Storing and recalling information to augment human memories
First Claim
1. A method in a computer to augment memories of a user, the computer having input devices capable of recording audio and video information from the environment and having output devices capable of presenting audio and video information, the method comprising:
- receiving a plurality of indications from the user, each received indication to store a state fragment having information about a current state of an environment of the user, for each of the plurality of received indications, storing a state fragment by, recording video information from the environment using at least one of the input devices;
recording at least one audio recall tag from the user using at least one of the input devices, the recall tag related to a subject of the recorded video information;
recording at least one audio annotation from the user using at least one of the input devices, the annotation providing descriptive information about the recorded video information; and
creating a stored state fragment having the recorded video information, the recorded audio recall tags, and the recorded audio annotations; and
when the user indicates that one of the stored state fragments is to be recalled, recalling a stored state fragment by, receiving from the user an indication of a subject;
comparing the indicated subject to the recall tags of the stored state fragments; and
when the indicated subject matches a recall tag of one of the stored state fragments, presenting to the user on at least one of the output devices the recorded video information of the one stored state fragment; and
presenting to the user on at least one of the output devices the recorded audio annotations of the one stored state fragment, so that the user can recall video and annotation information for a previous state of an environment of the user.
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Accused Products
Abstract
A system for computer-based storing of information about a current state so that later recall of the information can augment human memories In particular, when information about a current event of interest is to be stored, a variety of current state information of different types (e.g., video, audio, and textual information) about the environment and about a user can be acquired via sensors and other input devices. The variety of state information can then be associated together as a group and stored for later retrieval. Other information can also be associated with the group, such as one or more recall tags that facilitate later retrieval of the group, or one or more annotations to provide contextual information when the other state information is later retrieved and presented to the user. When information about a past event is to be recalled, one or more identifying recall tags can be received that are used to identify one or more state information groups that match the identifying tags. Some or all of the previously-acquired state information for the identified state information groups can then be presented to the user on appropriate output devices. Other information, such as annotations, can also be presented to the user in order to describe the state information and thus assist the user'"'"'s recollection of the previous state when the information was stored.
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Citations
75 Claims
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1. A method in a computer to augment memories of a user, the computer having input devices capable of recording audio and video information from the environment and having output devices capable of presenting audio and video information, the method comprising:
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receiving a plurality of indications from the user, each received indication to store a state fragment having information about a current state of an environment of the user, for each of the plurality of received indications, storing a state fragment by, recording video information from the environment using at least one of the input devices;
recording at least one audio recall tag from the user using at least one of the input devices, the recall tag related to a subject of the recorded video information;
recording at least one audio annotation from the user using at least one of the input devices, the annotation providing descriptive information about the recorded video information; and
creating a stored state fragment having the recorded video information, the recorded audio recall tags, and the recorded audio annotations; and
when the user indicates that one of the stored state fragments is to be recalled, recalling a stored state fragment by, receiving from the user an indication of a subject;
comparing the indicated subject to the recall tags of the stored state fragments; and
when the indicated subject matches a recall tag of one of the stored state fragments, presenting to the user on at least one of the output devices the recorded video information of the one stored state fragment; and
presenting to the user on at least one of the output devices the recorded audio annotations of the one stored state fragment, so that the user can recall video and annotation information for a previous state of an environment of the user. - View Dependent Claims (2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8)
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9. A computer-implemented method for augmenting a memory of a user about an environment external to the user, the method comprising:
storing information about a current state of the environment by, recording information from the environment with at least one input device of the computer;
receiving an indication of a tag related to the environment;
receiving an indication of descriptive information about the environment; and
associating the indicated tag and the indicated descriptive information with the recorded environment information, so that if the tag is later supplied, the recorded environment information and the descriptive information can be presented to augment the memory of the user of the state of the environment at the time of the storing. - View Dependent Claims (10, 11, 12, 13, 14, 15, 16, 17, 18, 19)
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20. A method in a computer for augmenting a memory of a user, the method comprising:
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in response to each of a plurality of indications from the user, storing a group of information about a current state by, receiving from the user an indication of at least one input sensor of the computer;
recording information about the current state with the indicated input sensors;
receiving from the user an indication of a topic related to the current state;
receiving from the user an indication of information describing the current state; and
associating the indicated topic and the indicated descriptive information with the recorded information; and
indexing the stored groups of information in order to facilitate later retrieval of a stored group of information - View Dependent Claims (21, 22, 23, 25, 26, 27, 29, 30, 31, 32, 33, 34, 35, 37, 38, 39)
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24. A method in a computer for augmenting a memory of a user, the method comprising:
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monitoring the user to collect a group of information about a current state of the user;
monitoring an environment of the user to collect a group of information about a current state of the environment, and without user intervention, determining based on the collected groups of information a level of user interest in at least one of the current state of the user and the current state of the environment; and
when the level of user interest in at least one of the current states is determined to exceed a threshold, storing information about at least one of the current states by, recording information about at least one of the current states with at least one input sensor of the computer, determining a topic related to the recorded information; and
associating the determined topic with the recorded information, so that the stored information can later be presented to the user to augment the memory of the user of the current states at the time of the recording.
