Alexa.SeekController Interface 3

The Alexa.SeekController interface provides directives to navigate to a specific position in a media item. You should implement this interface for your devices and services that can seek to a specific position. If a device or service can only fast forward or rewind a media item, implement the Alexa.PlaybackController interface instead.

For the list of languages that the Alexa.SeekController interface supports, see List of Alexa Interfaces and Supported Languages. For the definitions of the message properties, see Alexa Interface Message and Property Reference.

Utterances

The Alexa.SeekController interface uses the pre-built voice interaction model. After the user says one of the following utterances, Alexa sends a corresponding directive to your skill.

The following examples show some user utterances:

Alexa, skip thirty seconds on device.
Alexa, go back ten seconds on device.

Alexa, springe dreißig Sekunden auf dem Gerät vor.
Alexa, springe zehn Sekunden auf dem Gerät zurück.

Alexa, saute trente secondes sur l'appareil.
Alexa, retourne dix secondes sur l'appareil.

Alexa, salta trenta secondi sul dispositivo.
Alexa, torna indietro di dieci secondi sul dispositivo.

Alexa, アレクサ、デバイスで30秒スキップして
Alexa, アレクサ、デバイスで10秒戻して

Alexa, pular trinta segundos no dispositivo.
Alexa, saltar trinta segundos no dispositivo.
Alexa, voltar dez segundos atrás no dispositivo.

Alexa, sáltate treinta segundos en el dispositivo.
Alexa, retrocede diez segundos en el dispositivo.

Reportable properties

The Alexa.SeekController interface uses the positionMilliseconds property as the primary property. The positionMilliseconds property is an integer that represents the current absolute time position in a media item. The valid range is 0 — 86400000, inclusive. You identify that you support the property in your discovery response.

The following example show the positionMilliseconds property.

{
   "name":"positionMilliseconds",
   "value": 5000
}

Discovery

You describe endpoints that support Alexa.SeekController by using the standard discovery mechanism described in Alexa.Discovery.

For the Alexa.SeekController interface, include the positionMilliseconds property and set retrievable and proactivelyReported to false. Set retrievable to true as appropriate for other interfaces that you implement in your skill.

Use TV, STREAMING_DEVICE, GAME_CONSOLE, or other appropriate display category. For the full list of display categories, see display categories.

Discover response example

The following example shows a Discover.Response message for a device that supports the Alexa.SeekController.

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{
  "event": {
    "header": {
      "namespace": "Alexa.Discovery",
      "name": "Discover.Response",
      "payloadVersion": "3",
      "messageId": "Unique identifier, preferably a version 4 UUID"
    },
    "payload": {
      "endpoints": [
        {
          "endpointId": "Unique ID of the endpoint",
          "manufacturerName": "Manufacturer of the endpoint",
          "description": "Description to be shown in the Alexa app",
          "friendlyName": "device name, displayed in the Alexa app",
          "displayCategories": ["TV"],
          "cookie": {},
          "capabilities": [
            {
              "type": "AlexaInterface",
              "interface": "Alexa.SeekController",
              "version": "3",
              "properties": {
                  "supported": [
                      {
                          "name": "positionMilliseconds"
                      }
                  ],
                  "proactivelyReported": false,
                  "retrievable": false
              },
            {
              "type": "AlexaInterface",
              "interface": "Alexa",
              "version": "3"
            }
          ]
        }
      ]
    }
  }
}

Directives

Alexa sends the following Alexa.SeekController interface directives to your skill.

AdjustSeekPosition directive

You can send the AdjustSeekPosition directive to request a relative adjustment to the playback position of a media item.

AdjustSeekPosition directive example

The following example shows an AdjustSeekPosition directive that Alexa sends to your skill.

{
  "directive": {
    "header": {
      "namespace": "Alexa.SeekController",
      "name": "AdjustSeekPosition",
      "messageId": "Unique version 4 UUID",
      "correlationToken": "Opaque correlation token",
      "payloadVersion": "3"
    },
    "endpoint": {
      "endpointId": "videoDevice-001",
      "cookie": {
        "key": "value"
      },
      "scope": {
        "type": "BearerToken",
        "token": "access-token-from-skill"
      }
    },
    "payload": {
      "deltaPositionMilliseconds": -30000
    }
  }
}

AdjustSeekPosition directive payload

The following table shows the payload details for the AdjustSeekPosition directive.

Field Description Type Required

deltaPositionMilliseconds

The number of milliseconds, relative to the current seek position, to move forward or backward in playback in the media item. Use a positive number to seek forward and a negative number to seek backward. If the required position falls outside the duration of the media item, set the position to the beginning if deltaPositionMilliseconds is negative or the end of the item if deltaPositionMilliseconds is positive.
Valid range between –86400000 and 86400000. This range is equivalent to +/– 24 hours.

Integer

Yes

AdjustSeekPosition response

If you handle a AdjustSeekPosition directive successfully, respond with an Alexa.Response event. In the context object, include the value of the positionMilliseconds property.

Apply the deltaPositionMilliseconds, specified in the AdjustSeekPosition directive, to the current playback position and set the results in the positionMilliseconds property. The value of positionMilliseconds should never be negative. If the delta would cause the new playback position to be less than 0, return 0.

For example, if playback is at 00:05:30 (5 minutes and 30 seconds or 330000 milliseconds) and a user says, "rewind 30 seconds", Alexa sends an AdustSeekPosition directive with a deltapositionMilliseconds value of –30000. The AdjustSeekPosition response includes the positionMilliseconds with a value of 300000, which is equal to the previous position minus the delta.

The following example shows a AdjustSeekPosition response.

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{
  "event": {
    "header": {
      "namespace": "Alexa",
      "name": "Response",
      "messageId": "Unique identifier, preferably a version 4 UUID",
      "correlationToken": "Opaque correlation token that matches the request",
      "payloadVersion": "3"
    },
    "endpoint": {
      "scope": {
        "type": "BearerToken",
        "token": "OAuth2.0 bearer token"
      },
      "endpointId": "endpoint id"
    },
    "payload": {}
  },
  "context": {
      "properties": [
      {
        "namespace": "Alexa.SeekController",
        "name": "positionMilliseconds",
        "value": 300000,
        "timeOfSample": "2017-02-03T16:20:50.52Z",
        "uncertaintyInMilliseconds": 0
      }
    ]
  }
}

AdjustSeekPosition directive error handling

If you can't handle a AdjustSeekPosition directive successfully and the error is specific to video, respond with an Alexa.Video.ErrorResponse event. For general errors, respond with a generic Alexa.ErrorResponse event.

StateReport event

Last updated: Feb 16, 2023