Thematic response to a computer user's context, such as by a wearable personal computer
First Claim
1. A method for presenting information to a user of a wearable computing device based on at least one of multiple defined themes having defined relationships, a current context of the user being represented by a plurality of context attributes that each model an aspect of the context, each of the defined themes modeling a distinct contextual situation of the user that has multiple contextual aspects and each having associated information to be presented to the user when the modeled contextual situation of the theme matches a current contextual situation of the user, the modeling of a contextual situation by specifying multiple context attributes and by specifying one or more possible values associated with each of the specified context attributes, comprising:
- receiving an indication of the multiple defined themes;
receiving an indication of a current contextual situation of the user including current values for each of the plurality of context attributes;
determining at least two of the multiple defined themes that model contextual situations matching the current contextual situation in such a manner that for each of the determined themes, the included current values for each of the context attributes specified for that theme matches one of the specified possible values associated with that context attribute;
determining one or more previously defined relationships that exist between at least some of the multiple determined themes;
determining one of the multiple determined themes having a highest priority based on the one or more determined relationships of that one theme to at least some of the other determined themes; and
presenting to the user the associated information for the one determined theme, so that the user receives information that is appropriate to a contextual situation in which the user is situated.
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Abstract
Techniques are disclosed for creating, modifying, categorizing, modeling, distributing, purchasing, selling, and otherwise using themes and theme-related information. Themes can represent various types of contextual aspects or situations, and can model high-level concepts of activities or states not reflected in individual contextual attributes that each model a single aspect of the state of a user, their computing device, the surrounding physical environment, and/or the current cyber-environment. Such themes specify inter-relationships among a set of contextual attributes, and can have associated theme-related information such as theme-specific attributes, theme layouts used to present information and functionality, CSes that provide theme attribute values, and CCs that process theme information. Disclosed techniques can identify one or more themes that currently match the modeled context, select one of the matching themes as a current theme, and provide an appropriate response (e.g., by presenting appropriate information and/or providing appropriate functionality) based on the current theme.
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Citations
164 Claims
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1. A method for presenting information to a user of a wearable computing device based on at least one of multiple defined themes having defined relationships, a current context of the user being represented by a plurality of context attributes that each model an aspect of the context, each of the defined themes modeling a distinct contextual situation of the user that has multiple contextual aspects and each having associated information to be presented to the user when the modeled contextual situation of the theme matches a current contextual situation of the user, the modeling of a contextual situation by specifying multiple context attributes and by specifying one or more possible values associated with each of the specified context attributes, comprising:
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receiving an indication of the multiple defined themes; receiving an indication of a current contextual situation of the user including current values for each of the plurality of context attributes; determining at least two of the multiple defined themes that model contextual situations matching the current contextual situation in such a manner that for each of the determined themes, the included current values for each of the context attributes specified for that theme matches one of the specified possible values associated with that context attribute; determining one or more previously defined relationships that exist between at least some of the multiple determined themes; determining one of the multiple determined themes having a highest priority based on the one or more determined relationships of that one theme to at least some of the other determined themes; and presenting to the user the associated information for the one determined theme, so that the user receives information that is appropriate to a contextual situation in which the user is situated. - View Dependent Claims (2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13, 14, 15)
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16. A computer-implemented method for distributing themes to one or more computing devices for use by those computing devices in providing responses that are appropriate to contextual situations, the method comprising:
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receiving an indication of a plurality of accessible themes, each of the accessible themes representing a contextual situation and associated with a type of response that is appropriate to the represented contextual situation, each of the contextual situations represented with multiple context attributes related to that contextual situation and with criteria for determining values of those context attributes that match that contextual situation; receiving an indication of at least one computing device, each of the indicated computing devices being a body-mounted device of a user; and for each of the indicated body-mounted computing devices, automatically identifying a group of multiple of the accessible themes as being appropriate for that body-mounted computing device based at least in part on relationship information that indicates that the multiple themes belong to the group; and automatically distributing each of the identified themes of the group to that body-mounted computing device for use by that computing device in providing information to the user of that computing device, so that the body-mounted computing device provides information to the user based on one of the distributed identified themes of the group when the contextual situation represented by that identified theme is automatically determined to best match a contextual situation of the user, the providing of the information performed in such a manner as to be based on the type of response associated with that identified theme. - View Dependent Claims (17, 18, 19, 20, 21, 22, 23, 24, 25, 26, 27, 28, 29, 30, 31, 32, 33, 34, 35, 36, 37, 38, 39, 40, 41, 42, 43, 44, 45, 46, 47, 48, 49, 50, 51, 52, 53, 54, 55, 56, 57, 58, 59, 60, 61, 62, 63)
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64. A computer-readable medium whose contents cause a computing device to distribute themes to one or more other computing devices for use in providing responses that are appropriate to contextual situations, by performing a method comprising:
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receiving an indication of a plurality of accessible themes, each of the accessible themes representing a contextual situation and associated with a type of response that is appropriate to the represented contextual situation; and for each of at least one body-mounted computing device of a user, identifying multiple of the accessible themes as being appropriate for that computing device based at least in part on predefined relationships of one or more of the identified multiple themes to other themes; and distributing each of the identified themes to that computing device for use by that computing device in providing to the user the type of response associated with that identified theme when the contextual situation represented by that identified theme occurs. - View Dependent Claims (65, 66, 67, 68, 69, 70, 71, 72, 73, 74, 75, 76, 77, 78, 79)
