Patent Grant
9075435
An important feature of many personal computing devices, such as laptop computers, tablets, or smartphones, is the capability of running multiple user applications, often simultaneously. For example, a user may read an electronic book, check her calendar, map a route to a particular destination, take photographs, or play a video game from her personal electronic device. At the same time, the user may receive an email, text message, or social network status or be notified of breaking news, a weather update, traffic congestion, or a sports score from her device. Many user applications operating on personal computing devices are configured to provide such notifications, updates, alerts, messages, and similar communications as unobtrusively as possible because the user may find it annoying and/or frustrating if these communications repeatedly diverted the user from another user application that is the focus of the user's attention. However, there may be occasions that the user will miss a critical notification that is presented in too subtle of a manner or mode. In some devices, the user may configure the device and/or the user application to present notifications more overtly. Although the user may be less likely to miss notifications as a result, such approaches can also have its drawbacks, such as disturbing others in the vicinity of the device. In other circumstances, a user configuration may be equally as ineffective in attracting the user's attention as default settings, such as the user configuring the device and/or user application to emit a ringtone or other audio and the user being situated in a noisy environment when her device receives a notification.
Various embodiments in accordance with the present disclosure will be described with reference to the drawings, in which:
Systems and methods in accordance with various embodiments of the present disclosure may overcome one or more of the aforementioned and other deficiencies experienced in conventional approaches for presenting information to a user of a computing device. In particular, various embodiments involve receiving a notification (also sometimes referred to as an alert or update) to a computing device, determining a current context of the computing device, and presenting an indication of the notification to the user according to the device context. For example, a camera of a computing device can be used to capture image data to determine that the user is facing a display element of the computing device and the computing device can present a graphical element on the display element to indicate to the user receipt of the notification. If captured image data indicates that the user is not within the vicinity of the device, a speaker of the device may be activated to generate a ringtone, voice indicator, or other audio signal informing the user of the notification. If the computing device detects the presence of the user within the vicinity of the device but determines that the user is not facing the device, the device may generate a ringtone or other audio of a low or intermediate volume and/or vibrate to draw the user's attention to the received notification.
In various embodiments, data captured by one or more of sensors of a computing device can be used to determine the device context and present an incoming notification based on the device context, such as in a manner likely to cause the user of the device to become aware of the notification but not to unduly disturb the user or others within the vicinity of the user. The device context may include information about the state of the computing device with respect to the user as determined by the sensors of the device, such as a distance between the computing device and the user; a position and/or orientation of the device with respect to the user; whether the user is determined to be gazing at a display element of the device; whether the device can be heard or otherwise be sensed by the user (e.g., touchable, graspable); whether the device is located within a user's pocket or a user's purse, bag, backpack, holster, fanny pack, etc.; and other determinable and/or quantifiable characteristics of the device with respect to the user. The device context may also include information about the state of the device itself as measured by the sensors of the device, such as motion of the device, position and/or orientation of the device with respect to a frame of reference other than the user (e.g., such as another user, object, or location), a geolocation of the device, an amount of pressure being applied to the device, and other determinable and/or quantifiable characteristics of the device. Further, the device context can include information about a state of the environment in which the device is located as set forth by the device sensors, such as an amount of ambient noise or light, atmospheric pressure, temperature, and other determinable and/or quantifiable characteristics of the environment.
In some embodiments, data from multiple sensors or other input elements of the computing device can be aggregated to obtain a more accurate and/or detailed understanding of the context of the device. For example, captured image data can be analyzed to determine that the user is not looking at the display element of the device, motion and orientation data captured by inertial sensors can be analyzed to determine that the movement of the device corresponds to a user's gait, and touch sensor data can be analyzed to determine that the user is grasping the device. An indication of a notification can be presented to the user based on the device context. In this example, the device can vibrate in the event of an incoming notification because it is determined that it is likely the user is walking with the device in her hand but not looking at the device. Device vibration is likely to inform the user of the notification due to the physical contact between the device and the user yet would not be obtrusive to the user or others around the user. On the other hand, if analysis of the motion and orientation data of the device determines that device movement corresponds to a user's gait and the touch sensor data indicates that no user is touching the device, it may be assumed that the device is in a pocket or bag of a walking user. In this situation, an audio signal may be more effective in attracting the user's attention than a vibration because of the lack of direct contact between the device and the user.
