Systems and methods for scanning a user environment and evaluating data of interest

• US 9,230,261 B2
• Filed: 03/01/2012
• Issued: 01/05/2016
• Est. Priority Date: 03/01/2012
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Elwha LLC (Intellectual Ventures LLC)
• Original Assignee: Elwha LLC (Intellectual Ventures LLC)
• Inventors: Levien, Royce A., Gates, William, Malamud, Mark A., Lord, Richard T., Gerrity, Daniel A., Myhrvold, Nathan P., Lord, Robert W., Holman, Paul, Rinaldo, Jr., John D., Hyde, Roderick A., Rosema, Keith D., Ishikawa, Muriel Y., Tegreene, Clarence T., Jung, Edward K. Y., Weaver, Thomas A., Kare, Jordin T., Wood, JR., Lowell L.
• Primary Examiner(s): Chin, Vivian
• Assistant Examiner(s): TON, DAVID L
• Application Number:
  US13/410,151
• Publication Number:
  US 20130230178A1
• Time in Patent Office: 1,405 Days
• Field of Search: 381/56, 700/94, 725/34, 235/375, 235/435, 235/487, 235/383, 235/462.46, 705/14.19, 705/14.39, 705/14.44, 705/14.69, 705/14.72, 705/14.73, 705/375, 705/383, 705/435, 705/462.46, 705/487, 455/41.1
• US Class Current: 1/1
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 30/02 Marketing; Price estimation or determination; Fundraising
• CPC Class Codes: H04R 1/028 associated with devices performing functions other than acoustics, e.g. electric candles
• CPC Class Codes: H04R 2430/23 Direction finding using a sum-delay beam-former

Abstract

According to various embodiments, a mobile device continuously and/or automatically scans a user environment for containing non-human-readable data. The mobile device may continuously and/or automatically scan the environment for tags without being specifically directed at a particular tag. The mobile device may be adapted to scan for audio tags, radio frequency tags, and/or image tags. The mobile device may be configured to scan for and identify tags within the user environment that satisfy a user preference. The mobile device may perform an action in response to identifying a tag that satisfies a user preference. The mobile device may be configured to scan for a wide variety of tags, including tags in the form of quick response codes, steganographic content, audio watermarks, audio outside of a human audible range, radio frequency identification tags, long wavelength identification tags, near field communication tags, and/or a Memory Spot device.

Claims

1. A method for capturing and evaluating data of interest to a user, comprising:

automatically scanning a user environment of a physical location by a mobile listening device for one or more audio tags;

identifying an audio tag within the user environment that satisfies one or more preferences of the user;

determining an authorization status of the user relative to the identified audio tag;

determining at least two actions to be performed associated with the identified audio tag based at least in part on the determined authorization status and the user preferences; and

performing the at least two actions by a computing device associated with the mobile listening device, wherein the at least two actions comprise;

a first action associated with notifying the user that (1) an audio tag has been identified that satisfies one or more user preferences and (2) that a second action will be performed unless canceled; and

at least a second action that is automatically performed by the computing device following the notification of the user unless the user cancels the performance of the second action.

2. The method of claim 1, wherein automatically scanning the user environment comprises continuously scanning the user environment.

3. The method of claim 1, wherein at least one user preference is specified by the user.

4. The method of claim 1, wherein at least one user preference is based at least in part on historical user input or actions.

5. The method of claim 1, wherein the action comprises using the identified tag to obtain a first set of supplemental content.

6. The method of claim 5, wherein the first set of supplemental content is obtained from an owner of the audio tag.

7. The method of claim 6, further comprising:

determining a second action based on the supplemental content obtained from the owner of the audio tag; and

performing the second action by a computing device.

8. The method of claim 5, wherein the action comprises retrieving the first set of supplemental content from an external source using a link in the identified audio tag.

9. The method of claim 5, wherein the action comprises aggregating the first set of supplemental content with other sets of supplemental content associated with previously scanned audio tags.

10. The method of claim 9, wherein the action comprises comparing the first set of supplemental content with other sets of supplemental content associated with previously scanned tags.

11. The method of claim 1, wherein the action comprises notifying the user about the identified audio tag in the user environment.

12. The method of claim 11, further comprising:

determining a second action to be performed following the notification of user; and

performing the second action by a computing device.

13. The method of claim 12, wherein the second action is automatically performed by the computing device unless the user cancels the performance of the second action.

14. The method of claim 12, wherein the second action is only performed by the computing device if the user authorizes the performance of the second action.

15. The method of claim 1, wherein the first action associated with notifying the user comprises notifying the user that a free sample of a product will be ordered, and wherein the second action that is automatically performed by the computing device comprises ordering the free sample of the product.

16. The method of claim 1, wherein the second action that is automatically performed by the computing device comprises an action specified by a third party, and wherein the second action is automatically canceled if the third party is not categorized as a trusted third party by the user.

17. A system for capturing and evaluating data of interest to a user, comprising:

a mobile listening device to automatically scan a user environment of a physical location for one or more audio tags;

an identification component to identify an audio tag within the user environment that satisfies one or more preferences of a user;

an authorization component to determine an authorization status of the user relative to the identified audio tag; and

an action component to determine at least two actions associated with the identified audio tag to be performed by a computing device, wherein the at least two actions to be performed comprise;

a first action associated with notifying the user that (1) an audio tag has been identified that satisfies one or more user preferences and (2) that a second action will be performed unless canceled; and

at least a second action that is automatically performed by the computing device following the notification of the user unless the user cancels the performance of the second action.

18. The system of claim 17, wherein the user environment comprises a store display.

19. The system of claim 17, wherein the user environment comprises audiovisual media.

20. The system of claim 17, wherein the user environment comprises a television broadcast.

21. The system of claim 17, wherein the user environment comprises a radio broadcast.

22. The system of claim 17, wherein user environment comprises a live audio event.

23. The system of claim 17, wherein the identified audio tag comprises a code that is only readable within a determined frequency range.

24. The system of claim 17, wherein the identified audio tag comprises data steganographically encoded in audio content.

25. The system of claim 17, wherein the identified audio tag comprises an audio watermark.

26. The system of claim 17, wherein the identified audio tag comprises audio content outside of a human audible range.

27. The system of claim 17, wherein the mobile listening device comprises a cellular telephone.

28. The system of claim 17, wherein the mobile listening device comprises a personal listening device.

29. The system of claim 28, wherein the personal listening device comprises a wearable listening device.

30. A non-transitory computer-readable storage medium comprising program code for performing a method comprising:

automatically scanning a user environment of a physical location by a mobile listening device for one or more audio tags;

identifying an audio tag within the user environment that satisfies one or more preferences of a user;

determining an authorization status of the user relative to the identified audio tag;

determining at least two actions to be performed associated with the mobile listening device, wherein the at least two actions comprise;

a first action associated with notifying the user that (1) an audio tag has been identified that satisfies one or more user preferences and (2) that a second action will be performed unless canceled; and

at least a second action that is automatically performed by the computing device following the notification of the user unless the user cancels the performance of the second action; and

performing at least the first and second actions by a computing device.