CLOCK WITH A DISPLAY FOR ADAPTIVE SELECTION OF MANUAL COMMANDS

Description

Technical field of the invention

[0001] The invention relates to watch parts intended to assist their user in controlling another device.

[0002] Because of their immediate availability and the fact that they are often worn constantly by the user, timepieces are ideally suited to serve as remote controls. New types of timepieces are thus becoming a preferred tool for receiving user commands for other devices. Such devices might include, for example, a television, an audio system, a home automation system, or portable headphones.

[0003] New timepieces have emerged that incorporate a microphone for capturing voice commands and a radio interface to transmit the voice command to the intended device or a gateway. A processing unit, either integrated into the timepiece or located remotely, converts the audio signal received by the microphone into a digital command for the intended device. The availability of voice control proves particularly useful when driving a car, during sports activities, while cycling, or even during household tasks that might require the user's hands to be free.

[0004] In a number of situations, voice control may prove unsuitable. For example, when the environment is too noisy, the sound signal received by the microphone may be of insufficient quality for the voice command to be converted into a digital command for the device in question. Conversely, the environment may require silence, for example in a public place or on public transport.

[0005] In the prior art, there are known timepieces that allow the user to enter commands. Such timepieces typically have a digital display and a selection interface, for example, in the form of a touch sensor on the surface of the digital display. This display can show a control interface with several command options for controlled devices. When one of the displayed commands is selected via the selection interface, it is then sent to the controlled device.

[0006] However, such a timepiece has several drawbacks. Indeed, with limited space available on the digital display, the presentation of command options can be quite inefficient, as few commands can be displayed simultaneously. Furthermore, if several of these commands are unavailable or inappropriate, the manual command selection method becomes cumbersome.

[0007] The prior art also includes patent document WO 2012 / 128824A1, which describes a watch designed to assist the wearer in controlling another device that presents similar drawbacks to those mentioned previously. US patent document 2016 / 034887 A1 discloses a watch with a graphical interface structured as command lists, with this interface adapting based on history and context.

[0008] The invention aims to resolve one or more of these drawbacks. Summary of the invention

[0009] One of the aims of the invention is to have a timepiece that is capable of displaying a control interface for an external or controlled device that is clear, precise, intuitive, efficient and / or adapted as closely as possible to the user's assistance needs in controlling this external device.

[0010] Another objective of the invention is to have a timepiece that is capable of dynamically generating this control interface according to the user's assistance needs for controlling this external device.

[0011] To this end, the invention relates to a timepiece intended to send commands to an external device, comprising: a digital display; a wireless communication circuit with an external device; a manual selection interface; a microphone; a processing unit configured to: ∘ send a command to an external device based on a sound signal received on the microphone, via the wireless communication circuit; ∘ based on a history of previously selected commands, environmental criteria, behavioral criteria, physiological criteria of the wearer of the timepiece, or status criteria of the external device, define a list of command suggestions to be displayed; ∘ display on the digital display a command interface including said command suggestions from the defined list; ∘ identify the selection of a command displayed on the digital display, via the manual selection interface;• to issue a command to an external device based on the selected command, via the wireless communication circuit; • to implement a learning algorithm capable of dynamically generating command proposals on the digital display of said control interface; the processing unit executing this algorithm is capable of proactively generating and issuing at least one command to at least one external device, thus avoiding any user interaction with the selection interface.

[0012] According to one variant, the timepiece further includes an interface for measuring physiological data of a wearer of the timepiece, said processing unit being configured to define the list of command proposals to be displayed according to physiological criteria of the wearer of the timepiece.

[0013] According to another variant, the timepiece also includes a geolocation device, the processing unit being configured to define the list of command proposals to be displayed based on the position of the timepiece determined by the geolocation device.

[0014] According to another variant, the timepiece further includes a memory storing one or more of the last commands issued, said processing unit being configured to define the list of command proposals to be displayed by including one or more of the last stored commands or one or more commands contrary to these last commands.

