Aggregation of multi-modal devices

• US 20070101274A1
• Filed: 10/28/2005
• Published: 05/03/2007
• Est. Priority Date: 10/28/2005
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Microsoft Technology Licensing LLC (Microsoft Corporation)
• Original Assignee: Microsoft Corporation
• Inventors: Kong, Yuan, Williams, David, Kurlander, David
• Granted Patent: US 7,467,353 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 715/744
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 67/06 specially adapted for file transfer, e.g. file transfer protocol [FTP]
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 67/52 specially adapted for the location of the user terminal

Abstract

A system that facilitates consolidating resources (e.g., devices, services) based at least in part upon an established context. More particularly, a context determination component can be employed to establish a context by processing sensor inputs or learning/inferring a user action/preference. Once the context is established via a context determination component, a consolidation component can be employed to aggregate and/or disaggregate disparate resources (e.g., devices, services) in accordance with the established context. These resources can work autonomously and/or in conjunction with a subset of the other resources to provide for a highly rich multi-modal user experience.

Claims

1. A system that facilitates pooling a plurality of resources, comprising:

a context determination component that establishes a context of a user; and

a consolidation component that aggregates a subset of the plurality of resources based at least in part upon the context of a user.

2. The system of claim 1, the context determination component employs a sensor that facilitates determination of the context.

3. The system of claim 2, the sensor is at least one of an environmental sensor and a physiological sensor.

4. The system of claim 1, the consolidation component comprises:

a receiving component that accepts an input from the plurality of resources; and

an analyzer component that, based upon the context, determines and pools a subset of the plurality of resources.

5. The system of claim 4, the subset of the plurality of resources automates an action the user desires to be performed.

6. The system of claim 5, further comprising an artificial intelligence (AI) component that infers the action that the user desires to be automatically performed.

7. The system of claim 5, further comprising a rules-based logic component that defines the action that the user desires to be automatically performed.

8. The system of claim 4, the context includes at least one of a user state context, an environmental context, a location context and a temporal context.

9. The system of claim 4, the subset of the plurality of resources includes at least one of a watch, an earphone, a power source, a cellular communication device, sunglasses, a global position system (GPS) engine, an image capture device and a wired attire.

10. The system of claim 9, the action is an authentication action.

11. The system of claim 9, the action is an automatic download of digital music content.

12. A computer-implemented method for providing an optimized level of functionality, comprising:

determining a context associated to a user; and

aggregating a plurality of devices based at least in part upon the context.

13. The computer-implemented method of claim 12, further comprising disaggregating a subset of the plurality of devices based at least in part upon a change in the context associated with the user.

14. The computer-implemented method of claim 13, the context is at least one of a user state context, an environmental context, a location context and a temporal context.

15. The computer-implemented method of claim 14, the plurality of devices include a watch, a listening device, a power source, a cellular telephone, a GPS engine, an accelerometer, a personal data assistant and an image capture device.

16. The computer-implemented method of claim 15 further comprising receiving an input from a plurality of sensors that facilitate determining the context.

17. A computer executable system that facilitates aggregating a plurality of resources, comprising:

means for dynamically determining a user context;

means for automatically aggregating the plurality of resources based at least in part upon the user context; and

means for disaggregating a subset of the plurality of resources based at least in part upon a change in the user context.

18. The computer executable system of claim 17, the means for dynamically determining a user context includes at least one of an environmental sensor and a physiological sensor.

19. The computer executable system of claim 18, the plurality of resources include a plurality of devices located at a plurality of disparate locations.

20. The computer executable system of claim 19, further comprising a plurality of sensors that facilitate dynamically determining the user context.