SENSORY COMMUNICATION SESSIONS OVER A NETWORK

• US 20140115092A1
• Filed: 10/19/2012
• Published: 04/24/2014
• Est. Priority Date: 10/19/2012
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: AT&T Intellectual Property I LP (AT&T, Inc.)
• Original Assignee: AT&T Intellectual Property I LP (AT&T, Inc.)
• Inventors: Tofighbakhsh, Mostafa, Wolter, David R., Majmundar, Milap Vrashank
• Granted Patent: US 10,477,261 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 709/217
• CPC Class Codes: A61B 5/01 Measuring temperature of body parts ; Diagnostic temperature sensing, e.g. for malignant or inflamed tissue clinical contact thermometers G01K13/20
• CPC Class Codes: A61B 5/024 Detecting, measuring or recording pulse rate or heart rate A61B5/0205, A61B5/021 take precedence
• CPC Class Codes: A61B 5/0816 Measuring devices for examining respiratory frequency measuring frequency of electric signals G01R23/00
• CPC Class Codes: A61B 5/1112 Global tracking of patients, e.g. by using GPS
• CPC Class Codes: A61B 5/165 Evaluating the state of mind, e.g. depression, anxiety
• CPC Class Codes: A61B 5/6887 mounted on external non-worn devices, e.g. non-medical devices
• CPC Class Codes: A61B 5/6898 Portable consumer electronic devices, e.g. music players, telephones, tablet computers
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 67/306 User profiles
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 67/52 specially adapted for the location of the user terminal
• 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 21/41407 embedded in a portable device, e.g. video client on a mobile phone, PDA, laptop constructional details of equipment or arrangements specially adapted for portable computer application G06F1/1626; arrangements specially adapted for mobile receivers in broadcast systems H04H20/57
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/422 Input-only peripherals , i.e. input devices connected to specially adapted client devices, e.g. global positioning system [GPS] input devices also receiving signals from specially adapted client devices H04N21/4104
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/4788 communicating with other users, e.g. chatting arrangements for providing for computer conferences, e.g. chat rooms, to substation in data switching networks H04L12/1813; distributed application using peer-to-peer [P2P] networks H04L67/104

Abstract

A method and system for enhanced human to human and human to machine interactions employs a sensory communication session that spans from end user device to end user device across a network. The sensory communication session includes remote sensory application programming interfaces that provide standardized access to applications executing on user communication devices. The sensory communication session enables enhanced interactions with a deeper quality of experience and enables each communicating user to better discern feelings, situation, and other environmental and personal context associated with the other user.

Claims

1. A method for providing a sensory communication session over a network, the method comprising:

detecting first sensory information associated with a first user of a first communication device and second sensory information associated with a second user of a second communication device;

identifying, using the first sensory information and the second sensory information, historical sensory data associated with each of the first user and the second user;

generating, at a network server, first analytical results and second analytical results using the historical sensory data for the first user and the second user, respectively;

generating first remote information and second remote information for presentation at the second communication device and the first communication device, respectively, wherein the first remote information includes the first sensory information and the first analytical results, and wherein the second remote information includes the second sensory information and the second analytical results;

providing at least a portion of the first remote information for presentation at the second communication device; and

providing at least a portion of the second remote information for presentation at the first communication device;

wherein the first sensory information and the second sensory information include information selected from a group consisting of;

environmental information describing a personal user environment;

location information for the personal user environment;

communication device information; and

user information.

2. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

opening the sensory communication session over the network between the first communication device and the second communication device;

discovering active sensors and active actuators configured at the first communication device; and

configuring the sensory communication session to support the active sensors and the active actuators.

3. The method of claim 1, wherein the first analytical results include estimations of sensory information for the first user based upon the historical sensory data for the first user.

4. The method of claim 1, wherein the first remote information includes an avatar display representing the first user and an avatar environment representing a first personal user environment.

