Koninklijke Philips Corporation N.v.

Infoprintsolutions Company, LLC

John G Milanski

Srinivas Gutta

Larry James Eshelman

Hugo Strubbe

Daniel Pelletier

Joan Stagaman Goddard

Hong Li

Kenneth Stuart Shouldice

James A Hoekema

Pelletier Daniel

A color adjustment interface includes an original image thumbnail representing a version of an image prior to modification, a current image thumbnail representing a version of an image after a modification and a color polygon including a multitude of variation image thumbnails each representing a color variation. Each selection of a variation image thumbnail modifies the current image thumbnail in an adjustment towards a color represented by the selected variation image.

Color adjustment interface for high speed color printer

An animated virtual creature is generated on a display such as a television set, in order to simulate a pet or to facilitate user interface functions. In one embodiment, one or more signals corresponding to the program being watched are monitored. When certain events are detected based on this monitoring, the animated character is controlled in a manner that corresponds to the detected event. In another embodiment, the animated virtual creature responds to program selections made by a user in a program recommendation system.

Virtual creature displayed on a television

An interaction simulator, such as a chatterbot, is connected with an external database, such as an electronic program guide. The information gathered during interaction, particularly conversational, is parsed and used to augment the database data. The interaction simulator may be guided by the data residing in the database so as to help fill in recognizable gaps by, for example, intermittently asking questions relating to the subject data requirement. The interaction simulator may be provided with specific response templates based on the needs of the database and a corresponding set of templates to extract the information required by the database. Another example database may be for recording and indexing by key word stories or other free-form verbal data uttered by the user. The interaction simulator may be programmed to help the user develop the story using templates designed for this purpose.

User interface/entertainment device that simulates personal interaction and charges external database with relevant data

The appearance of a cabinet for a device (e.g., a television) is dynamically controlled. One way of controlling the appearance of the cabinet is by providing a display panel on the cabinet. At least one input is obtained from an input device and processed by a controller. Based on these inputs, the controller sends signals to the display panel to change the appearance of the display panel. Lamps and heat-sensitive materials may be used to effectuate the desired change in appearance. The cabinet display features may be controlled to give the device the appearance of having a persona or of being an independent animate being. For example, lights in the cabinet could flash to suggest the device is laughing in response to the detection of a laugh track in a sitcom being displayed on the device. Patterns and colors can be generated to reflect moods according to the preferences of an interaction-design programmer.

Device cabinet with dynamically controlled appearance

An electronic assistant, incorporates electronic functions in a personal object that the user finds indispensable. Examples of personal objects include a cane, a walking stick, a walker, a wheelchair, a personal transportation vehicle, a purse, a key holder, a watch, a pendant, a hearing aid, an eyeglass frame, or a crutch. Electronics may include a PDA, a cell phone, a navigation module, a biosensor module, and an emergency alert module. The navigation module might include a GPS, an altimeter, an electronic compass, and/or a stored map. Biosensors may be directly incorporated into the personal device or communicate with a receiver therein if the biosensor is required to be attached directly to the user's body or surgically implanted. The emergency alert module may include an emergency button, and an emergency notification sequence stored in the electronic assistant capable of calling for assistance through the cell phone.

Electronic assistant incorporated in personal objects

An interaction simulator uses computer vision, and inputs of other modalities, to analyze the user's mental state and/or personality. The mental state and/or personality are classified and this information used to guide conversation and other interaction. In a chatterbot embodiment, the substance of the conversation may be altered in response to the mental state and/or personality class, for example, by changing the topic of conversation to a favorite subject when the user is sad or by telling a joke when the user is in a good mood.

User interface/entertainment device that simulates personal interaction and responds to user's mental state and/or personality

An interaction simulator has the ability to dynamically update response templates and response data by retrieving current information from a data source. The interaction simulator may interact verbally or by other means such as gesture, typed text, or other means to generate a &ldquo;dialogue. &rdquo; The interaction simulator, by dynamically updating its responses, is able to be more interesting and useful to users and also more personally relevant than prior art, so-called chatterbots. The device also reduces the required number of rules and library of response data that must be retained compared to prior art conversation simulators. The criteria used to create new response data can come from fixed specifications, for example, the current weather, or from the content of previous conversations (for example, the system creating a new template about a topic indicated by the user to be of interest to him/her).

Self-updating user interface/entertainment device that simulates personal interaction

An interaction simulator, such as a chatterbot, is enabled to simulate an awareness of the user to generate an interaction that is more natural and appropriate than prior art chatterbots. For example, the device may employ machine vision to detect the number of persons present or the activity of the user and respond accordingly by interrupting its output or by inviting a conversation or other interaction when a user approaches. The device may modify its responses according to the user's activity, for example, by playing music when the user falls asleep or requesting an introduction when another user speaks. The device may also respond to unrecognized changes in the situation by inquiring about what is going on to stimulate interaction or generate new responses.

Environment-responsive user interface/entertainment device that simulates personal interaction

The present invention is a telephone conversation quality enhancer using an emotional conversational analyzer for analyzing the conversation between a primary party and a secondary party. Its focus is on improving the nature of the conversation quality by first analyzing the nature and quality of the conversation, determining how the analysis fits into a set of conversation conditions, and then determining what conversational aids may be used to assist in the enhancement of the conversation. The apparatus includes a microprocessor which communicates with the first and second telephone units and a database which stores conversational conditions and conversational aids. A conversation analyzer in the microprocessor analyzes the conversation occurring between the first and second telephone units and provides an analysis of the conversation. The microprocessor then applies the conversational conditions to the conversation analysis to select conversational aids. The conversation analyzer includes; a word detection algorithm to detect speech parameters such as the time words need to be spoken, loudness, pitch, intonation, number, rate and distribution of words spoken by each party; a speech recognition algorithm which searches for emotional keywords, and a conversational analysis module. The word detection algorithm and speech recognition algorithm each provide an output to the conversation analysis module which provides an analysis of the conversation. The analysis of the conversation is applied to the conversational conditions to determine which conversational aids may be displayed on a means for review by the speaker to enhance the conversation.

Telephone conversation quality enhancer using emotional conversational analysis

The telephone memory aid provides a database to a primary party for storing and retrieving personal information about a secondary party, including summary information related to communication exchanges between the primary and secondary parties. The summary information includes, for example, the date and time of prior telephone calls and the topics discussed. This secondary party information, including the summaries of prior telephone calls, is available for review by the primary party during future phone calls with the secondary party. The telephone memory aid also facilitates entry of information into the database through speech recognition algorithms and through question and answer sessions with the primary and secondary parties.

Telephone memory aid

Briefly, an alarm system monitors conditions of an independent person, yet one requiring some supervision, such as an elderly person living alone at home. The system monitors a variety of independent signals and combines them to recognize subtle cues that may indicate there will be a need for intervention by a supervisor.

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Louisville, CO, United States of America

John G Milanski