Patent Application
20120296855
The present invention relates to a method of monitoring, quantifying and improving people's happiness, based on analyzing the NPV model of the happiness as proposed in the invention.
Happiness study and the pursuit of well being are central to many human activities:
Positive psychology was established in the second half of the 20th century to understand the origin of well being and to find ways to make people happier. There is a very large body of academic work and popular books describing the understanding and offering recipes to increase happiness.
Two of the many findings described in the literature are that Happiness lies at the intersection between pleasure and meaning, and that happiness feeling takes into account short term and long term parameters.
In other words, happiness is the combination of short term feelings such as good feeling and enjoyment and serving of a meaningful purpose or important values. If the combination of short term feeling and the long term values that are served is all together positive—happiness will be experienced.
For example:
According to a first aspect of the present invention there is provided a computerized method of monitoring and quantifying a person's level of happiness following an event or action, comprising: a. receiving from the user a definition of an event or action via an electronic communication device; b. receiving from the user at least one short-term and one long-term periods related to said event via said electronic communication device; c. receiving from the user a definition of happiness contributors for each said defined periods via said electronic communication device; d. associating grades to each of said contributors; e. computing at the server a happiness level based on said defined happiness contributors' grades; f. computing at the server a happiness rate of said user based on the computed happiness level and the number of periods, using the Net Present Value (NPV) formula, wherein the net present value is represented by said computed user's happiness level; g. storing at the server said received and computed happiness parameters; h. reporting said computed happiness parameters to the user; i. repeating steps (a) through (h), wherein said previously stored happiness parameters are used to detect patterns in the user's happiness level; and (i) using said detected patterns to refine the NPV formula for the user.
The associating grades may comprise recording said user's voice via said electronic communication device and performing a computerized analysis thereof at the server. The associating grades may comprise capturing said user's expressions via said electronic communication device or voice and performing a computerized analysis thereof at the server.
The electronic communication device may be selected from the group consists of: a Smartphone, a personal computer, a tablet PC and a PDA.
The method may further comprise using the NPV formula to help in the user's decisions based on achieving the highest happiness level as represented by the NPV.
The method may further comprise retrieving additional data related to said defined event or action from personal electronic sources.
The additional data may comprise at least one of time and location of the event or action,
The personal electronic sources comprise at least one of a Smartphone and a personal computer.
The method may further comprise correlating said additional data with said user's happiness level.
The method may further comprise retrieving additional data related to said defined event or action from public electronic sources.
The additional data may comprise at least one of weather, political events, social events and astrological events, correlated with the event or action.
The public electronic sources may comprise the Internet.
The method may further comprise correlating said additional data with said user's happiness level.
The method may further comprise reporting said computed happiness parameters.
The method may further comprise providing means for sharing the computed happiness level with a selected list of online social networks.
The method may further comprise storing the computed happiness level of a plurality of users at the server and performing correlations and pattern finding in said stored data. According to a second aspect of the present invention there is provided a system for monitoring and quantifying a user's level of happiness following an event or action, comprising: a server connected to a network, said server comprising a processor and configured to execute programmable commands of a server application; at least one electronic communication device communicating with said server over a network, said electronic communication device comprising a processor and configured to execute programmable commands of a client application; said electronic communication device additionally comprising a display configured to provide a GUI (Graphical User Interface) means for receiving user input and providing output to the user; wherein said user GUI input means comprise: means for defining an event or action; means for defining at least one short-term and one long-term periods related to said event or action; means for defining happiness contributors for each said defined periods; and means for associating grades to each of said contributors; said server processor further configured to: compute a happiness level based on said defined grades; compute a happiness rate of said user based on the computed happiness level and the number of periods, using the Net Present value (NPV) formula, wherein the net present value is represented by said user's happiness level; and wherein said GUI means further comprise means for reporting said computed happiness parameters to said user.
The electronic communication device may further comprise recording means for recording said user's voice and transmit said recording to the server, said server processor further configured to analyze said recorded voice and refine said associated grades accordingly.