In some embodiments, a user can customize the manner of presenting indications of notifications received to the device in various ways. For example, the user can associate notifications sent from a family member with a particular ringtone, vibration pattern, flashing light pattern, or some combination thereof. As another example, the user can configure the device to present a notification from a business contact within a modal window, pop-up window, dialog box or other user interface requiring user interaction, such as pressing an “OK” or “Ignore” button, before returning control to a user application running on the device prior to receiving the notification. As yet another example, a default configuration for a device may be to present all notifications as toast notifications that are displayed on screen for ten seconds but the user may reconfigure the device to present notifications corresponding to instant messages for only three seconds.
Various other functions and advantages are described and suggested below in accordance with the various embodiments.
The example device 104 also includes a display screen 108 at the front of the device, on a same surface as the camera 106. It should be understood that, while the components of the example device are shown to be on a “front” of the device, there can be similar or alternative components on the “top,” “side,” or “back” of the device as well (or instead). Further, directions such as “top,” “side,” and “back” are used for purposes of explanation and are not intended to require specific orientations unless otherwise stated. The display screen 108 is a touchscreen comprising a plurality of capacitive touch sensors and capable of detecting the user's fingertip touching points of the screen as input for the device. in other embodiments, the display element may implement a different touch technology (e.g. resistive, optical, ultrasonic) or may not be capable of detecting a user's touch at all. The computing device 104 also includes one or more microphones 110 or other audio capture devices capable of capturing audio data, such as words spoken by the user 104 of the device or ambient sound in the vicinity of the device. In this example, the microphone 110 is placed on the same side of the device 100 as the display screen 108, such that the microphone 110 will typically be better able to capture words spoken by a user of the device. In at least some embodiments, the microphone can be a directional microphone that captures sound information from substantially directly in front of the device, and picks up only a limited amount of sound from other directions, which can help to better capture words spoken by a primary user of the device. In other embodiments, a computing device may include multiple microphones to capture 3D audio. In at least some embodiments, a computing device can also include an audio output element, such as internal speakers or one or more ports to support peripheral audio output devices, such as headphones or loudspeakers.
In the example situation 100, the user 104 can be seen viewing the display screen 108 of the computing device 102. The user may be interacting with a user application when the device receives a notification from another computing device (not shown). In other embodiments, notifications may be received from the device itself such as a calendar application configured to send a notification to the user to remind the user of an upcoming event or appointment. Upon receiving the notification, the device 102 is configured to activate the camera 106 to capture image data of subject matter within the field of view 112 of the camera. The device then analyzes the image data to determine whether the user is looking at the display screen 108. The device may use a facial detection algorithm that attempts to recognize any human face in the captured image data, or the device can employ a more complex pupil detection algorithm that attempts to locate the position of the user's pupils and determine whether the user's line of sight is aligned with the display 108. In some embodiments, the device may be able to recognize and differentiate various users and retrieve user preferences for a recognized user. When it is determined that the user 104 is viewing the display screen 108, the device presents a graphical element 114 on the display to inform the user of receipt of the notification.
Notifications are a feature of many operating systems that allow a user application or platform software to keep a user informed about events relating to the application or platform. On certain platforms, notifications are implemented as a lightweight service that handles queuing of messages from an application provider and propagation of the messages to a specific device or multiple devices. A user device may maintain a persistent network connection to the notification service, allowing the notification service to deliver any new notifications promptly to a user application or platform of the device. Likewise, an application provider may maintain a persistent connection to the notification service for similar reasons. A user application may be required to subscribe or register to receive notifications to the notification service. When an event relating to the user application or platform occurs, the application provider or platform provider sends a notification to the notification service (e.g., server to server) and the notification service delivers the notification to the intended recipient device (e.g., server to client). Such a framework is sometimes referred to as a “push” architecture, which reverses the client-server model by having a server initiate a transaction instead of having a client request for information from the server. In certain embodiments, the user application may instead use a traditional “pull” architecture and periodically poll a server for new information. However, a “pull” approach may be less advantageous because it may require the user application to execute in the background, which can use more processing resources and power than desirable. In still other embodiments, notifications may be generated by the device or software running on the device itself without necessarily requiring network communication. For example, system alerts such as low battery power or poor network connectivity or user applications such as alarm clocks, schedulers, and the like may also be presented to the user as notifications.
