Amazon announced today that it's updated
its Video Skill API so that Alexa can now start recordings, launch an app, or carry out playback commands.
As this is an upgrade to
the Video Skill API, the announcement today is more aimed towards developers than end users, although it does provide insight to those users of what they can expect Alexa to be able to do in the future.
Amazon, via its developer blog, has today announced an upgrade to
the Video Skill API for Alexa which will see the voice assistant service mature in its ability to engage with, and control, TV - related services and features.
The following diagram shows the different components of
the Video Skill API.
The Video Skill API follows the OAuth2.0 specification.
When you work with
the Video Skill API, messages, dates, times and URIs have a common format.
Skills that use the Smart Home Skill API or
Video Skill API must use account linking (with the authorization code grant flow) to connect the Alexa user with their device cloud account.
According to Amazon, the aforementioned companies are already using
the Video Skill API to create skills for their customers.
These Video Skill API include support for recording, launcher, and state reporting, and coming soon for video service providers such as DISH, Verizon, TiVo, and DIRECTV.
Once you've created the skill, you provide skill information, configuration and skill code hosted as an AWS Lambda function (an Amazon Web Services offering) that handles requests from
the Video Skill API and communicates with a device or video streaming service.
For more information on how to create a video skill, about
the Video Skill API, and the Alexa Skills Kit, check out the following resources:
Companies like DISH, Verizon, TiVo, and DIRECTV are already creating experiences using
the Video Skill API to voice enable their customers» video experiences.
The new recording capability of
the Video Skill API enables customers to set and manage DVR recordings with their voice.
It's all thanks to Amazon making
its Video Skill API available to developers.
These additions are built on top of
the Video Skill API and enable Alexa to interface with video content and services so customers can easily find and consume video content without invoking a specific skill.
Through
the Video Skill API, Alexa is aware of video devices and services your customer has or subscribes to.»
I don't believe it's any coincidence that
the Video Skill API is being rolled out a few weeks before the Echo Show ships.
Device discovery: Process by which the Alexa Smart Home Skill API or
Video Skill API discovers the devices that can be controlled with a skill.
The Video Skill API is flexible in that, despite ambiguity, you can decide how to act on a request.
If that provider uses
the Video Skill API to create an Alexa skill, that content can be ingested into Alexa's content catalog.
The Video Skill API is designed to enable customers to easily find and consume video content without invoking a specific skill.
Through
the Video Skill API, Alexa is aware of the video devices and services your customer has or subscribes to.
For more information about
the Video Skill API and the Alexa Skills Kit, you can also check out the following resources:
Today we announced
the Video Skill API, a new addition to the Alexa Skills Kit, which enables developers to add capabilities, called skills, to Alexa.
The Video Skill API is available at the same top level that Alexa uses to build video experiences on Fire TV.
The Video Skill API defines the requests the skill can handle (device directives) and the words users say to invoke those requests (utterances).
Companies like DISH, Netgem, and YouView are already creating experiences using
the Video Skill API.
All voice interactions with the user are handled by
the Video Skill API.
For a skill that controls video content you can use
the Video Skill API.
The Video Skill API provides both customers and developers with a consistent experience and interaction model.
One of the main goals of
the Video Skill API is to reduce developer friction and skill implementation time.
The Video Skill API: A service that understands the voice commands and converts them to directives (JSON messages) that are sent to video skills
To help with this,
the Video Skill API team provides documentation and code examples for getting started quickly.
The Video Skill API intelligently routes users to the content they want.
Amazon has added new functionality to
its Video Skill API, which allows the company's voice - driven virtual assistant, Alexa, to interface with video content and services.
Today Amazon added three new features to
the Video Skill API for Alexa.
Today we announced
the Video Skill API, a new addition to the Alexa Skills Kit.
With Amazon's updates to
the Video Skill API, DISH has the ability to deepen our Alexa integration and continue working toward providing our customers with a completely Hands - Free TV experience,» said Niraj Desai, DISH vice president of product management in Amazon's announcement today.
In addition to being able to control the video app,
the Video Skill API can import a provider's own catalog to help improve the accuracy of Alexa's responses, and it works without the customer having to first invoke a specific skill.
Today, we're excited to introduce new additions to
the Video Skill API — recording, launcher, and state reporting.
Back in January, Amazon launched
its Video Skill API designed to offer more control over apps from cable and satellite
Not exact matches
The updated
API also provides simplified logic so if a customer does have a
video skill enabled, Alexa will understand simple requests like «Alexa, play Manchester by the Sea,» and know to play the movie, not tell you what awards the movie won, for example.
The updated
API also provides simplified logic so if a customer does have a
video skill enabled, Alexa will understand simple requests like «Alexa, play Manchester by the Sea,» and know to play the movie, not tell you what awards the movie won, for example.
The
API offers simplified logic to handle requests to any one of potentially multiple
video skills that a customer has set up, so your customers can make simple requests like «Alexa, Play Manchester by the Sea,» and Alexa will know what to do.
Enable customers to view live
video feeds from their smart home cameras on Echo Show and Echo Spot with the new cameras capability in the Smart Home
Skill API.
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