5. The method of claim 1, wherein the environmental information includes first tag values describing at least one of:

lighting conditions, ambient temperature, weather conditions, ambient pressure, ambient noise levels, an indoor environment, an outdoor environment, an in-vehicle environment, individuals in an environment, and events occurring in an environment; and

wherein the location information includes second tag values describing at least one of;

a geographical position, a speed, an acceleration, a direction, a sea level elevation, a destination, an estimated travel time, an estimated arrival time, a premises descriptor, a physical address, an entity name, and a property owner.

6. The method of claim 1, wherein the communication device information includes third tag values describing at least one of:

a device type, a device model, a device manufacturer, a software vendor, a sensor type, an actuator type, a device interface, display information, power information, a peripheral interface, an operating system, an operating condition, a sensor value, and an actuator value; and

wherein the user information includes fourth tag values describing at least one of;

a gesture, a facial expression, a mood, biometric information, a health condition, a hairstyle, a clothing style, a skin feature, and medical information.

7. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

synchronizing, at a network server, the first sensory information with the first communication device;

sending, from the network server, the first remote information to the second communication device; and

enabling the second user to determine whether to terminate the sensory communication session before communicating with the first user based upon the second remote information.

8. A network server for enabling a sensory communication session, comprising:

a processor configured to access memory media, wherein the memory media include processor executable instructions to;

detect first sensory information associated with a first user of a first communication device;

identify, using the first sensory information, first historical sensory data associated with the first communication device;

generate first analytical results using the first historical sensory data for the first communication device; and

generate first remote information for presentation at a second communication device, wherein the first remote information includes the first sensory information and the first analytical results.

9. The network server of claim 8, wherein the memory media include processor executable instructions to:

send the first remote information to the second communication device.

10. The network server of claim 9, wherein the processor instructions to send the first remote information to the second communication device further include processor executable instructions to:

use a remote sensory programming interface to send the first remote information to the second communication device.

11. The network server of claim 8, wherein the instructions to determine the first sensory information include instructions to:

establish the sensory communication session between the first communication device and the second communication device.

12. The network server of claim 8, wherein the memory media include processor executable instructions to:

synchronize the first sensory information with the first communication device; and

record the first sensory information to the first historical sensory data, wherein the first sensory information is indexed to the first user.

13. The network server of claim 12, wherein the processor instructions to synchronize the first sensory information with the first communication device further include processor instructions to:

use a remote sensory programming interface specified by the sensory communication session to synchronize the first sensory information with the first communication device.

14. The network server of claim 8, wherein the memory media include processor executable instructions to:

update a sensory profile for the first user.

15. The network server of claim 8, wherein the first sensory information includes information selected from a group consisting of:

environmental information describing a personal user environment;

location information for the personal user environment;

communication device information; and

user information.

16. Tangible computer readable media, including processor executable instructions for implementing a sensory communication session over a network, the instructions including instructions executable to:

detect first sensory information associated with a first communication device and second sensory information associated with a second communication device;

identify, using the first sensory information and the second sensory information, historical sensory data associated with each of the first communication device and the second communication device; and

generate first remote information and second remote information for presentation at the second communication device and the first communication device, respectively, wherein the first remote information includes the first sensory information and first analytical results generated using the historical sensory data, and wherein the second remote information includes the second sensory information and second analytical results generated from the historical sensory data,

wherein the first sensory information and the second sensory information include information identified from a group consisting of;

environmental information describing a personal user environment;

location information for the personal user environment;

communication device information; and

user information.

17. The media of claim 16, wherein the processor instructions to determine the first sensory information and the second sensory information include instructions executable to:

establish the sensory communication session between the first communication device and the second communication device via the network.

18. The media of claim 16, further including instructions to:

synchronize the first sensory information with the first communication device and synchronize the second sensory information with the second communication device;

collect the first sensory information and the second sensory information as historical sensory data; and

send the first remote information to the second communication device and send the second remote information to the first communication device.

19. The media of claim 16, wherein the first remote information is usable to generate an avatar display representing a first user and to generate an avatar environment representing a first personal user environment associated with the first user.

20. The media of claim 16, wherein the first analytical results include estimations of future sensory information for the first communication device.