A notification service may permit an application provider to specify how a notification is to be presented to a user device, such as a “badge notification, “toast notification”, “banner notification”, “in-line notification”, “notification area icon”, or similar user interface on a display of the user device. A “badge notification” can refer to a counter that is displayed alongside an application icon that may indicate to the user a number of events occurring since the user last interacted with the application, a number of actions required to be taken by the user, a number of unread communications, and the like. A “toast notification” can refer to a dialog box or modal window that is displayed at the foreground and pushes a currently running application to the background. Some user interaction may be required to return control to the running application, such as pressing an “OK” or “IGNORE” button. A “banner notification” can refer to a user interface element that is typically displayed at a top or bottom of the display of a device (but can be displayed anywhere) and may include preview information such as a photograph of the user sending the underlying message corresponding to the notification, a truncated portion of the underlying message, the user application associated with the notification, etc. The banner may be displayed for a limited period of time, such as ten seconds, before the banner ceases to be displayed. A user interaction, such as tapping or swiping the banner may expand the banner notification to display the entirety of the underlying message. The expanded banner may also enable other user interactions, such as tapping on the notification to activate the user application associated with the notification (or bring the user application to the foreground). As another example, the notification may comprise a calendar event and expanding the banner notification may provide a “snooze” interaction enabling the user to cause the notification to be re-sent to the device after a period of time, such as fifteen minutes. An in-line notification can refer to a notification that is displayed in-line with a currently running user application wherein the user may interact with both the notification and the user application. Approaches for providing in-line notifications are discussed in co-pending U.S. patent application Ser. No. 13/627,291, filed Sep. 26, 2012, entitled “Inline Message Alert,” which is hereby incorporated by reference herein. A “notification area icon” may refer to a toolbar icon, system tray icon, status bar icon, or similar user interface that is displayed upon receipt of a notification. Tapping or selecting the icon can launch the user application (or bring the application to the foreground) corresponding to the notification.
Notifications are often employed by communication-related user applications, such as a telephony application, voicemail, email, Short Message Service (SMS) text messaging, instant messaging, or social networking, wherein an application provider will send a user a notification in response to a new communication. Notifications are also commonly utilized by applications that publish frequently updated content, such as news, weather, stock market, or sports applications, Rich Site Summary (RSS) feeds, blogs, or social networking applications. Notifications can also be used by online banking or other financial applications to report the financial transactions made to the user's account, games to apprise the user of events in the gaming world, scheduling and calendar applications to remind the user of upcoming events, etc. An operating system and user applications may also use notifications to inform the user of software updates or system status.
The example situation 100 of
Systems and approaches in accordance with various embodiments are able to determine a context of a device using the various sensors of the device and present an indication of an incoming notification based on the determined context. In various embodiments, a computing device may include one or more cameras, microphones, global positioning system (GPS) components, cellular components, Wi-Fi components, Bluetooth® device, radio-frequency (RF) devices, near-field communications (NFC) components, proximity sensors, distance sensors, depth sensors, ambient light sensors, barometers, altimeters, accelerometers, magnetometers, gyroscopes, inclinometers, thermal sensors, touch sensors, pressure sensors, optical sensors, infra-red transceivers, laser transceivers, ultrasonic transceivers, and/or other sensors, transceivers, and mechanisms that can be used to receive a notification from one or more other electronic devices and to determine the device context. In various embodiments, a computing device may include one or more displays, speakers, vibration actuators or mechanisms, uni-colored or multi-colored light-emitting diodes, and/or other output elements that can be used to apprise the user of receipt of the notification.
In various embodiments, a manner of presenting a notification to a user can be determined based on a gaze direction of a user. For example, a visual notification such as a badge, banner, toast, flashing LED pattern, etc. can be presented to the user in lieu of an audio signal or vibration pattern when the user is determined to be gazing towards a display element of a device. In order to determine the gaze direction of a user, a device in at least some embodiments has to determine the relative position of the user relative to the device, as well as dimensions or other aspects of the user at that position.