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28. A method in a computer for augmenting a memory of a user, the computer having a plurality of stored groups of information each having a tag, each group of information describing an environment of the user at a previous time, each group of information having descriptive information about the environment and having information recorded from the environment at the previous time by at least one computer input device, the method comprising:
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receiving an indication of a tag;
determining whether one of the stored groups of information has a tag matching the indicated tag; and
when one of the stored groups of information is determined to have a matching tag, augmenting the memory of the user about the environment at the previous time when the information for the determined group of information was recorded by, presenting to the user the recorded information from the determined group of information; and
presenting to the user the descriptive information from the determined group of information.
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36. A method in a computer for augmenting a memory of a user, the computer having a plurality of stored state fragments each describing a previous time, each state fragment having information recorded at the previous time for that state fragment by at least one computer input sensor, an associated topic related to the recorded information, and descriptive information about the recorded information, the method comprising:
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receiving from the user an indication of a topic;
determining whether one of the stored state fragments has an associated topic matching the indicated topic; and
when one of the stored state fragments is determined to have a matching associated topic, augmenting the memory of the user about the previous time described by the determined state fragment by, presenting to the user the recorded information of the one state fragment; and
presenting to the user the descriptive information of the one state fragment.
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40. A method in a computer for augmenting a memory of a user, the computer having a plurality of stored state fragments each describing a previous time, each state fragment having information recorded at the previous time for that state fragment by at least one computer input sensor and having an associated topic related to the recorded information, the method comprising:
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monitoring the user to collect a group of information about a current state of the user;
monitoring an environment of the user to collect a group of information about a current state of the environment; and
without user intervention, determining based on the collected groups of information a topic of interest to the user; and
augmenting the memory of the user about a past state having information related to the determined topic by, identifying a stored state fragment with an associated topic that matches the determined topic; and
presenting to the user the recorded information of the identified state fragment. - View Dependent Claims (41, 42, 43)
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44. A computer-implemented method for augmenting a memory of a user, the method comprising:
storing information about a current state by, recording information from an environment external to the user with at least one input device of the computer, recording information from the user with at least one input device of the computer, receiving an indication of a tag related to the current state, the indicated tag to be used for later retrieval of the recorded environment information and the recorded user information; and
associating the indicated tag with the recorded environment information and the recorded user information, so that if the tag is later supplied, the recorded environment information and the recorded user information can be used to augment the memory of the user of the state at the time of the storing. - View Dependent Claims (45, 46, 47, 49, 50, 51)
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48. A method in a computer for augmenting a memory of a user, the computer having a plurality of stored groups of information each having a tag, each group of information describing a previous state, each group of information having information recorded from an environment external to the user by at least one computer input device and having information recorded from the user by at least one computer input device, the method comprising:
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receiving an indication of a tag, determining whether one of the stored groups of information has a tag matching the indicated tag; and
when one of the stored groups of information is determined to have a matching tag, augmenting the memory of the user about the previous state described by the one group of information by, presenting to the user the recorded environment information from the one group of information; and
presenting to the user the recorded user information from the one group of information.
