Systems and methods for presenting intermediaries

• US 9,489,039 B2
• Filed: 03/27/2009
• Issued: 11/08/2016
• Est. Priority Date: 03/27/2009
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Samsung Electronics Co. Ltd.
• Original Assignee: AT&T Intellectual Property I LP (AT&T, Inc.)
• Inventors: Donovan, John, Bedingfield, James Carlton Sr., Roden, Barbara
• Primary Examiner(s): Kujundzic, Dino
• Application Number:
  US12/412,725
• Publication Number:
  US 20100251147A1
• Time in Patent Office: 2,783 Days
• Field of Search: 715/753, 715/757, 715/758
• US Class Current: 1/1
• 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 3/011 Arrangements for interaction with the human body, e.g. for user immersion in virtual reality blind teaching G09B21/00
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 3/0481 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: G06F 3/16 Sound input; Sound output speech processing G10L
• CPC Class Codes: G06T 13/40 of characters, e.g. humans, animals or virtual beings
• CPC Class Codes: G06T 13/80 2D [Two Dimensional] animation, e.g. using sprites
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/42201 biosensors, e.g. heat sensor for presence detection, EEG sensors or any limb activity sensors worn by the user input arrangements for interaction with the human body based on nervous system activity detection G06F3/015
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/4223 Cameras H04N23/00 takes precedence
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/4312 involving specific graphical features, e.g. screen layout, special fonts or colors, blinking icons, highlights or animations
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/4314 for fitting data in a restricted space on the screen, e.g. EPG data in a rectangular grid
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/47205 for manipulating displayed content, e.g. interacting with MPEG-4 objects, editing locally
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/4751 for defining user accounts, e.g. accounts for children
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/6187 involving transmission via a telephone network, e.g. POTS
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 7/173 with two-way working, e.g. subscriber sending a programme selection signal

Abstract

A system that incorporates teachings of the present disclosure may include, for example, an intermediary engine having a controller, and a storage medium for storing instructions to be executed by the controller. The instructions, when executed by the controller, can cause the controller to receive a measure of a mood of an individual, invoke an intermediary according to the measure of the mood of the individual, and present the intermediary to an entity requesting to interact with the individual. The measure of the mood can be synthesized from collected information associated with a behavior of the individual, and can have a plurality of dimensions. The mood can also indicate an availability of the individual and a receptiveness of the individual to accept a request to interact with an entity. Other embodiments are disclosed.

Claims

1. An intermediary engine, comprising:

a hardware processor; and

a non-transitory storage device for storing instructions to be executed by the hardware processor;

wherein the instructions, when executed by the hardware processor, cause the hardware processor to perform operations comprising;

receiving a measure of a mood of an individual, wherein the measure of the mood is synthesized from changes that are identified in collected information associated with a behavior of the individual, wherein the collected information includes one of media content consumed by the individual, images of the individual captured by a group of cameras at a plurality of locations, audio recordings of the individual captured by a plurality of end user devices or a combination thereof, wherein the mood indicates an availability of the individual and a receptiveness of the individual to accept a request to interact with an entity, wherein the measure of the mood includes a group of dimensions comprising a first dimension identifying a plurality of metaphor expressions to express the mood of the individual to interact with the entity, a second dimension identifying a plurality of techniques to disclose activities of the individual to the entity, and a third dimension identifying a group of strategies to provide the entity a degree of access to the individual;

selecting an interactive avatar having characteristics determined from the measure of the mood of the individual;

presenting the interactive avatar; and

managing interactions between the individual, the interactive avatar and the entity according to a selected strategy that is selected from among the group of strategies according to the measure of the mood of the individual, wherein the group of strategies is pre-determined and stored, wherein the managing of the interactions includes generating queries for presentation via the interactive avatar and performing actions by the interactive avatar responsive to user input responding to the queries, wherein the queries and the actions are selected from pre-determined queries and pre-determined actions identified by the selected strategy,

wherein weighting factors are applied to the collected information for synthesizing of the changes, wherein the images of the individual captured by the group of cameras at the plurality of locations are utilized for determining activities of the individual and environments of the individual, and wherein the group of dimensions of the measure of the mood includes a fourth dimension identifying a plurality of intermediaries to negotiate with the entity the degree of access to the individual, and a fifth dimension identifying a plurality of parties and context of activities of the individual to create a plurality of multidimensional scenarios.

2. The intermediary engine of claim 1, wherein the selected strategy is selected by a strategy engine, and wherein the selected strategy comprises a flowchart of the pre-determined queries and the pre-determined actions.

3. The intermediary engine of claim 1, wherein the hardware processor when executing the instructions performs operations comprising:

selecting a human agent according to the measure of the mood of the individual; and

providing communications between the entity and the human agent.

4. The intermediary engine of claim 3, wherein the hardware processor when executing the instructions performs operations comprising directing interactions between the human agent and the entity according to instructions received from a strategy engine.

5. The intermediary engine of claim 1, wherein the audio recordings of the individual captured from the plurality of end user devices are utilized for the determining of the activities of the individual and environments of the individual.

