Content suggestion engine

• US 9,430,617 B2
• Filed: 05/15/2015
• Issued: 08/30/2016
• Est. Priority Date: 12/03/2012
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: TheraTec, Inc. (Dynatronics Corporation)
• Original Assignee: WellClub, LLC
• Inventors: Kennedy, Phillip, Johnson, Jay W., Brust, Thomas Edwin, Khan, Jamal, Waddell, Tom
• Primary Examiner(s): Vo, Truong
• Application Number:
  US14/713,276
• Publication Number:
  US 20150356261A1
• Time in Patent Office: 473 Days
• US Class Current: 1/1
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 16/24 Querying
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 16/24575 using context
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 16/248 Presentation of query results
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 16/285 Clustering or classification
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 16/435 Filtering based on additional data, e.g. user or group profiles
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 16/4387 by the use of playlists
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 16/9535 Search customisation based on user profiles and personalisation
• 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 3/04842 Selection of displayed objects or displayed text elements G06F3/0482 takes precedence
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 10/10 Office automation; Time management
• CPC Class Codes: G16H 10/20 for electronic clinical trials or questionnaires
• CPC Class Codes: G16H 50/20 for computer-aided diagnosis, e.g. based on medical expert systems
• CPC Class Codes: G16Z 99/00 Subject matter not provided for in other main groups of this subclass
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 67/125 involving control of end-device applications over a network
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 67/535 Tracking the activity of the user network monitoring arrangements H04L43/00; recording of computer activity G06F11/34

Abstract

Systems and methods for content selection and processing in an information system are described herein. In one example, a content suggestion engine operates to select, suggest, or recommend content to human users. The selection of content may be suited to a goal or set of goals set by a human user (for example, content recommendations used to assist the human user with achieving a personal health goal). The content suggestion engine may evaluate information to help determine the appropriateness of the content suggestions, considering factors such as a psychological profile, medical conditions, lifestyle, demographics, and goals. The content may be further filtered and weighted to select a subset of content and suggested actions most relevant to the human user.

Claims

1. A non-transitory machine readable storage medium comprising a plurality of instructions for determining suggested content that, in response to being executed on a computing device, cause the computing device to:

evaluate data that represents a plurality of personality and psychological characteristics of a human user, the data being obtained from a user information system, and the personality and psychological characteristics being relevant to an attainment of an overall health goal for the human user;

evaluate data that represents a plurality of behaviors and actions of the human user, the data being obtained from the user information system, and the behaviors and actions being relevant to the attainment of the overall health goal for the human user;

select a candidate set of context-sensitive content suggestions for the human user, the context-sensitive content suggestions being selected from a content information system, and the context-sensitive content suggestions indicating respective suggested actions for performance by the human user that assist the attainment of the overall health goal for the human user;

filter the candidate set of context-sensitive content suggestions for the human user, based on matching the candidate set to the behaviors and actions of the human user, and matching the candidate set to the personality and psychological characteristics of the human user;

prioritize a selected content suggestion from the candidate set of context-sensitive content suggestions for presentation to the human user, based on matching the selected content suggestion to the behavior and actions of the human user, and matching the selected content suggestion to a current state of the human user; and

transmit data indicating the selected content suggestion, to cause display of the selected content suggestion to the human user in a graphical user interface of an electronic device.

2. The machine readable storage medium of claim 1, the instructions further to cause the computing device to:

determine a time of presentation of the selected content suggestion to the human user in the graphical user interface, based on the current state of the human user;

cause transmission of the selected content suggestion to an electronic device of the human user, to enable display of the selected content suggestion at the time of presentation.

3. The machine readable storage medium of claim 1, the instructions further to cause the computing device to:

determine a preferred delivery location of the selected content suggestion, based on the current state of the human user and based on the personality and psychological characteristics of the human user; and

cause transmission of the selected content suggestion to the preferred delivery location for presentation in the graphical user interface.

4. The machine readable storage medium of claim 1, the instructions further to cause the computing device to:

determine the current state of the human user, using one or more episodic questions; and

cause the selected content suggestion to be displayed to the human user in the graphical user interface in response to the one or more episodic questions.

5. The machine readable storage medium of claim 1, the instructions further to cause the computing device to:

obtain the data that represents the plurality of personality and psychological characteristics of a human user from a profile maintained in the user information system, the profile being created from one or more of;

input collected from the human user, input collected from a human supporter of the human user, input collected from a human expert coach of the human user, a psychological model, or a coaching model.

