Computer graphics processing and selective visual display system – Display driving control circuitry – Controlling the condition of display elements
Reexamination Certificate
2000-11-28
2004-06-08
Cabeca, John (Department: 2173)
Computer graphics processing and selective visual display system
Display driving control circuitry
Controlling the condition of display elements
C345S215000, C709S203000, C709S217000, C709S223000, C706S012000, C706S050000, C706S045000
Reexamination Certificate
active
06747675
ABSTRACT:
TECHNICAL FIELD
The following disclosure relates generally to computer-based modeling of information, and more particularly to modeling and exchanging context data, such as for a wearable personal computer.
BACKGROUND
Computer systems increasingly have access to a profusion of input information. For example, a computer may be able to receive instructions and other input from a user via a variety of input devices, such as a keyboard, various pointing devices, or an audio microphone. A computer may also be able to receive information about its surroundings using a variety of sensors, such as temperature sensors. In addition, computers can also receive information and communicate with other devices using various types of network connections and communication schemes (e.g., wire-based, infrared or radio communication).
Wearable personal computers (or “wearables”) can have even greater access to current input information. Wearables are devices that commonly serve as electronic companions and intelligent assistants to their users, and are typically strapped to their users' bodies or carried by their user in a holster. Like other computers, wearables may have access to a wide variety of input devices. Moreover, in addition to more conventional input devices, a wearable may have a variety of other input devices such as chording keyboards or a digitizer tablet. Similarly, a wearable computer may have access to a wide variety of sensors, such as barometric pressure sensors, global positioning system devices, or a heart rate monitor for determining the heart rate of its user. Wearables also may have access to a wide variety of non-conventional output devices, such as display eyeglasses and tactile output devices.
Many applications executing on computers utilize data received by the computer from sensors or other input sources. For example, a position mapping application for a wearable computer may utilize data received from a global positioning system device in order to plot its user's physical location and to determine whether that position is within a specified region. In this example, the global positioning system device produces data that is consumed by the position mapping application.
In conventional wearable computer systems, the position mapping application would be designed to interact directly with the global positioning system device sensor to obtain the needed data. For example, the application may be required to instruct the device to obtain position information, retrieve the information obtained by the device, convert it to conventional latitude and longitude representation, and determine whether the represented location is within the special region.
The need for such direct interaction between applications and sensors in order to obtain and process data has several significant disadvantages. First, developing an application to interact directly with a particular sensor can introduce sensor-specific dependencies into the application. Accordingly, the application may need to be subsequently modified to be able to interact successfully with alternatives to that sensor provided by other manufacturers, or even to interact successfully with future versions of the same sensor. Alternately, the sensor could be developed to explicitly support a particular type of application (e.g, via a device driver provided with the sensor), which would analogously introduce application-specific dependencies into the sensor.
Second, direct interaction between the application and the sensor can give rise to conflicts between multiple applications that consume the same data. For example, if the position mapping application was executing on the same wearable computer as a second application for determining the user's distance from home, and the second application also used the global positioning system device, the two applications' interactions with the device could interfere with one another.
Third, direct interaction between the application and the sensor can give rise to conflicts between multiple sensors that produce the same data. For example, if the position mapping application was executing on a wearable computer that had access to both the global positioning system device and an indoor positioning system, the application might well have trouble determining which device to use to determine the user's current position, and/or have trouble reconciling data produced by both devices.
Fourth, rather than an application having to directly process observable data from the sensors and derive more abstract information itself, it would be advantageous for the application to be able to rely on a separate programmatic entity that derives such abstract information and provides it to the application. For example, it would be more convenient for the position mapping application to be able rely on a separate programmatic entity that determines the user's location, and to then use that information to determine whether the user is in a special region.
Accordingly, a facility for exchanging information between sensors and applications in a wearable computer system would have significant utility.
