Playback Audio Notifications With Priority Queueing
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Solution Overview
Problem
Existing systems fail to effectively deliver audio notifications from smart devices to multiple rooms or users when mobile devices are unavailable or distracted, leading to missed alerts and suboptimal user experiences.
Innovation Solution
A playback device is configured with an API to receive alert communications from smart devices, prioritize notifications based on priority levels, and adjust audio playback to output audio notifications accordingly, ensuring they are heard by multiple users across different rooms.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Reliability
If audio notifications are delivered only through mobile devices, then the system remains simple, but notifications are missed when mobile devices are unavailable or distracted
Solution Approach 1:
The patent introduces a playback device as an intermediary between smart devices and users. The playback device receives alert communications from smart devices via API and outputs audio notifications through its audio output capabilities, serving as a mediator that ensures notifications are delivered even when mobile devices are unavailable or the user is distracted by other media playback.
2Reliability
If audio notifications are played at high volume to ensure they are heard, then notification reliability improves, but it disturbs users who are listening to media content
Solution Approach 1:
The patent implements dynamic audio output control where the playback device adjusts its notification volume based on the current media playback state. When media is being played, the notification volume is reduced relative to the media volume. When no media is playing, notifications can be output at higher volumes. This dynamic adjustment ensures notifications are heard without unnecessarily disturbing users engaged with media content.
3Reliability
If the system integrates API reception and audio output in one device, then notification delivery is improved, but the device complexity increases
Solution Approach 1:
The patent makes the playback device universal by giving it multiple functions: it continues to play media content from various sources while also receiving alert communications via API and outputting audio notifications. This multi-functionality eliminates the need for separate notification devices, as the existing playback device already present in the environment is enhanced to handle both media playback and notification delivery.
Data Source
AI summary
Systems and methods for a playback device outputting an audio alert from a network-enabled device include (i) while the playback device is playing back audio content, receiving an alert communication from the network-enabled device, the alert communication including (a) an audio notification identifier that identifies an audio notification and (b) a priority identifier that identifies a priority level of the audio notification; (ii) responsive to receiving the alert communication, adding the audio notification to a notification queue at a particular queue position, where the particular queue position of the audio notification in the notification queue is based on the priority level of the audio notification relative to other audio content in the notification queue; (iii) adjusting playback of the audio content for playing back the audio notification; and (iv) the playback device playing back the audio notification.