The electronic communication device may further comprise capturing means for capturing said user's expressions or voice and transmit said captured expressions or voice to the server, said server processor further configured to analyze said captured expressions and refine said associated grades accordingly.
The GUI may comprise means for sharing the computed happiness level with a selected list of online social networks.
The electronic communication device may be selected from the group consisting of Smartphone, personal computer, tablet PC and PDA.
According to a third aspect of the present invention there is provided a system for monitoring and quantifying a population's level of happiness following an event or action, comprising: a server connected to a network, said server comprising a processor and configured to execute programmable commands of a server application; multiple electronic communication devices communicating with said server over a network, each one of said plurality of electronic communication devices comprising a processor and configured to execute programmable commands of a client application; each one of said plurality of electronic communication devices additionally comprising a display configured to provide GUI (Graphical User Interface) means for receiving users input and providing output to the users; wherein said user GUI input means comprise: means for defining an event or action; and means for defining a happiness level of a user said server processor further configured to: compute statistics of happiness level of populations comprising multiple users and reporting said computed happiness level and statistics of said populations to other parties.
The means for defining a happiness level of a user may comprise means for capturing said user's expression or voice.
The computed statistics of happiness level of said population may be presented by means of graphical and numerical data.
The other parties may comprise stake holders selected from the group consisting of: municipalities, government institutes and educational institutes.
For a better understanding of the invention and to show how the same may be carried into effect, reference will now be made, purely by way of example, to the accompanying drawings.
With specific reference now to the drawings in detail, it is stressed that the particulars shown are by way of example and for purposes of illustrative discussion of the preferred embodiments of the present invention only, and are presented in the cause of providing what is believed to be the most useful and readily understood description of the principles and conceptual aspects of the invention. In this regard, no attempt is made to show structural details of the invention in more detail than is necessary for a fundamental understanding of the invention, the description taken with the drawings making apparent to those skilled in the art how the several forms of the invention may be embodied in practice. In the accompanying drawings:
The present invention provides a method of monitoring a person's view of at least two time frames with regards to the emotions the person experiences. The NPV (Net Present Value) model for happiness aims to quantify these observations. The model borrows the concept of NPV from economics, and calculates the “net present value” of happiness based on the details of an event or action a person was involved in.
In economics, the NPV is calculated using the following formula:
NPV=CF0+CF1/(1+r)+CF2/(1+r)2+CF3/(1+r)3 . . .
where CF0 is the investment cash flow, CF1 is the cash flow the investor receives in the first year, CF2 is the cash flow the investor receives in the second year etc. and r is the interest rate.
The same formula is used by the present invention to calculate Happiness NPV, where:
The interest rate (r) represents the “basic attitude” of the person or his basic ability to be happy, that determines the basic level of happiness. The “Happiness rate”, is expected to be characteristic of a person, although a person may have somewhat different rates for different type of events.
The “cash flows” (CFi) are the net summary of the person's emotion at each calculated time. In the short term it is the enjoyment and good feelings arising from events or actions (bad feelings will be considered as negative) and in the long term the “cash flows” represent the values and confidence served by an activity or spent on an activity. If the activity is believed not to serve a person's values the long term CF will be negative as well.
“Happiness contributors” are the feelings contributing to the total happiness of the person, these can be short term enjoyment and long term satisfaction or confidence due to serving values that are important for the person. Happiness contributors may be negative when an action causes bad feeling or the person believes it is harmful to important values.
The model takes a number of time periods, estimates the amount of happiness (summary of the happiness contributors) that is expected (or is already felt) and the “Happiness rate” of the person.
The concept behind it is that a person will be happy in the present if the total sum of the happiness “cash flows” in the present and future, taking into account the person's attitude and ability for happiness, is positive.
The model uses at least two periods: Short term for feelings and long term for values.
