What does the visibility timeout feature of Amazon SQS accomplish?

The visibility timeout feature of Amazon SQS (Simple Queue Service) is designed to prevent multiple consumers from processing the same message simultaneously. When a message is received from the queue, it becomes invisible to other consumers for a specific timeout period, which is known as the visibility timeout. During this time, the message is being processed by the consumer that retrieved it, and no other consumer can access it.

If the consumer successfully processes the message before the visibility timeout expires, the message can be deleted from the queue. However, if the consumer fails to process the message or if the visibility timeout lapses, the message becomes visible again in the queue and can be retrieved by other consumers for reprocessing. This mechanism ensures that messages are not processed multiple times at the same time, which is crucial for maintaining data integrity and coordination between distributed systems.

While message reprocessing is a function that can occur as a result of the visibility timeout, the primary purpose is to control message visibility for concurrency and ensure that only one consumer can handle a message at any one time. The other options do not accurately describe the visibility timeout feature's core function.