Representing Multifunctional Devices in Voice-Controlled Systems

As the number of smart devices continues to grow, it is becoming increasingly required by the consumers to integrate them into voice-controlled systems like Google Home and Amazon Alexa. However, many device types are not fully supported on these platforms, and the integration often require modifications to fit the voice assistant platform requirements, which is sometimes not possible. In particular, if multifunctional devices have to be represented in a way supported by Google Home and Amazon Alexa APIs, many features are not visible within the assistant and it is not possible to control them. This paper proposes a solution for representing complex devices within a voice-controlled system, by using unique templates specific to the device model and manufacturer. The template contains the necessary information, which allows to split the functionality of one physical device into multiple logical devices so that each logical device can be controlled by the voice assistant.