In at least some embodiments, a computing device may be configured to further differentiate between when the device is in close contact with a user such that the user may be likely to feel device vibration versus when the device is not close enough with respect to the user such that the user may not likely be able to feel device vibration. For example, in the situation 300 illustrated in
In another embodiment, motion and orientation data can be further analyzed to determine whether a device is located in a user's pocket or a user's bag. For example, when the device is located in a user's pocket, the device is placed such that either the front surface or the back surface of the device is facing the user, the length of the device (e.g., y-axis) is parallel to the user's body, and the width of the device (e.g., x-axis) is perpendicular to the user's body. The device will be closely aligned with the user's leg such that rotational velocity can be measured along the y-z plane of the device that meets threshold values indicating that motion is due to the user's leg movement. In contrast, when a device is placed in a purse or backpack, rotational velocity may fall outside of the threshold values or is otherwise negligible such that motion and orientation data of the device can differentiate when the device is located in a user's pocket versus when the device is located in a purse or backpack. In one embodiment, when the motion and orientation data indicates that the device is more likely to be located in a user's pocket, the device can vibrate upon receipt of a notification. When the motion and orientation data indicates that the device is more likely to be located in a purse or bag, the device can emit an audio signal upon receipt of a notification.
In some embodiments, certain types of locations may be designated as “quiet zones,” such as libraries, places of worship, movie theaters, schools, etc. When a device determines that it is located at such a location, it can automatically reconfigure itself to vibrate instead of ringing upon receipt of a telephone call and/or vibrate, display a visual indicator on a display element, and/or flash LEDs upon receipt of a notification instead of ringing or emitting other audio signals. Similarly, some types of locations may be designated as “noisy zones,” such as bars, clubs, sports arenas or stadiums, etc. At such locations, a device may be automatically reconfigured to vibrate upon receipt of a telephone call or a notification because ambient sound may be so loud as to render audio signals ineffective in obtaining the user's attention. In at least some embodiments, a device may use a microphone to capture ambient sound, determine a decibel level of the ambient sound, and present an indication of the notification based on the decibel level. For example, the device may emit an audio signal that is greater than the decibel level of the ambient sound in one embodiment. In another embodiment, a device may vibrate instead of generating an audio signal based on the determined decibel level.
In various embodiments, a device may be configured to present indications of notifications based on location. For example, a device may present an indication of a location based on certain locations being designated “quiet zones” or “noisy zones.”
As mentioned, presentation of indications of notifications may be customized based on senders of the underlying communications corresponding to the notifications and/or by the underlying software such as by user application or operating system. The manner of presenting notifications may be visual (e.g., flashing of LEDs, displaying graphical elements on a display screen), aural (e.g., ringtones), or tactile (e.g., vibration patterns). The manner of presenting notifications may also be based on different patterns and/or intensity levels. Underlying communications may include emails, voicemails, SMS text messages, instant messages, social network status updates, and similar types of communications. Senders of such communications may be associated with certain ringtones, vibration patterns, flashing light patterns, and/or visual indicators on a display element such that the user can become immediately informed of the sender of the underlying communication corresponding to a notification, and respond accordingly. Likewise, underlying user applications or the device's operating system may also correspond to certain notifications, and presentation of the indications of such notifications may be specified, by the user, the application provider, or the device manufacturer. Ringtones may refer to the tone or sound or pattern of tones or sounds (e.g., song notes) made by the computing device in response to receiving a telephone call or notification. Vibration patterns may refer to the vibrations caused by actuators, motors, and other vibration mechanisms incorporated in a computing device. Different vibration patterns can be generated by varying the length and/or intensity of vibrations, and the time between vibrations. In at least some embodiments, a device may incorporate a plurality of vibration actuators or other vibration mechanisms, such as an actuator located along each of an edge of the device. In such devices, vibration patterns may also be varied according to the location of the actuator or other vibration mechanism, such as vibrating clockwise or counterclockwise or alternating between vibrations of top-bottom and left-right pairs of actuators or vibration mechanisms. Flashing light patterns may refer to the flashing of one or more LEDs incorporated by a computing device. Flashing of LEDs can be varied by the length of time an LED is activated and deactivated as well as intensity of the LED. Some LEDs may be capable of flashing different colors, and flashing light patterns can also be varied according to color. Visual indications of notifications can include badges, toasts, banners, in-line interfaces, notification area icons, and other such interfaces displayed on a display element.
