Remote prompting infrastructure

• US 20080082404A1
• Filed: 09/29/2006
• Published: 04/03/2008
• Est. Priority Date: 09/29/2006
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Intel Corporation
• Original Assignee: Intel Corporation
• Inventors: Welles, Devon, Gough, Chris
• Granted Patent: US 9,436,931 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 705/14
• CPC Class Codes: A61B 5/747 in case of emergency, i.e. alerting emergency services
• 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 30/0244 Optimization
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 30/0251 Targeted advertisements
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 30/0267 Wireless devices
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 30/0269 based on user profile or attribute
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 12/2827 Reporting to a device within the home network; wherein the reception of the information reported automatically triggers the execution of a home appliance functionality
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 2012/285 Generic home appliances, e.g. refrigerators
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 51/00 User-to-user messaging in packet-switching networks, transmitted according to store-and-forward or real-time protocols, e.g. e-mail
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 51/10 Multimedia information
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 67/01 Protocols
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 67/55 Push-based network services

Abstract

The invention relates to a method and apparatus for sending and receiving prompts to end-users inside and outside the home. A prompt, for example, a message, image, or sound is presented to the end user in order to notify them of a health event, serve as a simple reminder, helps them through their daily activities. The invention includes, for example, the following components: a remote prompting client which runs on the end-user'"'"'s home network and is typically associated with a physical display device. This entity has the ability to receive a prompt request from a remote prompting host, and display the prompt to the end-user; and a remote prompting host which runs on the end-user'"'"'s home network and has the ability to scan the network and discover all existing remote prompting clients.

Claims

1. A system for sending prompts to a user in a network, comprising:

at least one remote prompting client to receive a prompt and notify the user of an event; and

a remote prompting host to scan the network to detect the at least one remote prompting client, wherein the remote prompting host identifies an event of the user and sends the prompt to the detected at least one remote prompting client.

2. The system of claim 1, wherein the remote prompting host is hardware and/or software running on a computer which interfaces with sensors located throughout the network to determine the event of the user.

3. The system of claim 1, wherein the remote prompting client is a module on the user'"'"'s network associated with at least one of a network display device, television, phone, cell phone, picture frame display, and mirror.

4. The system of claim 1, wherein the prompt is at least one of a message, image and sound.

5. The system of claim 1, wherein an advertisement is paired with the prompt.

6. The system of claim 5, wherein the advertisement is loaded to the remote prompting host.

7. The system of claim 6, wherein the remote prompting host:

determines when the advertisement is paired and sent with the prompt based on the event,

sends the advertisement with the prompt, and

notifies a central server responsible for the advertisement that the advertisement was sent and displayed at the user'"'"'s network.

8. A method for sending prompts to a user in a network, comprising:

receiving a prompt at a remote prompting client and notifying the user of an event; and

scanning the network at a remote prompting host to detect the at least one remote prompting client, wherein the remote prompting host identifies an event of the user and sends the prompt to the detected at least one remote prompting client.

9. The method of claim 8, wherein the remote prompting host is hardware and/or software running on a computer which interfaces with sensors located throughout the network to determine the event of the user.

10. The method of claim 8, wherein the remote prompting client is a module on the user'"'"'s network associated with at least one of a television, phone, cell phone, picture frame display, and mirror.

11. The method of claim 8, wherein the prompt is at least one of a message, image and sound.

12. The method of claim 8, wherein an advertisement is paired with the prompt.

13. The method of claim 12, wherein the advertisement is loaded to the remote prompting host.

14. The method of claim 13, wherein the remote prompting host:

determines when the advertisement is paired and sent with the prompt based on the event,

sends the advertisement with the prompt, and

notifies a central server responsible for the advertisement that the advertisement was sent and displayed at the user'"'"'s network.

15. A system for monitoring a user in a network, comprising:

a sensor/actuator network to determine when an event occurs in the system;

a computing device to monitor and prompt the system when an event occurs, the computing device including an inference engine and a decision manager;

a prompting device to receive prompts from the computing device and for displaying the prompt to the user; and

a gateway or transducer access point to bridge the sensor/actuator network with the computing device.

16. The system of claim 15, wherein when the sensor/actuator network determines that an event has occurred, sending a response to the computing device.

17. The system of claim 16, wherein when the computing device receives the response, the inference engine analyzes the response and the decision manager initiates actuation of the associated prompting device.

18. The system of claim 17, wherein

the inference engine collects and interprets the response in order to analyze data sent from the sensor/actuator, and

the decision manager initiates actuation of the associated prompting device based on rules defined by the system.