Audio Routing Hub for Distraction Isolation
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Solution Overview
Problem
Personal audio devices fail to effectively isolate users from distracting noises in open-plan or cubicle work environments, and there is a need for seamless management of audio and video communications across multiple devices while maintaining awareness of surrounding activities.
Innovation Solution
A communications hub that connects to personal computers, communication devices, headsets, and speakers, using a processor to route audio and video signals based on user proximity and activity, providing noise cancellation, masking sounds, and participant identification in multi-party calls, with features like do-not-disturb indicators and voice fingerprinting.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Ease of operation
If audio is routed to speaker for open environment communication, then accessibility is improved, but privacy and isolation from distractions deteriorates
Solution Approach 1:
The system dynamically switches audio routing between speaker and headset based on detected user presence and environmental context. When the user approaches or puts on the headset, audio automatically routes to the headset for privacy and distraction isolation. When the user moves away or removes the headset, audio routes to the speaker for open environment accessibility, creating a dynamic adaptation to changing conditions.
Solution Approach 2:
The headset serves as an intermediary device that the user can selectively engage with. It acts as a mediator between the open environment (speaker) and the user's personal audio space, allowing the user to control the level of isolation from distractions while maintaining seamless audio continuity across different states.
2Object-affected harmful factors
If noise cancellation is activated in headset, then isolation from distractions is improved, but awareness of surrounding activities deteriorates
Solution Approach 1:
The system periodically monitors environmental conditions and user presence through sensors, allowing the user to temporarily exit noise cancellation mode when needed. The do-not-disturb indicator provides periodic visual feedback about the current audio state, enabling the user to maintain noise cancellation while staying aware of surrounding activities through environmental cues.
Solution Approach 2:
The do-not-disturb indicator uses color changes to communicate the current audio routing and noise cancellation state to the user. This visual feedback mechanism allows users to maintain noise cancellation for distraction isolation while remaining informed about surrounding activities and system state through color-coded indicators.
3Object-affected harmful factors
If audio is masked for privacy protection, then privacy is improved, but user's own voice perception deteriorates
Solution Approach 1:
The noise cancellation feature applies local quality modification by selectively reducing masking audio levels in specific frequency ranges or directions when activated. This allows privacy protection through voice masking while preserving the user's ability to perceive their own voice by adjusting the masking characteristics in the user's auditory field.
Data Source
AI summary
An apparatus includes a first interface for connecting to a personal computer, a second interface for connecting to a communications device, a third interface for connecting to a headset, a fourth interface for connecting to a speaker, and a processor in control of each of the interfaces. The processor is configured to route audio associated with a communications session on one of the personal computer or the communications device to the speaker, and in response to a user putting on the headset, re-route the audio to the headset.