Voice Account Linking for Guest Access on Shared Smart Speakers
Find Innovative SolutionsGenerate Solutions
Solution Overview
Problem
Voice-enabled devices in temporary environments, such as hotels, often lack access to user-specific resources and permissions, limiting their functionality for guests.
Innovation Solution
A system for temporarily associating a personal user account with voice-enabled devices by requesting and verifying contact information, enabling access to user-specific resources and permissions through a remote system.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Adaptability or versatility
If voice-enabled devices are deployed in temporary environments like hotels, then device availability and accessibility are improved, but access to user-specific resources and permissions deteriorates
Solution Approach 1:
A temporary account is introduced as an intermediary between the guest and the voice-enabled device. This account is created specifically for the duration of the guest's stay, mediating access to resources and permissions without requiring permanent account configurations or complex authentication mechanisms.
Solution Approach 2:
The system automatically creates a temporary account before the guest needs to use the voice-enabled device. This preliminary action includes pre-configuring the account with appropriate permissions and resources, so that when the guest arrives, access is already established without requiring manual setup or complex authentication.
2Device complexity
If permanent account associations are used with voice-enabled devices, then access to user resources is improved, but adaptability to temporary environments deteriorates
Solution Approach 1:
The account association is made dynamic rather than static. The temporary account is automatically created, activated, and deactivated based on the guest's stay duration. This dynamic behavior allows the system to adapt to temporary environments while maintaining proper access control, eliminating the need for permanent account associations.
3Ease of operation
If automatic account creation is implemented, then ease of operation is improved, but control over resource availability worsens
Solution Approach 1:
The system performs self-service by automatically creating the temporary account and assigning appropriate permissions based on the guest's stay. This eliminates manual account setup requirements for the guest while the system intelligently manages resource allocation and access rights without requiring complex configuration.
Data Source
AI summary
Systems and methods for temporarily associating user accounts with voice-enabled devices are disclosed. A voice-enabled device, which may be associated with a default account, may be situated in an environment, such as a hotel room. A user may desire to utilize the voice-enabled device to perform one or more actions. In examples, some or all of the actions may require the use of a system resource not available to the default account. In these examples, the user may provide contact information to be used to send a message to personal device of the user to acquire user account information. Upon receipt of such information, the user account may be temporarily associated with the voice-enabled device, and may be dissociated from the voice-enabled device upon the lapse of a period of time and/or occurrence of a dissociation event.