Method and apparatus for communication between humans and devices
First Claim
Patent Images
1. A method of modulating operation of a device, comprising:
- providing an attentive user interface for obtaining information about an attentive state of a user; and
modulating operation of a device on the basis of said obtained information, wherein said operation that is modulated is initiated by said device.
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Abstract
This invention relates to methods and apparatus for improving communications between humans and devices. The invention provides a method of modulating operation of a device, comprising: providing an attentive user interface for obtaining information about an attentive state of a user; and modulating operation of a device on the basis of the obtained information, wherein the operation that is modulated is initiated by the device. Preferably, the information about the user'"'"'s attentive state is eye contact of the user with the device that is sensed by the attentive user interface.
214 Citations
44 Claims
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1. A method of modulating operation of a device, comprising:
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providing an attentive user interface for obtaining information about an attentive state of a user; and
modulating operation of a device on the basis of said obtained information, wherein said operation that is modulated is initiated by said device. - View Dependent Claims (2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13, 14, 15, 16, 17, 18, 19, 20, 21, 22, 23, 24, 25, 26, 27)
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28. A method of modulating operation of a network of devices, comprising:
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providing each device of a network of devices with an attentive user interface for obtaining information about an attentive state of a user with respect to each device; and
modulating operation of said devices on the basis of said obtained information, wherein said operation that is modulated is initiated by at least one of said devices. - View Dependent Claims (29, 30, 31, 32)
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33. A method of modulating communication over a network of at least two devices, comprising:
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providing a first device of a network of devices with an attentive user interface for obtaining information about a first user'"'"'s attentive state toward said first device;
providing a second device of a network of devices with an attentive user interface for obtaining information about a second user'"'"'s attentive state toward said second device;
providing said first device of said network with a proxy for communicating to said first user said information about said second user'"'"'s attentive state toward said second device;
providing said second device of said network with a proxy for communicating to said second user said information about said first user'"'"'s attentive state toward said first device;
relaying to said network said information about said first and second users'"'"' attentive states toward said respective first and second devices;
wherein communication between said first and second devices is modulated on the basis of the attentive states of said first and second users toward their respective devices. - View Dependent Claims (34, 35, 36, 37)
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38. A method of modulating operation of a cellular telephone, comprising:
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providing an attentive user interface for obtaining information about an attentive state of a user; and
modulating operation of a cellular telephone on the basis of said obtained information, wherein said operation that is modulated is initiated by said cellular telephone. - View Dependent Claims (39)
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40. A method of modulating operation of a graphical user interface, comprising:
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providing a graphical user interface for displaying one or more images to a user;
determining said user'"'"'s eye gaze direction to obtain information about which image is being viewed by said user; and
using said information to enlarge, on said graphical user interface, said image being viewed by said user, and to shrink, on said graphical user interface, one or more images not being viewed by said user, wherein said enlarging of an image does not obscure said one or more images not being viewed.
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- 41. Apparatus for detecting eye contact of a subject looking at a user, comprising an eye contact sensor worn by said user that indicates eye contact of a subject looking at the user.
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43. An eye contact sensor, comprising:
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an image sensor for obtaining successive full-frame video fields of alternating bright and dark video images of a user'"'"'s pupils; and
means for subtracting said images between frames to locate said pupils;
wherein said located pupils indicate eye contact of said user. - View Dependent Claims (44)
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Specification