Methods and systems for specifying an avatar

• US 9,211,077 B2
• Filed: 06/12/2008
• Issued: 12/15/2015
• Est. Priority Date: 12/13/2007
• Status: Expired due to Fees

• 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, Jr., John D., Wood, JR., Lowell L.
• Primary Examiner(s): Jackson, Gary
• Assistant Examiner(s): JIAN, SHIRLEY XUEYING
• Application Number:
  US12/157,929
• Publication Number:
  US 20090156907A1
• Time in Patent Office: 2,742 Days
• US Class Current: 1/1
• CPC Class Codes: A61B 2560/0214 of power generation or supply
• CPC Class Codes: A61B 3/113 for determining or recording eye movement
• CPC Class Codes: A61B 5/0533 Measuring galvanic skin response
• CPC Class Codes: A61B 5/055 involving electronic [EMR] or nuclear [NMR] magnetic resonance, e.g. magnetic resonance imaging
• CPC Class Codes: A61B 5/14553 specially adapted for cerebral tissue
• CPC Class Codes: A61B 5/163 by tracking eye movement, gaze, or pupil change
• CPC Class Codes: A61B 5/165 Evaluating the state of mind, e.g. depression, anxiety
• CPC Class Codes: A61B 5/245 specially adapted for magnetoencephalographic [MEG] signals
• CPC Class Codes: A61B 5/369 Electroencephalography [EEG] devices for psychotechnics A61B5/16
• CPC Class Codes: A61B 5/4064 Evaluating the brain A61B5/031, A61B5/369, A61B5/14553 take precedence
• CPC Class Codes: A61B 5/726 using Wavelet transforms
• CPC Class Codes: A61B 6/501 for diagnosis of the head, e.g. neuroimaging or craniography
• CPC Class Codes: A61B 6/56 Details of data transmission or power supply, e.g. use of slip rings
• CPC Class Codes: A63F 13/10 Control of the course of the game, e.g. start, progess, end
• CPC Class Codes: A63F 13/45 Controlling the progress of the video game
• CPC Class Codes: A63F 2300/5553 user representation in the game field, e.g. avatar
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 30/02 Marketing; Price estimation or determination; Fundraising

Abstract

Avatars, methods, apparatuses, computer program products, devices and systems are described that carry out presenting at least one characteristic to at least one member of a population cohort; measuring at least one physiologic activity of the at least one member of the population cohort, the at least one physiologic activity proximate to the at least one presented characteristic; associating the at least one physiological activity with at least one mental state; and specifying at least one avatar attribute based on the at least one mental state.

Claims

1. A system comprising:

at least one computing device in communication with at least one presentation device and at least one physiological activity data acquisition device, wherein the at least one computing device is programmed by one or more instructions for;

transmitting, to the presentation device, at least one instruction for presenting at least one of an image characteristic, a video characteristic or an audio characteristic to at least one member of a population cohort;

obtaining at least one physiological activity measurement associated with at least one physiological response by the at least one member to the at least one of an image characteristic, a video characteristic or an audio characteristic previously presented to the at least one member from the at least one physiological activity data acquisition device;

associating at least one indication of a mental state of the at least one member by comparing the at least one physiological activity measurement associated with at least one physiological response by the at least one member to stored mental state data indicative of a mental state of the at least one member;

incorporating the at least one of an image characteristic, a video characteristic or an audio characteristic previously presented to the at least one member as an avatar attribute for at least one avatar associated with the at least one member based on the at least one indication of the mental state of the at least one member; and

at least one of storing or presenting the at least one avatar associated with the at least one member and including the at least one of an image characteristic, a video characteristic or an audio characteristic.

2. The system of claim 1 wherein the physiologic activity measurement includes:

a brain activity measurement.

3. The system of claim 2 wherein the brain activity measurement includes:

at least one of functional near infra-red imaging measurement, functional magnetic resonance imaging measurement, magnetoencephalography measurement, electroencephalography measurement, or positron emission tomography measurement.

4. The system of claim 1 wherein the physiologic activity measurement includes:

surrogate marker measurement.

5. The system of claim 4 wherein the surrogate marker measurement includes:

iris response measurement.

6. The system of claim 4 wherein the surrogate marker measurement includes:

gaze tracking.

7. The system of claim 4 wherein the surrogate marker measurement includes:

skin response measurement.

8. The system of claim 4 wherein the surrogate marker measurement includes:

voice response measurement.

9. The system of claim 1 wherein the associating at least one indication of a mental state of the at least one member by comparing the at least one physiological activity measurement associated with at least one physiological response by the at least one member to stored mental state data indicative of a mental state of the at least one member includes:

associating the at least one physiological activity measurement with at least one emotion of the at least one member.

10. The system of claim 1 wherein the associating at least one indication of a mental state of the at least one member by comparing the at least one physiological activity measurement associated with at least one physiological response by the at least one member to stored mental state data indicative of a mental state of the at least one member includes:

associating the at least one physiological activity measurement with attention of the at least one member.

11. The system of claim 1 wherein the associating at least one indication of a mental state of the at least one member by comparing the at least one physiological activity measurement associated with at least one physiological response by the at least one member to stored mental state data indicative of a mental state of the at least one member includes:

associating the at least one physiological activity measurement with cognition of the at least one member.

