Abstract
Users may often fall asleep while watching media content on a computing device such as a smart television, mobile computing device (e.g., a tablet computer, a smart phone), or a personal computer (e.g., a laptop computer, a desktop computer). Falling asleep while watching or consuming media content (e.g., movies, television shows, etc.) may lead to a loss of narrative place, a waste of resources, and/or sleep disruption. In general, the computing devices may include or implement inactivity-based timers that typically trigger after one or more hours of detected inactivity of the user with the computing device. The inactivity-based timers, however, may fail to capture the exact moment of sleep onset of the user and therefore, the exact timestamp in the playing of the media content where the user stopped watching the media content.
The disclosed technology implements a media state management system that uses a cross-device biometric interlock between a wearable device of a user watching the media content and a provider (e.g., a client) of the media content. Physiological data, such as the heart rate variability of the user and movement of the user, may be monitored in real-time to detect sleep onset of the user while watching the media content. Upon detection, the media state management system may initiate a soft-pause protocol for the playing of the media content. The soft-pause protocol may provide a gradual volume fade-out and screen dimming of the computing device playing the media content. The media state management system may calculate or determine a retroactive bookmark for the media content playing on the computing device by applying a latency correction factor to a timestamp in the media content where the sleep onset of the user was detected. The retroactive bookmark may represent the estimated time of actual sleep onset of the user while watching the media content. The retroactive bookmark allows for playback of the media content to be resumed from the precise moment the user drifted off to sleep. The media state management system may also account for multi-user viewing scenarios where more than one user (e.g., two or more users) may be watching the media content and one of the users falls asleep while watching. Accounting for multi-user viewing scenarios may ensure the viewing experience of all of the users remains uninterrupted.
Creative Commons License
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 License.
Recommended Citation
Agarwal, Nikita, "Media State Management and Granular Bookmarking Using a Cross-Device Biometric Interlock", Technical Disclosure Commons, (April 09, 2026)
https://www.tdcommons.org/dpubs_series/9746