If the location cannot be determined or if there is no particular device behavior specified for the location or the type of the location, the device may capture image data and analyze whether a user is gazing towards or viewing a display element of the device 654 according to the captured image data. If the user is determined to be gazing towards or viewing the display element, an indication of receiving the notification may be limited to a visual indicator. If the user is determined to be within the captured image data but not gazing towards or looking at the device, it is assumed that the user is within the vicinity of the device and the device may vibrate or emit a low to intermediate audio signal to capture the user's attention. If the user is not captured by the camera of the device, touch sensor data can be analyzed to determine whether the user is holding the device 656. A device may include a touchscreen that covers the entirety of a front surface of the device. When the user is grasping the device, the touch sensor data of the touchscreen may be analyzed to determine that the user is holding the device by the front of the device (e.g., touch points correspond to the user's palm) or that the user is holding the device by the back of the device (e.g., touch points correspond to user's fingers along the edges of the touchscreen). In another embodiment, a device may incorporate touch, proximity, and/or pressure sensors along the sides of the device to determine whether the user is holding the device.
If it is determined that the user is not holding the device, other sensor data may be captured to determine a context of the device. For example, motion and/or orientation data can be acquired from one or more inertial sensors 658. The motion/orientation data may indicate that the device is located within a moving vehicle. In one embodiment, the device may try to sync with the vehicle's stereo system via Bluetooth® and present an indication of a received notification via an audio signal through the car's stereo system. In another embodiment, the motion/orientation data may correspond to a user's gait. The device may attempt to differentiate whether the device is located in a user's pocket or a user's bag as she is walking 660. As mentioned, the motion and orientation of the device will include a rotation along the y-z plane as the user is walking when it is located in the user's pocket. When the device is placed in a purse or bag as the user is walking, such rotation is minimal or non-existent. By measuring the rotation velocity of the device as the user is walking, the device can differentiate between placement in a user's pants pocket versus a user's purse or bag. When the device is determined to be located in a user's pants pocket, the device can vibrate to inform the user of an incoming notification. In another embodiment, one or more pressure sensors can be used to measure an amount of pressure or force being applied to the device. In one embodiment, a device may include at least a first pressure sensor that measures force applied to a front surface of the device and a second pressure sensor that measures force applied to a back surface of the device. The device can differentiate from when it is located in a user's pocket based and when it is located in a a bag or backpack based on the readings from the pressure sensors. In some embodiments, a device may be capable of determining force or pressure being applied to each surface of the device. In yet another embodiment, thermal sensors on opposing faces of a computing device can be used to determine whether the device is in proximity to the user's body. Various other approaches can be used to determine a device context based on the disclosure and teachings provided herein.
The computing device 800 includes at least one capacitive component or other proximity sensor, which can be part of, or separate from, the display assembly. In at least some embodiments the proximity sensor can take the form of a capacitive touch sensor capable of detecting the proximity of a finger or other such object as discussed herein. The computing device also includes various power components 814 known in the art for providing power to a computing device, which can include capacitive charging elements for use with a power pad or similar device. The computing device can include one or more communication elements or networking sub-systems 816, such as a Wi-Fi, Bluetooth®, RF, wired, or wireless communication system. The device in many embodiments can communicate with a network, such as the Internet, and may be able to communicate with other such devices. In some embodiments the device can include at least one additional input device 818 able to receive conventional input from a user. This conventional input can include, for example, a push button, touch pad, touchscreen, wheel, joystick, keyboard, mouse, keypad, or any other such device or element whereby a user can input a command to the device. In some embodiments, however, such a device might not include any buttons at all, and might be controlled only through a combination of visual and audio commands, such that a user can control the device without having to be in contact with the device.