6. The machine readable storage medium of claim 1, the instructions further to cause the computing device to:

obtain the data that represents the plurality of behaviors and actions of the human user from data captured by a wearable monitoring device, the wearable monitoring device being worn by the human user and capturing physiological and activity data of the human user.

7. The machine readable storage medium of claim 1, the instructions further to cause the computing device to:

filter the candidate set of context-sensitive content suggestions using one or more restrictions of the human user to exclude a first type of content; and

prioritize the selected content suggestion using one or more preferences of the human user to prefer a second type of content.

8. The machine readable storage medium of claim 7, the instructions further to cause the computing device to:

further prioritize the selected content suggestion based on application of a plurality of weights, the plurality of weights having varying values;

wherein operations to prioritize the selected content suggestion cause prioritization of the selected content suggestion as a function of a number of times the human user has completed one or more suggested actions associated with a behavior change attribute, the behavior change attribute relevant to one or more of;

intrinsic motivation, extrinsic motivation, individual aptitude, group factors, group power, environmental factors, or environmental power to cause behavior change, wherein the suggested content suggestion is associated with the behavior change attribute.

9. The machine readable storage medium of claim 1, the instructions further to cause the computing device to:

further prioritize the selected content suggestion based on matches of a difficulty level suitable for the human user with an attribute of the selected content suggestion indicating a difficulty that is appropriate for the human user.

10. The machine readable storage medium of claim 1, wherein the overall health goal for the human user relates to:

a scheduled administration of medicine, a chronic illness health condition, a long term care health condition, or a physical therapy treatment.

11. A method performed by a computer-implemented content suggestion engine for determining suggested content, comprising:

evaluating data that represents a plurality of personality and psychological characteristics of a human user, the data being obtained from a user information system, and the personality and psychological characteristics being relevant to an attainment of an overall health goal for the human user;

evaluating data that represents a plurality of behaviors and actions of the human user, the data being obtained from the user information system, and the behaviors and actions being relevant to the attainment of the overall health goal for the human user;

retrieving, from a content information system, a superset of context-sensitive content suggestions relevant to attainment of the overall health goal for the human user, the context-sensitive content suggestions indicating respective suggested actions for performance by the human user that assist the attainment of the overall health goal;

selecting a candidate set of context-sensitive content suggestions for the human user, the candidate set of context-sensitive content suggestions being selected from the superset of context-sensitive content suggestions;

filtering the candidate set of context-sensitive content suggestions for the human user, based on matching the candidate set to the behaviors and actions of the human user, and matching the candidate set to the personality and psychological characteristics of the human user;

prioritizing a selected content suggestion from the candidate set of context-sensitive content suggestions for presentation to the human user, based on matching the selected content suggestion to the behavior and actions of the human user, and matching the selected content suggestion to a current state of the human user.

12. The method of claim 11, further comprising:

determining a time of presentation of the selected content suggestion to the human user;

determining a delivery location of the selected content suggestion, based on the personality and psychological characteristics of the human user; and

electronically transmitting the selected content suggestion, to enable display of the selected content suggestion at the time of presentation and the delivery location.

13. The method of claim 11, further comprising:

collecting input from the human user using one or more episodic questions; and

presenting the selected content suggestion in a display that occurs in response to the one or more episodic questions.

14. The method of claim 13, further comprising:

updating the candidate set of context-sensitive content suggestions based on information obtained from the human user in response to the one or more episodic questions.

15. The method of claim 11, further comprising:

analyzing the plurality of personality and psychological characteristics of the human user from a profile, the profile including data from one or more of;

input collected from the human user, input collected from a human supporter of the human user, input collected from a human expert coach of the human user, a psychological model, or a coaching model.

16. The method of claim 11, further comprising:

analyzing the plurality of behaviors and actions of the human user from a data of a wearable monitoring device, the wearable monitoring device being worn by the human user and capturing physiological and activity data.

17. The method of claim 11, further comprising:

filtering the candidate set of context-sensitive content suggestions using one or more restrictions of the human user to exclude a first type of content; and

prioritizing the selected content suggestion using one or more preferences of the human user to prefer a second type of content.