[0015] According to another variant, the timepiece also includes an accelerometer, the said processing unit being configured to define the list of command proposals to be displayed based on the accelerations measured by the accelerometer.

[0016] According to yet another variant, the said processing unit is configured to define the list of command proposals to be displayed based on a detected state criterion for an external device positioned near the timepiece.

[0017] According to yet another variant, the manual selection interface is a touch panel associated with the digital display. Brief description of the figures

[0018] Other features and advantages will become clear from the description given below, which is indicative and in no way exhaustive, with reference to the attached figures, in which: there figure 1is a top view of a sample watch for which the invention can be implemented; the figure 2 is a representation of an example of direct communication between a watch and several external devices; the figure 3 is a representation of an example of a watch communicating with several external devices via a smartphone; the figure 4 is a zoomed-in top view of different display areas on the watch's display. figure 1 ; there figure 5 is a magnified top-down view of a first level of command display; the figure 6 is a magnified top-down view of a second-level command display; the figure 7 is a schematic illustration of an example of a command display tree; the figure 8 illustrates the watch of the figure 1 in communication with a server. Detailed description of the invention

[0019] There figure 1This illustrates a schematic representation of a timepiece in the form of a watch 1 in top view, provided for illustrative purposes and for which the invention is capable of being implemented. The watch 1 comprises a case 2 with a middle section. The watch 1 includes a strap 3 attached to the case 2. To this end, the watch 1 has, on either side of its middle section, two lugs 21, each arranged to attach a separate section of the strap 3. The watch 1 includes an activatable element 5 positioned on the side of the case 2; this element 5 may be, for example, a push button, a crown, or a crown with a push button.

[0020] On the figure 3The case 2 of the watch 1 has a housing 4 defined by the case middle and containing digital components. The housing 4 of the watch 1 is closed by a digital display 6. The display 6 can be supported by the case middle in a manner known per se and fixed thereto in a hermetically sealed manner by a suitable method.

[0021] In addition to basic chronological display functions, the display 6 can be used by digital means 8 to display a control interface comprising command suggestions for external or controlled devices. The digital means 8 can be integrated on a single electronic circuit or be decomposed into different circuits or electronic components. The digital means 8 here include a processing unit 81 or controller, a wireless communication circuit 82, a geolocation device 83, an interface for measuring or receiving physiological data 84, and an accelerometer 85. The digital means 8 can also include a database 86 (for example, stored in non-volatile memory) and a microphone 87.For the sake of completeness, the digital means 8 here include a combination of a multitude of functions, the invention being of course able to be implemented with only a part of them.

[0022] As previously mentioned, an external device is an electronic device that can be remotely controlled via a wireless connection by this watch. This could include, but is not limited to, a television, an audio and / or video system, a home automation system, a toy, or even portable headphones, etc.

[0023] The processing unit 81 is configured to send a command to at least one external device based on an audio signal received on the microphone 87. This command is sent via the wireless communication circuit 82. The processing unit 81 may also be equipped with a speech recognition function to identify phonemes spoken by a user and select a potential command from a list of possible commands for an external device. The identified command is then sent via the wireless communication circuit 82.

[0024] There figure 2 schematically illustrates the possibility for the watch 1 to issue control commands to different devices 71, 72 or 73, via its wireless communication circuit 82. The watch 1 is here autonomous and capable of sending such commands directly to devices 71 to 73.

[0025] There figure 3 This schematically illustrates the possibility for the watch 1 to send control commands to the various devices 71 to 73, using a smartphone or tablet 70 as a relay, via its wireless communication circuit. The smartphone or tablet 70 is configured to run different applications, each of these applications being configured to control a respective device 71 to 73. The applications on the smartphone or tablet 70 then act as relays for the commands sent by the watch to the devices 71 to 73.

[0026] In the presence of a noisy environment or one requiring silence, the user also has a manual command selection interface for an external device.

