Invention Grant
- Patent Title: Systems and methods for preventing lightbeam access to microphones of smart devices
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Application No.: US17003726Application Date: 2020-08-26
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Publication No.: US11757531B1Publication Date: 2023-09-12
- Inventor: Carlos J P Chavez , Sacha Melquiades De'Angeli , Oscar Guerra , David M. Jones, Jr. , Gregory Brian Meyer , Christopher Russell , Arthur Quentin Smith
- Applicant: United Services Automobile Association (USAA)
- Applicant Address: US TX San Antonio
- Assignee: United Services Automobile Association (USAA)
- Current Assignee: United Services Automobile Association (USAA)
- Current Assignee Address: US TX San Antonio
- Agency: Fletcher Yoder, P.C.
- Main IPC: H04B10/116
- IPC: H04B10/116 ; H04K3/00 ; G06F21/43 ; H04B10/85 ; G06F21/55

Abstract:
The present disclosure relates to preventing laser access to microphones of smart devices. In one embodiment, a microphone of the smart device may be covered with an opaque material such as a cloth cover. The opaque material may serve as a barrier that is impenetrable to light, thereby preventing laser light to reach the microphone. In a further embodiment, a smart device may prevent the one or more microphones of the smart device from receiving an audio command embedded in a light signal by disrupting the light signal, ignoring the audio command, or both. In another embodiment, the smart device may block the audio command from being received at a microphone of a smart device by determining a frequency of the light signal, instructing a laser jammer to transmit a counter light with the frequency to interfere with the light signal.
Information query