Face Tracking Phone Alert Suppression

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Solution Overview

Problem

Conventional telephone devices continue to alert users persistently for incoming calls or messages without distinguishing between acknowledged and unacknowledged notifications, leading to unnecessary disturbances.

Innovation Solution

Integration of a camera with face tracking software that recognizes and responds to the user's presence and gestures, allowing the device to discontinue alerts when the user's face is detected and acknowledged, enabling more intuitive control over notifications through facial recognition and gesture recognition.

Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles

VSEngineering Contradiction Analysis

1Reliability

If the telephone continues to alert persistently for incoming calls or messages, then the user is notified of the incoming communication, but the user experiences unnecessary disturbances

Engineering Contradiction:
Improvenotification deliveryVSAvoiduser disturbance
Core Design Contradiction:
ReliabilityVSObject-affected harmful factors

Solution Approach 1:

The system uses the camera to detect the user's face and presence as feedback to determine whether to continue or stop the alert. When the user's face is detected within a certain distance, the alert is automatically discontinued, creating a feedback loop that adapts the notification behavior based on real-time user presence detection.

Inventive Principle:
Principle #23Feedback

Solution Approach 2:

The system automatically detects user presence and makes decisions about alert continuation without requiring manual user input. The camera-based face detection enables the device to self-determine whether the user is present and actively needs the notification, eliminating the need for users to manually dismiss alerts.

Inventive Principle:
Principle #25Self-service

2Measurement precision

If multiple sensors are used to detect user presence and change operating mode, then the system can accurately detect user status, but the device complexity increases

Engineering Contradiction:
Improveuser presence detection accuracyVSAvoidsensor system complexity
Core Design Contradiction:
Measurement precisionVSDevice complexity

Solution Approach 1:

The patent extracts and focuses on using only the camera sensor for face detection, rather than requiring multiple sensors. This selective approach maintains user presence detection accuracy while significantly reducing device complexity by eliminating the need for additional sensors and their associated processing systems.

Inventive Principle:
Principle #2Taking out (Extraction)

Data Source

PatentEP2681902B1Using face tracking for handling phone events
Publication Date: 2016.11.09 CISCO TECHNOLOGY INC
  • EP2681902B1 patent drawingFigure 1~3
  • EP2681902B1 patent drawingFigure 2

AI summary

In accordance with an example embodiment, there is disclosed herein an apparatus comprising an alert device, an optical input device; and a controller coupled to the alert device and the optical input device. The controller is configured to send an alert via the alert device in response to a predetermined event. The controller is configured to recognize whether a face is detected by the optical input device, and to discontinue the alert responsive to determining that the face is being detected by the optical input device.