[0027] There figure 4This is a top view of the watch 1 at the level of its digital display 6. The digital display 6 here has several display areas 61 to 67 that can be used by the processing unit 81 to display command suggestions. The processing unit 81 can be configured to display different display areas than shown in this illustration, both in number and distribution, depending in particular on the number of commands offered. Note that these display areas are visible through different corresponding activatable / selectable portions of the manual selection interface.

[0028] This manual selection interface for a command can, for example, be formed by a touch surface of the display 6, allowing a command to be selected by pressing directly on one of its activatable / selectable portions corresponding to one of the display areas 61 to 67. The manual selection interface can also include the activatable element 5 to sequentially preselect the different display areas (for example by short presses), then to select a command corresponding to the preselected display area (for example by a long press).

[0029] As illustrated in the figure 5Display 6 shows commands Cmd1, Cmd2, Cmd3, Cmd4, Cmd5, Cmd6, and Cmd7 in the different display areas. These commands can be a first-level option, such as selecting an external device or a shortcut to the last selected command, or the reverse of the last selected command. The display of the last selected commands can be done either by labeling them ("last command," "second-to-last command") or by explicitly stating the content of these commands.

[0030] With reference to the figure 7 By selecting one of the commands, display 6 can be prompted to display other commands according to a tree structure. Thus, by selecting one of the Cmd1 commands (for example, an external device identifier), display 6 can display other commands Cmd11, Cmd12, Cmd13, Cmd14, Cmd15, Cmd16, and Cmd17, as illustrated in the figure 6(for example, to offer commands more specifically intended for the selected external device). It is understood that some or all of the selected Cmd11, Cmd12, Cmd13, Cmd14, Cmd15, Cmd16 and Cmd17 commands may also include other commands, such as the Cmd11 command which includes the commands Cmd111 to Cmd117.

[0031] The sequence of displays can correspond to a tree structure such as the one illustrated as an example in the figure 7The first level of the tree can offer specific commands, for example, chosen from the following list: start, stop, turn on, turn off, decrease. The second level of the tree can offer commands associated with a parameter, for example, chosen from the following list: volume, brightness, speed. The third level of the tree can offer different external devices available for applying the command, for example, chosen from the following list: a television, a smart speaker, headphones, etc. The fourth level of the tree can offer different amplitudes for certain commands, for example, 30%, half, 80%, corresponding to increase or decrease commands, for example.

[0032] With such a tree system, it can be predicted that the command will be issued to an external device after the selection of a combination of several successive commands via the manual selection interface.

[0033] The processing unit 81 is further configured to consider one of the following criteria when defining a list of command suggestions to be displayed (for example, for the set of commands Cmd1, Cmd2, Cmd3, Cmd4, Cmd5, Cmd6, and Cmd7): a history of commands previously selected by the user, environmental criteria, physiological criteria of the wearer of the watch 1, behavioral criteria of the wearer of the watch 1, or criteria related to the status of the external device. The processing unit 81 is further configured to display the command interface on the digital display 6, which includes the command suggestions defined in this list. The processing unit 81 is further configured to then identify the selection of one of the commands displayed on the display 6, via its manual selection interface.The processing unit 81 is then configured to send a command to one of the external devices 71 to 73, or the smartphone 70 for example, depending on the selected command. This command transmission is carried out via the wireless communication circuit 82.

[0034] Thus, the watch 1, and in particular its processing unit 81 which is connected to the selection interface, has the ability to retrieve manual commands when receiving an audio command via the microphone is unavailable or undesirable. Furthermore, the manual command retrieval process features optimized ergonomics to avoid cumbersome operation, thanks to intelligent management of at least one of the commands displayed on screen 6.

[0035] In this context, the watch's processing unit 81 is capable of implementing a computer program, such as a learning algorithm, which can dynamically generate the control interface on the digital display 6, including command suggestions for the user. Alternatively or complementarily, the processing unit 81 executing this algorithm is capable of proactively generating and issuing at least one command to at least one external device, thus avoiding any user interaction with the selection interface. It should be noted that such a watch can control one or more external devices, including simultaneously.

