Audio Conversation System with Dynamic Flow Control
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Solution Overview
Problem
Existing systems for providing audio conversations over unreliable digital transmission media, such as mobile phone calls and VOIP, often result in unintelligible audio due to packet loss mitigation techniques being overused, leading to degraded audio quality and miscommunication, as users are not adequately informed about data delivery issues.
Innovation Solution
A system that limits end-to-end delay by using a transmission subsystem, audio input and output subsystems, and a reliable message transport protocol to manage flow control, pausing audio input and output as necessary, and providing visual or auditory cues to users to indicate pauses, ensuring conversation intelligibility during unfavorable network conditions.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Reliability
If packet loss mitigation techniques are used to handle data transport disruptions, then audio intelligibility is improved, but audio quality degrades when techniques are overused
Solution Approach 1:
The system continuously monitors end-to-end delay and packet loss conditions, using this feedback to dynamically adjust the application of packet loss mitigation techniques. When delay exceeds thresholds or network conditions deteriorate, the system reduces or pauses mitigation techniques to preserve audio quality, while maintaining intelligibility through selective application of these techniques.
Solution Approach 2:
The patent implements dynamic adjustment of packet loss mitigation techniques based on real-time network conditions. The system transitions between different states (e.g., active mitigation, reduced mitigation, paused mitigation) depending on measured delay and packet loss, allowing flexible adaptation that prevents both insufficient and excessive application of correction techniques.
2Reliability
If packet loss mitigation techniques are applied to correct for packet loss, then audio delivery is improved, but end-to-end delay accumulates excessively
Solution Approach 1:
The system continuously measures end-to-end delay and uses this feedback to control the application of packet loss mitigation techniques. When delay exceeds predetermined thresholds, the system reduces or pauses these techniques to prevent further delay accumulation, while maintaining adequate audio delivery through selective correction of packet loss.
Solution Approach 2:
The system sets predetermined delay thresholds in advance that trigger corrective actions. When delay approaches these pre-set limits, the system proactively adjusts mitigation technique application to prevent excessive delay accumulation, rather than reacting after delay has already become problematic.
3Loss of time
If audio is paused to limit end-to-end delay, then delay accumulation is prevented, but user awareness of the pause is reduced
Solution Approach 1:
The system provides feedback to users about audio pause conditions through visual or auditory cues. When audio input or output is paused to control delay, users receive notifications or visual indicators that explain the pause status, maintaining their awareness of the situation while the system manages delay accumulation.
Solution Approach 2:
The patent employs visual indicators (such as color changes in the user interface) to communicate audio pause states to users. These visual cues provide immediate feedback about whether audio transmission is currently paused, ensuring users remain informed about the system state without interfering with the delay control mechanism.
Data Source
AI summary
During unfavorable network conditions, a system provides a fallback mode that ensures conversation intelligibility and eliminates dropouts. In the fallback mode, the system uses data retransmission and mitigates retransmission delay by breaking input and output audio into segments for flow control and by involving the users in flow control. On the receive end, when necessary, the system pauses audio output and indicates the pause to the receiving user to inform the receiving user that the pause is a system artifact rather than silence from the transmitting user. On the transmit end, when necessary to avoid accumulation of excessive end-to-end delay, the system suspends audio input and indicates the suspension to the transmitting user to inform the transmitting user that audio input is temporarily being ignored. The transmit end of the system decides when to suspend audio input based on current end-to-end delay, which is continually communicated from the receive end.