Determination of extent of congruity between observation of authoring user and observation of receiving user

• US 9,161,715 B2
• Filed: 06/10/2008
• Issued: 10/20/2015
• Est. Priority Date: 05/23/2008
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: The Invention Science Fund I, L.L.C. (Intellectual Ventures LLC)
• Original Assignee: The Invention Science Fund I, L.L.C. (Intellectual Ventures LLC)
• Inventors: Jung, Edward K. Y., Leuthardt, Eric C., Levien, Royce A., Lord, Robert W., Malamud, Mark A., Rinaldo, John D. Jr., Wood, Lowell L. Jr.
• Primary Examiner(s): Thomson, William
• Assistant Examiner(s): SORIANO, BOBBY GILES
• Application Number:
  US12/157,611
• Publication Number:
  US 20090290767A1
• Time in Patent Office: 2,688 Days
• Field of Search: 600300-301
• US Class Current: 1/1
• CPC Class Codes: A61B 5/16 Devices for psychotechnics using teaching or educational appliances G09B1/00 - G09B7/00; Testing reaction times ; Devices for evaluating the psychological state
• CPC Class Codes: A61B 5/165 Evaluating the state of mind, e.g. depression, anxiety
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 40/20 Natural language analysis semantic analysis of natural language G06F40/30
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 10/10 Office automation; Time management
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 30/02 Marketing; Price estimation or determination; Fundraising

Abstract

A computationally implemented method includes, but is not limited to: acquiring a result of an observation of an authoring user; acquiring a result of an observation of a receiving user; comparing the result of the observation of the authoring user with the result of the observation of the receiving user; and presenting data indicative of an extent of congruity between the result of the observation of the authoring user and the result of the observation of the receiving user based at least in part on said comparing. In addition to the foregoing, other related method/system aspects are described in the claims, drawings, and text forming a part of the present disclosure.

Claims

1. A system, comprising:

a determination module configured to determine a result of an observation of a receiving user based at least in part on received sensor data indicative of one or more physiological characteristics of the receiving user, wherein the determination module is configured to determine a result that includes at least an inferred mental state associated with the receiving user inferred based at least in part on the received sensor data indicative of one or more physiological characteristics of the receiving user at least one of during or proximate to a time of a display of an electronic message to the receiving user;

a receiving module configured to receive a result of an observation of an authoring user, wherein the receiving module is configured to receive a result that includes at least data indicative of an inferred mental state of the authoring user that was inferred based at least in part on one or more sensed physiological characteristics of the authoring user that were sensed at least one of during or proximate to a time of an authoring of the electronic message; and

a comparison module operatively coupled to the receiving module and the determination module and configured to compare the result of the observation of the receiving user with the result of the observation of the authoring user for providing at least an indication of a congruity between the inferred mental state of the receiving user and the inferred mental state of the authoring user with respect to the electronic message; and

wherein at least one of the determination module, the receiving module, or the comparison module is at least partly implemented in hardware.

2. The system of claim 1 further comprising:

one or more sensors configured to sense one or more physiological characteristics of the receiving user.

3. The system of claim 2, wherein said one or more sensors configured to sense one or more physiological characteristics of the receiving user comprise:

at least one of a galvanic skin sensor device, a heart rate sensor device, a blood pressure sensor device, or a respiration sensor device.

4. The system of claim 2, wherein said one or more sensors configured to sense one or more physiological characteristics of the receiving user further comprise:

at least one of a facial expression sensor device, a skin characteristic sensor device, a voice response device, a gaze tracking device, or an iris response device.

5. The system of claim 2, wherein said one or more sensors configured to sense one or more physiological characteristics of the receiving user are further configured to:

sense at least one of blood oxygen or blood volume changes of a brain associated with the receiving user.

6. The system of claim 1, wherein said determination module configured to determine a result of an observation of a receiving user based at least in part on received sensor data indicative of one or more physiological characteristics of the receiving user, wherein the determination module is configured to determine a result that includes at least an inferred mental state associated with the receiving user inferred based at least in part on the received sensor data indicative of one or more physiological characteristics of the receiving user at least one of during or proximate to a time of a display of an electronic message to the receiving user comprises:

a mental state determination module.

7. The system of claim 6, wherein said mental state determination module comprises:

a mental state determination module configured to infer a mental state associated with the receiving user based, at least in part, on received sensor data indicative of one or more physiological characteristics of the receiving user.

8. The system of claim 1, wherein said receiving module configured to receive a result of an observation of an authoring user, wherein the receiving module is configured to receive a result that includes at least data indicative of an inferred mental state of the authoring user that was inferred based at least in part on one or more sensed physiological characteristics of the authoring user that were sensed at least one of during or proximate to a time of an authoring of the electronic message comprises:

a mental state determination module configured to receive data indicative of a mental state associated with the authoring user and inferred from one or more sensed physiological characteristics of the authoring user.

