Context-Sensitive Digital Assistant Notification Triage
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Solution Overview
Problem
Digital assistants are limited in their ability to proactively provide information and interrupt users intelligently, as they typically only react to explicit user requests and lack the capability to determine when and how to present information based on context and urgency.
Innovation Solution
A digital assistant dynamically assigns urgency values to notifications and provides audio prompts only if the urgency meets a predetermined threshold, adjusting these values based on changing conditions and user context, such as location, time, and user settings, to ensure important notifications are not missed.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Loss of information
If all notifications are provided to the user, then information completeness is improved, but user disturbance increases
Solution Approach 1:
The patent applies local quality by differentiating notification handling based on context. Different urgency thresholds are applied to different notification items based on their importance and the current user context (e.g., Do Not Disturb mode, active calls, meetings). This allows critical notifications to be delivered while filtering out less important ones, resolving the contradiction between information completeness and user disturbance.
Solution Approach 2:
The system dynamically changes the urgency threshold parameter based on contextual conditions. When the user is in Do Not Disturb mode or engaged in an activity, the threshold for interrupting the user is raised. When critical information is detected or context changes (e.g., user becomes available), the threshold is lowered. This dynamic parameter adjustment allows the system to adapt notification delivery to minimize disturbance while ensuring important information reaches the user.
2Object-affected harmful factors
If no notifications are provided when the device is in silent mode, then user disturbance is reduced, but important information may be missed
Solution Approach 1:
The system performs preliminary evaluation of notification urgency before the user actually experiences disturbance. By pre-assessing whether a notification meets the urgency threshold given the current context (silent mode, active calls, etc.), the system can proactively allow critical notifications to through while blocking others. This preliminary action ensures important information is not missed while maintaining the user's preference for reduced disturbance during silent periods.
Solution Approach 2:
The system continuously monitors contextual changes and adjusts notification delivery accordingly. When context changes (e.g., user ends a call, leaves a meeting, or explicitly acknowledges a notification), the system receives feedback and recalculates urgency thresholds. This feedback mechanism ensures that important notifications are delivered when the user becomes available, maintaining information delivery reliability while respecting silent mode preferences during inappropriate times.
3Adaptability or versatility
If the digital assistant proactively provides information, then user helpfulness is improved, but unnecessary interruptions increase
Solution Approach 1:
The system dynamically adjusts the urgency threshold parameter based on real-time contextual information. When the user is available and context suggests receptiveness (e.g., not in meetings, device not in Do Not Disturb mode), the threshold is lowered to allow proactive information provision. When context indicates the user should not be interrupted (active calls, meetings, Do Not Disturb mode), the threshold is raised. This dynamic parameter adjustment enables adaptive proactive assistance that minimizes unnecessary interruptions.
Solution Approach 2:
The urgency threshold acts as an intermediary mechanism between the proactive information provision capability and the user's interruption tolerance. Rather than directly deciding whether to interrupt based on simple rules, the system uses the dynamically adjusted urgency threshold as a mediator that filters proactive information based on contextual appropriateness. This intermediary allows the system to maintain proactive assistance capabilities while filtering out interruptions that would be inappropriate given the current context.
Data Source
AI summary
A list of notification items is received, the list including a plurality of notification items, wherein each respective one of the plurality of notification items is associated with a respective urgency value. An information item is detected. In some implementations, the information item is a communication (e.g., an email). In some implementations, the information item is a change in context of a user. Upon determining that the information item is relevant to the urgency value of the first notification item, the urgency value of the first notification item is adjusted. Upon determining that the adjusted urgency value satisfies the predetermined threshold, a first audio prompt is provided to a user.