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80. A computing device for distributing themes to one or more other computing devices for use in providing responses that are appropriate to contextual situations, comprising:
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a memory; an input component capable of receiving an indication of at least one accessible theme, each of the accessible themes representing a contextual situation and associated with a type of response that is appropriate to the represented contextual situation, each of the contextual situations represented with multiple context attributes related to that contextual situation and with criteria for determining values of those context attributes that match that contextual situation; and a theme distribution component that when executed in the memory is capable of, for an indicated body-supported computing device of a user, automatically identifying at least one of the accessible themes as being appropriate for that computing device based on relationship information associated with that theme that indicates a relationship to other themes and automatically distributing the identified themes to that computing device for use in providing to the user the type of response associated with an identified theme when the contextual situation represented by that identified theme occurs. - View Dependent Claims (81, 82, 83, 84, 85, 86, 87, 88, 89, 90, 91, 92, 93, 94, 95)
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96. A computer system for distributing themes to one or more computing devices for use by those computing devices in providing responses that are appropriate to contextual situations, comprising:
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a memory; means for receiving an indication of at least one accessible theme, each of the accessible themes representing a contextual situation and associated with a type of response that is appropriate to the represented contextual situation, each of the contextual situations represented with multiple context attributes related to that contextual situation and with criteria for determining values of those context attributes that match that contextual situation; and means for automatically identifying at least one of the accessible themes as being appropriate for a body-supported computing device of a user based on relationship information associated with that theme that indicates a relationship to other themes and for automatically distributing each of the identified themes to that computing device for use by that computing device in providing to the user the type of response associated with that identified theme when the contextual situation represented by that identified theme occurs. - View Dependent Claims (97, 98, 99)
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100. A computer-implemented method for providing to a user of a portable computing device an appropriate response to a contextual situation based on multiple categories of themes, the method comprising:
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receiving an indication of multiple theme categories that each correspond to distinct types of contextual situations, each of the theme categories having multiple associated themes each associated with a type of response that is appropriate to the corresponding type of contextual situation for that theme category; receiving an indication of a current contextual situation of the user; selecting one of the categories of themes based on the current contextual situation being of a type to which the selected category of themes corresponds; identifying one of the multiple themes of the selected category whose associated type of response is appropriate to the current contextual situation; and providing the associated type of response for the identified theme to the user. - View Dependent Claims (101, 102, 103, 104, 105, 106, 107, 108, 109, 110, 111, 112, 113, 114, 115)
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116. A computer-readable medium containing instructions that when executed cause a computing device to provide an appropriate response to a contextual situation based on multiple categories of themes, by performing a method comprising:
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receiving an indication of multiple theme categories that each correspond to types of contextual situations, each of the theme categories having multiple associated themes each associated with a type of response that is appropriate to the corresponding type of contextual situation for that theme category; receiving an indication of a current contextual situation; selecting one of the categories of themes based on the current contextual situation being of a type to which the selected category of themes corresponds; identifying one of the multiple themes of the selected category whose associated type of response is appropriate to the current contextual situation; and providing the associated type of response for the identified theme. - View Dependent Claims (117, 118, 119, 120, 121, 122, 123, 124, 125, 126, 127, 128)
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129. A portable computing device for providing to a user an appropriate response to a contextual situation based on multiple categories of themes, comprising:
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a memory; an input component capable of receiving an indication of multiple theme categories that each correspond to types of contextual situations, each of the theme categories having multiple associated themes each associated with a type of response that is appropriate to the corresponding type of contextual situation for that theme category, and of receiving an indication of a current contextual situation of the user; and a theme response component that when executed in the memory is capable of selecting one of the categories of themes based on the current contextual situation being of a type to which the selected category of themes corresponds, of identifying one of the multiple themes of the selected category whose associated type of response is appropriate to the current contextual situation, and of providing the associated type of response for the identified theme to the user. - View Dependent Claims (130, 131, 132, 133, 134, 135, 136, 137, 138, 139)
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140. A method in a computing device for providing to a user an appropriate response to a contextual situation based on multiple groups of themes, the method comprising:
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receiving an indication of multiple theme groups that each correspond to distinct types of users, each of the theme groups having multiple themes as members that are each associated with a type of response that is appropriate to the corresponding type of user for that theme group; receiving an indication of a current user; selecting one of the groups of themes based on the current user being of a type to which the selected group of themes corresponds; identifying one or more of the multiple themes of the selected group whose associated type of response is appropriate to the current user; and providing the associated types of response for the identified themes to the current user. - View Dependent Claims (141, 142, 143, 144, 145, 146, 147, 148, 149, 150, 151, 152)
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153. A method in a computing device for providing to a user an appropriate response to a contextual situation based on multiple themes that are hierarchically related, the method comprising:
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receiving an indication of multiple themes that each correspond to types of contextual situations and that are each associated with a type of response that is appropriate to that corresponding type of contextual situation, each of the themes being hierarchically related to other of the multiple themes; receiving an indication of a current contextual situation of the user; identifying multiple of the indicated themes such that the current contextual situation is of a type to which those identified themes correspond; selecting one of the identified themes based on the hierarchical relationship of that theme to other of the multiple themes; and providing the associated type of response for the selected theme to the user. - View Dependent Claims (154, 155, 156, 157, 158, 159, 160, 161, 162, 163, 164)
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Specification