The device 800 also can include one or more orientation and/or motion sensors 812. Such sensor(s) can include an accelerometer or gyroscope operable to detect an orientation and/or change in orientation, or an electronic or digital compass, which can indicate a direction in which the device is determined to be facing. The mechanism(s) also (or alternatively) can include or comprise a global positioning system (GPS) or similar positioning element operable to determine relative coordinates for a position of the computing device, as well as information about relatively large movements of the device. The device can include other elements as well, such as may enable location determinations through triangulation or another such approach. These mechanisms can communicate with the processor 802, whereby the device can perform any of a number of actions described or suggested herein.
In some embodiments, the device 800 can include the ability to activate and/or deactivate detection and/or command modes, such as when receiving a command from a user or an application, or retrying to determine an audio input or video input, etc. For example, a device might not attempt to detect or communicate with devices when there is not a user in the room. If a proximity sensor of the device, such as an IR sensor, detects a user entering the room, for instance, the device can activate a detection or control mode such that the device can be ready when needed by the user, but conserve power and resources when a user is not nearby.
In some embodiments, the computing device 800 may include a light-detecting element that is able to determine whether the device is exposed to ambient light or is in relative or complete darkness. Such an element can be beneficial in a number of ways. For example, the light-detecting element can be used to determine when a user is holding the device up to the user's face (causing the light-detecting element to be substantially shielded from the ambient light), which can trigger an action such as the display element to temporarily shut off (since the user cannot see the display element while holding the device to the user's ear). The light-detecting element could be used in conjunction with information from other elements to adjust the functionality of the device. For example, if the device is unable to detect a user's view location and a user is not holding the device but the device is exposed to ambient light, the device might determine that it has likely been set down by the user and might turn off the display element and disable certain functionality. If the device is unable to detect a user's view location, a user is not holding the device and the device is further not exposed to ambient light, the device might determine that the device has been placed in a bag or other compartment that is likely inaccessible to the user and thus might turn off or disable additional features that might otherwise have been available. In some embodiments, a user must either be looking at the device, holding the device or have the device out in the light in order to activate certain functionality of the device. In other embodiments, the device may include a display element that can operate in different modes, such as reflective (for bright situations) and emissive (for dark situations). Based on the detected light, the device may change modes.
In some embodiments, the device 800 can disable features for reasons substantially unrelated to power savings. For example, the device can use voice recognition to determine people near the device, such as children, and can disable or enable features, such as Internet access or parental controls, based thereon. Further, the device can analyze recorded noise to attempt to determine an environment, such as whether the device is in a car or on a plane, and that determination can help to decide which features to enable/disable or which actions are taken based upon other inputs. If speech or voice recognition is used, words can be used as input, either directly spoken to the device or indirectly as picked up through conversation. For example, if the device determines that it is in a car, facing the user and detects a word such as “hungry” or “eat,” then the device might turn on the display element and display information for nearby restaurants, etc. A user can have the option of turning off voice recording and conversation monitoring for privacy and other such purposes.
In some of the above examples, the actions taken by the device relate to deactivating certain functionality for purposes of reducing power consumption. It should be understood, however, that actions can correspond to other functions that can adjust similar and other potential issues with use of the device. For example, certain functions, such as requesting Web page content, searching for content on a hard drive and opening various applications, can take a certain amount of time to complete. For devices with limited resources, or that have heavy usage, a number of such operations occurring at the same time can cause the device to slow down or even lock up, which can lead to inefficiencies, degrade the user experience and potentially use more power. In order to address at least some of these and other such issues, approaches in accordance with various embodiments can also utilize information such as user gaze direction to activate resources that are likely to be used in order to spread out the need for processing capacity, memory space and other such resources.
