Utilizing mood sensors in an electronic messaging environment

• US 8,239,774 B2
• Filed: 08/28/2007
• Issued: 08/07/2012
• Est. Priority Date: 08/28/2007
• Status: Expired due to Fees

• Current Assignee: International Business Machines Corporation
• Original Assignee: International Business Machines Corporation
• Inventors: Gandhi, Shruti, Jones, Angela Richards, Nesbitt, Pamela Ann, Seacat, Lisa Anne
• Primary Examiner(s): TAN, ALVIN H
• Application Number:
  US11/845,808
• Publication Number:
  US 20090063992A1
• Time in Patent Office: 1,806 Days
• Field of Search: 715/752
• US Class Current: 715/752
• 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: G06Q 10/107 Computer-aided management of electronic mailing [e-mailing]
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 30/02 Marketing; Price estimation or determination; Fundraising
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 51/04 Real-time or near real-time messaging, e.g. instant messaging [IM]

Abstract

A method, system and computer-usable medium are disclosed for determining the behavioral mood of an electronic messaging system user. User input is provided through one or more input receptors of an electronic device. The user input is collected by the mood identification system. The collected input is processed to generate behavioral biometrics, which are in turn correlated to predetermined behavioral moods, each of which has a corresponding behavioral mood indicator. The behavioral mood of the recipient user is indicated by applying text attributes to the user'"'"'s identifier (ID) or by displaying an icon proximate to the user'"'"'s ID.

Claims

1. A computer-implementable method for utilizing behavioral mood in an instant messaging system, comprising:

responsive to a first user initiating establishment of an instant messaging system (“

IMS”

) session, enabling the first user to select, within a user interface of an IMS client of the first user, a second user as a message recipient in the IMS session;

responsive to the first user selecting the second user, determining a behavioral mood of the second user, the behavioral mood generated by;

collecting user input of the second user with at least one receptor of an electronic device of the second user;

processing the collected user input of the second user to generate a plurality of behavioral biometrics for the second user; and

correlating the generated behavioral biometrics to a selected one of a plurality of predetermined behavioral moods, the selected one having a corresponding visual attribute;

determining a behavioral mood of the first user, the behavioral mood of the first user generated by;

collecting user input of the first user with at least one receptor of an electronic device of the first user;

processing the collected user input of the first user to generate a plurality of behavioral biometrics for the first user; and

correlating the generated behavioral biometrics for the first user to a particular one of a plurality of predetermined behavioral moods, the particular one having a corresponding visual attribute;

applying the visual attribute corresponding to the behavioral mood of the first user to electronic messages which are generated, by the first user in the IMS session, for transmission to the second user, wherein the visual attribute corresponding to the behavioral mood of the second user is applied to electronic messages which are generated, by the second user in the IMS session, for transmission to the first user;

storing, as a message transcript, a copy of each electronic message transmitted from the first user to the second user, including the applied visual attribute corresponding to the behavioral mood of the first user, and a copy of each electronic messages transmitted from the second user to the first user, including the applied visual attribute corresponding to the behavioral mood of the second user, in the IMS session; and

associating a behavioral mood indicator with the stored message transcript, the associated behavioral mood indicator comprising a visual attribute created based on the applied corresponding visual attributes of the copies stored in the message transcript.

2. The method of claim 1, wherein the at least one receptor of the electronic device of the second user comprises at least one of:

a keyboard comprising a plurality of electro-mechanical keys;

a keyboard comprising a plurality of touch sensor keys;

a touch-sensitive screen;

a touchpad;

a pointing device; and

a biometric sensor.

3. The method of claim 1, wherein the plurality of behavioral biometrics for the second user are generated by measuring a plurality of user gestures of the second user when the second user is providing input to the at least one receptor of the electronic device of the second user.

4. The method of claim 1, wherein the plurality of behavioral biometrics for the second user are generated from user input collected in real-time and then processed to produce a plurality of generalized behavioral biometrics for correlation to the selected one of the plurality of predetermined behavioral moods that was used in determining the behavioral mood of the second user.

5. The method of claim 1, wherein the determined behavioral mood of the second user is indicated by a visual attribute on the user interface of the IMS client of the first user.

6. The method of claim 5, wherein the visual attribute indicating the determined behavioral mood of the second user is an icon.

7. The method of claim 1, the user input of the first user being collected and correlated, in real time, to the particular one of the plurality of predetermined behavioral moods that was used in determining the behavioral mood of the first user and the applied visual attribute corresponding to the behavioral mood of the first user being dynamically applied to electronic messages which are generated by the first user to indicate behavioral mood changes of the first user during the generation of the electronic messages by the first user in the IMS session.

8. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

repeating the storing and the associating for each of a plurality of IMS sessions; and

using the behavioral mood indicator associated with each stored message transcript for sorting the stored message transcripts by behavioral mood.

9. The method of claim 1, wherein the visual attribute applied to electronic messages which are generated by the first user comprises one of an icon and a visual appearance of an identifier of the first user.

10. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

using the applied corresponding visual attributes of the copies stored in the message transcript for sorting the stored copies by behavioral mood.

