Wi-Fi Sensing Call Alerts via Nearby Speaker Activation
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Solution Overview
Problem
There is a need for a system and method to notify a user of a phone call when they are unable to attend to their mobile device, particularly for elderly people or children who may be preoccupied and miss urgent calls.
Innovation Solution
A system utilizing Wi-Fi sensing to determine the location of a user and alert them through nearby speakers and microphones when their mobile device is in silent mode or out of reach, ensuring the user is notified of incoming calls.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Reliability
If the user's mobile device is in silent mode or out of reach, then the user cannot hear or respond to incoming calls, but the system complexity increases by requiring location tracking and remote speaker activation
Solution Approach 1:
The patent introduces a media device as an intermediary between the incoming caller and the user. This media device receives call notifications from the client device and independently determines user location through Wi-Fi sensing, then activates appropriate speakers to notify the user. This intermediary approach ensures reliable call notification while distributing system complexity across multiple specialized components rather than requiring the client device to handle all functions.
Solution Approach 2:
The media device performs self-service by autonomously determining user location using Wi-Fi sensing technology and automatically selecting which speaker to activate based on the user's position. This eliminates the need for continuous user interaction or manual configuration, allowing the system to adapt and respond to incoming calls reliably without increasing the burden on the user or requiring complex centralized control.
2Reliability
If the system uses Wi-Fi sensing to determine user location and activate remote speakers, then call notification coverage improves, but the loss of time for location determination and system coordination increases
Solution Approach 1:
The system performs preliminary actions by continuously maintaining Wi-Fi sensing capability to track user location in advance of incoming calls. The media device is pre-configured with speaker locations and activation protocols, so when a call arrives, the system can quickly determine which speaker to activate without requiring time-consuming real-time analysis or user input. This preliminary preparation significantly reduces the time loss associated with notification delivery.
3Measurement precision
If the system activates multiple speakers based on user location, then notification accuracy improves, but the use of energy increases due to activating multiple audio devices
Solution Approach 1:
The patent applies local quality by activating only the speaker that is locally positioned near the user's determined location, rather than uniformly activating all speakers in the system. The media device uses Wi-Fi sensing to precisely determine user location and then selectively activates only the necessary speaker(s) in that specific local area. This approach maintains high notification accuracy by targeting the correct location while minimizing energy consumption by avoiding unnecessary activation of distant speakers.
Data Source
AI summary
A media device for use with a wide area network, a local area network, a local client device, a second client device, a wireless speaker, and a user of the local client device, the local client device being configured to receive the initiation communication and to transmit an alerting communication, said media device comprising: a memory; a communication system configured to receive the alerting communication from the local client device; a processor configured to execute instructions stored on said memory to cause said media device to: determine a user location of the user via the local area network; determine a client device location of the local client device via the local area network; and transmit, when the user location differs from the client device location, a speaker instruction to the wireless speaker to cause to the wireless speaker to output the warning, based on the alerting communication.