Abstract
Managing co-watching sessions may present difficulties when one user becomes inactive while others remain engaged, as continuing playback could create an inaccurate viewing history for the inactive user, while pausing could disrupt the session for active users. Systems and methods are described that can arbitrate playback by evaluating an inactivity signal from one user's device, such as a smartphone, tablet, or smart television, against countervailing activity signals from other session participants' devices. If playback continues, a split-state logging mechanism can decouple individual viewing histories, for example, by pausing the viewing progress record for the inactive user while continuing to update it for active users. This approach can allow media playback to continue for engaged viewers with fewer interruptions while helping to maintain a more accurate viewing history and resume point for the user who became inactive.
Creative Commons License
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 License.
Recommended Citation
Agarwal, Nikita, "Arbitrating Playback and Logging for Co-Watching Sessions", Technical Disclosure Commons, (July 28, 2026)
https://www.tdcommons.org/dpubs_series/11198