Preferably the system will monitor four periods relevant to the NPV:
Period 1—during the activity
Period 2—short term—right after the event
Period 3—mid-term—values served
Period 4—long term—confidence.
The model uses four major happiness contributors:
As the NPV is used in economics, if the NPV of happiness is positive, the person feels happy in the present.
Basically a person uses the model during periods 1 and 2 which represent the present, when the action or event actually takes place, but he always needs to look forward to the future represented by periods 3 and 4 in order to quantify the happiness felt in the present.
The calculation will be:
Happiness=feeling During action+feeling short term(right after)/(1+r)+mid-term(values served)/(1+r)̂2+long term(confidence)/(1+r)̂3
Or
Happiness=SDA+FAC/(1+r)+VS/(1+r)̂2+LTC/(1+r)̂3
In the economic model of NPV, (1+r)̂3 means 3 years after the original investment.
In the case of happiness, the long term confidence may actually span over a longer term than just 3 years, and the values served may be important for more than 2 years.
So within the model there is an option to optimize the times, in order to achieve a stable r value (happiness attitude) for a person, as will be shown with reference to Example 1.
In general, embodiments of the invention can be implemented in any of a variety of hardware/software configurations. A particular embodiment includes at least one client computer and at least one server computer. The client(s) and server(s) may be executing on a common machine or may be deployed in distributed environment in which the client(s) and server(s) communicate via a network (such as will be described below with respect to
With reference now to the figures,
In the depicted example, a plurality of computers is connected to the network 110. The computers include a server computer 115 and exemplary client computers comprising a desktop computer 120, a tablet PC 125, a laptop 130 and a Smartphone 140. It is understood that
The client computers according to the present invention run a client application having a Graphical user Interface (GUI) and communicate over the network with a server application residing on the server computer. The server additionally comprises a database storing registered users' profile information and data related to each user's happiness as collected and calculated by the system, as will be explained in detail below.
The method according to the present invention comprises collecting and monitoring a person's happiness directly through the person's reporting on his state via cellular or internet connected device such as a personal computer, or indirectly through such a device monitoring and analyzing the person's voice when he talks on the cellular device, to detect joy, sadness, or other emotions that are detectable by the voice. Non-limiting examples of voice analyzing are described in U.S. Pat. Nos. 7,165,033, 8,078,470 and 7,451,079, all of which are herein fully incorporated by reference. If the user uses an internet camera, his facial expressions may be detected and analyzed to detect whether he smiles, cries or expresses other detectable emotions and other physical signals that are available and point to a person's emotion, such as body language and movements.
A non-limiting example of expression analyzing is described in U.S. Pat. No. 8,098,273, which is herein fully incorporated by reference.
The method according to the present invention further monitors the events occurring to the person by direct reporting of the person, or in addition or solely using information that is available in the cellular device or the internet connected device, such as the location of the event, the time in which it occurred, the weather information that is available for the time and location, the known political (or other) events known to have happened at the same time.
The inputs from such information sources are then analyzed and correlated with the person's reported happiness level to further understand the causal effects on the person's happiness level. For example, every time it rains he is less happy. So when the system is required to advise and recommend it can take into account the weather. (or time of day or location). For larger population statistics, if the ministry of education finds that every summer holiday the students' level of happiness drops, they may decide to change the way the holidays are planned. Or if the municipality of a city finds that people are happiest in the city's central park, they may invest more there.
The method according to the present invention comprises analyzing the NPV data collected from individuals to understand larger populations' happiness, happiness contributors and attitudes. The invention also allows sharing of the information between users.
When a user first uses the client application, after having been registered, he is prompted to input the following information:
During ongoing usage the system:
Event=argument with the boss
A person will be asked to give his total happiness and how it is combined from the four time periods. It may look like this:
Now, when the person describes more events, this happiness rate is challenged. In order to have one happiness rate and one consistent equation for a person, the software can slightly modify the NPV calculation:
For example, the same person may now report another event: going out for dancing with his wife.
