Microsoft grabs the Patent for “Confirming Proximity Using Audio Signals” used in Chromecast

Confirming Proximity Using Audio Signals is a technique where a device can use a microphone can be used chatter detection and control. This is used by Google in Chromecast for audio pairing to let home app on a phone figure out who is closer to the microphone, and respond to his command or request.  While Google did already apply for this patent but looks like Microsoft has been granted the patent for this.

Microsoft got this patent on 5th September 2017 (The United States Patent 9,756,438) which was filed on the 24th June 2014. The patent is for “Proximity discovery using audio signals”.

The patent talks about finding the location of a client to capture an audio signal. Which basically means the same as Googles application. The audio is then captured, and compared with surrounding noise or chatter. So in case, multiple people say the same thing, the software can still figure out or differentiate between the first client and the second client based on the signature. The signature is created separately for each client.

Microsoft is going to gain a lot from this. It’s a technique which will be used not just in Chromecast, but almost any device which has multiple profiles, and does streaming. Microsoft might use this with their Cortana Speaker or on Xbox One to control apps like Netflix, Amazon Prime Video, Spotify and so on.

That said, let’s see how it goes along for Google which uses the same technique for Chromecast. Either they will have figure out a new way to figure out to get the same thing done or end up paying Microsoft.

Check out the full patent can be read here.