METHODS AND APPARATUSES FOR MONITORING ATTENTION OF A USER DURING A CONFERENCE

• US 20080034085A1
• Filed: 01/25/2007
• Published: 02/07/2008
• Est. Priority Date: 09/20/2004
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Cisco Technology, Inc. (Cisco Systems, Inc.)
• Original Assignee: Cisco Technology, Inc. (Cisco Systems, Inc.)
• Inventors: Knight, David, Wong, Edward, Farshchi, Shawn, Montoya, Eric, Kumar, Manish, Chawla, Jitendra
• Granted Patent: US 8,516,105 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 709/224
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 10/103 Workflow collaboration or project management
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 12/1831 Tracking arrangements for later retrieval, e.g. recording contents, participants activities or behavior, network status
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 67/535 Tracking the activity of the user network monitoring arrangements H04L43/00; recording of computer activity G06F11/34
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/44218 Detecting physical presence or behaviour of the user, e.g. using sensors to detect if the user is leaving the room or changes his face expression during a TV program methods or arrangements for recognising human body or animal bodies or body parts G06V40/10; methods or arrangements for acquiring or recognising human faces, facial parts, facial sketches, facial expressions G06V40/16; methods or arrangements for recognising movements or behaviour G06V40/20; arrangements for identifying users in broadcast systems H04H60/45
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 7/15 Conference systems

Abstract

In one embodiment, the methods and apparatuses detect devices participating in a conference; monitor the devices for an attribute corresponding to an attention level of each of the devices; and determine whether each device is active based on the attention level.

Claims

1. A method comprising:

detecting devices participating in a conference;

monitoring the devices for an attribute corresponding to an attention level of each of the devices; and

determining whether each device is active based on the attention level.

2. The method according to claim 1 further comprising storing the attention level and corresponding attribute for each device with a record associated with each device.

3. The method according to claim 1 further comprising presenting content during the conference.

4. The method according to claim 1 wherein the attribute further comprising capturing an audio signal at each device during the conference wherein the audio signal is utilized during the conference.

5. The method according to claim 1 wherein the attribute is a frequency of capturing an audio signal at each device during the conference.

6. The method according to claim 1 wherein the attribute is a duration of capturing an audio signal at each device during the conference.

7. The method according to claim 1 further comprising comparing the attention level with a predetermined threshold to determine whether each device is active.

8. The method according to claim 1 further comprising scoring a plurality of attributes.

9. The method according to claim 8 further comprising generating the attention level from scoring the plurality of attributes.

10. A system, comprising:

a storage module configured to store a record containing an attention attribute associated with a device participating in a conference;

a content detection module configured to detect an audio signal captured by the device wherein the content is utilized during the conference and the location of the audio signal contributes to the attention attribute; and

a scoring module configured to generate an attention level for the device based on the attention attribute.

11. The system according to claim 10 wherein storage module is configured to store the attention level for the device.

12. The system according to claim 10 further comprising an interface detection module configured to detect an input from the device during the conference and contributes to the attention attribute.

13. The system according to claim 12 wherein the input from the device is an audio signal.

14. The system according to claim 10 further comprising a duration module configured to detect a duration of the audio signal.

15. A system comprising:

means for detecting devices participating in a conference;

means for monitoring the devices for an attribute corresponding to an attention level of each of the devices; and

means for determining whether each device is active based on the attention level.

16. The system according to claim 15 wherein the means for determining includes a scoring module configured to weigh a plurality of attributes corresponding to the device.

17. The system according to claim 15 wherein the means for determining includes a comparing module configured to compare the attention level with a predetermined threshold.