Automated selection of appropriate information based on a computer user's context

• US 20060277474A1
• Filed: 05/16/2006
• Published: 12/07/2006
• Est. Priority Date: 12/18/1998
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Microsoft Technology Licensing LLC (Microsoft Corporation)
• Original Assignee: Tangis Corporation
• Inventors: Robarts, James O., Newell, Dan, Abbott, Kenneth H.
• Granted Patent: US 7,395,507 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 715/745
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 10/10 Office automation; Time management
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 10/107 Computer-aided management of electronic mailing [e-mailing]
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 30/02 Marketing; Price estimation or determination; Fundraising
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 51/212 using filtering or selective blocking

Abstract

A system filters received messages (e.g., unsolicited advertisements) to determine if they are appropriate for a user based on the non-static, constantly evolving, context of the user. The system can track the user'"'"'s context by monitoring various environmental parameters, such as related to the user'"'"'s physical, mental, computing and data environments, and can model the current context of the user based at least in part on the monitoring. The system selects a set of one or more filters to apply to incoming messages based on the user'"'"'s context, and the selected filters can be updated as the user'"'"'s context changes. Messages that survive the filters are then evaluated against the user'"'"'s context to determine whether they should be presented immediately or stored for delayed presentation.

Claims

1. A method comprising:

monitoring a computer user'"'"'s context;

receiving one or more messages; and

filtering the messages based on the computer user'"'"'s context.

2. A method as recited in claim 1, wherein the messages comprise unsolicited advertisements.

3. A method as recited in claim 1, wherein the monitoring comprises at least one of:

monitoring a physical environment of the computer user;

monitoring a computing environment of the computer user;

monitoring a mental environment of the computer user; and

monitoring a data environment of the computer user.

4. A method as recited in claim 1, wherein the filtering comprises comparing contents of the message to filter criteria.

5. A method as recited in claim 1, wherein the messages contain metadata provided by a source of the messages, and the filtering comprises comparing the metadata to filter criteria.

6. A method as recited in claim 1, wherein the filtering comprises:

parsing the messages to produce metadata; and

comparing the metadata to filter criteria.

7. A method as recited in claim 1, wherein the filtering comprises evaluating the messages against a composite of multiple filters.

8. A method as recited in claim 1, wherein the filtering comprises evaluating the messages against a set of one or more filters, further comprising changing the set of one or more filters in response to changes in the computer user'"'"'s context.

9. A method as recited in claim 1, wherein an acceptable message survives the filtering, further comprising presenting the acceptable message to the computer user.

10. A method as recited in claim 1, wherein an acceptable message survives the filtering, further comprising storing the acceptable message for delayed presentation to the computer user.

11. A method as recited in claim 1, wherein an acceptable message survives the filtering, further comprising evaluating whether to present the acceptable message to the computer user.

12. A method as recited in claim 1, wherein an acceptable message survives the filtering, further comprising evaluating, based on the user'"'"'s context, whether to present the acceptable message to the computer user.

13-27. -27. (canceled)

28. A computer comprising:

one or more sensors to detect environmental conditions of a user;

a receiver to receive messages;

a processing unit operatively coupled to the receiver and the one or more sensors; and

a software module that executes on the processing unit to select certain messages based on the user'"'"'s environmental conditions.

29. A computer as recited in claim 28, wherein the sensors gather data pertaining to at least one of a physical environment of the user, a computing environment of the user, a mental environment of the user, and a data environment of the user.

30. A computer as recited in claim 28, further comprising multiple filters, and the software module is configured to choose a set of the filters according to the user'"'"'s environmental conditions and to apply the set of filters to the messages.

31. A computer as recited in claim 30, further comprising multiple filters, and the software module is configured to choose a different set of filters in response to changes in the user'"'"'s environmental conditions.

32. A computer as recited in claim 28, wherein the software module comprises:

a user'"'"'s context module to ascertain a user'"'"'s context from data representative of the user'"'"'s environment; and

a characterization module to evaluate the messages based on the user'"'"'s context to determine whether to reject the messages.

33. A computer as recited in claim 28, embodied as a wearable computer that can be worn by the user.

34-37. -37. (canceled)

38. One or more computer-readable media storing computer-executable instructions that, when executed, direct a computer to:

ascertain a user'"'"'s context from data representative of various conditions of the user'"'"'s environment; and

filter unsolicited messages based on the user'"'"'s context.

39. One or more computer-readable media as recited in claim 38, further storing computer-executable instructions that, when executed, direct a computer to compare the messages to criteria in a composite of multiple filters.

40-75. -75. (canceled)