Controlling notification delivery and control access
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Solution Overview
Problem
Connected cooking appliances face user experience issues due to inadequate access to control and cooking status notifications, which do not consider the user's location or context, making it inconvenient to monitor or control appliances remotely.
Innovation Solution
A computer-implemented method that acquires user location and activity data to determine a delivery scheme for notifications and access scheme for controlling connected appliances, adjusting notification salience and access based on proximity, activity, and context to enhance usability and reduce the number of steps required for operations.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Reliability
If notifications are provided through mobile applications regardless of user location or activity, then users can receive cooking status updates, but users experience awkwardness and inconvenience when monitoring cooking status through smartphones while being physically present at the appliance
Solution Approach 1:
The system provides different notification channels based on user location and context. When the user is near the appliance, local audio/visual notifications are used. When remote, mobile app notifications are used. This localized adaptation resolves the contradiction by matching the notification method to the user's situation.
Solution Approach 2:
The notification system dynamically switches between different delivery channels (local appliance display, audio cues, mobile app push notifications) based on real-time user location data and activity context. This dynamic adaptation allows the system to maintain reliability while improving ease of operation in different scenarios.
2Adaptability or versatility
If control access is provided through mobile applications, then users can remotely control the appliance, but users must take additional steps to access controls when physically present at the appliance
Solution Approach 1:
The system pre-configures multiple control access points (both local appliance interface and mobile app). When the user is detected to be near the appliance, the local interface is activated, providing immediate control without requiring the user to open the mobile app. This preliminary setup resolves the contradiction by having control options ready based on predicted user needs.
Solution Approach 2:
The control system is designed to work through multiple channels (local appliance buttons/display and remote mobile app). This multi-functionality allows the system to adapt to different user situations, providing ease of operation locally when needed while maintaining remote control capability when the user is away.
3Ease of operation
If the system monitors user location and activity continuously to provide adaptive notifications and control access, then user experience is improved, but computer resources are consumed
Solution Approach 1:
The system uses periodic location checks and activity detection rather than continuous monitoring. Notifications and control access adaptations are triggered by periodic updates from the mobile device's location services and motion sensors, reducing computational overhead while maintaining adaptive user experience.
Solution Approach 2:
The mobile device's operating system handles the heavy lifting of location tracking and activity monitoring using its own sensors and processors. The connected appliance receives this information via wireless communication and makes simple decisions based on pre-defined rules, minimizing the computational resources required at the appliance end.
Data Source
AI summary
According to an aspect, there is provided a computer-implemented method for controlling an apparatus wirelessly connected to one or more external devices, the method comprises acquiring data associated with a current location of each of one or more users and data associated with an activity being performed by each of the one or more users; determining at least one of a delivery scheme for delivering a notification at one or more destinations and an access scheme for providing control access of the apparatus, based on the data associated with the current location of each of the one or more users, the data associated with the activity being performed by each of the one or more users, and a context of the notification.