresponding to the responses.

Communicating announcements

Methods and systems for providing message playback using a shared electronic device is described herein. In response to receiving a request to output messages, a speech-processing system may determine a group account associated with a requesting device, and may determine messages stored by a message data store for the group account. Speaker identification processing may also be performed to determine a speaker of the request. A user account associated with the speaker, and messages stored for the user account, may be determined. A summary response indicating the user account's messages and the group account's message may then be generated such that the user account messages are identified prior to the group account's messages. The messages may then be analyzed to determine an appropriate voice user interface for the requester such that the playback of the messages using a shared electronic device is more natural and conversational.

Message playback using a shared device

Systems and methods to prevent or diminish message thread explosion are disclosed. Message data sent between members of a communal profile and/or between members of multiple communal profiles may be consolidated into a single message thread, which may be displayed on devices associated with the members associated with of the communal profile(s). Consolidation of the message data into a communal message thread may allow users to more intuitively view conversations between members of their communal profile and/or between members of their communal profile and other communal profiles without viewing individual message threads between members of the communal profile(s).

Message management for communal account

Systems and methods to combine related messages are disclosed. Multiple messages may be combined into a single message for display and output on one or more devices based on one or more factors. The factors may include, for example, a determination that the multiple messages were sent by and/or received from the same device, user, user profile, and/or user account. The facts may also include a determination that the multiple messages were sent within a threshold amount of time of each other and/or that the messages have the same or similar themes.

Message grouping

A system configured to vary a speech speed of speech represented in input audio data without changing a pitch of the speech. The system may vary the speech speed based on a number of different inputs, including non-audio data, data associated with a command, or data associated with the voice message itself. The non-audio data may correspond to information about an account, device or user, such as user preferences, calendar entries, location information, etc. The system may analyze audio data associated with the command to determine command speech speed, identity of person listening, etc. The system may analyze the input audio data to determine a message speech speed, background noise level, identity of the person speaking, etc. Using all of these inputs, the system may dynamically determine a target speech speed and may generate output audio data having the target speech speed.

Adjusting speed of human speech playback

Growing community of inventors

Seattle, WA, United States of America

Christo Frank Devaraj