Context-based discovery of applications

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-10606609-B2
Application number	US-201916272904-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Feb 11, 2019
Priority date	Apr 7, 2017
Publication date	Mar 31, 2020
Grant date	Mar 31, 2020

Abstract

A technique is described herein for presenting notifications associated with applications in a context-based manner. In one implementation, the technique maintains a data store that provides application annotation information that describes a plurality of anchors. For instance, the application annotation information for an illustrative anchor identifies: a location at which the anchor is virtually placed in an interactive world; an application associated with the anchor; and triggering information that describes a set of one or more triggering conditions to be satisfied to enable presentation of a notification pertaining to the application. In use, the technique presents the notification pertaining to the application in prescribed proximity to the anchor when it is determined that the user's engagement with the interactive world satisfies the anchor's set of triggering conditions. The triggering conditions can specify any combination of spatial factors, temporal factors, user co-presence factors, etc.

First claim

What is claimed is:

1. A method implemented by one or more computing devices, the method comprising:
identifying a field of view of a user within an interactive world;
identifying a subset of anchors that fall within the field of view and a corresponding subset of executable applications associated with the subset of anchors that fall within the field of view;
determining, based at least on a current context of the user, whether triggering conditions for the executable applications of the subset have been satisfied;
responsive to satisfaction of one or more first triggering conditions for a first executable application having a first anchor within the field of view of the user, presenting a first notification pertaining to the first executable application in a representation of the interactive world while suppressing a second notification pertaining to a second executable application having a second anchor within the field of view of the user;
detecting that the user has activated the first notification; and
in response to detecting that the user has activated the first notification, invoking the first executable application.

2. The method of claim 1 , further comprising:
identifying a third anchor associated with an object in the interactive world, the third anchor being associated with a third executable application having a third triggering condition that specifies a user action that involves moving the object;
detecting that the user has satisfied the third triggering condition when the user performs the user action by moving the object;
responsive to satisfaction of the third triggering condition, presenting a third notification pertaining to the third executable application in the representation of the interactive world; and
in response to detecting that the user has activated the third notification, invoking the third executable application.

3. The method of claim 2 , the object being a physical object.

4. The method of claim 3 , further comprising:
analyzing image information that captures the physical object to detect when the user performs the user action by moving the physical object.

5. The method of claim 1 , further comprising:
identifying a third anchor associated with an object in the interactive world, the third anchor being associated with a third executable application having a third triggering condition that involves the presence of a specified number of users within a prescribed distance of the third anchor;
detecting that the third triggering condition has been satisfied when the specified number of users, including the user and one or more other users, are within the prescribed distance of the third anchor;
responsive to satisfaction of the third triggering condition, presenting a third notification pertaining to the third executable application in the representation of the interactive world; and
in response to detecting that the user has activated the third notification, invoking the third executable application.

6. The method of claim 5 , wherein the third executable application is a multi-user application configured to concurrently provide a shared application experience to the user and the one or more other users.

7. The method of claim 1 , further comprising:
identifying a third anchor associated with a moveable object in the interactive world, the third anchor being associated with a third executable application having an associated third triggering condition;
tracking movement of the moveable object within the interactive world and moving the third anchor with the moveable object;
based at least on the tracking the movement of the moveable object, detecting that the third triggering condition has been satisfied;
responsive to satisfaction of the third triggering condition, presenting a third notification pertaining to the third executable application in the representation of the interactive world; and
in response to detecting that the user has activated the third notification, invoking the third executable application.

8. The method of claim 7 , wherein the third triggering condition specifies that the user is within a prescribed distance of the moveable object.

9. The method of claim 1 , further comprising:
suppressing the second notification when a second triggering condition associated with the second executable application is not satisfied.

10. A system comprising:
a presentation device;
a hardware processor; and
a computer-readable storage medium storing computer-readable instructions which, when executed by the hardware processor, cause the hardware processor to:
present an interactive world on the presentation device;
receive user input via user interaction of a user with the interactive world, the user input specifying a position of an anchor within the interactive world;
receive further user input specifying an application associated with the anchor and a triggering condition, the triggering condition specifying circumstances under which a notification of the application is presented in the interactive world; and
populate a data store with annotation information that identifies the position of the anchor, the application, and the triggering condition.

11. The system of claim 10 , wherein the computer-readable instructions, when executed by the hardware processor, cause the hardware processor to:
identify the position of the anchor based at least on a direction of the user's gaze in the interactive world.

12. The system of claim 11 , the presentation device comprising a head-mounted display.

13. The system of claim 10 , wherein the computer-readable instructions, when executed by the hardware processor, cause the hardware processor to:
identify the position of the anchor based at least on a gesture performed by the user.

14. The system of claim 10 , the triggering condition specifying that the notification is displayed within the interactive world when another user comes within a specified distance of the anchor.

15. The system of claim 10 , the triggering condition specifying a time period during which the notification is displayed within the interactive world.

16. The system of claim 10 , wherein the computer-readable instructions, when executed by the hardware processor, cause the hardware processor to:
identify a current context of another user that is engaging the interactive world;
determine, based at least on the current context of the another user, whether the triggering condition has been satisfied; and
responsive to satisfaction of the triggering condition, present the notification of the application in the interactive world.

17. The system of claim 16 , wherein the computer-readable instructions, when executed by the hardware processor, cause the hardware processor to:
detect that the another user has activated the notification; and
in response to detecting that the user has activated the notification, invoke the application.

18. A computer-readable storage medium storing computer-readable instructions which, when executed by a hardware processor, cause the hardware processor to perform acts comprising:
accessing a data store of application annotation information that identifies anchors associated with applications, the anchors having corresponding locations within an interactive world;
determining a context of a user and a field of view of the user as the user interacts with the interactive world;
based at least on the context of the user, presenting individual notifications of individual applications in the interactive world having anchors within the f

Assignees

• Microsoft Technology Licensing Llc

Inventors

• Energin Semih
• Gavriliuc Anatolie
• Held Robert Thomas
• Ouellet Maxime
• Giraldi Riccardo
• Muehlhausen Andrew Frederick
• Paolantonio Sergio

Classifications

• G06F3/0482

  Interaction with lists of selectable items, e.g. menus · CPC title

• G06F40/169

  Annotation, e.g. comment data or footnotes · CPC title

• G02B27/017

  Head mounted · CPC title

• G06F3/013

  Eye tracking input arrangements (G06F3/015 takes precedence) · CPC title

• G06F3/04842

  Selection of displayed objects or displayed text elements (G06F3/0482 takes precedence) · CPC title