Acquisition and association of data indicative of an inferred mental state of an authoring user

• US 8,055,591 B2
• Filed: 06/30/2008
• Issued: 11/08/2011
• Est. Priority Date: 05/23/2008
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: The Invention Science Fund I, L.L.C. (Intellectual Ventures LLC)
• Original Assignee: The Invention Science Fund I, L.L.C. (Intellectual Ventures LLC)
• Inventors: Wood, Lowell L. Jr., Lord, Robert W., Levien, Royce A., Jung, Edward K. Y., Malamud, Mark A., Rinaldo, John D. Jr., Leuthardt, Eric C.
• Primary Examiner(s): Holmes; Michael B
• Application Number:
  US12/217,131
• Publication Number:
  US 20090292657A1
• Time in Patent Office: 1,226 Days
• Field of Search: 706/11
• US Class Current: 706/11
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 3/011 Arrangements for interaction with the human body, e.g. for user immersion in virtual reality blind teaching G09B21/00
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 3/015 Input arrangements based on nervous system activity detection, e.g. brain waves [EEG] detection, electromyograms [EMG] detection, electrodermal response detection

Abstract

A computationally implemented method includes, but is not limited to: acquiring data indicative of an inferred mental state of an authoring user; and associating the data indicative of the inferred mental state of the authoring user with an electronic message. In addition to the foregoing, other method aspects are described in the claims, drawings, and text forming a part of the present disclosure.

Claims

1. A system comprising:

one or more sensors configured to sense one or more physical characteristics of an authoring user, wherein said one or more sensors configured to sense one or more physical characteristics of an authoring user, comprises;

a functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) device;

an acquisition module configured to acquire data indicative of an inferred mental state of the authoring user based, at least in part, on the one or more physical characteristics sensed by the one or more sensors; and

an association module configured to associate the data indicative of the inferred mental state of the authoring user with an electronic message.

2. A system comprising:

one or more sensors configured to sense one or more physical characteristics of an authoring user, wherein said one or more sensors configured to sense one or more physical characteristics of an authoring user, comprises;

a functional near infrared (fNIR) device;

an acquisition module configured to acquire data indicative of an inferred mental state of the authoring user based, at least in part, on the one or more physical characteristics sensed by the one or more sensors; and

an association module configured to associate the data indicative of the inferred mental state of the authoring user with an electronic message.

3. The system of claim 2, wherein said one or more sensors configured to sense one or more physical characteristics of an authoring user comprise:

at least one of a galvanic skin sensor device, a heart rate sensor device, a blood pressure sensor device, or a respiration sensor device.

4. The system of claim 2, wherein said one or more sensors configured to sense one or more physical characteristics of an authoring user comprise:

at least one of a facial expression sensor device, a skin characteristic sensor device, a voice response device, a gaze tracking device, or an iris response device.

5. The system of claim 2, wherein said one or more sensors configured to sense one or more physical characteristics of an authoring user are further configured to:

sense at least one of blood oxygen or blood volume changes of a brain associated with the authoring user.

6. The system of claim 2, wherein said one or more sensors configured to sense one or more physical characteristics of an authoring user are further configured to:

sense at least one of a galvanic skin response, heart rate, blood pressure, or respiration associated with the authoring user.

7. The system of claim 2, wherein said one or more sensors configured to sense one or more physical characteristics of an authoring user are further configured to:

sense at least one of facial expression, skin characteristic, voice characteristic, eye movement, or iris dilation associated with the authoring user.

8. The system of claim 2, wherein said one or more sensors configured to sense one or more physical characteristics of an authoring user are further configured to:

sense one or more physical characteristics of the authoring user during or proximate to a composition of the electronic message by the authoring user.

9. The system of claim 2, wherein said acquisition module configured to acquire data indicative of an inferred mental state of the authoring user based, at least in part, on the one or more physical characteristics sensed by the one or more sensors comprises:

a mental state determination module.

10. The system of claim 9, wherein said mental state determination module comprises:

a mental state determination module configured to infer a mental state associated with the authoring user based, at least in part, on one or more physical characteristics of the authoring user sensed by the one or more sensors.

11. The system of claim 10, wherein said mental state determination module configured to infer a mental state associated with the authoring user based, at least in part, on one or more physical characteristics of the authoring user sensed by the one or more sensors further comprises:

a mental state determination module configured to infer a mental state associated with the authoring user based, at least in part, on one or more physical characteristics of the authoring user sensed by the one or more sensors during or proximate to a composition of the electronic message by the authoring user.

