Method and Apparatus to Encourage Development of Long Term Recollections of Given Episodes

• US 20080227067A1
• Filed: 03/17/2008
• Published: 09/18/2008
• Est. Priority Date: 03/18/2007
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Persinvitro LLC
• Original Assignee: Persinvitro LLC
• Inventors: Seymour, Leslie G.
• Granted Patent: US 9,251,712 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 434/238
• CPC Class Codes: G09B 5/00 Electrically-operated educational appliances working with questions and answers G09B7/00; simulators G09B9/00; advertising or displaying in general G09F
• CPC Class Codes: G09B 5/06 with both visual and audible presentation of the material to be studied

Abstract

These teachings are applicable for use with an individual who faces problems with respect to forming new long term memories. Generally speaking, pursuant to these various embodiments, one automatically captures (101) a record of experiential content to which the individual is exposed during a given episode and then automatically associates (102) that record of experiential content with metadata that characterizes the given episode. This record of experiential content is then automatically used (103) to re-expose the individual to at least portions of the given episode to thereby encourage development of a long term recollection of at least a portion of the given episode. These teachings will accommodate a variety of experiential content modalities including both audio content and visual content.

Claims

1. A method for use with an individual who faces long term memory challenges comprising:

automatically capturing a record of experiential content to which the individual is exposed during a given episode;

automatically associating the record of experiential content with metadata that characterizes the given episode;

automatically using the record of experiential content to re-expose the individual to at least portions of the given episode to thereby encourage development of a long term recollection of at least a portion of the given episode.

2. The method of claim 1 wherein the record of experiential content comprises both audio content and visual content.

3. The method of claim 1 wherein automatically associating the record of experiential content with metadata that characterizes the given episode comprises, at least in part, automatically accessing a calendar for the individual and using information in the calendar as the metadata.

4. The method of claim 1 wherein automatically using the record of experiential content to re-expose the individual to at least portions of the given episode comprises, at least in part, re-exposing the individual to at least portions of the given episode within a relatively short period of time following a conclusion of the given episode.

5. The method of claim 4 wherein re-exposing the individual to at least portions of the given episode within a relatively short period of time following a conclusion of the given episode comprises, at least in part, determining an extent of re-exposing the individual to at least portions of the given episode within a relatively short period of time following a conclusion of the given episode.

6. The method of claim 5 wherein determining an extent of re-exposing the individual to at least portions of the given episode within a relatively short period of time following a conclusion of the given episode comprises, at least in part, determining whether re-exposing the individual at this time will likely sufficiently aid with respect to encouraging the development of the long term recollection.

7. The method of claim 6 wherein determining whether re-exposing the individual at this time will likely sufficiently aid with respect to encouraging the development of the long term recollection comprises, at least in part, taking into account future scheduled episodes having at least a given amount of similarity to the given episode.

8. The method of claim 1 wherein automatically using the record of experiential content to re-expose the individual to at least portions of the given episode comprises, at least in part, re-exposing the individual to at least portions of the given episode shortly prior to the individual being exposed to a subsequent similar episode.

9. The method of claim 8 wherein re-exposing the individual to at least portions of the given episode shortly prior to the individual being exposed to a subsequent similar episode comprises also re-exposing the individual to at least portions of other previously captured episodes as a function, at least in part, of a determined degree of similarity between the given episode and other previously captured episodes.

10. The method of claim 1 wherein automatically using the record of experiential content to re-expose the individual to at least portions of the given episode to thereby encourage development of a long term recollection of at least a portion of the given episode comprises, at least in part, automatically abridging the record of experiential content to re-expose to the individual by, at least in part, reducing a re-exposure to redundant experiential content.

11. The method of claim 1 wherein automatically using the record of experiential content to re-expose the individual to at least portions of the given episode to thereby encourage development of a long term recollection of at least a portion of the given episode comprises, at least in part:

receiving feedback from the individual with respect to the record of experiential content to which the individual is re-exposed;

automatically evaluating the feedback, at least in part, by comparison with the metadata.