9. The system of claim 1, wherein said receiving module configured to receive a result of an observation of an authoring user, wherein the receiving module is configured to receive a result that includes at least data indicative of an inferred mental state of the authoring user that was inferred based at least in part on one or more sensed physiological characteristics of the authoring user that were sensed at least one of during or proximate to a time of an authoring of the electronic message comprises:

a mental state determination module configured to infer a mental state associated with the authoring user based, at least in part, on the received result of the observation of the authoring user.

10. The system of claim 1, wherein said comparison module operatively coupled to the receiving module and the determination module and configured to compare the result of the observation of the receiving user with the result of the observation of the authoring user for providing at least an indication of a congruity between the inferred mental state of the receiving user and the inferred mental state of the authoring user with respect to the electronic message comprises:

an inferred mental state comparison module.

11. The system of claim 10, wherein said inferred mental state comparison module comprises:

an inferred mental state module configured to compare an inferred mental state associated with the authoring user and an inferred mental state associated with the receiving user, the mental state associated with the authoring user inferred from the observation of the authoring user and the mental state associated with the receiving user inferred from the observation of the receiving user.

12. The system of claim 1, further comprising:

a presentation module operatively coupled to the comparison module.

13. The system of claim 12, wherein said presentation module operatively coupled to the comparison module comprises:

a presentation module configured to present data indicative of an extent of congruity between the result of the observation of the authoring user and the result of the observation of the receiving user responsive at least in part to the comparison module operatively coupled to the receiving module and the determination module and configured to compare the result of the observation of the receiving user with the result of the observation of the authoring user for providing at least an indication of a congruity between the inferred mental state of the receiving user and the inferred mental state of the authoring user with respect to the electronic message.

14. The system of claim 12, wherein said presentation module operatively coupled to the comparison module comprises:

a presentation module configured to present data indicative of an extent of congruity between an inferred mental state associated with the authoring user and an inferred mental state associated with the receiving user, the mental state associated with the authoring user inferred from the observation of the authoring user and the mental state associated with the receiving user inferred from the observation of the receiving user.

15. The system of claim 1, further comprising:

a user interface.

16. The system of claim 15, wherein said user interface comprises:

at least one of a user display, a touch screen, a keypad, or a speaker system.

17. The system of claim 1, further comprising:

a network communication interface.

18. The system of claim 17, wherein said network communication interface comprises:

a network communication interface configured to interface with at least one of a wireless network or a wired network.

19. The system of claim 1, further comprising at least one of:

an email application;

or

an instant message (IM) application.

20. The system of claim 2, wherein said one or more sensors configured to sense one or more physiological characteristics of the receiving user comprise at least one of:

a functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) device;

or

a functional near infrared (fNIR) device.

21. The system of claim 1 further comprising a network communication interface and wherein said receiving module configured to receive a result of an observation of an authoring user, wherein the receiving module is configured to receive a result that includes at least data indicative of an inferred mental state of the authoring user that was inferred based at least in part on one or more sensed physiological characteristics of the authoring user that were sensed at least one of during or proximate to a time of an authoring of the electronic message comprises:

a receiving module configured to receive a result of an observation of an authoring user at least partly via said network communication interface.

22. A computationally-implemented method, comprising:

determining a result of an observation of a receiving user based at least in part on received sensor data indicative of one or more physiological characteristics of the receiving user, the determining including at least determining a result that includes at least an inferred mental state associated with the receiving user inferred based at least in part on the received sensor data indicative of one or more physiological characteristics of the receiving user at least one of during or proximate to a time of a display of an electronic message to the receiving user;

receiving a result of an observation of an authoring user, the result including at least data indicative of an inferred mental state of the authoring user that was inferred based at least in part on one or more sensed physiological characteristics of the authoring user that were sensed at least one of during or proximate to a time of an authoring of the electronic message; and

comparing the result of the observation of the receiving user with the result of the observation of the authoring user for providing at least an indication of a congruity between the inferred mental state of the receiving user and the inferred mental state of the authoring user with respect to the electronic message; and

wherein at least one of the determining, the receiving, or the comparing is at least partly performed with one or more processing devices.

23. A system, comprising:

circuitry for determining a result of an observation of a receiving user based at least in part on received sensor data indicative of one or more physiological characteristics of the receiving user, the circuitry for determining configured to determine a result that includes at least an inferred mental state associated with the receiving user inferred at least partly from the received sensor data indicative of one or more physiological characteristics of the receiving user at least one of during or proximate to a time of a display of an electronic message to the receiving user;

circuitry for receiving a result of an observation of an authoring user, the circuitry for receiving configured to receive a result that includes at least data indicative of an inferred mental state of the authoring user that was inferred based at least in part on one or more sensed physiological characteristics of the authoring user that were sensed at least one of during or proximate to a time of an authoring of the message; and

circuitry for comparing the result of the observation of the receiving user with the result of the observation of the authoring user for providing at least an indication of a congruity between the inferred mental state of the receiving user and the inferred mental state of the authoring user with respect to the electronic message.