Providing recommendations based upon environmental sensing

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-9749692-B2
Application number	US-201615152137-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	May 11, 2016
Priority date	Feb 5, 2013
Publication date	Aug 29, 2017
Grant date	Aug 29, 2017

Abstract

Embodiments are disclosed that relate to providing digital content recommendations based upon environmental sensor data. For example, one embodiment provides a computing device configured to receive sensor data from a sensor system, to detect a user present in the use environment via the sensor data, identify the user, recognize a current state of each of one or more use environment state features associated with the user via the sensor data, and store the current state of each of the one or more use environment state features. The computing device is further configured to detect a triggering condition for a selected use environment state feature, and in response provide information related to the selected use environment state feature based upon one or more of the current state of the use selected use environment state feature and a previously-stored state of the selected use environment state feature.

First claim

The invention claimed is:

1. A computing device, comprising:
a logic subsystem; and
a data storage subsystem comprising instructions stored thereon that are executable by the logic subsystem to:
receive sensor data from a sensor system including one or more sensors configured to acquire the sensor data by monitoring a use environment;
associate the sensor data with a user;
detect via the sensor data a plurality of users present in the use environment;
receive a request to present a media content item;
prevent presentation of the media content item if the plurality of users in the use environment exceeds a number allowed by an end-user license for the media content item; and
allow presentation of the media content item if the plurality of users does not exceed the number allowed by the end-user license for the media content item.

2. The computing device of claim 1 , further comprising capturing the sensor data at a first, lower bitrate corresponding to a passive monitoring mode when no activity is detected, and at a second, higher bitrate corresponding to an active monitoring mode when activity is detected.

3. The computing device of claim 1 , further comprising
recognizing a current state of each of one or more use environment state features associated with each user via the sensor data;
storing the current state of each of the one or more use environment state features;
detecting a triggering condition for a selected use environment state feature; and
upon detecting the triggering condition, provide a recommendation of media content for consumption.

4. The computing device of claim 3 , where the instructions are further executable to determine whether the user has provided authorization to be monitored by the sensor system, where the current state of each of the one or more use environment state features associated with the user are stored only if the user has provided authorization.

5. The computing device of claim 3 , where the selected use environment state feature includes one of a physical feature of the user, an activity performed by the user, and a device being operated by the user.

6. The computing device of claim 5 , where the triggering condition includes a change in the physical feature of the user meeting a triggering threshold.

7. The computing device of claim 6 , where the information related to the selected use environment feature includes one or more of information describing the change in the physical feature, a recommendation of goods or services related to the physical feature, and a recommendation of one or more changes to user behavior.

8. The computing device of claim 3 , where the selected use environment state feature includes one of an identity of a content item being consumed in the use environment, an identity of a constituent component of the content item being consumed in the use environment, a device accessing the content item, and a current access position of the content item.

9. The computing device of claim 8 , where the triggering condition includes a user input requesting provision of the information related to the selected use environment state feature.

10. The computing device of claim 8 , where the information related to the selected use environment state feature includes one or more of information regarding a related content item, auxiliary information for the content item, and a link to acquire an instance of the content item.

11. The computing device of claim 1 , where the one or more sensors include one or more of an audio sensor and an image sensor.

12. A method for monitoring a use environment, the method comprising:
acquiring sensor data via one or more sensors monitoring the use environment;
detecting via the sensor data a plurality of users present in the use environment;
receiving a request to present a media content item;
allowing presentation of the media content item if the plurality of users does not exceed a number allowed by an end-user license for the media content item; and
preventing presentation of the media content item if the plurality of users in the use environment exceeds the number allowed by the end-user license for the media content item.

13. The method of claim 12 , further comprising:
acquiring first sensor data at a first bitrate via the one or more sensors, the first bitrate corresponding to a passive monitoring mode;
recognizing activity in the use environment based on the first sensor data; and
in response, acquiring second sensor data at a second bitrate via the one or more sensors, the second bitrate being higher than the first bitrate and corresponding to an active monitoring mode.

14. The method of claim 12 , further comprising providing a recommendation of a media content item based upon the sensor data.

15. The method of claim 13 , where recognizing activity in the use environment comprises detecting one or more of motion meeting a motion threshold, sound meeting a sound threshold, and a user present in the use environment.

16. The method of claim 12 , where detecting via the sensor data the plurality of users comprises detecting the plurality of users via depth image data.

17. The method of claim 12 , further comprising detecting one or more of the plurality of users performing a different activity than another of the plurality of users, and recommending an activity that can be performed by the plurality of users together.

18. The method of claim 12 , further comprising:
prior to detecting the plurality of users, acquiring first sensor data at a first bitrate via the one or more sensors monitoring the use environment, the first bitrate corresponding to a passive monitoring mode, where detecting activity in the use environment is based on the first sensor data; and
in response to detecting one or more of the plurality of users in the use environment, acquiring second sensor data at a second bitrate via the one or more sensors, the second bitrate being higher than the first bitrate and corresponding to an active monitoring mode.

19. A computing device, comprising:
a logic subsystem; and
a data storage subsystem comprising instructions stored thereon that are executable by the logic subsystem to:
acquire sensor data from a sensor system including one or more sensors monitoring a use environment, the sensor data comprising depth image data;
detect a plurality of users present in the use environment via the sensor data;
allow presentation of the media content item if the plurality of users does not exceed the number allowed by an end-user license for the media content item; and
prevent presentation of a media content item if the plurality of users in the use environment exceeds a number allowed by the end-user license for the media content item.

20. The computing device of claim 19 , the instructions being further executable to determine an activity performed by one or more of the plurality of users in the use environment, and provide a recommendation based on the activity.

Assignees

• Microsoft Technology Licensing Llc

Inventors

• Hayton Mike
• Johnson Zach

Classifications

• G06F16/436

  using biological or physiological data of a human being, e.g. blood pressure, facial expression, gestures · CPC title

• H04N21/42203

  sound input device, e.g. microphone · CPC title

• H04N21/4223

  Cameras (H04N23/00 takes precedence) · CPC title

• H04N21/4668 Primary

  for recommending content, e.g. movies · CPC title

• H04N21/42202

  environmental sensors, e.g. for detecting temperature, luminosity, pressure, earthquakes · CPC title