12. The method of claim 11 further comprising:

automatically effecting early termination of re-exposing the individual to at least portions of the given episode when automatically evaluating the feedback indicates insufficient progress with respect to developing the long term recollection.

13. An apparatus for use with an individual who faces long term memory challenges comprising:

a memory;

an experience capture interface;

an end user interface;

a processor operably coupled to the memory, the experience capture interface, and the end user interface, and being configured and arranged to;

automatically capture a record of experiential content to which the individual is exposed during a given episode and store the record in the memory;

automatically associate the record of experiential content with metadata that characterizes the given episode;

automatically use the record of experiential content to re-expose the individual, via the end user interface, to at least portions of the given episode to thereby encourage development of a long term recollection of at least a portion of the given episode.

14. The apparatus of claim 13 wherein the record of experiential content comprises both audio content and visual content.

15. The apparatus of claim 13 wherein the processor is configured and arranged to automatically associate the record of experiential content with metadata that characterizes the given episode by, at least in part, automatically accessing a calendar for the individual and using information in the calendar as the metadata.

16. The apparatus of claim 13 wherein the processor is configured and arranged to automatically use the record of experiential content to re-expose the individual to at least portions of the given episode by, at least in part, re-exposing the individual to at least portions of the given episode within a relatively short period of time following a conclusion of the given episode.

17. The apparatus of claim 16 wherein the processor is configured and arranged to re-expose the individual to at least portions of the given episode within a relatively short period of time following a conclusion of the given episode by, at least in part, determining an extent of re-exposing the individual to at least portions of the given episode within a relatively short period of time following a conclusion of the given episode.

18. The apparatus of claim 17 wherein the processor is configured and arranged to determine whether to re-expose the individual to at least portions of the given episode within a relatively short period of time following a conclusion of the given episode by, at least in part, determining an extent of re-exposing the individual to at least portions of the given episode within a relatively short period of time following a conclusion of the given episode as a function, at least in part, of determining whether re-exposing the individual at this time will likely sufficiently aid with respect to encouraging the development of the long term recollection.

19. The apparatus of claim 18 wherein the processor is configured and arranged to determine whether re-exposing the individual at this time will likely sufficiently aid with respect to encouraging the development of the long term recollection by, at least in part, taking into account future scheduled episodes having at least a given amount of similarity to the given episode.

20. The apparatus of claim 13 wherein the processor is configured and arranged to automatically use the record of experiential content to re-expose the individual to at least portions of the given episode by, at least in part, re-exposing the individual to at least portions of the given episode shortly prior to the individual being exposed to a subsequent similar episode.

21. The apparatus of claim 20 wherein the processor is configured and arranged to re-expose the individual to at least portions of the given episode shortly prior to the individual being exposed to a subsequent similar episode by also re-exposing the individual to at least portions of other previously captured episodes as a function, at least in part, of a determined degree of similarity between the given episode and the other previously captured episodes.

22. The apparatus of claim 13 wherein the processor is configured and arranged to automatically use the record of experiential content to re-expose the individual to at least portions of the given episode to thereby encourage development of a long term recollection of at least a portion of the given episode by, at least in part, automatically abridging the record of experiential content to re-expose to the individual by, at least in part, reducing a re-exposure to redundant experiential content.

23. The apparatus of claim 13 wherein the processor is configured and arranged to automatically use the record of experiential content to re-expose the individual to at least portions of the given episode to thereby encourage development of a long term recollection of at least a portion of the given episode by, at least in part:

receiving feedback from the individual with respect to the record of experiential content to which the individual is re-exposed;

automatically evaluating the feedback, at least in part, by comparison with the metadata.

24. The apparatus of claim 23 wherein the processor is configured and arranged:

automatically effect early termination of re-exposing the individual to at least portions of the given episode when automatically evaluating the feedback indicates insufficient progress with respect to developing the long term recollection.