Automatically modifying presentation of mobile-device content

• US 8,638,344 B2
• Filed: 03/09/2012
• Issued: 01/28/2014
• Est. Priority Date: 03/09/2012
• Status: Expired due to Fees

• Current Assignee: International Business Machines Corporation
• Original Assignee: International Business Machines Corporation
• Inventors: Jaramillo, David, Loredo, Robert E., Palgon, Jonathan
• Primary Examiner(s): Richer, Aaron M
• Assistant Examiner(s): Akhavannik, Mohammad H
• Application Number:
  US13/416,708
• Publication Number:
  US 20130235058A1
• Time in Patent Office: 690 Days
• Field of Search: None
• US Class Current: 345/619
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 3/012 Head tracking input arrangements
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 3/0481 based on specific properties of the displayed interaction object or a metaphor-based environment, e.g. interaction with desktop elements like windows or icons, or assisted by a cursor's changing behaviour or appearance
• CPC Class Codes: G09G 2320/0261 in the context of movement of objects on the screen or movement of the observer relative to the screen
• CPC Class Codes: G09G 2340/045 Zooming at least part of an image, i.e. enlarging it or shrinking it
• CPC Class Codes: G09G 2340/14 Solving problems related to the presentation of information to be displayed
• CPC Class Codes: G09G 2360/144 the light being ambient light
• CPC Class Codes: G09G 5/00 Control arrangements or circuits for visual indicators common to cathode-ray tube indicators and other visual indicators image data processing or generation, in general G06T

Abstract

Some embodiments of the inventive subject matter are directed to determining a first setting(s) for presentation of content on a display of a mobile device at a distance from a user. The first setting(s) are based on analysis of characteristics associated with the mobile device. The characteristics are related to a user, an environment external to the mobile device, and content presented via the mobile device. Some embodiments are further directed to detecting a change in one or more of the characteristics in response to presentation of the content on the mobile device. The change is an event that indicates that the first setting(s) are non-optimal for presentation of the content at the distance. Some embodiments are further directed to determining second settings for presentation of content at the distance from the user based on the change in the one or more characteristics.

Claims

1. A method comprising:

determining a first size for presentation of content on a display of a mobile device at a distance from a user;

determining that the mobile device is the distance from the user;

presenting content on the mobile device using the first size;

analyzing an appearance of a user and a background depicted in one or more images obtained via the mobile device;

after presentation of the content, based on analysis of the appearance of the user and the background, detecting a visible condition of the environment that distracts the user, wherein the user responds to the visible condition with a degree of change in movement of a facial feature of the user, wherein the degree of change in the movement of the facial feature corresponds to a degree of preference for a size of the content;

accessing a data store associated with the mobile device, wherein the data store indicates a description of the degree of change of the movement of the facial feature;

detecting a value in the data store associated with the visible condition of the environment depicted in the one or more images, wherein the value associated with the visible condition of the environment is associated with the degree of change of the movement of the facial feature;

selecting from the data store one or more settings for presentation of the content via the mobile device, wherein the one or more settings are associated with one or more of the value and the description of the degree of change of the movement of the facial feature in the data store;

incrementing the size of the content on the display of the mobile device, proportional to the degree of change in the movement of the facial feature according to the one or more settings; and

presenting the content via the display of the mobile device in accordance with the one or more second sizes.

2. The method of claim 1, wherein the detecting the degree of change in the movement of the one or more facial features of the user comprises detecting varying degrees of change in one or more of squinting the eyes, furrowing the brow, and frowning.

3. The method of claim 1, further comprising detecting a change to the visible condition of the environment around the user, wherein the visible condition of the environment indicates an activity that occurs within the environment that distracts the user from viewing the content.

4. The method of claim 1, wherein the determining the first size for presentation of the content is based on first digital analysis of first recorded images taken via the mobile device and wherein the detecting the degrees of change in the movement of the one or more facial features of the user is based on second digital analysis of second recorded images taken via the mobile device after the presentation of the content via the display at the distance from the user.

5. The method of claim 4 further comprising:

selecting the first size based on the first digital analysis;

storing a first setting in the data store associated with the user, wherein the first setting is associated with the first size;

detecting an identity of the user via facial recognition of the user via the second digital analysis;

generating second settings associated with the second sizes based on the second digital analysis of the second recorded images at least partially in response to the detecting the identity of the user and based on the degrees of change in the movement of the one or more facial features of the user; and

storing the second settings in the data store associated with the user.

6. The method of claim 1 further comprising:

detecting that one or more eyes of the user are squinting when the content is presented at the first size, wherein the content comprises text with a first font size equivalent to the first size; and

incrementing the first font size to second font sizes in incrementing levels, wherein the presenting the content via the display of the mobile device in accordance with the one or more second sizes comprises using the second font sizes in the incrementing levels until detecting that the one or more eyes or the user are no longer squinting.

