Voice Agent Sidebar Alerting for Virtual Meeting Attention Cues

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Solution Overview

Problem

Participants in virtual meetings often miss attention cues during sidebar conversations, as they may become inattentive due to the duration of the meeting or engage in uninteresting topics, leading to missed questions or topics of interest.

Innovation Solution

A voice agent monitors the main meeting for attention cues such as keywords, phrases, or emotional recognition and alerts participants in a sidebar meeting, allowing them to rejoin the main meeting without missing important information.

Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles

VSEngineering Contradiction Analysis

1Adaptability or versatility

If participants engage in sidebar conversations during virtual meetings, then they can discuss uninteresting topics or have side discussions, but they may miss attention cues and important information from the main meeting

Engineering Contradiction:

Improveability to engage in side discussionsVSAvoidmissed attention cues

Core Design Contradiction:

Adaptability or versatilityVSLoss of information

Solution Approach 1:

The system implements feedback by monitoring the main meeting audio stream for attention cues (participant names, questions, acknowledgments) and notifying sidebar participants when they should return to the main meeting. This closed-loop feedback mechanism ensures sidebar participants stay informed about important moments without continuously attending the main meeting.

Inventive Principle:

Principle #23Feedback

Solution Approach 2:

The system introduces an intermediary component that sits between the main meeting and sidebar participants. This intermediary monitors the main meeting, identifies attention cues, and selectively notifies sidebar participants, acting as a mediator that filters and relays only relevant information from the main meeting to sidebar participants.

Inventive Principle:

Principle #24Intermediary (Mediator)

2Loss of information

If participants remain in the main meeting throughout, then they do not miss any attention cues, but they cannot engage in private side conversations with other participants

Engineering Contradiction:

Improveattention cues receivedVSAvoidability to have private discussions

Core Design Contradiction:

Loss of informationVSAdaptability or versatility

Solution Approach 1:

The system segments the meeting experience into main meeting participation and sidebar conversation modes. Participants can join sidebar meetings with specific colleagues for private discussions while the system separately monitors the main meeting for attention cues, allowing both functions to operate independently and simultaneously.

Inventive Principle:

Principle #1Segmentation

Solution Approach 2:

The intermediary component enables participants to be physically present in sidebar meetings while maintaining awareness of the main meeting. It mediates between the two meeting contexts by monitoring the main meeting and selectively notifying sidebar participants of important cues, allowing private discussions without complete isolation from the main meeting.

Inventive Principle:

Principle #24Intermediary (Mediator)

3Loss of information

If participants continuously monitor the main meeting for attention cues, then they do not miss important information, but it increases their cognitive load and reduces their ability to engage in sidebar conversations

Engineering Contradiction:

Improveimportant information retainedVSAvoidcognitive load

Core Design Contradiction:

Loss of informationVSEase of operation

Solution Approach 1:

The system implements self-service by automatically monitoring the main meeting audio stream for attention cues without requiring participant effort. The system independently performs speech recognition, identifies participant names and questions, and generates notifications, freeing participants from the cognitive burden of continuous monitoring while maintaining awareness of important moments.

Inventive Principle:

Principle #25Self-service

Solution Approach 2:

The system replaces the mechanical human effort of continuous monitoring with automated speech recognition and audio analysis technology. The voice agent listens to the main meeting, processes audio signals, identifies attention cues through pattern recognition, and sends notifications, substituting technological automation for human cognitive processing.

Inventive Principle:

Principle #28Mechanics substitution (Replace mechanical system)

Data Source

PatentUS11671472B1Voice agent for sidebars during virtual meetings

Publication Date: 2023.06.06 ZOOM VIDEO COMM INC

AI summary

Systems and methods for providing a voice agent for sidebars during virtual meetings are provided. In an Example, a system including a non-transitory computer-readable medium, a communications interface, and a processor is provided. The processor configured to execute processor-executable instructions stored in the non-transitory computer-readable medium to: establish a video conference, receive, from a first client device, a request for a sidebar meeting, and transmit to the first client device: a first set of audio and video streams corresponding to a main meeting, and a second set of audio and video streams corresponding to the sidebar meeting. The processor may be configured to identify, by a voice agent, an attention cue in an audio stream from the first set of audio and video streams, and generate, by the voice agent, an alert based on the attention cue identified in the audio stream.