6. The intermediary engine of claim 5, comprising an interactive voice response system that interacts with the entity according to an audible speech exchange.

7. The intermediary engine of claim 1, wherein the interactive avatar is presented in combination with a metaphor created by a metaphor engine according to the measure of the mood of the individual to obtain a combined metaphor, and wherein the interactive avatar is presented based on a predicted behavior for the individual, wherein the predicted behavior is determined from monitoring of the activities of the individual and environments of the individual and is determined according to a current location of the individual.

8. The intermediary engine of claim 7, wherein the metaphor corresponds to a first nested metaphor of a plurality of nested metaphors.

9. The intermediary engine of claim 8, wherein the operations further comprise:

receiving from a strategy engine a directive to change the interactive avatar responsive to the metaphor engine switching to a second nested metphor the plurality of nested metaphors; and

presenting a new intermediary in combination with the second nested metaphor of the plurality of nested metaphors.

10. The intermediary engine of claim 9, wherein the new intermediary comprises another interactive avatar.

11. The intermediary engine of claim 7, wherein the operations further comprise selecting the interactive avatar from a plurality of selectable interactive avatars according to a context of the metaphor.

12. The intermediary engine of claim 11, wherein the context of the metaphor comprises an occupational context.

13. The intermediary engine of claim 7, wherein the operations further comprise:

presenting the combined metaphor and interactive avatar at a communication device of the individual;

receiving from the communication device a directive to modify at least a portion of the combined metaphor and interactive avatar to generate an updated combined metaphor and interactive avatar; and

presenting the updated combined metaphor and interactive avatar to the entity requesting to interact with the individual.

14. The intermediary engine of claim 1, wherein the operations further comprise invoking and presenting the interactive avatar responsive to a strategy engine directing the intermediary engine to invoke the interactive avatar and the measure of the mood of the individual being less than receptive to interact with the entity.

15. The intermediary engine of claim 1, wherein the hardware processor is in communication with an interactive television communication system for presentation of an interactive avatar.

16. The intermediary engine of claim 15, wherein the interactive television communication system comprises an internet protocol television communication system.

17. A non-transitory machine-readable storage device, comprising executable instructions, which when executed by a processor cause the processor to perform operations comprising:

receiving a measure of a mood of an individual to interact with an entity, wherein the measure of the mood is synthesized from identified changes in collected information associated with a behavior of the individual, wherein the measure indicates a receptiveness of the individual to accept a request from the entity to interact with the individual, wherein the collected information includes one of images of the individual captured by a group of cameras at a plurality of locations, audio recordings of the individual captured from a plurality of end user devices, or a combination thereof, wherein the measure of the mood includes a group of dimensions comprising a first dimension identifying a plurality of metaphor expressions to express the mood of the individual to interact with the entity, a second dimension identifying a plurality of techniques to disclose activities of the individual to the entity, and a third dimension identifying a group of strategies to provide the entity a degree of access to the individual;

invoking an intermediary according to the measure of the mood of the individual; and

managing interactions between the individual and the entity via the intermediary according to a selected strategy that is selected from among the group of strategies according to the measure of the mood of the individual, wherein the group of strategies is pre-determined and stored, wherein the managing of the interactions includes generating queries and performing actions responsive to user input responding to the queries according to a flow chart of the selected strategy,

wherein the intermediary presented to the entity interacts with the entity by way of an audible speech exchange and an image exchange, wherein the collected information includes a frequency of use of media resources by the individual, subscriber service information from a subscriber account of the individual, and location data associated with the individual, and wherein the group of dimensions of the measure of the mood includes a fourth dimension identifying a plurality of intermediaries to negotiate with the entity the degree of access to the individual, and a fifth dimension identifying a plurality of parties and context of activities of the individual to create a plurality of multidimensional scenarios.

18. The non-transitory machine-readable storage device of claim 17, wherein the intermediary comprises an interactive avatar, wherein the operations further comprise presenting the interactive avatar to the entity requesting to interact with the individual, wherein the collected information includes media content consumed by the individual, wherein the images of the individual captured by the group of cameras at the plurality of locations are utilized for determining activities of the individual and environments of the individual, wherein the measure of the mood is synthesized from the identified changes without synthesizing all of the collected information, and wherein the queries are presented via the interactive avatar.

19. The non-transitory machine-readable storage device of claim 17, wherein the intermediary is a human agent, and wherein the storage device comprises computer instructions which when executed by the processor cause the processor to perform operations comprising directing interactions between the human agent and the entity according to instructions received from a strategy engine, wherein the audio recordings of the individual captured from the plurality of end user devices are utilized for determining activities of the individual and environments of the individual.

20. The non-transitory machine-readable storage device of claim 17, wherein weighting factors are applied to the collected information for synthesizing of the identified changes, wherein the intermediary is an interactive avatar, and wherein the operations further comprise directing interactions between the interactive avatar and the entity according to instructions received from a strategy engine.

21. The non-transitory machine-readable storage device of claim 17, wherein the operations further comprise presenting the intermediary in combination with a metaphor to obtain a combined metaphor.

