Measuring affective response to content in a manner that conserves power

• US 9,477,290 B2
• Filed: 11/17/2015
• Issued: 10/25/2016
• Est. Priority Date: 10/14/2012
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Affectomatics ltd.
• Original Assignee: Ari M. Frank, Gil Thieberger
• Inventors: Frank, Ari M, Thieberger, Gil
• Primary Examiner(s): BUTLER, DENNIS
• Application Number:
  US14/943,655
• Publication Number:
  US 20160070334A1
• Time in Patent Office: 343 Days
• US Class Current: 1/1
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 1/28 Supervision thereof, e.g. detecting power-supply failure by out of limits supervision
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 1/3206 Monitoring of events, devices or parameters that trigger a change in power modality
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 1/3212 Monitoring battery levels, e.g. power saving mode being initiated when battery voltage goes below a certain level
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 1/3234 Power saving characterised by the action undertaken
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 1/3296 by lowering the supply or operating voltage
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 2203/011 Emotion or mood input determined on the basis of sensed human body parameters such as pulse, heart rate or beat, temperature of skin, facial expressions, iris, voice pitch, brain activity patterns
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 3/013 Eye tracking input arrangements G06F3/015 takes precedence
• 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
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 40/30 Semantic analysis
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 40/40 Processing or translation of natural language natural language analysis G06F40/20; semantic analysis G06F40/30
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 9/46 Multiprogramming arrangements
• CPC Class Codes: G06N 20/00 Machine learning
• CPC Class Codes: G06N 5/04 Inference or reasoning models
• CPC Class Codes: G06N 7/01 Probabilistic graphical models, e.g. probabilistic networks

Abstract

Systems and methods that enable a reduction in the power consumption involved in measuring a user'"'"'s affective response to content. The reduction in the power consumption is achieved by utilizing tags that indicate a mode of operation in which to operate a sensor when measuring affective response of the user to certain segments of the content. By using at different times, different modes of operation for operating the sensor, which are characterized by different energy consumption rates, the total power consumption of the sensor may be reduced.

Claims

1. A system configured to measure affective response to content in a manner that conserves power, comprising:

a content delivery module configured to expose a user to segments of content;

wherein the segments comprise first, second, and third segments, and the user is exposed to the first segment before the second segment, and to the second segment before the third segment; and

a controller configured to select a mode of operation for a sensor used to measure affective response of the user;

wherein the modes of operation comprise first and second modes of operation; and

wherein power consumption of the sensor when operating in the first mode of operation is at least 50% higher than the power consumption of the sensor when operating in the second mode of operation;

the controller is further configured to;

receive tags indicating when to operate the sensor in the first mode of operation, and to select a mode of operation for the sensor based on the tags;

wherein responsive to receiving first and second tags, indicating to operate the sensor in the first mode of operation when the first and third segments are presented, the controller selects;

the first mode of operation for the sensor to measure affective response while the user is exposed to the first segment,

the second mode of operation for the sensor to measure affective response while the user is exposed to the second segment, and

the first mode of operation for the sensor to measure affective response while the user is exposed to the third segment.

2. The system of claim 1, wherein the first tag depends on information conveyed by the first segment, and does not depend on behavior of the user while being exposed to the first segment.

3. The system of claim 1, wherein the sensor is a battery powered sensor that is configured to measure a physiological signal of the user.

4. The system of claim 1, wherein the first, second, and third segments of content are segments of the same content.

5. The system of claim 1, wherein the first, second, and third segments, and the first and second tags, are generated by an interactive computer game having an element whose actions in the game are at least partially controlled by the user.

6. The system of claim 1, wherein the power consumption of the sensor when operating in the second mode of operation is essentially zero.

7. The system of claim 1, wherein the sensor and the content delivery module are components of the same device.

8. The system of claim 1, wherein the content delivery module comprises at least one of the following:

a screen of a mobile device, a television screen, and a head-mounted display.

9. A method for measuring affective response to content in a manner that conserves power, comprising:

receiving a first tag indicating to operate a sensor in a first mode of operation when presenting a user with a first segment of content, and configuring the sensor to operate in the first mode of operation to measure affective response of a user to the first segment of content;

presenting the first segment of content to the user;

configuring the sensor to operate in a second mode of operation to measure affective response of the user to a second segment of content;

wherein power consumption of the sensor when operating in the first mode of operation is at least 50% higher than the power consumption of the sensor when operating in the second mode of operation;

presenting the second segment of content to the user;

receiving a second tag indicating to operate the sensor in the first mode of operation when presenting a user with a third segment of content, and configuring the sensor to operate in the first mode of operation to measure affective response of a user to the third segment of content; and

presenting the third segment of content to the user.

10. The method of claim 9, wherein the first tag depends on information conveyed by the first segment of content, and does not depend on behavior of the user while being exposed to the first segment of content.

11. The method of claim 9, further comprising generating the first segment of content and the first tag by an interactive computer game having an element whose actions in the game is at least partially controlled by the user;

wherein the first tag corresponds to a certain event occurring in the first segment.

12. The method of claim 9, further comprising measuring, with the sensor, a physiological signal of the user.

13. A computer game system configured to present content and measure affective response to the content, comprising:

a computer configured to generate;

segments of content of an interactive computer game, and tags indicating a mode of operation for a sensor used to measure affective response to at least some of the segments of content;

wherein the segments comprise first, second, and third segments, and a user is exposed to the first segment before the second segment, and to the second segment before the third segment; and

a controller configured to select a mode of operation for the sensor when used to measure affective response to a segment of content;

wherein the mode of operation belongs to a set comprising first and second modes of operation;

wherein power consumption of the sensor when operating in the first mode of operation is at least 50% higher than the power consumption of the sensor when operating in the second mode of operation;

the controller is further configured to receive tags indicating when to operate the sensor in the first mode of operation and to select the mode of operation for the sensor based on the tags;

wherein the tags comprise first and second tags indicating to operate the sensor in the first mode of operation to measure affective response to the first and third segments, respectively; and

wherein responsive to receiving first and second tags, the controller selects;

the first mode of operation for the sensor to measure affective response while the user is exposed to the first segment,

the second mode of operation for the sensor to measure affective response while the user is exposed to the second segment, and

the first mode of operation for the sensor to measure affective response while the user is exposed to the third segment.

14. The computer game system of claim 13, wherein the first tag depends on information conveyed by the first segment, and does not depend on behavior of the user while being exposed to the first segment.

15. The computer game system of claim 13, wherein the sensor is a battery powered sensor that is configured to measure a physiological signal of the user.

16. The computer game system of claim 13, wherein the first, second, and third segments of content are segments of the same content.

17. The computer game system of claim 13, wherein the computer modifies a difficulty level of the interactive computer game based on a measurement of affective response of the user to the first segment.

18. The computer game system of claim 13, wherein the power consumption of the sensor when operating in the second mode of operation is essentially zero.

19. The computer game system of claim 13, further comprising a content delivery module configured to expose a user to segments of content;

wherein the content delivery module comprises at least one of the following;

a screen of a mobile device, a television screen, and a head-mounted display.

20. The computer game system of claim 19, wherein the sensor and the content delivery module are components of the same device.