Context-Based Discovery of Applications

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-2019171463-A1
Application number	US-201916272904-A
Country	US
Kind code	A1
Filing date	Feb 11, 2019
Priority date	Apr 7, 2017
Publication date	Jun 6, 2019
Grant date	—

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

1 - 20 . (canceled)

21 . 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 at least one of a plurality of individual triggering conditions have been satisfied; responsive to satisfaction of one or more first triggering conditions for a first executable application, presenting a first notification pertaining to the first executable application in a representation of the interactive world; 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.

22 . The method of claim 21 , further comprising:
identifying a second anchor associated with a particular object in the interactive world, the second anchor being associated with a second executable application having a second triggering condition that specifies a user action to be performed with respect to the particular object; detecting that the user has satisfied the second triggering condition by performing the user action with respect to the particular object; responsive to satisfaction of the second triggering condition, presenting a second notification pertaining to the second executable application in the representation of the interactive world; and in response to detecting that the user has activated the second notification, invoking the second executable application.

23 . The method of claim 22 , the particular object being a physical object.

24 . The method of claim 23 , further comprising:
analyzing image information that captures the physical object to detect when the user performs the user action with respect to the physical object.

25 . The method of claim 21 , further comprising:
identifying a second anchor associated with a particular object in the interactive world, the second anchor being associated with a second executable application having a second triggering condition that involves the presence of a specified number of users within a prescribed distance of the second anchor; detecting that the second 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 second anchor; responsive to satisfaction of the second triggering condition, presenting a second notification pertaining to the second executable application in the representation of the interactive world; and in response to detecting that the user has activated the second notification, invoking the second executable application.

26 . The method of claim 25 , wherein the second 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.

27 . The method of claim 21 , further comprising:
identifying a second anchor associated with a moveable object in the interactive world, the second anchor being associated with a second executable application having an associated second triggering condition; tracking movement of the moveable object within the interactive world; based at least on the tracking the movement of the moveable object, detecting that the second triggering condition has been satisfied; responsive to satisfaction of the second triggering condition, presenting a second notification pertaining to the second executable application in the representation of the interactive world; and in response to detecting that the user has activated the second notification, invoking the second executable application.

28 . The method of claim 27 , wherein the second triggering condition specifies that the user is within a prescribed distance of the moveable object.

29 . 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.

30 . The system of claim 29 , 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.

31 . The system of claim 30 , the presentation device comprising a head-mounted display.

32 . The system of claim 29 , 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.

33 . The system of claim 29 , the triggering condition specifying that the notification is displayed within the interactive world when another user comes within a specified distance of the anchor.

34 . The system of claim 29 , the triggering condition specifying a time period during which the notification is displayed within the interactive world.

35 . The system of claim 29 , 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.

36 . The system of claim 35 , 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.

37 . 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 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 while suppressing presentation of other notifications associated with other applications; receiving input indicating the user has activated a first notification associated with a first application; and in response to detecting that the user has activated the first notification, invoking the first application.

38 . The computer-r

Assignees

• Microsoft Technology Licensing Llc

Inventors

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

Classifications

• G06F3/04842

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

• G06F3/012

  Head tracking input arrangements · CPC title

• G06F3/013

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

• G02B27/017

  Head mounted · CPC title

• G06F40/169

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