System and Method for User Nudging Via Wearable Devices

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-2016284172-A1
Application number	US-201514666618-A
Country	US
Kind code	A1
Filing date	Mar 24, 2015
Priority date	Mar 24, 2015
Publication date	Sep 29, 2016
Grant date	—

Abstract

A method is described to facilitate behavioral nudging. The method includes receiving sensory data from one or more wearable devices, determining a context for a user wearing the one or more wearable devices based on the sensory data, determining a mechanism to nudge the user to reinforce user behavior based on stored preferences and policies and transmitting a nudging stimulus to at least one of the wearable devices via the determined mechanism to provide a notification to the user.

First claim

What is claimed is:

1 . An apparatus to facilitate behavioral nudging comprising:
one or more wearable devices having an array of sensors; a behavioral preferences and policies module to manage behavioral preferences and policies implemented to reinforce user behavior; a context sensing engine to receive data from the sensory array to determine context and use the context to determine a stimulus to nudge the user to reinforce user behavior based on stored preferences and policies; and a behavioral nudging engine to transmit the nudging stimulus to a wearable device to provide a notification to the user.

2 . The apparatus of claim 1 wherein the behavioral nudging engine is to transmit a second nudging stimulus to a second wearable device to provide a notification to the user.

3 . The apparatus of claim 1 wherein responsive to receiving context data from a first wearable device, the behavioral nudging engine is to provide a second nudging stimulus to the user via a second wearable device.

4 . The apparatus of claim 1 wherein the preferences and policies module is to keep track of user responses to the nudging stimulus.

5 . The apparatus of claim 4 wherein the preferences and policies module is to track user behavior after transmission of the nudging stimulus and to determine whether the nudging stimulus was recognized and advice corresponding to the nudging stimulus followed by the user.

6 . The apparatus of claim 1 further comprising:
a communication module; and
a nudging recommendation agent to communicate with two or more user devices to track user behavior and user response to nudging stimuli among the two or more user devices.

7 . The apparatus of claim 6 wherein the nudging recommendation agent observes schedule and contextual factors to reinforce behavior for each of the two or more users.

8 . The apparatus of claim 6 wherein the nudging recommendation agent communicates with behavioral preferences and policies module to apply acquired behavior reinforcement policies to the user.

9 . The apparatus of claim 1 further comprising a user interface to enable user interaction in response to receive the nudging stimulus.

10 . A method to facilitate behavioral nudging comprising:
receiving sensory data from a sensor array implemented at one or more wearable devices; determining a context for a user wearing the one or more wearable devices based on the sensory data; determining a stimulus to nudge the user to reinforce user behavior based on stored preferences and policies; and transmitting the nudging stimulus to at least one of the wearable devices via the determined mechanism to provide a notification to the user.

11 . The method of claim 10 wherein the sensory data is received from a first wearable device and the nudging stimulus is provided to the user via a second wearable device.

12 . The method of claim 10 further comprising tracking user responses to the nudging stimulus.

13 . The method of claim 12 further comprising tracking user behavior after transmission of the nudging stimulus to determine whether the nudging stimulus was recognized and followed by the user.

14 . The method of claim 10 further comprising monitoring user behavior and response to nudging stimuli among two or more users.

15 . The method of claim 14 further comprising observing schedule and contextual factors to reinforce behavior for each of the two or more users.

16 . The method of claim 10 further comprising detecting a response to the nudging stimulus via a user interface.

17 . The method of claim 16 wherein the user interface detects a user gesture in response to the nudging stimulus.

18 . At least one machine-readable medium comprising a plurality of instructions that in response to being executed on a computing device, causes the computing device to carry out operations comprising:
receiving sensory data from one or more wearable devices; determining a context for a user wearing the one or more wearable devices based on the sensory data; determining a mechanism to nudge the user to reinforce user behavior based on stored preferences and policies; and transmitting a nudging stimulus to at least one of the wearable devices via the determined mechanism to provide a notification to the user.

19 . The machine-readable medium of claim 18 , wherein the sensory data is received from a first wearable device and the nudging stimulus is provided to the user via a second wearable device.

20 . The machine-readable medium of claim 18 , comprising a plurality of instructions that in response to being executed on a computing device, causes the computing device to further carry out operations comprising tracking user responses to the nudging stimulus.

21 . The machine-readable medium of claim 20 , comprising a plurality of instructions that in response to being executed on a computing device, causes the computing device to further carry out operations comprising tracking behavior after transmission of the nudging stimulus to determine whether the nudging stimulus was recognized and followed by the user.

22 . A system to facilitate behavioral nudging comprising:
a first wearable device; a network coupled to the first wearable device; a second wearable device coupled to the network; and a behavioral nudging unit, coupled to the network comprising:
a behavioral preferences and policies module to store behavioral preferences and policies implemented to reinforce user behavior;
a context sensing engine to receive sensory data from the first and second wearable devices to determine context and use the context to determine a stimulus to nudge the user to reinforce user behavior based on stored preferences and policies; and
a behavioral nudging engine to transmit the nudging stimulus to the first wearable device to provide a notification to the user.

23 . The system of claim 22 wherein the behavioral nudging engine transmits a second nudging stimulus to the second wearable device to provide a notification to the user.

24 . The system of claim 22 wherein context data is received from the first wearable device and the nudging stimulus is provided to the user via the second wearable device

25 . The system of claim 22 wherein the network is a body area network.

Assignees

• Weast John C
• Anderson Glen J
• Raffa Giuseppe

Inventors

• Weast John C
• Anderson Glen J
• Raffa Giuseppe

Classifications

• G08B6/00 Primary

  Tactile signalling systems, e.g. tactile personal calling systems · CPC title

• A61B5/1116

  Determining posture transitions · CPC title

• A61B5/6802 Primary

  Sensor mounted on worn items · CPC title

• A61B5/1118

  Determining activity level · CPC title

• G08B21/06

  indicating a condition of sleep, e.g. anti-dozing alarms · CPC title