Assistant Device Speech Response Pausing During Active Calls
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Solution Overview
Problem
Assistant devices often unintentionally activate during telephone calls, responding to user speech and potentially distracting the user with unintended actions, as they listen for wake commands and may execute commands or provide responses.
Innovation Solution
A method and system where a user device monitors calling activity and sends pause and resume instructions to an assistant device, disabling speech response functions during calls and re-enabling them when the call ends, preventing unintended responses to speech commands.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Adaptability or versatility
If the assistant device constantly listens for wake commands, then the assistant device can respond to user voice input, but the assistant device may unintentionally activate during telephone calls and respond to user speech
Solution Approach 1:
The system performs preliminary action by detecting call start events before the assistant device can unintentionally activate. The user device monitors calling activity and sends a pause instruction to the assistant device as soon as a call is detected, preventing the harmful unintended activation from occurring in the first place
Solution Approach 2:
The user device acts as an intermediary between the telephone call system and the assistant device. It receives call status information, processes it, and sends appropriate pause/resume instructions to the assistant device, thereby mediating the interaction and preventing direct unintended activation during calls
2Ease of operation
If the assistant device responds to speech inputs during calls, then the assistant device can provide helpful responses, but the user may be distracted by unintended actions and responses
Solution Approach 1:
The assistant device's speech response function dynamically changes state based on call status. The device transitions from an active listening state to a paused state when a call is detected, and back to active when the call ends. This dynamic adaptation ensures the device is responsive when needed and silent when it would cause distraction
3Productivity
If the assistant device maintains speech response functions active, then the assistant device can continuously assist the user, but the device complexity increases with call status monitoring and control
Solution Approach 1:
The call monitoring and control functionality is extracted from the assistant device itself and placed in the user device. The user device monitors calling activity and sends simple pause/resume instructions to the assistant device, thereby removing the complexity of call status monitoring from the assistant device while maintaining continuous assistance capability
Solution Approach 2:
The user device serves itself by monitoring its own calling activity and automatically sending appropriate pause instructions to the assistant device. This self-service approach eliminates the need for additional complex monitoring systems in the assistant device, as the user device naturally has access to its call status information
Data Source
AI summary
A computer-implemented method includes: monitoring, by a user device, calling activity on the user device; detecting, by the user device and based on the monitoring, that a call has started on the user device; providing, by the user device, a pause instruction to an assistant device based on detecting that the call has started on the user device, causing the assistant device to disable speech response functions; detecting, by the user device and based on the monitoring, that the call has ended on the user device; and providing, by the user device, a resume instruction to the assistant device based on detecting that the call has ended on the user device, causing the assistant device to resume speech response functions.