Virtual Meeting Participation with Automated Agent Representation
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Solution Overview
Problem
Current online meeting systems do not allow users to efficiently manage multiple meetings simultaneously, leading to delays and disruptions when users are expected to actively participate in one meeting while virtually attending another, as participants are often unaware of the user's concurrent attendance.
Innovation Solution
A system and method that enable users to virtually attend meetings, monitor for triggering events, and send high-level or low-level notifications to a device, allowing users to focus on other tasks while automatically representing their presence in multiple meetings, with options to delegate responses or actively join as needed.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Productivity
If a user actively participates in multiple online meetings simultaneously, then the user can contribute to all meetings, but the user can only actively listen and participate in one meeting at a time
Solution Approach 1:
The system segments meeting participation into two distinct modes: active participation and virtual attendance. Active participation is reserved for one meeting where the user can speak and interact, while virtual attendance allows automated representation in other meetings through avatars and AI agents. This segmentation resolves the contradiction by allowing simultaneous presence in multiple meetings without requiring active participation in all of them.
Solution Approach 2:
An automated agent with an avatar serves as an intermediary between the user and virtually-attended meetings. This intermediary can speak on behalf of the user, answer questions, and participate in discussions without requiring the user's direct involvement. The intermediary enables the user to maintain presence in multiple meetings while only actively participating in one.
2Productivity
If a user attends one meeting in person while simultaneously attending one or more additional online meetings, then the user can manage multiple meetings, but delays occur when the person is expected to speak or contribute
Solution Approach 1:
The system prepares the automated agent in advance to represent the user in virtually-attended meetings. The agent is pre-configured with the user's information, meeting context, and communication patterns. When the user needs to switch between meetings, the agent is already positioned to continue participation without interruption, eliminating response delays.
Solution Approach 2:
The automated agent operates autonomously to represent the user in virtually-attended meetings without requiring continuous user intervention. The agent can independently respond to questions, provide updates, and engage in discussions based on pre-established instructions and real-time monitoring of meeting contexts. This self-service capability eliminates delays caused by the user needing to switch between meetings.
3Stability of the object's composition
If participants in online meetings are unaware that a person is attending another meeting at the same time or is otherwise occupied, then meeting flow is maintained, but delays occur when contribution is expected
Solution Approach 1:
The automated agent acts as an intermediary that maintains meeting flow continuity while representing the user. The agent can seamlessly continue participation in virtually-attended meetings even when the user is actively engaged in another meeting. This intermediary presence ensures that meeting flow is maintained without interruption while the user can contribute to the active meeting when needed.
Solution Approach 2:
The system creates a digital copy of the user in the form of an avatar that participates in virtually-attended meetings. This copy can independently engage in meeting activities, ask questions, and provide responses without requiring the original user's direct involvement. The copy maintains the appearance of continuous participation while the user remains available for active contribution when necessary.
4Productivity
If a user actively attends multiple meetings, then full participation is possible, but system resource usage and network traffic increase
Solution Approach 1:
The system segments meeting attendance into active and virtual modes, allowing the user to maintain presence in multiple meetings without establishing full active connections to all of them. Virtual attendance through automated agents requires significantly fewer system resources and network bandwidth compared to active participation, enabling higher meeting attendance capacity while reducing resource consumption.
Solution Approach 2:
Instead of maintaining multiple active user connections, the system creates lightweight digital copies (avatars) that represent the user in virtually-attended meetings. These copies consume minimal system resources and generate minimal network traffic compared to full active connections, enabling the user to attend multiple meetings simultaneously without proportionally increasing resource usage.
Data Source
AI summary
A method for participating in a virtually-attended meeting including: determining that a user is virtually attending a meeting; monitoring the virtually-attended meeting for a triggering event; detecting an occurrence of the triggering event; determining whether to send a high-level notification to the user; capturing a portion of the virtually-attended meeting; and sending the high-level notification. Also disclosed is a method where the high-level notification is sent to a second user along with a message from the first user about how to respond to the notification. Also disclosed is a corresponding system.