11. A system comprising:

a processor;

a data bus coupled to the processor; and

a computer-usable medium embodying computer program code, the computer-usable medium being coupled to the data bus, the computer program code utilizing behavioral mood in an instant messaging system and comprising instructions executable by the processor and configured for;

responsive to a first user initiating establishment of an instant messaging system (“

IMS”

) session, enabling the first user to select, within a user interface of an IMS client of the first user, a second user as a message recipient in the IMS session;

responsive to the first user selecting the second user, determining a behavioral mood of the second user, the behavioral mood generated by;

collecting user input of the second user with at least one receptor of an electronic device of the second user;

processing the collected user input of the second user to generate a plurality of behavioral biometrics for the second user; and

correlating the generated behavioral biometrics to a selected one of a plurality of predetermined behavioral moods, the selected one having a corresponding visual attribute;

continuing the establishment of the IMS session only when the behavioral mood of the second user is suitable to the first user;

responsive to continuing the establishment of the IMS session, determining a behavioral mood of the first user, the behavioral mood of the first user generated by;

collecting user input of the first user with at least one receptor of an electronic device of the first user;

processing the collected user input of the first user to generate a plurality of behavioral biometrics for the first user; and

correlating the generated behavioral biometrics for the first user to a particular one of a plurality of predetermined behavioral moods, the particular one having a corresponding visual attribute;

applying the visual attribute corresponding to the behavioral mood of the first user to electronic messages which are generated, by the first user in the IMS session, for transmission to the second user, wherein the visual attribute corresponding to the behavioral mood of the second user is applied to electronic messages which are generated, by the second user in the IMS session, for transmission to the first user;

storing, as a message transcript, a copy of each electronic message transmitted from the first user to the second user, including the applied visual attribute corresponding to the behavioral mood of the first user, and a copy of each electronic messages transmitted from the second user to the first user, including the applied visual attribute corresponding to the behavioral mood of the second user, in the IMS session; and

associating a behavioral mood indicator with the stored message transcript, the associated behavioral mood indicator comprising a visual attribute created based on the applied corresponding visual attributes of the copies stored in the message transcript.

12. The system of claim 11, wherein the at least one receptor of the electronic device of the second user comprises at least one of:

a keyboard comprising a plurality of electro-mechanical keys;

a keyboard comprising a plurality of touch sensor keys;

a touch-sensitive screen;

a touchpad;

a pointing device; and

a biometric sensor.

13. The system of claim 11, wherein the plurality of behavioral biometrics for the second user are generated by measuring a plurality of user gestures of the second user when the second user is providing input to the at least one receptor of the electronic device of the second user.

14. The system of claim 11, wherein the determined behavioral mood of the second user is indicated by a visual attribute on the user interface of the IMS client of the first user.

15. A non-transitory computer-usable storage medium embodying computer program code, the computer program code comprising computer executable instructions configured for:

responsive to a first user initiating establishment of an instant messaging system (“

IMS”

) session, enabling the first user to select, within a user interface of an IMS client of the first user, a second user as a message recipient in the IMS session;

responsive to the first user selecting the second user, determining a behavioral mood of the second user, the behavioral mood generated by;

collecting user input of the second user with at least one receptor of an electronic device of the second user;

processing the collected user input of the second user to generate a plurality of behavioral biometrics for the second user; and

correlating the generated behavioral biometrics to a selected one of a plurality of predetermined behavioral moods, the selected one having a corresponding visual attribute;

determining a behavioral mood of the first user, the behavioral mood of the first user generated by;

collecting user input of the first user with at least one receptor of an electronic device of the first user;

processing the collected user input of the first user to generate a plurality of behavioral biometrics for the first user; and

correlating the generated behavioral biometrics for the first user to a particular one of a plurality of predetermined behavioral moods, the particular one having a corresponding visual attribute;

applying the visual attribute corresponding to the behavioral mood of the first user to electronic messages which are generated, by the first user in the IMS session, for transmission to the second user, wherein the visual attribute corresponding to the behavioral mood of the second user is applied to electronic messages which are generated, by the second user in the IMS session, for transmission to the first user;

storing, as a message transcript, a copy of each electronic messages transmitted from the first user to the second user, including the applied visual attribute corresponding to the behavioral mood of the first user, and a copy of each electronic messages transmitted from the second user to the first user, including the applied visual attribute corresponding to the behavioral mood of the second user, in the IMS session; and

associating a behavioral mood indicator with the stored message transcript, the associated behavioral mood indicator comprising a visual attribute created based on the applied corresponding visual attributes of the copies stored in the message transcript.

16. The computer usable medium of claim 15, wherein the at least one receptor of the electronic device of the second user comprises at least one of:

a keyboard comprising a plurality of electro-mechanical keys;

a keyboard comprising a plurality of touch sensor keys;

a touch-sensitive screen;

a touchpad;

a pointing device; and

a biometric sensor.

17. The computer usable medium of claim 15, wherein the plurality of behavioral biometrics for the second user are generated from user input collected in real-time and then processed to produce a plurality of generalized behavioral biometrics for correlation to the selected one of the plurality of predetermined behavioral moods that was used in determining the behavioral mood of the second user.

18. The computer usable medium of claim 15, wherein the computer executable instructions are deployable to a client computer from a server at a remote location.

19. The computer usable medium of claim 15, wherein the computer executable instructions are provided by a service provider to a customer on an on-demand basis.

20. The computer usable medium of claim 15, wherein the computer executable instructions are further configured for:

using the applied corresponding visual attributes of the copies stored in the message transcript for sorting the stored copies by behavioral mood.