Contextual task recommendation system and method for determining user's context and suggesting tasks

• US 20060156252A1
• Filed: 08/09/2005
• Published: 07/13/2006
• Est. Priority Date: 01/10/2005
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Samsung Electronics Co. Ltd.
• Original Assignee: Samsung Electronics Co. Ltd.
• Inventors: Messer, Alan, Kunjithapatham, Anugeetha, Sheshagiri, Mithun
• Granted Patent: US 8,069,422 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 715/825
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 12/2803 Home automation networks
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 12/2812 describing content present in a home automation network, e.g. audio video content retrieval from the Internet G06F16/95
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 63/102 Entity profiles
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 67/306 User profiles
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 67/52 specially adapted for the location of the user terminal

Abstract

A system and method in a network of devices, which ascertains the user'"'"'s context to suggest the most preferred task for the user to perform. User'"'"'s context includes his/her location, the content he/she is interested in, the devices which are being used by him/her, and the devices and content allowed to be used by the user. Using this context, the system suggests tasks to the user that are appropriate to that context. The determination of context and the suggestion of tasks are performed by keeping track of the content and the devices available to the user at any given time. The suggestion of tasks is performed in accordance with certain policies. For example, the user can control the behavior of the system by changing the rules in the policy. Tasks are in the form of simple sentences that can be easily understood by the user. If, based on certain context, more than one task is possible, the system suggests the task with the highest priority to the user.

Claims

1. A method of suggesting user tasks to be performed by one or more of a plurality of electronic devices in a network, the method comprising the steps of:

determining a user'"'"'s context in the network;

generating tasks; and

suggesting one or more tasks to the user, wherein each task is appropriate to the user'"'"'s context.

2. The method of claim 1 wherein the step of determining the user'"'"'s context includes the steps of determining one or more of:

the user'"'"'s location, the content the user is interested in, and the devices which are being used by the user.

3. The method of claim 1 further including the steps of keeping track of information about the content and the devices available to the user, wherein the step of determining of the user'"'"'s context further includes the steps of using said information to determine the user'"'"'s context.

4. The method of claim 1 further including the steps of keeping track of information about the content and the devices available to the user.

5. The method of claim 1 wherein the step of suggesting one or more tasks further includes the steps of suggesting one or more tasks in accordance with certain policies.

6. The method of claim 5 wherein a policy comprises rules that affect the behavior of one or more of the devices in the network.

7. The method of claim 1 wherein each task comprises a simple sentence that can be easily understood by the user.

8. The method of claim 1 wherein the step of suggesting tasks further includes the steps of:

if, based on certain context, more than one task is possible, suggesting the task with the highest priority to the user.

9. The method of claim 1 wherein the step of determining the user'"'"'s context further includes the steps of building user contextual information by correlating two or more of:

time, device information, content information, location information and actions performed by the user.

10. The method of claim 9 wherein:

the step of generating tasks further includes the steps of using the contextual information to generate/find tasks;

the step of suggesting one or more tasks further includes the steps of using the contextual information to suggest tasks to the user that are relevant to the user.

11. A system for suggesting user tasks to be performed by one or more of a plurality of electronic devices in a network, comprising:

a context finder that determines a user'"'"'s context in the network; and

a contextual task recommender that suggests one or more tasks to the user, wherein each task is appropriate to the user'"'"'s context.

12. The system of claim 11 wherein the context finder further determines one or more of:

the user'"'"'s location, the content the user is interested in, and the devices which are being used by the user, as the user'"'"'s context.

13. The system of claim 11 further including means for keeping track of information about the content and the devices available to the user, such that the context finder uses said information to determine the user'"'"'s context.

14. The system of claim 11 further including means for keeping track of information about the content and the devices available to the user, such that the task generator uses said information to generate said tasks.

15. The system of claim 11 further including means for keeping track of information about the content and the devices available to the user, such that the contextual task recommender user uses said information to suggest tasks.

16. The system of claim 11 wherein the contextual task recommender suggests one or more tasks in accordance with certain policies.

17. The system of claim 16 wherein a policy comprises rules that affect the behavior of one or more of the devices in the network.

18. The system of claim 11 wherein each task comprises a simple sentence that can be easily understood by the user.

19. The system of claim 11 wherein if, based on certain context, more than one task is possible, the contextual task recommender suggests the task with the highest priority to the user.

20. The system of claim 11 wherein the context finder further builds user contextual information by correlating two or more of:

time, device information, content information, location information and actions performed by the user.

21. The system of claim 20 further comprising a task generator that uses the contextual information to find tasks, wherein the contextual task recommender uses the contextual information to suggest tasks to the user that are relevant to the user.

22. A network, comprising:

a plurality of devices; and

a controller that suggests user tasks to be performed by one or more of the devices, the controller comprising;

a context finder that determines a user'"'"'s context in the network; and

a contextual task recommender that suggests one or more tasks to the user, wherein each task is appropriate to the user'"'"'s context.

23. The network of claim 22 wherein the context finder further determines one or more of:

the user'"'"'s location, the content the user is interested in, and the devices which are being used by the user, as the user'"'"'s context.

24. The network of claim 22 further including means for keeping track of information about the content and the devices available to the user, such that the context finder uses said information to determine the user'"'"'s context.

25. The network of claim 22 wherein the controller further includes means for keeping track of information about the content and the devices available to the user, such that the task generator uses said information to generate said tasks.

26. The network of claim 22 wherein the controller further includes means for keeping track of information about the content and the devices available to the user, such that the contextual task recommender user uses said information to suggest tasks.

27. The network of claim 22 wherein the contextual task recommender suggests one or more tasks in accordance with certain policies.

28. The network of claim 27 wherein a policy comprises rules that affect the behavior of one or more of the devices in the network.

29. The network of claim 22 wherein each task comprises a simple sentence that can be easily understood by the user.

30. The network of claim 22 wherein if, based on certain context, more than one task is possible, the contextual task recommender suggests the task with the highest priority to the user.

31. The network of claim 22 wherein the context finder further builds user contextual information by correlating two or more of:

time, device information, content information, location information and actions performed by the user.

32. The network of claim 31 further including a task generator uses the contextual information to find tasks, wherein the contextual task recommender uses the contextual information to suggest tasks to the user that are relevant to the user.