Screen Time Management Across Distributed Devices

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Solution Overview

Problem

The proliferation of electronic devices and the complexity of managing screen time across multiple devices pose challenges in accurately tracking and managing screen usage, especially considering factors like overlapping usage, screen time exceptions, and per-account usage.

Innovation Solution

A system and method that utilize a managing device to collect and aggregate screen time data from multiple managed devices, calculate overall screen usage time, and provide this information in response to queries, while also accounting for exceptions and per-account usage.

Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles

VSEngineering Contradiction Analysis

1Adaptability or versatility

If screen time is tracked across multiple distributed devices, then comprehensive screen time management is achieved, but system complexity increases

Engineering Contradiction:

Improvescreen time management coverageVSAvoidsystem complexity

Core Design Contradiction:

Adaptability or versatilityVSDevice complexity

Solution Approach 1:

A managing device is introduced as an intermediary component that collects screen time data from multiple managed devices, calculates overall screen usage time, and responds to queries. This mediator architecture allows comprehensive multi-device tracking without requiring direct complex interactions between all devices, thus resolving the contradiction between coverage and system complexity.

Inventive Principle:

Principle #24Intermediary (Mediator)

2Measurement precision

If screen time data is collected from all managed devices, then measurement accuracy improves, but data processing complexity increases

Engineering Contradiction:

Improvescreen time measurement accuracyVSAvoiddata processing complexity

Core Design Contradiction:

Measurement precisionVSDevice complexity

Solution Approach 1:

The managing device merges screen time data from multiple managed devices into a unified dataset, then calculates overall screen usage time by aggregating individual device data. This consolidation approach improves measurement accuracy across the device ecosystem while centralizing processing logic to manage complexity, rather than requiring each device to independently process all data.

Inventive Principle:

Principle #5Merging (Combining)

3Productivity

If overall screen usage time is calculated across multiple devices, then comprehensive monitoring is achieved, but computational requirements increase

Engineering Contradiction:

Improvescreen time monitoring efficiencyVSAvoidcomputational energy consumption

Core Design Contradiction:

ProductivityVSUse of energy by moving object

Solution Approach 1:

Screen time data is collected and stored in advance by the managing device before overall calculations are performed. This preliminary data collection and storage approach allows efficient batch processing of screen time metrics, improving monitoring efficiency while reducing peak computational energy requirements compared to real-time calculation across all devices.

Inventive Principle:

Principle #10Preliminary action

Data Source

PatentUS12238236B2Screen time management across multiple distributed devices

Publication Date: 2025.02.25 INNOPEAK TECHNOLOGY INC

AI summary

A managing device, a method and a non-transitory computer-readable storage medium are provided for screen time management. The managing device collects screen time data from each of one or more managed devices, and stores the screen time data, the one or more managed devices being managed by the managing device. The managing device calculates overall screen usage time based on the screen time data across a desired subset of the one or more managed device. In response to a screen usage time query, The managing device provides the calculated overall screen usage time to a querying device.