7. One or more computer-readable storage devices configured to store instructions, which when executed by one or more processors perform operations comprising:

determining a first font size for presentation of content on a display of a mobile device at a distance from a user, wherein the first font size is based on first digital analysis of one or more recorded images of one or more facial characteristics of the user;

determining that the mobile device is the distance from the user;

presenting content on the mobile device using a font having the first font size;

analyzing an appearance of a user and a background depicted in one or more second recorded images obtained via the mobile device after the content is presented, wherein one or more activities occur in the background that distract the user;

after presenting the content, based on analysis of the appearance of the user when the user is distracted by the one or more activities that occur in the background, detecting degrees of change in movement of the one or more facial characteristics of the user, wherein the degrees of change in the movement of the one or more facial characteristics correspond to degrees of preference for a size of the content;

accessing a data store associated with the mobile device, wherein the data store indicates descriptions of the degrees of change in the movement of the one or more facial characteristics;

detecting a value in the data store associated with a visible condition of an environment depicted in the one or more second recorded images, wherein the value associated with the visible condition of the environment is associated with the degree of change of the movement of the facial feature;

selecting from the data store one or more settings for presentation of the content via the mobile device, wherein the one or more settings are associated with one or more of the value and the descriptions of the degrees of change in the movement of the one or more facial characteristics in the data store;

determining second font sizes for presentation of the font on the display of the mobile device at the distance from the user according to the one or more settings, wherein the second font sizes are proportional to the degrees of change in the movement of the one or more facial characteristics of the user; and

modifying presentation of the content in accordance with the second font sizes.

8. The one or more computer-readable storage devices of claim 7, wherein the determining the first font size for presentation of the content is based on first analysis of one or more of one or more first environmental characteristics and one or more first content characteristics associated with the mobile device and further comprising detecting that the one or more of the one or more first environmental characteristics and the one or more first content characteristics have changed to one or more of one or more second environmental characteristics and one or more second content characteristics in response to detecting the degrees of change in the appearance of the one or more facial characteristics of the user.

9. The one or more computer-readable storage devices of claim 7, said operations further comprising:

presenting an automated audible presentation of content in response to the detecting the degrees of change in the movement of the one or more facial characteristics of the user.

10. The one or more computer-readable storage devices of claim 7, said operations further comprising, in response to the detecting the degrees of change in the movement of the one or more facial characteristics of the user, one or more of moving a position of the content on a display associated with the mobile device, transferring presentation of the content to a peripheral display, scrolling the content automatically, zooming the content, and switching to a hands-free voice activation mode.

11. The one or more computer-readable storage devices of claim 7, said operations further comprising:

detecting that one or more eyes of the user are squinting when the content is presented with the first font size;

after detecting that the one or more of the eyes of the user are squinting, incrementing the size of the font from the first font size to the second font sizes according to incrementing levels greater than the first font size,

after each instance that the size of the font is incremented to one of the second font sizes that corresponds to one of the incrementing levels, detecting whether the one or more eyes of the user are still squinting, wherein the incrementing of the size of the font terminates when the one or more eyes or the user are no longer squinting.

12. A computer-implemented method comprising:

presenting content via a mobile device;

analyzing an appearance of a user and a background depicted in one or more images obtained via the mobile device;

based on analysis of the appearance of the user and the background, detecting a visible condition of an environment depicted in the one or more images, wherein the visible condition has an appearance of movement;

accessing a data store associated with the mobile device, wherein the data store indicates a description of an activity that, if performed, would distract the user from presentation of the content via the mobile device;

detecting a value in the data store associated with the visible condition of the environment depicted in the background, wherein the value associated with the visible condition of the environment is associated with the description of the activity;

selecting from the data store one or more settings for presentation of the content via the mobile device, wherein the one or more settings are associated with one or more of the value and the description of the activity in the data store; and

changing the presentation of the content according to the one or more settings.

13. The computer-implemented method of claim 12, wherein prior to the analyzing the appearance of the user and the background, the content is presented in a visual format from a visual output mechanism of the mobile device, and wherein the changing the presentation of the content is configured to one or more of change the presentation of the content in the visual format to an audio format presented via an audio output mechanism associated with the mobile device and change the mobile device to a voice activation mode.

14. The computer-implemented method of claim 12, wherein the detecting the visible condition of the environment depicted in the background that has the appearance of movement comprises detecting one or more of movement of the user relative to the background, movement of one or more objects depicted in the background, and movement of one or more individuals in the background other than the user.

15. The computer-implemented method of claim 12, further comprising one or more of determining that the user is talking on the mobile device, determining that the user is texting on the mobile device, determining that the user is walking, determining that the user is driving, and determining that the user is performing a hands-free task.

16. The computer-implemented method of claim 12, further comprising detecting a degree of change in appearance of one or more facial features of the user, wherein the one or more settings are configured to set a degree of size of the content proportional to the degree of change in the appearance of the facial feature.

17. The computer-implemented method of claim 12, wherein the detecting the visible condition of the environment depicted in the background that has the appearance of the movement in the background comprises one or more of detecting activity that occurs to one or more individuals in an environment around the user, detecting movement of one or more individuals in an environment behind the user, and detecting that the user is inside a vehicle.