Journey Content Provision for Coverage Gaps and Trip-Length Fit

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Solution Overview

Problem

Existing content consumption during travel is often interrupted by factors such as tunnels or mismatched journey durations, leading to inconvenience for users.

Innovation Solution

A system and method that dynamically selects or modifies journey routes and content based on characteristics like duration, network availability, lighting, and user preferences to ensure seamless content experience.

Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles

VSEngineering Contradiction Analysis

1Ease of operation

If content is streamed or downloaded during travel, then users can consume content while travelling, but internet access may be interrupted by tunnels or poor coverage areas

Engineering Contradiction:

Improvecontent consumption during travelVSAvoidinternet access continuity

Core Design Contradiction:

Ease of operationVSReliability

Solution Approach 1:

The system downloads content in advance during periods of good network coverage before the user enters areas with poor or no coverage. This preliminary action ensures content is available locally for uninterrupted consumption throughout the journey, resolving the contradiction between enabling content consumption during travel and maintaining reliable access.

Inventive Principle:

Principle #10Preliminary action

2Adaptability or versatility

If content duration does not align with journey length, then users can select from various content, but users must interrupt content or forgo it to avoid inconvenience

Engineering Contradiction:

Improvecontent selection flexibilityVSAvoidcontent experience continuity

Core Design Contradiction:

Adaptability or versatilityVSEase of operation

Solution Approach 1:

The system continuously monitors journey progress and provides feedback to dynamically adjust content playback. When the journey reaches a predetermined point, the system automatically pauses or stops content, ensuring alignment between content duration and actual travel time. This feedback mechanism resolves the contradiction by maintaining both content selection flexibility and experience continuity.

Inventive Principle:

Principle #23Feedback

Solution Approach 2:

The content playback system is made dynamic by automatically adjusting its behavior based on real-time journey conditions. The system can pause, resume, or stop content playback at appropriate points during the journey, transforming a static content delivery system into an adaptive one that resolves the timing mismatch between content and travel duration.

Inventive Principle:

Principle #15Dynamics

3Reliability

If users download content in advance, then internet access interruptions are avoided, but storage capacity is consumed

Engineering Contradiction:

Improvecontent access reliabilityVSAvoidstorage capacity

Core Design Contradiction:

ReliabilityVSQuantity of substance

Solution Approach 1:

The system dynamically changes the parameter of content quality (resolution, format, or compression level) based on available storage capacity and user preferences. By adjusting these parameters, the system can download more content within the same storage constraints, resolving the contradiction between ensuring reliable content access and preserving storage capacity.

Inventive Principle:

Principle #35Parameter changes

Data Source

PatentUS12521632B2Travel-dependent content provision system and method

Publication Date: 2026.01.13 SONY INTERACTIVE ENTERTAINMENT LLC

AI summary

A system for presenting content to a user of a processing device during a journey, the system comprising a journey identification unit operable to identify one or more characteristics of the journey, a content determination unit operable to select and/or modify content in dependence upon the identified characteristics, and a content presentation unit operable to present the selected and/or modified content to the user of the processing device during the journey.