Conference Notification System for Targeted Section Alerts

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Solution Overview

Problem

Participants in video or audio conferences and listeners of recordings often face challenges in efficiently accessing specific sections of content without a predefined agenda, leading to unnecessary attendance or searching for relevant parts, as existing systems lack effective notification mechanisms based on content or speaker changes.

Innovation Solution

A system and method that allow participants to mark specific sections of a document or presentation, which are then scanned during the communication, generating alerts when the marked sections are reached, enabling timely joining or listening to desired parts, using a notification server and local database to manage and send these alerts.

Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles

VSEngineering Contradiction Analysis

1Reliability

If participants attend the entire conference or recording without notifications, then they ensure they do not miss any content of interest, but they waste time attending sections they are not interested in

Engineering Contradiction:
Improvecontent coverageVSAvoidattendance time
Core Design Contradiction:
ReliabilityVSLoss of time

Solution Approach 1:

Participants perform preliminary actions by marking sections of interest in advance before the conference or recording begins. The system stores these markings and uses them to generate targeted notifications, allowing participants to attend only relevant sections rather than the entire event, thus reducing time waste while ensuring coverage of important content

Inventive Principle:
Principle #10Preliminary action

Solution Approach 2:

The system implements feedback by continuously monitoring the conference/recording content against participant markings and sending real-time notifications when marked sections are approached or reached. This feedback mechanism enables participants to及时调整 their attendance, leaving uninteresting sections and focusing on relevant content

Inventive Principle:
Principle #23Feedback

2Ease of operation

If participants join based on agenda time, then they can plan their attendance, but the conference may not proceed according to schedule making them miss intended sections

Engineering Contradiction:
Improveattendance planningVSAvoidsection accuracy
Core Design Contradiction:
Ease of operationVSReliability

Solution Approach 1:

The system provides real-time feedback by monitoring actual conference content progression and comparing it against participant markings. Notifications are triggered based on actual content reached rather than scheduled time, compensating for schedule deviations and ensuring participants receive accurate alerts for sections of interest regardless of timing changes

Inventive Principle:
Principle #23Feedback

Solution Approach 2:

The system changes the notification trigger parameter from time-based (agenda schedule) to content-based (actual sections reached). By detecting when marked sections are actually presented regardless of when they were scheduled, the system adapts to schedule variations and maintains reliable section accuracy

Inventive Principle:
Principle #35Parameter changes

3Loss of time

If listeners fast forward through recordings to find interesting sections, then they can skip uninteresting parts, but they spend additional time searching without knowing what is available

Engineering Contradiction:
Improvesearch timeVSAvoidcontent awareness
Core Design Contradiction:
Loss of timeVSLoss of information

Solution Approach 1:

Listeners perform preliminary action by marking sections of interest in advance before the recording plays. The system uses these pre-defined markings to generate targeted notifications, eliminating the need for random fast-forwarding and searching. Listeners can efficiently navigate to relevant sections with confidence, reducing search time while maintaining content awareness through their advance selections

Inventive Principle:
Principle #10Preliminary action

Data Source

PatentEP2723019B1Notification system and method for sending alerts to communication participants
Publication Date: 2019.03.13 MITEL CORP
  • EP2723019B1 patent drawingFigure 1
  • EP2723019B1 patent drawingFigure 2
  • EP2723019B1 patent drawingFigure 3

AI summary

A system and method for automatically alerting participants to or listeners of a communication when a predefined section of the communication is reached are disclosed. In accordance with an exemplary method, prior to a communication, a document corresponding to the communication is marked at predefined locations. During a communication, the document is reviewed for marks, and when a mark is detected, an alert or notification is sent to one or more participants. The participants may then join the communication a point corresponding to the pre-defined section(s).