22. The non-transitory machine-readable storage device of claim 21 wherein the operations further comprise:

receiving, from a strategy engine, a directive to adapt the intermediary responsive to a transition to another metaphor to generate an adapted intermediary; and

presenting the adapted intermediary.

23. The non-transitory machine-readable storage device of claim 21, wherein the operations further comprise selecting the intermediary from a plurality of selectable intermediaries according to a context of the metaphor, wherein the context of the metaphor comprises an occupational context, and wherein the metaphor comprises an image metaphor.

24. The non-transitory machine-readable storage device of claim 21, wherein the operations further comprise:

presenting the combined metaphor and intermediary at a communication device of the individual;

receiving from the communication device a directive to modify at least a portion of the combined metaphor and intermediary to obtain an updated combined metaphor and intermediary; and

presenting the updated combined metaphor and intermediary to the entity requesting to interact with the individual.

25. An avatar engine, comprising:

a hardware processor; and

a non-transitory storage device for storing instructions to be executed by the hardware processor;

wherein the instructions, when executed by the hardware processor, cause the hardware processor to perform operations comprising;

identifying an avatar according to a measure of a mood of an individual to interact with an entity, wherein the measure of the mood is received from a synthesis engine that synthesizes identified changes in collected information associated with a behavior of the individual, wherein weighting factors are applied to the collected information for synthesizing of the identified changes, wherein the measure of the mood indicates a receptiveness of the individual to accept a request from the entity to interact with the individual, and wherein the collected information includes images of the individual captured by a group of cameras at a plurality of locations that are utilized for determining activities of the individual and environments of the individual, wherein the measure of the mood includes a group of dimensions comprising a first dimension identifying a plurality of metaphor expressions to express the mood of the individual to interact with the entity, a second dimension identifying a plurality of techniques to disclose activities of the individual to the entity, and a third dimension identifying a group of strategies to provide the entity a degree of access to the individual;

accessing a selected strategy that is selected from among the group of strategies according to the measure of the mood of the individual, wherein the group of strategies is pre-determined and stored; and

presenting queries via the avatar according to a flowchart of the selected strategy, wherein the flowchart identifies a series of pre-determined queries responsive to user input,

wherein a communication exchange comprises a combined image and audible speech exchange, wherein the collected information includes media content consumed by the individual and audio recordings of the individual, and wherein the group of dimensions of the measure of the mood includes a fourth dimension identifying a plurality of intermediaries to negotiate with the entity the degree of access to the individual, and a fifth dimension identifying a plurality of parties and context of activities of the individual to create a plurality of multidimensional scenarios.

26. The avatar engine of claim 25, wherein the synthesis engine does not synthesize all of the collected information, wherein the operations further comprise:

engaging in the communication exchange with the entity by way of the avatar according to the series of the pre-determined queries.

27. The avatar engine of claim 25, wherein the collected information includes a frequency of use of media resources by the individual, subscriber service information from a subscriber account of the individual, location data associated with the individual, and wherein the operations further comprise:

selecting the avatar from a plurality of selectable avatars according to a directive received from a strategy engine and a context of a metaphor generated by a metaphor engine; and

presenting the avatar in combination with the metaphor created by the metaphor engine.

28. A method, comprising:

receiving, at a processor, a measure of a mood of an individual to interact with an entity that is based on a synthesis associated with collected information for a behavior of the individual, wherein the collected information includes one of media content consumed by the individual, images of the individual captured by a group of cameras at a plurality of locations that are utilized for determining activities of the individual and environments of the individual, audio recordings of the individual or a combination thereof, wherein the mood indicates an availability of the individual and a receptiveness of the individual to accept a request to interact with the entity, wherein the synthesis is of identified changes in the collected information without synthesizing all of the collected information, and wherein weighting factors are applied to the collected information for synthesizing of the identified changes, wherein the measure of the mood includes a group of dimensions comprising a first dimension identifying a plurality of metaphor expressions to express the mood of the individual to interact with the entity, a second dimension identifying a plurality of techniques to disclose the activities of the individual to the entity, and a third dimension identifying a group of strategies to provide the entity a degree of access to the individual; and

invoking, by the processor, an intermediary to interact with the entity responsive to the receiving of the measure of the mood, wherein the intermediary comprises an avatar that presents queries according to a flowchart of a selected strategy, wherein the flowchart identifies pre-determined queries responsive to user input, wherein the selected strategy is selected from among the group of strategies according to the measure of the mood of the individual, and wherein the group of strategies is pre-determined and stored,

wherein the collected information includes a frequency of use of media resources by the individual, subscriber service information from a subscriber account of the individual, and location data associated with the individual, wherein the audio recordings of the individual are captured from a plurality of end user devices and are utilized for the determining of the activities of the individual and the environments of the individual, and wherein the group of dimensions of the measure of the mood includes a fourth dimension identifying a plurality of intermediaries to negotiate with the entity the degree of access to the individual, and a fifth dimension identifying a plurality of parties and context of activities of the individual to create a plurality of multidimensional scenarios.

29. The method of claim 28, wherein the intermediary is an interactive avatar, and wherein the method comprises directing interactions between the intermediary and the entity according to instructions received from a strategy engine.