12. The system of claim 10, wherein said mental state determination module configured to infer a mental state associated with the authoring user based, at least in part, on one or more physical characteristics of the authoring user sensed by the one or more sensors further comprises:

a mental state determination module configured to infer at least one of a state of anger, a state of distress, or a state of pain associated with the authoring user.

13. The system of claim 10, wherein said mental state determination module configured to infer a mental state associated with the authoring user based, at least in part, on one or more physical characteristics of the authoring user sensed by the one or more sensors further comprises:

a mental state determination module configured to infer at least one of a state of frustration, a state of approval or disapproval, a state of trust, a state of fear, a state of happiness, a state of surprise, a state of inattention, a state of arousal, a state of impatience, a state of confusion, a state of distraction, a state of overall mental activity, a state of alertness, or a state of acuity associated with the authoring user.

14. The system of claim 2, wherein said association module configured to associate the data indicative of the inferred mental state of the authoring user with an electronic message comprises:

an association module configured to incorporate the data indicative of the inferred mental state of the authoring user into the electronic message.

15. The system of claim 2, wherein said association module configured to associate the data indicative of the inferred mental state of the authoring user with an electronic message comprises:

an association module configured to include into the electronic message an identity of the data indicative of the inferred mental state of the authoring user.

16. The system of claim 2, wherein said association module configured to associate the data indicative of the inferred mental state of the authoring user with an electronic message comprises:

an association module configured to include into the electronic message an identifier to the data indicative of the inferred mental state of the authoring user.

17. The system of claim 16, wherein said association module configured to include into the electronic message an identifier to the data indicative of the inferred mental state of the authoring user further comprises:

an association module configured to include into the electronic message a hyperlink to the data indicative of the inferred mental state of the authoring user.

18. The system of claim 2, wherein said association module configured to associate the data indicative of the inferred mental state of the authoring user with an electronic message comprises:

an association module configured to pair an identity of the electronic message with the data indicative of the inferred mental state.

19. The system of claim 18, wherein said association module configured to pair an identity of the electronic message with the data indicative of the inferred mental state further comprises:

an association module configured to incorporate the data indicative of the inferred mental state and the identity of the electronic message into another electronic message.

20. The system of claim 2, further comprising:

a presentation module configured to present the data indicative of the inferred mental state of the authoring user.

21. The system of claim 20, wherein said presentation module configured to present the data indicative of the inferred mental state of the authoring user comprises:

a presentation module configured to present the data indicative of the inferred mental state of the authoring user to the authoring user.

22. The system of claim 21, wherein said presentation module configured to present the data indicative of the inferred mental state of the authoring user to the authoring user further comprises:

a presentation module configured to present the data indicative of the inferred mental state of the authoring user to the authoring user prior to a transmission of the data indicative of the inferred mental state of the authoring user.

23. The system of claim 22, wherein said presentation module configured to present the data indicative of the inferred mental state of the authoring user to the authoring user prior to a transmission of the data indicative of the inferred mental state of the authoring user further comprises:

a presentation module configured to provide to the authoring user at least one of an option to transmit the data indicative of the inferred mental state of the authoring user or an option not to transmit the data indicative of the inferred mental state of the authoring user.

24. The system of claim 22, wherein said presentation module configured to present the data indicative of the inferred mental state of the authoring user to the authoring user prior to a transmission of the data indicative of the inferred mental state of the authoring user further comprises:

a presentation module configured to provide to the authoring user at least one of an option to transmit the data indicative of the inferred mental state of the authoring user or an option to select and transmit data indicative of an alternative mental state of the authoring user.

25. The system of claim 21, wherein said presentation module configured to present the data indicative of the inferred mental state of the authoring user to the authoring user comprises:

a presentation module configured to display at least one of a symbolic representation or a number indicative of the inferred mental state of the authoring user to the authoring user.

26. The system of claim 2, further comprising:

a transmission module configured to transmit the data indicative of the inferred mental state of the authoring user to a receiving user.

27. The system of claim 26, wherein said transmission module configured to transmit the data indicative of the inferred mental state of the authoring user to a receiving user comprises:

a transmission module configured to transmit the data indicative of the inferred mental state of the authoring user to the receiving user via the electronic message or via another electronic message.

28. The system of claim 2, further comprising:

a user interface.

29. The system of claim 28, wherein said user interface comprises:

at least one of a user display, a touch screen, a keypad, or a speaker system.

30. The system of claim 2, further comprising:

a network communication interface.

31. The system of claim 30, wherein said network communication interface comprises:

a network communication interface configured to interface with at least one of a wireless network or a wired network.

32. The system of claim 2, further comprising:

at least one of an email application, an instant message (IM) application, an audio application, or a video application.