[0036] Such a learning algorithm is known by the English term "machine learning algorithm." More specifically, this is a learning algorithm related to the selection of commands made via the manual selection interface. This algorithm can be trained automatically, also called machine learning, which is preferably supervised. Using data retrieved from database 86, the processing unit 81 can be trained based on at least one neural network and / or an analytical function and / or a polynomial regression principle.As part of its execution, the algorithm is able to generate command proposals to display and also able to learn if certain commands have a greater chance of being selected in a given context, by combining for example the commands selected in the past with other data such as environmental criteria, physiological criteria of the wearer of watch 1, behavioral criteria of the wearer of watch 1 or state criteria of an external device.

[0037] In this embodiment, the processing unit 81, by executing this algorithm, is capable of generating a history of commands previously selected by the user. To do this, the processing unit 81 is capable of detecting, from the selection interface, at least one activatable portion corresponding to at least one display area 61 to 67, which is assigned to the last command selected by the user and which may have the highest probability of selection. Conversely, it can determine that a command contrary to this last command might have this highest probability of selection. To achieve this, the learning algorithm can take into account previously selected commands as well as contextual elements. For this purpose, the database 86 can store a history of a certain number of recently selected commands.The content of database 86 could, for example, be used as training content for such a learning algorithm.

[0038] In this context, physiological characteristics of the wearer of watch 1 can be used by this algorithm implemented by the processing unit 81. Indeed, the processing unit 81 can be configured to use data provided by the physiological data measurement interface 84. Among other parameters that can be provided to take this physiological data into account, one can, for example, consider pulse rate, blood oxygen saturation, skin impedance, blood pressure, respiratory rate, respiratory arrhythmia, skin temperature, perspiration rate, or blood flow, etc. For example, a slowing of the heart rate below a certain threshold can be taken into account to suggest a command to turn off a television, in order to anticipate the user becoming drowsy. A physiological data measurement or reception interface is inherently known to those skilled in the art.

[0039] The algorithm executed by the processing unit 81 can also take environmental criteria into account. More specifically, the processing unit 81 can be configured to use data provided by digital means 8. For example, these environmental criteria can include a noise level provided by a microphone 87 connected to the processing unit 81, an ambient light level provided by a photosensitive sensor (not shown), a position of the watch 1 calculated by the accelerometer 85, or atmospheric conditions determined by a pressure sensor (not shown) or by the geolocation device 83.

[0040] In this embodiment, the processing unit 81 executing this algorithm can also take into account the state criteria of the external device, such as the power state of such a device – on, standby, off – the distance between the watch 1 and this external device, and operating parameters (if it is a television: the television's noise level relative to the ambient noise, the television's brightness level relative to the ambient light, the operating time, etc.). For example, a power-on command can be issued for a home automation application if the surrounding lights are identified as off and the watch is determined to be present at a short distance from these lights.

[0041] The processing unit 81 executing this algorithm can also take into account behavioral criteria, such as measurements of the user's activity level using the accelerometer 85 or the geolocation device 83, or the identification of a movement or series of movements performed by the user / wearer of this watch using the accelerometer 85, for example, to detect physical activity or movement. By detecting physical activity, the list of suggested commands can be generated by estimating, if the user is wearing headphones, when they want to select a command.

[0042] Advantageously, the processing unit 81 can be configured to proactively send one of the proposed commands to an external device. For example, upon detection of a slowed heart rate, after proposing a command to turn off a television, the processing unit 81 could autonomously send this turn-off command after a certain display time on the digital display 6.

[0043] The learning algorithm can be implemented remotely, for example on the smartphone 70 or on a server 9 communicating with the watch 1 (as illustrated in the figure 8 ), in order to potentially have access to superior resources. Since training data can be based on locally available data, learning can be optimal and tailored to the watch user 1.

[0044] Display 6 can be a general display, used sequentially by different functions of the watch 1. It is also possible that display 6 is a general display used simultaneously by different functions of the watch.

