ADJUSTING INACTIVITY TIMEOUT SETTINGS FOR A COMPUTING DEVICE

• US 20150253838A1
• Filed: 05/26/2015
• Published: 09/10/2015
• Est. Priority Date: 11/29/2010
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Kyndryl Incorporated
• Original Assignee: International Business Machines Corporation
• Inventors: Amsterdam, Jeffrey D., Hamilton, Rick A. II, Marzorati, Mauro, O'Connell, Brian M., Walker, Keith R.
• Granted Patent: US 10,133,335 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 1/1
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 1/3228 Monitoring task completion, e.g. by use of idle timers, stop commands or wait commands
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 1/3231 Monitoring the presence, absence or movement of users
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 1/3265 Power saving in display device
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 40/166 Editing, e.g. inserting or deleting
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 40/289 Phrasal analysis, e.g. finite state techniques or chunking
• CPC Class Codes: Y02D 10/00 Energy efficient computing, e.g. low power processors, power management or thermal management

Abstract

In general, embodiments of the invention provide an approach to proactively adjust timeout settings on a display device based on user activity. Specifically, a system and method are presented to adaptively adjust the inactivity timeout settings on a display device based on the application being used, the content being displayed on the device, and an analysis of the user'"'"'s history with the application. The present invention calculates an inactivity timeout modifier which is utilized to modify the default operating system timeout value.

Claims

1. A method for adjusting an inactivity timeout setting on a display device of a user, comprising:

detecting an application that has operating system focus on the display device;

capturing content displayed on the display device, the content comprising text;

retrieving an operating system timeout value;

monitoring user activity while using the application;

storing the user activity as historical data;

determining an inactivity timeout modifier by;

calculating a readability score for the text using at least one readability formula,

comparing the readability score to at least one predefined threshold value, and

selecting the inactivity timeout modifier based on the comparison;

storing the inactivity timeout modifier; and

adjusting the inactivity timeout setting based on the inactivity timeout modifier.

2. The method of claim 1, wherein the application is either a document viewer or document editor displaying content including uneditable text.

3. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

calculating a readability score for the text using at least one readability formula;

retrieving at least one predefined threshold value; and

including the readability score and at least one threshold value in determining the inactivity timeout modifier.

4. The method of claim 3, further comprising:

calculating a reading speed for the user;

storing the reading speed for the user;

including the reading speed in determining the inactivity timeout modifier.

5. The method of claim 3, further comprising:

calculating an average reading speed for a plurality of device users;

storing the average reading time for the plurality of device users; and

including the average reading time in determining the inactivity timeout modifier.

6. The method of claim 1, wherein the application is either a document editor or software editor displaying content including editable text

7. The method of claim 6, further comprising:

calculating a readability score for the text using at least one readability formula;

retrieving at least one predefined threshold value; and

including the readability score and at least one threshold value in determining the inactivity timeout modifier.

8. The method of claim 7, further comprising:

analyzing the undo buffer of the application;

determining a complexity level of the text based on the analysis; and

including the complexity level in determining the inactivity timeout modifier.

9. The method of claim 1, wherein the inactivity timeout modifier is updated in response to occurrences after the inactivity timeout duration has occurred.

10. The method of claim 1, wherein a solution service provider provides a computer infrastructure operable to perform the method for one or more consumers.

11. A system for adjusting an inactivity timeout setting on a display device of a user, comprising:

a bus;

a processor coupled to the bus; and

a memory medium coupled to the bus, the memory medium comprising instructions to;

detect an application that has operating system focus on the display device;

capture content displayed on the display device, the content comprising text;

retrieve an operating system timeout value;

monitor user activity while using the application;

store the user activity as historical data;

determine an inactivity timeout modifier by;

calculate a readability score for the text using at least one readability formula,

compare the readability score to at least one predefined threshold value, and

select an inactivity timeout modifier based on the comparison;

store the inactivity timeout modifier; and

adjust the inactivity timeout setting based on the inactivity timeout modifier.

12. The system of claim 11, wherein the application is either a document viewer or document editor displaying content including uneditable text.

13. The system of claim 12, the memory medium further comprising instructions to:

calculate a readability score for the text using at least one readability formula;

retrieve at least one predefined threshold value; and

include the readability score and at least one threshold value in determining the inactivity timeout modifier.

14. The system of claim 12, the memory medium further comprising instructions to:

calculate a reading speed for the user;

store the reading speed for the user; and

include the reading speed in determining the inactivity timeout modifier.

15. The system of claim 12, the memory medium further comprising instructions to:

calculate an average reading speed for a plurality of device users;

store the average reading time for the plurality of device users; and

include the average reading time in determining the inactivity timeout modifier.

16. The system of claim 11, wherein the application is either a document editor or software editor displaying content including editable text

17. The system of claim 16, the memory medium further comprising instructions to:

calculate a readability score for the text using at least one readability formula;

retrieve at least one predefined threshold value; and

include the readability score and at least one threshold value in determining the inactivity timeout modifier.

18. The system of claim 17, the memory medium further comprising instructions to:

analyze the undo buffer of the application;

determine a complexity level of the text based on the analysis; and

include the complexity level in determining the inactivity timeout modifier.

19. The system of claim 11, wherein the inactivity timeout modifier is updated in response to occurrences after the inactivity timeout duration has occurred.

20. A computer program product for adjusting an inactivity timeout setting on a display device of a user, the computer program product comprising a computer readable storage media, and program instructions stored on the computer readable storage media, to:

detect an application that has operating system focus on the display device;

capture content displayed on the display device, the content comprising text;

retrieve an operating system timeout value;

monitor user activity while using the application;

store the user activity as historical data;

determine an inactivity timeout modifier by;

calculate a readability score for the text using at least one readability formula,

compare the readability score to at least one predefined threshold value, and

select an inactivity timeout modifier based on the comparison;

store the inactivity timeout modifier; and

adjust the inactivity timeout setting based on the inactivity timeout modifier.