AUTOMATED REPONSE TO COMPUTER USERS CONTEXT

• US 20080313271A1
• Filed: 03/17/2008
• Published: 12/18/2008
• Est. Priority Date: 12/18/1998
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Microsoft Technology Licensing LLC (Microsoft Corporation)
• Original Assignee: Microsoft Corporation
• Inventors: Robarts, James O., Newell, Dan, Abbott, Kenneth H., Freedman, Joshua M.
• Granted Patent: US 7,734,780 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 709/203
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 30/02 Marketing; Price estimation or determination; Fundraising

Abstract

Techniques are described for providing information about a current state that is modeled with multiple state attributes. In some situations the providing includes receiving from a first client an indication of an interest in receiving values for an indicated one of the state attributes of the modeled current state, receiving from a second client an indication of an interest in receiving values for another of the state attributes of the modeled current state, and, in response to receiving a value for the indicated one attribute from a first source, determining that the first client has an interest in receiving the received value and supplying the received value to the first client.

Claims

1. A method in a wearable computer for providing information about a current state of a user of the wearable computer, the current state modeled with multiple state attributes, the wearable computer executing a plurality of state server modules to supply values for the state attributes, executing a plurality of state client modules to receive and process values for the state attributes, and executing an intermediary module to facilitate exchange of state attribute values, the method comprising:

under control of each of the executing state client modules, sending to the intermediary module a registration message indicating a current desire to receive values for at least one indicated state attribute;

under control of each of the executing state server modules,

receiving information from at least one input sensor;

generating a current value for one of the state attributes based on the received information; and

sending to the intermediary module the generated current value; and

under control of the intermediary module,

receiving the sent registration messages; and

for each of the state server modules,

receiving from the state server module the sent current value for one of the state attributes;

after the receiving of the current value, determining based on the received registration messages multiple of the state client modules that currently have a desire to receive values for the one state attribute; and

sending to each of the determined state client modules the received current value,

so that the state client modules receive values for the state attributes they have indicated when the values become available.

2. The method of claim 1 including, under the control of the intermediary module:

receiving from a first of the state client modules a request for a current value of an indicated state attribute, and

in response, supplying the requested value to the first state client module by,

requesting at least one of the state server modules to supply a value for the indicated state attribute; and

sending to the first state client module a value for the indicated state attribute received in response to the requesting.

3. The method of claim 2 wherein the intermediary module stores values for the state attributes that are received from the state server modules, and wherein the requesting of the state server modules to supply the value to be sent to the first state client module occurs only if an appropriate value for the indicated state attribute is not stored by the intermediary module.

4. The method of claim 2 wherein at least some of the state server modules send registration messages to the intermediary module, each registration message indicating a current availability to supply values for an indicated one of the state attributes, and including determining the at least one state server modules that are to be requested to supply the value for the indicated state attribute based on the registration messages from the state server modules.

5. The method of claim 1 wherein the sending of the received current 2 value to the determined state client modules includes an indication of the state server 3 module from which the sent current value was received.

6. The method of claim 1 including, under the control of the intermediary module:

receiving from a first of the state client modules an indication of a condition related to at least one of the state attributes;

determining after the receiving of at least some of the sent current values whether the received current value satisfies the condition; and

when it is determined that the condition is satisfied, notifying the first state client module.

7. The method of claim 1 including, under the control of a first of the state client modules:

receiving a sent current value from the intermediary module; and

presenting information to a user of the first state client module based on the receiving of the value.

8. The method of claim 1 wherein at least some of the state server modules generate values for additional state attributes of a current state other than for the user and send those generated values to the intermediary module, and wherein the intermediary module additionally sends received values for the additional state attributes to state client modules based on received registration messages from those state client modules indicating a current desire to receive values for at least one of the additional state attributes.

9. A method in a computer for providing information about a current state that is modeled with multiple state attributes, comprising:

receiving from a first client an indication of an interest in receiving values for an indicated one of the state attributes of the modeled current state;

receiving from a second client an indication of an interest in receiving values for another of the state attributes of the modeled current state; and

in response to receiving a value for the indicated one attribute from a first source,

determining that the first client has an interest in receiving the received value; and

supplying the received value to the first client.

10. The method of claim 9 wherein the receiving of the value for the one attribute from the first source includes receiving descriptive information about the received value.

11. The method of claim 10 wherein the descriptive information includes a time at which the received value is most accurate.

12. The method of claim 10 wherein the descriptive information includes a confidence factor indicating a likelihood of accuracy of the received value.

13. The method of claim 10 wherein the supplying of the received value to the first client includes supplying the descriptive information to the first client.

14. The method of claim 9 wherein the supplying of the received value to the first client includes supplying an indication of the first source.

15. The method of claim 9 wherein the received indication from the first client additionally includes an indication of a source for the values of the one attribute, and wherein the supplying of the received value to the first client occurs only if the first source is the indicated source.

16. The method of claim 9 including supplying the received value to the first client only if the received value satisfies a criteria for values supplied to the first client.

17. The method of claim 9 including storing values for attributes that are received from sources so that the stored values can be later supplied to clients.

18. The method of claim 9 wherein the one attribute represents information about a user of the computer.

19. The method of claim 18 wherein the represented information reflects a modeled mental state of the user.

20. The method of claim 9 wherein the one attribute represents information about the computer.