REFERENCES:
patent: 4916441 (1990-04-01), Gombrich
patent: 5032083 (1991-07-01), Friedman
patent: 5201034 (1993-04-01), Matsuura et al.
patent: 5208449 (1993-05-01), Eastman et al.
patent: 5214757 (1993-05-01), Mauney et al.
patent: 5227614 (1993-07-01), Danielson et al.
patent: 5335276 (1994-08-01), Thompson et al.
patent: 5416730 (1995-05-01), Lookofsky
patent: 5470233 (1995-11-01), Fruchterman et al.
patent: 5493692 (1996-02-01), Theimer et al.
patent: 5544321 (1996-08-01), Theimer et al.
patent: 5555376 (1996-09-01), Theimer et al.
patent: 5559520 (1996-09-01), Barzegar et al.
patent: 5568645 (1996-10-01), Morris et al.
patent: 5601435 (1997-02-01), Quy
patent: 5603054 (1997-02-01), Theimer et al.
patent: 5611050 (1997-03-01), Theimer et al.
patent: 5642303 (1997-06-01), Small et al.
patent: 5646629 (1997-07-01), Loomis et al.
patent: 5719744 (1998-02-01), Jenkins et al.
patent: 5726660 (1998-03-01), Purdy et al.
patent: 5751260 (1998-05-01), Nappi et al.
patent: 5781913 (1998-07-01), Felsenstein et al.
patent: 5790974 (1998-08-01), Tognazzini
patent: 5798733 (1998-08-01), Ethridge
patent: 5812865 (1998-09-01), Theimer et al.
patent: 5873070 (1999-02-01), Bunte et al.
patent: 5878274 (1999-03-01), Kono et al.
patent: 5902347 (1999-05-01), Backman et al.
patent: 5910799 (1999-06-01), Carpenter et al.
patent: 5938721 (1999-08-01), Dussell et al.
patent: 5948041 (1999-09-01), Abo et al.
patent: 5959611 (1999-09-01), Smailagic et al.
patent: 5991687 (1999-11-01), Hale et al.
patent: 6014638 (2000-01-01), Burge et al.
patent: 6047301 (2000-04-01), Bjorklund et al.
patent: 6064943 (2000-05-01), Clark, Jr. et al.
patent: 6108197 (2000-08-01), Janik
patent: 6127990 (2000-10-01), Zwern
patent: 6405159 (2002-06-01), Bushey et al.
patent: 0823 813 (1998-02-01), None
patent: 05260188 (1993-10-01), None
patent: 09091112 (1997-04-01), None
patent: WO 90/08361 (1990-07-01), None
patent: WO 97/03434 (1997-01-01), None
Schmidt, et al, There is more to Context that Location:Environment Sensing Technologies for Adaptive Mobile User Interfaces, Nov. 1998.*
Goh, et al, “Context Interchange: New Features and Formalisms for the Intelligent Inegration of Information,” ACM Transactions on Information Systems, 1997.*
Rex Jakobovits, “Integrating Autonomous Heterogeneous Information Sources,” Jul. 15, 1997.*
“‘Affective Understanding:’ Modeling and Responding to User Affect,” http://www.media.mit.cdu/affect/AC_research/understanding,html, pp. 1-3 [Accessed Oct. 2, 1998].
“Alps GuidePoint,” http://www.alps.com/p17,html. p. 1 [Accessed Oct. 2, 1998].
“GyroPoint Technology,” http://www.gyration.com/html/gyropoint.html, pp. 1-3 [Accessed Oct. 2, 1998].
“Haptics,” http://www.ai.mit.edu/projects/handarm-haptics/haptics.html, pp. 1-2 [Accessed Oct. 2, 1998].
“Research Areaa in Affective Computing,” http://www.media.mit.edu/affect/, p. 1 [Accessed Oct. 2, 1998].
“Resea
Abbott Kenneth H.
Apacible Johnson
Freedman Joshua M.
Newell Dan
Robarts James O.
Cabeca John
Hailu Tadesse
Tangis Corporation
LandOfFree
Mediating conflicts in computer user's context data does not yet have a rating. At this time, there are no reviews or comments for this patent.
If you have personal experience with Mediating conflicts in computer user's context data, we encourage you to share that experience with our LandOfFree.com community. Your opinion is very important and Mediating conflicts in computer user's context data will most certainly appreciate the feedback.
Profile ID: LFUS-PAI-O-3349963