With these 4 values in the NPV equation, the person's happiness rate can be calculated to be 0.195.
This means that the model is not yet stable, as the same person has two very different r values. In order to make the model suitable for both cases the calculation is optimized:
Happiness=SDA+FAC/(1+r)+0.5VS/(1+r)̂2+LTC/(1+r)̂3+0.5VS/(1+r)̂4+LTC/(1+r)̂5
With this new refined model, the person's r is 0.235 for both events, and we understand that the values and confidence are important in the longer term for this person, and that confidence is more critical for him than values.
How does a person quantify each contributor?
The application provides a list of parameters (the parameters themselves may be adjusted to a person as will be described below) for each contributor and each parameter is graded from 1-10 for SDA and FAC, and from −10-+10 for VS and LTC.
For example:
Happiness=SDA+FAC/(1+r)+VS/(1+r)̂2+LTC/(1+r)̂3
A collection of events should all give the same r value.
Refining the model, by addition of periods or constants can be done to achieve consistency, as shown above.
Going back to the exemplary argument with the boss:
Total happiness reported: −40 (NPV)
−40=−15+−23/(1+r)+−10/(1+r)2+−3/(1+r)3
Calculated “happiness rate”: r=28%
Although we assume a constant r for a person, we actually expect that a person who is developing awareness and works on the happiness issue may change his r slightly over time.
Also it may be assumed that a trauma will make a change in r, and that aging will change the r gradually.
It may be the case that a person will have a few typical r values according to the type of event or activities. For example, events that involve the well being of his children may have a typical r, and events that involve the work relationship a different r.
These r values can be learned by collecting enough information about the person's happiness levels.
The happiness data of the person is collected partially indirectly.
Event: A weekly telephone call with the person's mother.
The data on: date of the call, time, the person on the phone are gathered from the cellular system.
Happiness: monitored by the person's voice using a voice analyzing software: −20
The person reports on two time periods regarding the weekly call:
Using the equation:
Happiness=SDA+FAC/(1+r)+VS/(1+r)̂2+LTC/(1+r)̂3
−20=−60+0+50/(1+r)̂2
r=0.17
The system can issue a report to the person saying that every week, when he is calling his mother he shows negative happiness.
By asking summarizing questions, the model may estimate the persons' main values and the importance of contributors. This may be integrated into the model and help in finding the person's NPV equation.
Happiness contributors may be estimated by such summarizing questions according to the following parameters:
The NPV model of a person can guide the person in decisions:
User will get general guidance
As the database grows, the system can further guide the user in his decision making:
What are the chances that any of these will make me happy?
The NPV of happiness allows:
It is appreciated that certain features of the invention, which are, for clarity, described in the context of separate embodiments, may also be provided in combination in a single embodiment. Conversely, various features of the invention which are, for brevity, described in the context of a single embodiment, may also be provided separately or in any suitable sub-combination.
Unless otherwise defined, all technical and scientific terms used herein have the same meanings as are commonly understood by one of ordinary skill in the art to which this invention belongs. Although methods similar or equivalent to those described herein can be used in the practice or testing of the present invention, suitable methods are described herein.
All publications, patent applications, patents, and other references mentioned herein are incorporated by reference in their entirety. In case of conflict, the patent specification, including definitions, will prevail. In addition, the materials, methods, and examples are illustrative only and not intended to be limiting.
It will be appreciated by persons skilled in the art that the present invention is not limited to what has been particularly shown and described hereinabove. Rather the scope of the present invention is defined by the appended claims and includes both combinations and sub-combinations of the various features described hereinabove as well as variations and modifications thereof which would occur to persons skilled in the art upon reading the foregoing description.
This patent application claims priority from and is related to U.S. Provisional Patent Application Ser. No. 61/957,690, filed 16 May 2011, this U.S. Provisional patent application incorporated by reference in its entirety herein.
| Number | Date | Country | |
|---|---|---|---|
| 61457690 | May 2011 | US |