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52. A method for augmenting memory of a user of a wearable computer having a plurality of input devices, the method comprising
receiving a plurality of indications to store information about a current state; -
for each of the plurality of received indications, storing a state fragment by, recording sensed information about an environment external to the user from one of the input sensor devices;
recording sensed information about the user from one of the input sensor devices; and
associating the recorded environment information and the recorded user information as the stored state fragment; and
augmenting the memory of the user of a past state by, receiving an indication of a topic of interest to the user;
identifying at least one stored state fragment having information related to the topic of interest; and
presenting to the user the recorded environment information and the recorded user information associated with the identified state fragment.
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53. A computer-readable medium whose contents cause a computer to augment a memory of a user about an environment external to the user, by:
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storing information about a current state of the environment by, recording information from the environment with at least one input device of the computer;
receiving an indication of a tag related to the environment;
receiving an indication of descriptive information about the environment; and
associating the indicated tag and the indicated descriptive information with the recorded environment information, so that if the tag is later supplied, the recorded environment information and the descriptive information can be presented to augment the memory of the user of the state of the environment at the time of the storing. - View Dependent Claims (54, 55, 56, 57, 59, 60, 61, 62)
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58. A computer-readable medium whose contents cause a computer to augment a memory of a user, the computer having a plurality of stored groups of information each having a tag, each group of information describing an environment of the user at a previous time, each group of information having descriptive information about the environment and having information recorded from the environment at the previous time by at least one computer input device, by:
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receiving an indication of a tag;
determining whether one of the stored groups of information has a tag matching the indicated tag; and
when one of the stored groups of information is determined to have a matching tag, augmenting the memory of the user about the environment at the previous time described by the determined group of information by, presenting to the user the recorded information from the determined group of information; and
presenting to the user the descriptive information from the determined group of information.
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63. A computer system for augmenting a memory of a user about an environment external to the user, comprising:
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a state storage module that stores information about a current state of the environment by recording information from the environment with at least one input device of the computer, by receiving an indication of a tag related to the environment, by receiving an indication of descriptive information about the environment, and by associating the indicated tag and the indicated descriptive information with the recorded environment information; and
a storage means for storing the information about the current state of the environment. - View Dependent Claims (64, 65)
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66. A computer system for augmenting a memory of a user about an environment external to the user, comprising:
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a storage means having a plurality of stored groups of information each having a tag, each group of information describing an environment of the user at a previous time, each group of information having descriptive information about the environment and having information recorded from the environment at the previous time by at least one computer input device, and a state recall module that receives an indication of a tag, that determines whether one of the stored groups of information has a tag matching the indicated tag, and that, when one of the stored groups of information is determined to have a matching tag, augments the memory of the user about the environment at the previous time described by the determined group of information by presenting to the user the recorded information from the determined group of information and by presenting to the user the descriptive information from the determined group of information. - View Dependent Claims (67, 69, 70, 71, 72)
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68. A data structure stored in memory of a computer for use in augmenting a memory of a user, the data structure describing a state of the user at a previous time, comprising:
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information about an environment external to the user sensed by an input sensor device of the computer at the previous time;
information from the user received by an input device of the computer at the previous time; and
a tag for identifying the data structure, so that if the tag is supplied, the environment information and the user information can be presented to augment the memory of the user of the state at the previous time.
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73. A generated data signal transmitted via a data transmission medium, the data signal comprising:
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information about an environment external to the user sensed by an input sensor device of the computer at the previous time;
information from the user received by an input device of the computer at the previous time; and
a tag for identifying the data signal, so that if the tag is supplied, the environment information and the user information can be presented to augment the memory of the user of the previous time. - View Dependent Claims (74, 75)
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Specification