Microsoft Technology Licensing, LLC

Tangis Corporation

Pcms Holdings, Inc.

Drnc Holdings, Inc.

Micrsoft Corporation

Tangis Corporation Microsoft Corporation

James O Robarts

Dan Newell

Kenneth H Abbott

Joshua M Freedman

Johnson T Apacible

Ken Swapp

David S Byrne

Steven J Fluegel

Joseph H Matthews, Iii

Frank A Lawler

Eric Lawrence Matteson

Sean C McDowell

William B McCormick

Gabe L Newell

Steve Fluegel

A light source is provided with a digitally addressable lampshade that includes a plurality of regions of controllable opacity. Systems and methods are described for controlling the digital lampshade. In an exemplary embodiment, an addressable lampshade effects a time-varying pattern of changes to the opacity of the regions to generate a lamp identification pattern. A lamp is identified from the patterns by a camera-equipped mobile device. The mobile device then causes the identified lamp to generate a position-determining pattern of light. The mobile device determines its own position relative to the lamp based on the pattern of light received by the camera. The mobile device then instructs the digital lampshade, according to user input, to allow illumination or to provide shade at the determined position of the mobile device.

Digital lampshade system and method

A system filters received messages (e.g., unsolicited advertisements) to determine if they are appropriate for a user based on the non-static, constantly evolving, context of the user. The system can track the user's context by monitoring various environmental parameters, such as related to the user's physical, mental, computing and data environments, and can model the current context of the user based at least in part on the monitoring. The system selects a set of one or more filters to apply to incoming messages based on the user's context, and the selected filters can be updated as the user's context changes. Messages that survive the filters are then evaluated against the user's context to determine whether they should be presented immediately or stored for delayed presentation.

Automated selection of appropriate information based on a computer user's context

Techniques are described for providing information about a current state that is modeled with multiple state attributes. In some situations, the providing includes receiving from a module a request related to the modeling of the current state with the multiple state attributes. In such situations, the providing further includes, without further intervention related to the request by the module, determining that the request cannot currently be satisfied, and indicating to the module that the request cannot currently be satisfied, monitoring at later times after the indicating to determine whether the request can be satisfied, and indicating to the module that the request can be satisfied if it is determined at one of the later times that the request can currently be satisfied.

Supplying notifications related to supply and consumption of user context data

A system for computer-based storing of information about a current state so that later recall of the information can augment human memories. In particular, when information about a current event of interest is to be stored, a variety of current state information of different types (e.g., video, audio, and textual information) about the environment and about a user can be acquired via sensors and other input devices. The variety of state information can then be associated together as a group and stored for later retrieval. Other information can also be associated with the group, such as one or more recall tags that facilitate later retrieval of the group, or one or more annotations to provide contextual information when the other state information is later retrieved and presented to the user. When information about a past event is to be recalled, one or more identifying recall tags can be received that are used to identify one or more state information groups that match the identifying tags. Some or all of the previously-acquired state information for the identified state information groups can then be presented to the user on appropriate output devices. Other information, such as annotations, can also be presented to the user in order to describe the state information and thus assist the user's recollection of the previous state when the information was stored.

Storing and recalling information to augment human memories

Techniques are described for providing information about a current state that is represented with multiple attributes. In some situations, the providing includes a first computer receiving indications of multiple characterization modules, each characterization module executing on a computer to model an aspect of a current state related to that computer; receiving an indication of one of the multiple attributes of the represented current state; determining multiple of the characterization modules whose modeled aspects are related to the indicated one attribute; and gathering information about the modeled aspects related to the indicated one attribute from the determined characterization modules so that a value for the indicated one attribute can be generated based on the gathered information.

Managing interactions between computer users' context models

Techniques are described for providing information about a current state that is modeled with multiple state attributes. In some situations, the providing includes receiving from first and second sources indications of an ability to supply values for, respectively, an indicated one of the state attributes and another of the state attributes. In such situations, the providing also includes, in response to receiving a request from a first client for a value of the indicated one attribute, determining that the first source is available to supply the value, obtaining the value from the first source, and supplying a value obtained from the first source to the first client.

Requesting computer user's context data

A facility for logging context attributes is described. For each of a set of selected context attributes, the facility, determines a target frequency with which values of the selected context attribute are to be logged. For each of the set of selected context attributes, the facility obtains values of the selected context attribute at a frequency approximating the target frequency determined for the selected context attribute. Then, for each obtained context attribute value, the facility writes the obtained value to a storage device in a manner that identifies its context attribute.

Logging and analyzing computer user's context data

Techniques are described for providing information about a context that is modeled with multiple context attributes. In some situations, at least some of the context attributes have values used by modules for generating values of other context attributes, and the providing includes determining that a first module is generating a first value of a first of the context attributes of the modeled context and determining that a circular reference exists when it is determined that a module is to generate another value of the first context attribute such that the generating of the another value is caused by the generating of the first value of the first context attribute.

Generating and supplying user context data

Techniques are described for providing information about a current state that is modeled with multiple state attributes. In some situations, the providing of information includes receiving from first and second sources indications of ability to supply values for, respectively, an indicated one of the state attributes and another of the state attributes. In such situations, after receiving an indication of the indicated attribute from a first client, the providing of information further includes determining that the first source is available to supply a value for the indicated attribute, obtaining from the first source an indication of the value and information describing the indicated value, determining based at least in part on the descriptive information whether the indicated value is appropriate to be supplied to the client, and supplying the indicated value to the client when it is determined that the indicated value is appropriate.

Supplying enhanced computer user's context data

Techniques are described providing mediated information about a current state that is modeled with multiple state attributes. In some situations, the providing includes receiving from a first source an indication of a first value for an indicated one of the state attributes of the modeled current state, receiving from a second source an indication of a second value for the indicated state attribute, and, after an indication from a client for a value for the indicated state attribute, sending to the client a mediated value for the indicated state attribute that is produced by mediating between available values for the indicated state attribute including at least the first and second values.

Mediating conflicts in computer users context data

Techniques are described for providing information about a current state that is modeled with multiple state attributes. In some situations the providing includes receiving from a first client an indication of an interest in receiving values for an indicated one of the state attributes of the modeled current state, receiving from a second client an indication of an interest in receiving values for another of the state attributes of the modeled current state, and, in response to receiving a value for the indicated one attribute from a first source, determining that the first client has an interest in receiving the received value and supplying the received value to the first client.

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Redmond, WA, United States of America

James O Robarts