Providing a Shared User Experience to Facilitate Communication

• US 20150281369A1
• Filed: 04/01/2014
• Published: 10/01/2015
• Est. Priority Date: 04/01/2014
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Microsoft Technology Licensing LLC (Microsoft Corporation)
• Original Assignee: Microsoft Corporation
• Inventors: Venolia, Gina D., Tang, John C., Gupta, Anoop
• Granted Patent: US 10,476,968 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 1/1
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 10/06 Resources, workflows, human or project management; Enterprise or organisation planning; Enterprise or organisation modelling
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 10/10 Office automation; Time management
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 50/01 Social networking
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 67/141 Setup of application sessions admission control or resource allocation in data switching networks H04L47/70

Abstract

A communication augmentation agent (CAA) is described herein which presents a shared user experience to at least a first user and a second user. In one manner of operation, the CAA operates by intelligently determining. (1) when to offer a shared user experience to the users; (b) the particular form of the shared user experience; and (c) the manner of delivering the shared user experience to the users. In determining the form of the shared experience, the CAA can optionally customize the shared resource so that it includes common-interest information and, with respect to each user, user-specific information. The CAA also includes a mechanism by which a registered user may invite a non-registered user to take part in the shared user experience.

Claims

1. A communication augmentation agent (CAA), implemented by one or more computing devices, for presenting a shared user experience to at least a first user and a second user, comprising:

a setup component configured to select the shared user experience, comprising;

a trigger component configured to determine when to offer the shared user experience to the first user and the second user;

a resource selection component configured to;

identify a shared resource to be shared by the first user and the second user, to provide a selected resource; and

perform customization of the selected resource for use by the first user and the second user, to provide a particular shared resource; and

a notification component configured to notify at least one of the first user and/or the second user of the existence of the particular shared resource; and

a delivery management component configured to manage delivery of the particular shared resource to the first user and the second user.

2. The CAA of claim 1, wherein the trigger component is configured to invoke the shared user experience based, at least in part, on a determination that the first user and the second user are engaged in a conversation.

3. The CAA of claim of claim 2, wherein the conversation comprises a synchronous or asynchronous verbal exchange of information.

4. The CAA of claim 2, wherein the conversation comprises a synchronous or asynchronous textual exchange of information.

5. The CAA of claim 2, wherein the trigger component is configured to detect the conversation based on detection information provided by a detection component, wherein the detection component is implemented by at least one user device, associated with the first user and/or the second user.

6. The CAA of claim 2, wherein the trigger component is configured to detect the conversation based on detection information provided by a detection component, wherein the detection component is implemented by telecommunication equipment provided by a telecommunication provider.

7. The CAA of claim 1, wherein the trigger component is configured to invoke the shared user experience based, at least in part, on a determination that the first user and the second user are located in a common area.

8. The CAA of claim 1, wherein the trigger component is configured to invoke the shared user experience based, at least in part, on one or more patterns of communicative behavior associated with the first user and/or the second user.

9. The CAA of claim 1, wherein the trigger component is configured to invoke the shared user experience based, at least in part, on an express selection by the first user and/or the second user.

10. The CAA of claim 1, wherein the resource selection component is further configured to:

identify user information associated with at least one of the first user and/or second user, and

wherein said customization involves customizing the selected resource based on the user information, to produce the particular shared resource.

11. The CAA of claim 10,

wherein the resource selection component is configured to determine common-interest information that is relevant to the first user and the second user, based on the user information, and

wherein the resource selection component is configured to perform said customization by including the common-interest information in the selected resource, to produce the particular shared resource.

12. The CAA of claim 1,

wherein the resource selection component is also configured to determine:

first-user information that is relevant to first user, but not necessarily the second user; and

second-user information that is relevant to the second user, but not necessarily to the first user, and

wherein the resource selection component is also configured to perform said customization by;

customizing a first instance of the selected resource by including the first-user information in the first instance of the selected resource, for presentation to the first user; and

customizing a second instance of the selected resource by including the second-user information in the second instance of the selected resource, for presentation to the second user.

13. The CAA of claim 1, further including a delivery selection component that is configured to:

identify a first family of devices associated with the first user, and a second family of devices associated with the second user;

identify at least one selection factor that has a bearing on;

a choice of a first user device to provide the particular shared resource to the first user, selected from among the first family of devices; and

a choice of a second user device to provide the particular shared resource to the second user, selected from among the second family of devices; and

based on said at least one selection factor, choosing the first user device and the second user device.

14. The CAA of claim 13, wherein said at least one selection factor includes one or more of:

user preference information, indicating device preferences of the first user and the second user;

device status information which describes the operational statuses of the user devices in the first family of user devices and the second family of user devices;

device location information which describes the locations of the user devices in the first family of user devices and the second family of users devices; and

/or

current context information describing respective environments in which the first user and the second user are currently operating.

15. The CAA of claim 1,

wherein the CAA further comprises a registration component for maintaining registration information regarding users who are registered to interact with the CAA, and

wherein the registration component is configured to:

determine whether the first user is registered with the CAA but the second user is not registered with the CAA; and

provide a mechanism by which the first user may invite the second user to register with the CAA.

16. A computer readable storage medium for storing computer readable instructions, the computer readable instructions performing a method, when executed by one or more processing devices, the method comprising:

determining when to offer a particular shared resource to at least a first user and a second user, based on one or more trigger-determinations;

identifying a shared resource to be shared by the first user and the second user, to provide a selected resource;

identifying user information associated with at least one of the first user and/or second user;

customizing the selected resource based on the user information, to produce a particular shared resource; and

delivering the particular shared resource to the first user and the second user.

17. The computer readable storage medium of claim 16, wherein said one or more trigger-determinations involves a determination that the first user and the second user are engaged in a conversation.

18. The computer readable storage medium of claim 16, wherein the method further comprises:

determining common-interest information that is relevant to the first user and the second user;

determining first-user information that is relevant to but first user, but not necessarily the second user; and

determining second-user information that is relevant to the second user, but not necessarily the first user,

and wherein said customizing comprises;

customizing a first instance of the shared resource, for delivery to the first user, to include the common-interest information and the first-user information; and

customizing a second instance of the shared resource, for delivery to the second user, to include the common-interest information and the second-user information.

19. A method, implemented by one or more computing devices, for presenting a shared user experience to at least a first user and a second user using a communication augmentation agent (CAA), comprising:

determining that a particular shared resource is to be delivered to the first user and the second user, to facilitate communication between the first user and the second user;

determining that the first user is registered with the CAA, but the second user is not registered with the CAA;

sending a notification to the first user, inviting the first user to initiate the shared user experience by contacting the second user;

receiving a request by the second user to receive functionality which will enable the second user to interact with the particular shared resource, the second user having been invited by the first user to interact with the particular shared resource; and

providing the functionality to the second user.

20. The method of claim 19, further comprising inviting the second user to register with the CAA.