2018 was another year in which smart speakers went viral, with industry giants launching strong new products and low price and high performance becoming synonymous with the category.
At the same time, the risks hidden behind smart speakers and other voice assistants began to surface. Recently a global industry giant was heavily criticised after a major privacy incident involving eavesdropping on users — a warning for the whole smart home industry. Most smart speakers on the market require a network connection, and the relevant voice data is stored directly in the cloud. It is therefore difficult to guarantee that user privacy will not leak, because voice data is always held on third-party platforms; while we enjoy the convenience that smart devices bring, our voice information is also controlled. The resulting risk of exposure of personal privacy puts many users off.
On voice interaction, we have consistently used front-end voice recognition, deployed on the smart home central control system inside the home. Both voice recognition and control are completed locally, with no need for a broadband connection. Unlike cloud-based recognition used by smart voice devices such as smart speakers, the Huyin smart voice panel does not depend on the external network and works normally with no network at all. Because the deployment is fully localised, users need not worry about any privacy leakage.
The smart voice panel uses front-end voice processing. In video and voice recognition, front-end processing is an older and more stable technology than cloud recognition, but because it depends on hardware performance and cannot recognise a great deal of content, it can seem rigid. It does, however, have innate advantages.
Front-end voice recognition does not need a network connection, so network interference never affects the input experience.
After front-end recognition the command is passed immediately to the smart home host for execution. This removes the interaction step between the cloud and the host, making control commands execute faster. "Speed" is a critical metric in smart home control — we believe the experience only meets the bar when a smart panel responds as promptly as the rocker switch you used at home.
Because it does not depend on the network, in scenarios with limited need for remote control, such as hotels and apartments, it can run entirely on the local network: control is more stable and privacy leakage is avoided.
The smart home market continues to heat up, but the underlying information security issues cannot be ignored. To improve the experience, most smart home products send control commands via the cloud, and it is precisely this convenience — lacking any defensive measures — that brings enormous risk.
The home should be a trusted privacy zone. Solving the security defence of smart home products is what allows consumers to enjoy the convenience of smart living without worrying about information security.
As a smart home product company, everyone from managers to designers must build a security mindset, so that during development we focus not only on features and user experience but also on defensive measures that protect the user's security.