METHODS AND ARCHITECTURES FOR CONTEXT-SENSITIVE REMINDERS AND SERVICE FACILITATION

• US 20080004926A1
• Filed: 06/30/2006
• Published: 01/03/2008
• Est. Priority Date: 06/30/2006
• Status: Abandoned Application

• Current Assignee: Microsoft Technology Licensing LLC (Microsoft Corporation)
• Original Assignee: Microsoft Corporation
• Inventors: Horvitz, Eric J., Subramani, Murugesan S., Apacible, Johnson T., Koch, Paul B.
• Application Number:
  US11/428,228
• Publication Number:
  US 20080004926A1
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 705/7
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 10/047 Optimisation of routes or paths, e.g. travelling salesman problem
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 10/06315 Needs-based resource requirements planning or analysis
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 10/06316 Sequencing of tasks or work
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 10/06375 Prediction of business process outcome or impact based on a proposed change
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 30/02 Marketing; Price estimation or determination; Fundraising

Abstract

Methods and architectures for context-sensitive reminding and service facilitating are disclosed. The architectures monitor user context and activity, senses or infers relevant reminders, goals, such as those that come from a growing need of the user that should be fulfilled, and computes best reminders, and recommend plans on fulfilling need(s) in an optimum way. Statistical models of a user'"'"'s knowledge and recall in different settings may be employed. Facilities, services, and merchants can be identified along a route that the user can take, and cost-benefit analysis is performed for determining which merchant(s) to select to fulfill the need(s). Routes may be created as opportunistic modifications of trips underway. Merchants can respond back with offers of sale to the user for all available needed items, and the user can respond with acceptance or denial of the offers. Merchants can also respond in a bidding fashion in order to gain user'"'"'s patronage.

Claims

1. A computer-implemented system for detecting and servicing needs, comprising:

a needs component that facilitates determination of a need of an entity; and

an analysis component that determines cost-benefit data associated with the need based on context of the entity.

2. The system of claim 1, further comprising a context component that determines the context of the entity.

3. The system of claim 1, wherein the needs component facilitates determination of the need of a user, which need is an article of commerce.

4. The system of claim 1, wherein the needs component at least one of senses and infers the need.

5. The system of claim 1, wherein the cost-benefit data computed by the analysis component includes distance information related to multiple paths to a location that provides at least one of a product and a service that satisfies the need.

6. The system of claim 1, further comprising a knowledge component that processes at least one of knowledge of the entity, lack of knowledge of the entity and ability of the entity to remember.

7. The system of claim 1, further comprising a communications component for communicating information related to the need to a vendor.

8. The system of claim 1, further comprising a machine learning and reasoning component that employs a probabilistic and/or statistical-based analysis to prognose or infer an action that a user desires to be automatically performed.

9. The system of claim 1, further comprising a preferences component for filtering information associated with satisfying the need of the entity, which entity is a user.

10. A computer-implemented method of detecting and servicing user needs, comprising:

sensing that a user has a need;

computing context of the user;

determining a merchant that has an article of commerce that satisfies the user need;

computing a cost associated with using the merchant to supply the article of commerce; and

notifying the user of the cost in making a decision to utilize the merchant.

11. The method of claim 10, further comprising an act of inferring that the user has the need.

12. The method of claim 10, further comprising computing a route on which the merchant is located and other likely routes the user will travel based on the context and a user destination.

13. The method of claim 10, further comprising an act of inferring the need based on at least one of user knowledge, lack of user knowledge, and user ability to remember the need.

14. The method of claim 10, wherein the act of determining is based on user preferences.

15. The method of claim 10, wherein the computed cost is further based on processing spatial and temporal preferences of the user.

16. The method of claim 10, further comprising an act of leaning and reasoning about past user activity in response to a selected merchant and predicting a next user response.

17. The method of claim 10, further comprising an act of notifying one or more merchants along a route the user is likely to travel and requesting offers form the one or merchants to sell of the article of commerce.

18. The method of claim 10, further comprising an act of grouping needs of the user and determining an optimum solution of one or more merchants along at least one route the user will travel to satisfy the group of needs.

19. The method of claim 10, further comprising an act of automatically revising the cost based on changes detected before the user satisfies the need.

20. A computer-executable system for detecting and servicing needs, comprising:

computer-implemented means for inferring that a user has a need;

computer-implemented means for computing context of the user;

computer-implemented means for computing likely routes the user will travel from the context to a destination;

computer-implemented means for determining merchants along the routes that sell an article of commerce that satisfies the user need;

computer-implemented means for computing a cost associated with the user traveling to the merchants that have the article of commerce; and

computer-implemented means for notifying the user of an optimum route to take to purchase the article of commerce.