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HomeSeer Devs - Amazon Echo Home API - Suggestion (Multiple - Echoes, Echo Dot's)

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    HomeSeer Devs - Amazon Echo Home API - Suggestion (Multiple - Echoes, Echo Dot's)

    Hello,

    The Issue
    There have been a few requests or comments in threads regarding the use of multiple Amazon Echo or Echo Dot units. The concern is duplicate requests being processed due to being within earshot of multiple units. While we all hope for location based settings and some type of way to manage this via Amazon themselves, I think there could be another way to deal with this issue. Changing the wake word is not something I am interested in so that is not something I would consider with 5 units in the house.

    I suspect that a solution could be simple and not require HomeSeer staff to be responsible for the variable settings or use of this option if they could put it in the HS3 software.

    The Proposal:

    In Tools>Setup>Voice, add a setting for Amazon Echo API Request Filtering as well as a Filter Delay Time Threshold.

    If enabled, HS3 could filter any near simultaneous requests to HS3 that are for the same query that arrive from multiple sources. The threshold could be set to a number of seconds to filter subsequent requests that are exact matches. This should be able to stop any toggle type scenarios where an On Request sent to a Virtual Device manipulates a device twice because 2 or more Echo API requests are processed in quick succession. I know there might be subsequent requests by the user if something wasn't processed but I can't imaging being able to repeat a voice query in less than 3 seconds anyway so the threshold could be set by the user to match their system.

    It would seem to me to be a simple addition to the HS3 platform that would allow us to better control our houses via voice as well as get rid of the need for multiple wake words and get us to start buying more units for each room without concern for this issue.

    What say you HomeSeer? Would more people be interested and expand their echo use if this option were avaialble?

    -Travis

    #2
    Genius and simple, I say. I have two Dots coming today, to add to my two Echos. I'd appreciate this feature very much too.
    Mike

    Comment


      #3
      Is this even needed? If all of my Echo's hear the same request and then tell HomeSeer to "Turn off Kitchen Lights" more than once; does it matter?

      Comment


        #4
        Originally posted by MrMxyzptlk View Post
        Is this even needed? If all of my Echo's hear the same request and then tell HomeSeer to "Turn off Kitchen Lights" more than once; does it matter?
        I'm not sure it's needed, but couldn't hurt. What would be better is if Amazon linked all the Echos (not necessarily all alexa devices) and determined which one you were closer to. Couldn't be that hard to do with their mic arrays, but then again, i know sometimes things seem easier than they really are.

        Comment


          #5
          Originally posted by MrMxyzptlk View Post
          Is this even needed? If all of my Echo's hear the same request and then tell HomeSeer to "Turn off Kitchen Lights" more than once; does it matter?
          It does, say you have a Virtual Device Like Email68 does that controls his Fast Forward though an event. When the event triggers, his Tivo will skip ahead 2 minutes. If a double trigger were to occur in this example, it would skip 4 minutes ahead (event would run twice). Other people toggle other devices so I suspect they would be susceptible to similar issues.

          Another common example would be to say "Alexa, raise the temperature 2 degrees." The issue might raise the thermostat 4 degrees or more depending on which Amazon Echo units receive a sensible voice command.

          -Travis

          Comment


            #6
            Trigger events with virtual devices, and have those events only allowed to trigger every x seconds.

            Comment


              #7
              Originally posted by Automated View Post
              Trigger events with virtual devices, and have those events only allowed to trigger every x seconds.
              While that is a true option, I wouldn't want to copy a specific event for the voice use and would't use the "every x seconds" option for most situations because if I trigger the same event from another interface, I might want it to trigger in fast succession. Example would be a button press in the example would trigger two minutes of FF on Tivo, I wouldn't want it to be delayed at all so I could do it in quick succession if needed. The filter method wouldn't affect any other type of triggering besides Amazon Echo API.

              -Travis
              Last edited by Daweeze; April 28, 2016, 01:07 PM.

              Comment


                #8
                Originally posted by Automated View Post
                Trigger events with virtual devices, and have those events only allowed to trigger every x seconds.
                I like it. Probably a good compromise (say 2 secs), since most voice commands are going to take at least that long to say again, you should still be able to send multiples if necessary..

                Z

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