The patent badge is an abbreviated version of the USPTO patent document. The patent badge does contain a link to the full patent document.
The patent badge is an abbreviated version of the USPTO patent document. The patent badge covers the following: Patent number, Date patent was issued, Date patent was filed, Title of the patent, Applicant, Inventor, Assignee, Attorney firm, Primary examiner, Assistant examiner, CPCs, and Abstract. The patent badge does contain a link to the full patent document (in Adobe Acrobat format, aka pdf). To download or print any patent click here.
Patent No.:
Date of Patent:
Dec. 17, 2013
Filed:
Jun. 12, 2008
Chris Demetrios Karkanias, Sammamish, WA (US);
Hubert Van Hoof, Seattle, WA (US);
Kenneth D. Ray, Seattle, WA (US);
Alexander G. Gounares, Kirkland, WA (US);
Eric J. Horvitz, Kirkland, WA (US);
Hong L. Choing, Collegeville, PA (US);
Chris Demetrios Karkanias, Sammamish, WA (US);
Hubert Van Hoof, Seattle, WA (US);
Kenneth D. Ray, Seattle, WA (US);
Alexander G. Gounares, Kirkland, WA (US);
Eric J. Horvitz, Kirkland, WA (US);
Hong L. Choing, Collegeville, PA (US);
Microsoft Corporation, Redmond, WA (US);
Abstract
An avatar generator for a virtual environment reflects a physiological characteristic of the user, injecting a degree of reality into the capabilities or appearance. Thereby, many of the incentives of the real world are replicated in a virtual environment. Physiological data that reflect a degree of health of the real person can be linked to rewards of capabilities of a gaming avatar, an amount of time budgeted to play, or a visible indication. Thereby, people are encouraged to exercise. Physiological data that reflect the health and perhaps also mood also improve social interaction in virtual environments. People seeking to meet and become acquainted with particular types of people are not thwarted by the artificiality of avatars. The physiological data can be gleaned from a third party health data collection repository, a healthcare smart card, a real-time physiological sensor (e.g., blood pressure, heart rate, blood glucose, peak flow, pedometer, etc.).