Media Playback Arbitration for Multiple Voice Assistant Services
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Solution Overview
Problem
Managing associations between multiple voice assistant services (VASes) in media playback systems is challenging due to interruptions and asynchronous responses, which can compromise user experience and privacy.
Innovation Solution
Playback devices arbitrate content playback and activation-word detection from multiple VASes, dynamically suppressing or delaying content from one VAS to avoid interrupting another based on content characteristics and user engagement, ensuring seamless and privacy-preserving interactions.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Adaptability or versatility
If multiple voice assistant services are integrated into media playback systems, then service versatility is improved, but system complexity increases due to content arbitration and interruption management
Solution Approach 1:
The media playback device acts as an intermediary between multiple voice assistant services, receiving content from various VASes and arbitrating their playback. This mediator approach allows the system to integrate multiple services while centralizing the complexity management in a dedicated arbitration mechanism that coordinates content delivery and prevents conflicts.
Solution Approach 2:
The system dynamically adjusts content playback based on real-time conditions, including suppressing or delaying content from one VAS when content from another VAS is detected. This dynamic arbitration allows the system to adapt to changing user interactions and prioritize relevant content while maintaining overall system manageability.
2Ease of operation
If voice assistant content is played back continuously, then user engagement is improved, but interruptions from multiple services degrade user experience
Solution Approach 1:
The system monitors user interactions and content playback conditions in real-time, using feedback to determine when to suppress or delay content from one voice assistant service when content from another service is detected. This feedback mechanism ensures smooth user experience by preventing interruptions while maintaining reliable content delivery based on actual usage patterns.
Solution Approach 2:
The content playback is dynamically adjusted based on detected conditions, including suppressing content from one VAS when content from another VAS is detected. This dynamic approach maintains user engagement by preventing interruptions while ensuring consistent and reliable content delivery according to real-time system state.
3Speed
If activation-word detection is performed for all voice assistant services simultaneously, then service responsiveness is improved, but processing time increases due to asynchronous responses
Solution Approach 1:
The system performs activation-word detection for multiple voice assistant services simultaneously but selectively processes only the relevant responses based on detected content conditions. This partial action approach maintains service responsiveness by detecting all possible VAS activations while reducing actual processing time by filtering out non-relevant asynchronous responses.
Solution Approach 2:
The system preliminarily detects activation words from multiple voice assistant services in parallel, then uses this preliminary information to determine which content to suppress or delay. This preliminary detection maintains fast response speeds while managing processing time efficiently by preparing multiple detection results simultaneously before executing the arbitration decision.
Data Source
AI summary
Systems and methods for managing multiple voice assistants are disclosed. Audio input is received via one or more microphones of a playback device. A first activation word is detected in the audio input via the playback device. After detecting the first activation word, the playback device transmits a voice utterance of the audio input to a first voice assistant service (VAS). The playback device receives, from the first VAS, first content to be played back via the playback device. The playback device also receives, from a second VAS, second content to be played back via the playback device. The playback device plays back the first content while suppressing the second content. Such suppression can include delaying or canceling playback of the second content.