18. The method of claim 11, further comprising:

further prioritizing the selected content suggestion based on application of a plurality of weights, the plurality of weights having varying values;

wherein prioritizing the selected content suggestion includes prioritizing the selected content suggestion as a function of a number of times the human user has completed one or more suggested actions associated with a behavior change attribute, the behavior change attribute relevant to one or more of;

intrinsic motivation, extrinsic motivation, individual aptitude, group factors, group power, environmental factors, or environmental power to cause behavior change, wherein the suggested content suggestion is associated with the behavior change attribute.

19. The method of claim 11, further comprising:

further prioritizing the selected content suggestion based on matches of a difficulty level suitable for the human user with an attribute of the selected content suggestion indicating a difficulty that is appropriate for the human user.

20. The method of claim 11, further comprising:

transmitting data indicating the selected content suggestion to an electronic device of the human user, to cause display of the selected content suggestion to the human user in a playlist of a plurality of content suggestions provided in a graphical user interface of an electronic device.

21. The method of claim 11, wherein the overall health goal for the human user relates to:

a scheduled administration of medicine, a chronic illness health condition, a long term care health condition, or a physical therapy treatment.

22. An information system, comprising a computer system having at least one hardware processor, at least one memory, and at least one storage medium, the computer system configured to execute instructions from the at least one storage medium using the hardware processor and the memory, to cause the computer to:

evaluate data that indicates a plurality of personality and psychological characteristics of a human user, the personality and psychological characteristics being relevant to an attainment of an overall health goal for the human user;

evaluate data that indicates a plurality of behaviors and actions of the human user, the behaviors and actions being relevant to the attainment of the overall health goal for the human user;

select a candidate set of context-sensitive content suggestions for the human user, the context-sensitive content suggestions being relevant to the attainment of the overall health goal for the human user;

filter the candidate set of context-sensitive content suggestions for the human user, based on matching the candidate set to the behaviors and actions of the human user, and matching the candidate set to the personality and psychological characteristics of the human user;

prioritize a selected content suggestion from the candidate set of context-sensitive content suggestions for presentation to the human user, based on matching the selected content suggestion to the behavior and actions of the human user, and matching the selected content suggestion to a current state of the human user; and

generate data indicating the selected content suggestion for display to the human user in a graphical user interface.

23. The information system of claim 22, the computer system configured to execute further instructions from the at least one storage medium using the hardware processor and the memory, to cause the computer to:

determine a timing of the display to the human user;

determine a delivery location of the display to the human user; and

implement a modification to the suggested content to increase relevance to the human user.

24. The information system of claim 22, the computer system configured to execute further instructions from the at least one storage medium using the hardware processor and the memory, to cause the computer to:

evaluate a profile relevant to the attainment of the overall goal to prioritize the selected content suggestion, the profile including characteristics from one or more of;

a psychological profile of the human user, a medical profile of the human user, a lifestyle profile of the human user, a demographic profile of the human user, or a goal set for the human user.

25. The information system of claim 22, the computer system configured to execute further instructions from the at least one storage medium using the hardware processor and the memory, to cause the computer to:

evaluate the plurality of personality and psychological characteristics of the human user using data from one or more of;

input collected from the human user, input collected from a human supporter of the human user, input collected from a human expert coach of the human user, a psychological model, or a coaching model.

26. The information system of claim 22, the computer system configured to execute further instructions from the at least one storage medium using the hardware processor and the memory, to cause the computer to:

monitor progress of the human user toward at least one of;

the overall goal, completion of a suggested action presented to the human user from the selected content suggestion, or completion of a playlist of suggested actions presented to the human user including the suggested action from the selected content suggestion;

receive feedback from the human user about the suggested action presented to the human user; and

monitor activity of the human user in response to the selected action.

27. The information system of claim 22, the computer system configured to execute further instructions from the at least one storage medium using the hardware processor and the memory, to cause the computer to:

suggest interaction with one or more additional human supporters for attainment of the overall goal by the human user, the one or more additional human supporters connected in a social network with the human user; and

cause delivery of at least part of the suggested content to the human user through one or more interactions between the one or more additional human supporters and the human user.

28. The information system of claim 22, further comprising:

a content database maintained on the at least one storage medium, the content database configured to store the context-sensitive content suggestions;

an attribute database maintained on the at least one storage medium, the attribute database configured to maintain attributes for the context-sensitive content suggestions; and

a selection database configured to maintain data for one or more rules and one or more weights used to filter and prioritize the selected content suggestion from the context-sensitive content suggestions;

wherein the computer system is operably coupled to and accesses the content database, attribute database, and selection database, in connection with selection of the selected content suggestion.