12. The system of claim 1 wherein the incorporating the at least one of an image characteristic, a video characteristic or an audio characteristic previously presented to the at least one member as an avatar attribute for at least one avatar associated with the at least one member based on the at least one indication of the mental state of the at least one member includes:

incorporating the audio characteristic previously presented to the at least one member as a voice attribute for at least one avatar associated with the at least one member based on the at least one indication of the mental state of the at least one member.

13. The system of claim 1 wherein the incorporating the at least one of an image characteristic, a video characteristic or an audio characteristic previously presented to the at least one member as an avatar attribute for at least one avatar associated with the at least one member based on the at least one indication of the mental state of the at least one member includes:

incorporating the audio characteristic previously presented to the at least one member as a speech attribute for at least one avatar associated with the at least one member based on the at least one indication of the mental state of the at least one member.

14. The system of claim 1 wherein the incorporating the at least one of an image characteristic, a video characteristic or an audio characteristic previously presented to the at least one member as an avatar attribute for at least one avatar associated with the at least one member based on the at least one indication of the mental state of the at least one member includes:

incorporating the at least one of an image characteristic or a video characteristic previously presented to the at least one member as a non-verbal attribute for at least one avatar associated with the at least one member based on the at least one indication of the mental state of the at least one member.

15. The system of claim 1 wherein the incorporating the at least one of an image characteristic, a video characteristic or an audio characteristic previously presented to the at least one member as an avatar attribute for at least one avatar associated with the at least one member based on the at least one indication of the mental state of the at least one member includes:

incorporating the at least one of an image characteristic or a video characteristic previously presented to the at least one member as a facial feature attribute for at least one avatar associated with the at least one member based on the at least one indication of the mental state of the at least one member.

16. The system of claim 1 wherein the incorporating the at least one of an image characteristic, a video characteristic or an audio characteristic previously presented to the at least one member as an avatar attribute for at least one avatar associated with the at least one member based on the at least one indication of the mental state of the at least one member includes:

incorporating the at least one of an image characteristic or a video characteristic previously presented to the at least one member as a clothing attribute for at least one avatar associated with the at least one member based on the at least one indication of the mental state of the at least one member.

17. The system of claim 1 wherein the incorporating the at least one of an image characteristic, a video characteristic or an audio characteristic previously presented to the at least one member as an avatar attribute for at least one avatar associated with the at least one member based on the at least one indication of the mental state of the at least one member includes:

incorporating the at least one of an image characteristic or a video characteristic previously presented to the at least one member as a body attribute for at least one avatar associated with the at least one member based on the at least one indication of the mental state of the at least one member.

18. The system of claim 1, wherein the presenting at least one of an image characteristic, a video characteristic or an audio characteristic to at least one member of a population cohort includes:

presenting at least one of an image characteristic, a video characteristic or an audio characteristic including;

a facial feature or facial dimension characteristic, a tonal quality of a voice characteristic, a body-type characteristic, a clothing-type characteristic, a demographic characteristic, or an ethnicity characteristic to at least one member of a population cohort.

19. The system of claim 1, wherein the incorporating the at least one of an image characteristic, a video characteristic or an audio characteristic previously presented to the at least one member as an avatar attribute for at least one avatar associated with the at least one member based on the at least one indication of the mental state of the at least one member includes:

adding the at least one of an image characteristic, a video characteristic or an audio characteristic previously presented to the at least one member to the at least one avatar associated with the at least one member based on the at least one indication of the mental state of the at least one member.

20. The system of claim 1, wherein incorporating the at least one of an image characteristic, a video characteristic or an audio characteristic previously presented to the at least one member as an avatar attribute for at least one avatar associated with the at least one member based on the at least one indication of the mental state of the at least one member includes:

substituting the at least one of an image characteristic, a video characteristic or an audio characteristic previously presented to the at least one member for at least one preexisting avatar attribute of the at least one avatar associated with the at least one member based on the at least one indication of the mental state of the at least one member.

21. The system of claim 1, wherein the at least one computing device is further programmed for:

incorporating at least one variant of the at least one of an image characteristic, a video characteristic or an audio characteristic previously presented to the at least one member as an avatar attribute for at least one avatar associated with the at least one member based on the at least one indication of the mental state of the at least one member.

22. The system of claim 1, wherein the presenting at least one characteristic to at least one member of a population cohort includes:

presenting at least one at least one of an image characteristic, a video characteristic or an audio characteristic different from the at least one existing characteristic of an avatar associated with at least the at least one member.

23. A system comprising:

at least one computing device in communication with at least one presentation device and at least one physiological activity data acquisition device, wherein the at least one computing device is programmed by one or more instructions for;

transmitting, to the presentation device, at least one instruction for presenting at least one of an image characteristic, a video characteristic or an audio characteristic to at least one member of a population cohort;

obtaining at least one physiological activity measurement associated with at least one physiological response by the at least one member to the at least one of an image characteristic, a video characteristic or an audio characteristic previously presented to the at least one member from the at least one physiological activity data acquisition device;

associating at least one indication of a mental state of the at least one member by comparing the at least one physiological activity measurement associated with at least one physiological response by the at least one member to stored mental state data indicative of a mental state of the at least one member; and

at least one of storing or presenting avatar data incorporating at least one variant of the at least one of an image characteristic, a video characteristic or an audio characteristic previously presented to the at least one member as an avatar attribute for at least one avatar associated with the at least one member based on the at least one indication of the mental state of the at least one member.