Remote collaborative control and direction

• US 20030079218A1
• Filed: 04/12/2002
• Published: 04/24/2003
• Est. Priority Date: 04/12/2001
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Regents of the University of California (University of California)
• Original Assignee: Massachusetts Institute of Technology
• Inventors: Lee, Matthew, Spiegel, Dana, Tang, Derek, Levandowski, Anthony, Song, Dezhen, Pescovitz, David, Dobson, Kelly, Paulos, Eric J., Donath, Judith, Goldberg, Kenneth Y.
• Granted Patent: US 7,937,285 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 725/13
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 10/10 Office automation; Time management
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 30/0202 Market predictions or forecasting for commercial activities
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 12/1813 for computer conferences, e.g. chat rooms instant messaging H04L51/04; protocols for multimedia communication H04L65/1101; arrangements for multi-party communication H04L65/403; telephonic conference arrangements H04M3/56; television conference systems H04N7/15
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 67/131 Protocols for games, networked simulations or virtual reality
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 9/40 Network security protocols
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/2187 Live feed
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/252 Processing of multiple end-users' preferences to derive collaborative data
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/4758 for providing answers, e.g. voting
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/8541 involving branching, e.g. to different story endings
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 7/17318 Direct or substantially direct transmission and handling of requests

Abstract

A collaborative online tele-operation system allows an audience of many participants to simultaneously share control of a single remote actor, such that the actions of the actor are based on the ongoing collective preferences of the audience.

Claims

1. A method of facilitating remote participation in an activity monitorable by an audience, the method comprising the steps of:

a. facilitating remote monitoring of the activity by the audience;

b. receiving at least one command from a member of the audience concerning progress of the action;

c. processing the at least one command to develop a consensus command; and

d. using the consensus command to direct the action.

2. The method of claim 1, wherein the step of facilitating remote monitoring comprises displaying the activity to the audience on a display device.

3. The method of claim 1, wherein the step of facilitating remote monitoring comprises:

i) receiving at least one of an audio and a video signal of the activity at a base station, the activity being performed in a remote environment relative to the audience; and

ii) transmitting the at least one received signal to the audience over a network.

4. The method of claim 3, wherein the step of receiving comprises receiving the at least one signal from an apparatus associated with a tele-actor performing the activity in the remote environment.

5. The method of claim 3, wherein the step of transmitting comprises:

forwarding the at least one received signal from the base station to a server; and

distributing the at least one received signal from the server to the audience.

6. The method of claim 3, wherein the remote environment is a real physical environment.

7. The method of claim 3, wherein the remote environment is a virtual computationally generated environment.

8. The method of claim 1, wherein the step of receiving commands from the audience comprises:

i) providing a voting interface to each member of the audience;

ii) presenting the audience with at least one choice concerning progress of the activity;

iii) facilitating voting, by at least one member of the audience, for a choice concerning progress of the activity; and

iv) forwarding the at least one vote to a server.

9. The method of claim 8, wherein the step of forwarding comprises forwarding the vote through a network to the server.

10. The method of claim 8, wherein the voting interface comprises:

a question area facilitating posting of at least one question and at least one choice concerning the progress of the activity;

a chat area facilitating communication between members of the audience; and

a voting area used by the audience to indicate a response to the at least one choice presented in the question area.

11. The method of claim 10, wherein the step of voting for a choice comprises placing a vote indicator in the voting area of the voting interface.

12. The method of claim 11, wherein the voting interface facilitates spatial dynamic voting.

13. The method of claim 1, wherein a plurality of commands is received, the step of processing comprising performing cluster analysis on the received commands.

14. The method of claim 1, wherein a plurality of commands is received, the step of processing comprising weighting each received command.

15. The method of claim 14, wherein the step of weighting each received command comprises weighting each command relative to the member of the audience submitting the command.

16. The method of claim 1, wherein the step of processing comprises processing at least one motion vector.

17. The method of claim 1, wherein the step of using the consensus command comprises:

i) receiving the consensus command at a base station; and

ii) forwarding the consensus command to a tele-actor performing the activity in a remote environment relative to the audience.

18. The method of claim 17, wherein the tele-actor is a mechanical device.

19. The method of claim 18, wherein the mechanical device is a robot.

20. The method of claim 17, wherein the tele-actor is a biological organism.

21. The method of claim 20, wherein the biological organism is a mammal.

22. The method of claim 21, wherein the mammal is a human.

23. A system of facilitating remote participation in an activity monitorable by an audience, the activity being performed by at least one actor in an environment remote from the audience, the system comprising:

a client associated with the audience for facilitating monitoring of the activity and for receiving commands concerning the progress of the action; and

an aggregator in communication with the client and the at least one actor for (i) processing the commands concerning the progress of the action to generate a consensus command, (ii) forwarding the consensus command to the actor, and (iii) transmitting the activity to the client for monitoring by the audience.

24. The system of claim 23, wherein the aggregator comprises:

a server in communication with the client for (i) processing the commands to generate the consensus command and (ii) forwarding the activity of the actor to the client for monitoring by the audience; and

a base station in communication with the server and the actor, for receiving the consensus command from the server and transmitting the activity to the server.

25. The system of claim 23, wherein the actor is a mechanical device.

26. The system of claim 25, wherein the mechanical device is a robot.

27. The system of claim 25, wherein the mechanical device is a camera.

28. The system of claim 23, where the actor is a biological organism.

29. The system of claim 23, wherein the biological organism is a mammal.

30. The system of claim 29, wherein the mammal is a human.

31. The system of claim 23 further comprising an apparatus associated with the actor for transmitting the activity to the aggregator.

32. The system of claim 23, wherein the client is a computing device comprising:

a display for facilitating monitoring of the activity and voting for a choice of action concerning the progress of the activity;

a processor processing the vote to generate a command concerning the progress of the activity; and

a network interface for (i) transmitting the command to the aggregator and (ii) receiving the activity of the actor from the aggregator.

33. The system of claim 32, wherein the display comprises:

a question area facilitating posting of at least one question and at least one choice concerning the progress of the activity;

a chat area facilitating communication between members of the audience; and

a voting area used by the audience to indicate a response to the at least one choice presented in the question area.

34. The system of claim 33, wherein the display facilitates spatial dynamic voting.