Alternate Command Stream for Streaming Service Device Control
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Solution Overview
Problem
Current streaming services lack the capability to control remote devices synchronously with audio/video content, limiting the immersive experience in applications like virtual reality and smart home environments.
Innovation Solution
The implementation of an alternate communications channel service that allows streaming platforms to transmit control commands to remote devices via a separate stream, using a control processor that translates these commands into device-specific protocols for controlling various devices such as lighting, sound, and other sensory equipment.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Adaptability or versatility
If streaming services only deliver audio/video content without device control capability, then the service simplicity is maintained, but the user experience and interactivity are limited
Solution Approach 1:
The patent segments the streaming service into two independent streams: a first stream for audio/video content delivery and a second stream for device control commands. This segmentation allows the service to provide both content delivery and device control capabilities while maintaining the simplicity of each individual stream, thus resolving the contradiction between versatility and complexity.
Solution Approach 2:
The patent introduces an intermediary component (the second stream/command interface) that bridges the streaming service and remote devices. This intermediary enables device control functionality without requiring direct integration between the streaming service and diverse device protocols, thereby adding versatility while managing complexity through abstraction.
2Reliability
If no separate control channel is implemented, then the system complexity is reduced, but the synchronization between audio/video content and device control is compromised
Solution Approach 1:
By separating content delivery and device control into distinct streams, the patent ensures that each stream can be independently managed and synchronized. The first stream handles audio/video content while the second stream handles control commands, enabling reliable synchronization without the complexity of integrated protocol handling.
Solution Approach 2:
The patent establishes the second control stream in advance alongside the first content stream, creating a predetermined communication pathway for device control commands. This preliminary setup ensures that control commands can be transmitted and synchronized with content delivery from the outset, maintaining reliability without ad-hoc complexity.
3Adaptability or versatility
If streaming service transmits both content and control commands through the same interface, then the interface design is simplified, but the command translation and device compatibility become difficult
Solution Approach 1:
The second stream acts as an intermediary that specifically handles device control commands and protocol translation. This intermediary layer manages the complexity of translating streaming service commands into device-specific protocols, enabling broad device compatibility without burdening the main content delivery interface with translation logic.
Solution Approach 2:
The patent extracts the device control and protocol translation functionality from the main content delivery interface and places it in a separate second stream. This extraction allows the primary interface to remain simple while the extracted control stream handles the complexity of device compatibility and command translation independently.
Data Source
AI summary
Aspects of the subject disclosure may include, for example, a method in which a processing system actuates a control processor connected to a network, and configures the control processor to receive signals from equipment of a service provider, so that the control processor is enabled to control remote devices. The processing system selects a device, configures the selected device for control by the control processor, and selects a streaming service to be associated with the selected device. The streaming service delivers audiovisual content in a first stream and provides, via an application programming interface of the streaming service, a control command to the control processor in a second stream. The control processor translates the control command to a device command and transmits the device command to control the selected device. Other embodiments are disclosed.