Bio-signal Alert Control for Concentration Preservation
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Solution Overview
Problem
Existing portable electronic devices often disrupt users by providing alerts during critical concentration periods, such as when a user is focused on a task, as they rely solely on time and environmental parameters to determine alert timing without considering the user's physiological state.
Innovation Solution
The method involves detecting bio-signals from users to determine their concentration level and adjusting alert timing accordingly, using a processor and detector to compare bio-signal data with reference data to decide whether to initiate a user alert, delaying or canceling alerts when the user is concentrating.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Loss of information
If alerts are provided continuously to inform users of events, then user awareness of events is improved, but user concentration is disrupted
Solution Approach 1:
The system dynamically adjusts alert delivery based on real-time detection of user concentration state. When concentration is detected, the system suppresses alerts; when concentration ends, alerts are delivered. This dynamic adaptation resolves the contradiction by making the alerting behavior flexible rather than static.
Solution Approach 2:
The system uses feedback from concentration detectors (monitoring physiological signals like heart rate, breathing, eye movement) to control alert delivery. The detected concentration state provides feedback that modulates whether alerts are suppressed or delivered, creating a closed-loop system that balances user awareness with concentration preservation.
2Measurement precision
If bio-signal detection is implemented to determine concentration level, then alert timing accuracy is improved, but device complexity increases
Solution Approach 1:
The concentration detector is designed to perform multiple functions: detecting various bio-signals (heart rate, breathing, eye movement, skin conductivity), classifying concentration states, and providing control signals for alert suppression. This multi-functionality reduces the need for separate dedicated components for each function.
Solution Approach 2:
The system monitors changes in physiological parameters (heart rate variability, breathing frequency, eye movement patterns, skin conductivity) to detect concentration state. By tracking parameter changes rather than requiring absolute values, the system achieves accurate detection with relatively simple sensing mechanisms.
Data Source
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AI summary
A method, apparatus and computer program are provided. The method comprises: determining that an event has occurred; obtaining, from at least one detector, a detection of one or more bio-signals from a user; and processing the detection of the one or more bio-signals to decide whether to control at least one user output device to initiate a user alert, contemporaneously with the occurrence of the event, indicating that the event has occurred.