In some embodiments, the device can have sufficient processing capability, and the camera and associated image analysis algorithm(s) may be sensitive enough to distinguish between the motion of the device, motion of a user's head, motion of the user's eyes and other such motions, based on the captured images alone. In other embodiments, such as where it may be desirable for an image process to utilize a fairly simple camera and image analysis approach, it can be desirable to include at least one orientation determining element that is able to determine a current orientation of the device. In one example, the one or more orientation and/or motion sensors may comprise a single- or multi-axis accelerometer that is able to detect factors such as three-dimensional position of the device and the magnitude and direction of movement of the device, as well as vibration, shock, etc. Methods for using elements such as accelerometers to determine orientation or movement of a device are also known in the art and will not be discussed herein in detail. Other elements for detecting orientation and/or movement can be used as well within the scope of various embodiments for use as the orientation determining element. When the input from an accelerometer or similar element is used along with the input from the camera, the relative movement can be more accurately interpreted, allowing for a more precise input and/or a less complex image analysis algorithm.
When using a camera of the computing device to detect motion of the device and/or user, for example, the computing device can use the background in the images to determine movement. For example, if a user holds the device at a fixed orientation (e.g. distance, angle, etc.) to the user and the user changes orientation to the surrounding environment, analyzing an image of the user alone will not result in detecting a change in an orientation of the device. Rather, in some embodiments, the computing device can still detect movement of the device by recognizing the changes in the background imagery behind the user. So, for example, if an object (e.g. a window, picture, tree, bush, building, car, etc.) moves to the left or right in the image, the device can determine that the device has changed orientation, even though the orientation of the device with respect to the user has not changed. In other embodiments, the device may detect that the user has moved with respect to the device and adjust accordingly. For example, if the user tilts their head to the left or right with respect to the device, the content rendered on the display element may likewise tilt to keep the content in orientation with the user.
As discussed, different approaches can be implemented in various environments in accordance with the described embodiments. For example,
The illustrative environment includes at least one application server 908 and a data store 910. It should be understood that there can be several application servers, layers or other elements, processes or components, which may be chained or otherwise configured, which can interact to perform tasks such as obtaining data from an appropriate data store. As used herein, the term “data store” refers to any device or combination of devices capable of storing, accessing and retrieving data, which may include any combination and number of data servers, databases, data storage devices and data storage media, in any standard, distributed or clustered environment. The application server 908 can include any appropriate hardware and software for integrating with the data store 910 as needed to execute aspects of one or more applications for the client device and handling a majority of the data access and business logic for an application. The application server provides access control services in cooperation with the data store and is able to generate content such as text, graphics, audio and/or video to be transferred to the user, which may be served to the user by the Web server 906 in the form of HTML, XML or another appropriate structured language in this example. The handling of all requests and responses, as well as the delivery of content between the client device 902 and the application server 908, can be handled by the Web server 906. It should be understood that the Web and application servers are not required and are merely example components, as structured code discussed herein can be executed on any appropriate device or host machine as discussed elsewhere herein.
The data store 910 can include several separate data tables, databases or other data storage mechanisms and media for storing data relating to a particular aspect. For example, the data store illustrated includes mechanisms for storing content (e.g., production data) 912 and user information 916, which can be used to serve content for the production side. The data store is also shown to include a mechanism for storing log or session data 914. it should be understood that there can be many other aspects that may need to be stored in the data store, such as page image information and access rights information, which can be stored in any of the above listed mechanisms as appropriate or in additional mechanisms in the data store 910. The data store 910 is operable, through logic associated therewith, to receive instructions from the application server 908 and obtain, update or otherwise process data in response thereto. In one example, a user might submit a search request for a certain type of item. In this case, the data store might access the user information to verify the identity of the user and can access the catalog detail information to obtain information about items of that type. The information can then be returned to the user, such as in a results listing on a Web page that the user is able to view via a browser on the user device 902. Information for a particular item of interest can be viewed in a dedicated page or window of the browser.
Each server typically will include an operating system that provides executable program instructions for the general administration and operation of that server and typically will include computer-readable medium storing instructions that, when executed by a processor of the server, allow the server to perform its intended functions. Suitable implementations for the operating system and general functionality of the servers are known or commercially available and are readily implemented by persons having ordinary skill in the art, particularly in light of the disclosure herein.
