Opportunistic Voice Call Initiation Between Smart Speakers
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Solution Overview
Problem
When attempting to place a call between smart speaker devices, users often face inefficiencies as they must either repeatedly try to connect or use non-real-time messaging to schedule a call, consuming excess time and network resources, especially when the recipient is unavailable.
Innovation Solution
Implementing an opportunistic call initiation system where the intelligent automated assistant service monitors the availability of both users and initiates a real-time communication session when both are determined to be available, eliminating the need for pre-coordination or intermediate messages.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Reliability
If a user repeatedly attempts to place a call until the user answers, then the call may eventually be connected, but excessive time and network resources are consumed
Solution Approach 1:
The system performs preliminary actions by monitoring the availability status of the called user in advance before each call attempt. The intelligent automated assistant service continuously checks whether the user is available to receive calls, and only initiates call attempts when availability is confirmed, thereby avoiding repeated failed attempts and reducing overall call setup time.
2Ease of operation
If a user sends a message to schedule a call, then coordination between users is achieved, but network resources and time are consumed through intermediate messaging protocols
Solution Approach 1:
The intelligent automated assistant service acts as an intermediary that directly monitors user availability and manages call initiation without requiring intermediate messaging between users. The service receives availability information from the called user's device and autonomously determines when to initiate the call, eliminating the need for users to exchange scheduling messages and reducing coordination time.
3Reliability
If conventional telephone technology is used for call placement, then calls can be established, but users lack automated availability monitoring and must manually coordinate
Solution Approach 1:
The system implements self-service by having the called user's device automatically provide availability status information to the intelligent automated assistant service without requiring manual input from the user. The service then uses this information to automatically initiate calls when appropriate, enabling automated availability monitoring and call management while maintaining reliable call establishment.
Data Source
AI summary
A method and system are provided for opportunistically initiating a multimedia call between two or more devices such as smart speakers at a time when users of the respective smart speakers are available to participate in a call. A server system receives an instruction from a first smart speaker associated with a first user to establish a real-time communication session with a second smart speaker. In response to that instruction, the server system monitors availability of both the first user and the second user at their respective smart speakers. On determining that both the first user and the second user are available at the same time, the server system initiates the real-time communication session between the first smart speaker and the second smart speaker.