[0045] The processing unit 81 can be implemented as a controller microphone or a digital processor. The function of the processing unit 81 can be partially offloaded from the watch 1. For example, speech recognition functions or learning algorithms defining the predictive model for order selection can be implemented on a remote server, or on the smartphone 70, which may have more resources. For speech recognition, the sound signal received by the watch 1 can be transmitted to a remote device via the wireless communication circuit 82, and this remote device can then send back to the watch 1 a transcription of the sound signal into a sequence of characters or words identified by a speech recognition function.

[0046] The wireless communication circuit 82 is configured to communicate wirelessly with an external device as previously mentioned. The communication circuit 82 will be able to communicate using any appropriate radio protocol, in a manner known per se.

[0047] The geolocation device 83 is a circuit known in itself allowing the generation of location information for the watch 1. The geolocation device 83 can, for example, determine the instantaneous location of the watch 1 by communicating with a satellite network such as the Global Positioning Service or Galileo. Nomenclature

[0048] 1. Watch 2. Case 3. Strap 4. Home volume 5. Activated element 6. Digital display 7. Display display 8. Digital means 9. Server 21. Lugs 61. Display area 62. Display area 63. Display area 64. Display area 65. Display area 66. Display area 67. Display area 70. Smartphone 71. External device 72. External device 73. External device 81. Processing unit 82. Wireless communication circuit 83. Geolocation device 84. Physiological data interface 85. Accelerometer 86. Database 87. Microphone 91. Communication interface 92. Database

Claims

1. Timepiece (1) designed to send commands to an external device (70, 71, 72, 73), characterised in that it comprises: - a digital display (6); - a circuit for wireless communication (82) with an external device; - a manual selection interface (5, 6); - a microphone (87); - a processing unit (81) configured to: ∘ send a command to an external device (70, 71, 72, 73) based on an audio signal received by the microphone (87), via the wireless communication circuit; ∘ define a list of command options to be displayed, based on a list of previously selected commands, of environmental criteria, of behavioural criteria, of physiological criteria relating to the wearer of the timepiece, or of criteria relating to the state of the external device; ∘ display, on the digital display (6), a control interface comprising said command options (cmd1, cmd2, cmd3, cmd4, cmd5, cmd6, cmd7) from the defined list; ∘ identify the selection of a command displayed on the digital display, via the manual selection interface; ∘ send a command to an external device (70, 71, 72, 73) based on the identified selected command, via the wireless communication circuit (82), characterised in that the processing unit (81) is configured to execute a machine learning algorithm capable of assisting in the dynamic generation, on the digital display (6), of said control interface comprising the command options, the processing unit (81) executing this algorithm can proactively generate and send at least one command to at least one external device, thereby avoiding any user interaction with the selection interface.

2. Timepiece (1) according to claim 1, characterised in that it comprises an interface for measuring the physiological data of a wearer of the timepiece (84), said processing unit (81) being configured to define the list of command options to be displayed based on the physiological criteria of the wearer of the timepiece.

3. Timepiece (1) according to claim 1 or 2, characterised in that it comprises a geolocation device (83), said processing unit (81) being configured to define the list of command options to be displayed based on the position of the timepiece as determined by the geolocation device (83).

4. Timepiece (1) according to any of the preceding claims, characterised in that it comprises a memory for saving one or more of the most recently sent commands, said processing unit (81) being configured to define the list of command options to be displayed by including one or more of the most recently saved commands or one or more commands that are counter to these most recent commands.

5. Timepiece (1) according to any of the preceding claims, characterised in that it comprises an accelerometer (85), said processing unit (81) being configured to define the list of command options to be displayed based on the accelerations measured by the accelerometer (85).

6. Timepiece (1) according to any of the preceding claims, characterised in that said processing unit (81) is configured to define the list of command options to be displayed based on a status criterion detected for an external device located in the vicinity of the timepiece.

7. Timepiece (1) according to any of the preceding claims, characterised in that the manual selection interface is a touch pad associated with the digital display (6).