Timer-Based Audiovisual Ramp-Down Control
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Solution Overview
Problem
Existing multimedia and audiovisual device timers often cause abrupt changes in sound volume and brightness at the timer execution point, disturbing users and failing to account for users who remain awake, especially in complex hardware environments.
Innovation Solution
A system that uses HDMI-CEC commands or other control interfaces to gradually ramp down audio and visual content, allowing for customizable timer settings and user interaction to adjust the shutdown process, ensuring a smooth transition to silence and darkness.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Loss of energy
If a timer is set to turn off the television set at a specified time, then power consumption is reduced and the user is protected from excessive audiovisual stimulus during sleep, but abrupt changes in sound volume and brightness at the timer execution point may disturb the user and cause them to awaken
Solution Approach 1:
The system performs preliminary actions by gradually reducing audio volume and screen brightness before the timer execution point, rather than making abrupt changes. This preparatory dimming and sound reduction allows the user's eyes and ears to adjust progressively, preventing sudden disturbances that would cause awakening while still achieving the power-saving shutdown goal.
Solution Approach 2:
The system transitions from a static, abrupt shutdown approach to a dynamic, gradual reduction process. The audio and visual parameters are adjusted continuously over time rather than changing instantaneously, creating a smooth transition that adapts to the user's physiological state during sleep.
2Loss of energy
If the timer turns off the television set at the specified time, then power is conserved, but if the user is still awake at that time, returning the device to its previous operational state becomes cumbersome and annoying
Solution Approach 1:
The system provides preliminary warning notifications to the user before the actual shutdown occurs, allowing them to prepare or adjust their activities accordingly. This advance notice prevents the inconvenience of sudden device shutdowns when users are still actively engaged.
Solution Approach 2:
The system implements a dynamic, multi-stage shutdown process with adjustable timing and intensity levels, allowing flexibility in balancing power conservation with user convenience based on actual usage patterns.
3Reliability
If the timer uses an absolute time of day setting, then the shutdown occurs at a predictable moment, but this may not account for variations in user wake time or content duration
Solution Approach 1:
The system transitions from rigid, fixed-time shutdown scheduling to flexible, adaptive timing that can adjust based on actual content duration, user behavior patterns, and real-time conditions, while still maintaining reliable execution through programmable logic.
Solution Approach 2:
The system allows dynamic modification of timer parameters such as shutdown delay duration, dimming rate, and sound reduction curve, enabling adaptation to different user preferences, content types, and environmental conditions while preserving the core timer functionality.
Data Source
AI summary
A system includes a processor to initiate a timer in response to an action-execution command. The processor identifies expiration of the timer. In response to expiration of the timer, the processor transmits one or more commands to one or more controllable output devices to simultaneously ramp down the sound volume and gradually dim the display brightness generated by said one or more controllable audiovisual output devices over a predetermined ramp-down period of time.