The environment in one embodiment is a distributed computing environment utilizing several computer systems and components that are interconnected via communication links, using one or more computer networks or direct connections. However, it will be appreciated by those of ordinary skill in the art that such a system could operate equally well in a system having fewer or a greater number of components than are illustrated in
The various embodiments can be further implemented in a wide variety of operating environments, which in some cases can include one or more user computers or computing devices which can be used to operate any of a number of applications. User or client devices can include any of a number of general purpose personal computers, such as desktop or laptop computers running a standard operating system, as well as cellular, wireless and handheld devices running mobile software and capable of supporting a number of networking and messaging protocols. Such a system can also include a number of workstations running any of a variety of commercially-available operating systems and other known applications for purposes such as development and database management. These devices can also include other electronic devices, such as dummy terminals, thin-clients, gaming systems and other devices capable of communicating via a network.
Most embodiments utilize at least one network that would be familiar to those skilled in the art for supporting communications using any of a variety of commercially-available protocols, such as TCP/IP, OSI, FTP, UPnP, NFS, CIFS and AppleTalk. The network can be, for example, a local area network, a wide-area network, a virtual private network, the Internet, an intranet, an extranet, a public switched telephone network, an infrared network, a wireless network and any combination thereof.
In embodiments utilizing a Web server, the Web server can run any of a variety of server or mid-tier applications, including HTTP servers, FTP servers, CGI servers, data servers, Java servers and business application servers. The server(s) may also be capable of executing programs or scripts in response requests from user devices, such as by executing one or more Web applications that may be implemented as one or more scripts or programs written in any programming language, such as Java®, C, C# or C++ or any scripting language, such as Perl, Python or TCL, as well as combinations thereof. The server(s) may also include database servers, including without limitation those commercially available from Oracle®, Microsoft®, Sybase® and IBM®.
The environment can include a variety of data stores and other memory and storage media as discussed above. These can reside in a variety of locations, such as on a storage medium local to (and/or resident in) one or more of the computers or remote from any or all of the computers across the network. In a particular set of embodiments, the information may reside in a storage-area network (SAN) familiar to those skilled in the art. Similarly, any necessary files for performing the functions attributed to the computers, servers or other network devices may be stored locally and/or remotely, as appropriate. Where a system includes computerized devices, each such device can include hardware elements that may be electrically coupled via a bus, the elements including, for example, at least one central processing unit (CPU), at least one input device (e.g., a mouse, keyboard, controller, touch-sensitive display element or keypad) and at least one output device (e.g., a display device, printer or speaker). Such a system may also include one or more storage devices, such as disk drives, optical storage devices and solid-state storage devices such as random access memory (RAM) or read-only memory (ROM), as well as removable media devices, memory cards, flash cards, etc.
Such devices can also include a computer-readable storage media reader, a communications device (e.g., a modem, a network card (wireless or wired), an infrared communication device) and working memory as described above. The computer-readable storage media reader can be connected with, or configured to receive, a computer-readable storage medium representing remote, local, fixed and/or removable storage devices as well as storage media for temporarily and/or more permanently containing, storing, transmitting and retrieving computer-readable information. The system and various devices also typically will include a number of software applications, modules, services or other elements located within at least one working memory device, including an operating system and application programs such as a client application or Web browser. It should be appreciated that alternate embodiments may have numerous variations from that described above. For example, customized hardware might also be used and/or particular elements might be implemented in hardware, software (including portable software, such as applets) or both. Further, connection to other computing devices such as network input/output devices may be employed.
Storage media and computer readable media for containing code, or portions of code, can include any appropriate media known or used in the art, including storage media and communication media, such as but not limited to volatile and non-volatile, removable and non-removable media implemented in any method or technology for storage and/or transmission of information such as computer readable instructions, data structures, program modules or other data, including RAM, ROM, EEPROM, flash memory or other memory technology, CD-ROM, digital versatile disk (DVD) or other optical storage, magnetic cassettes, magnetic tape, magnetic disk storage or other magnetic storage devices or any other medium which can be used to store the desired information and which can be accessed by a system device. Based on the disclosure and teachings provided herein, a person of ordinary skill in the art will appreciate other ways and/or methods to implement the various embodiments.
The specification and drawings are, accordingly, to be regarded in an illustrative rather than a restrictive sense. It will, however, be evident that various modifications and changes may be made thereunto without departing from the broader spirit and scope of the invention as set forth in the claims.
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