Anticipatory Environment for Collaboration and Data Sharing

Abstract

A collaborative environment adapts to and anticipates users' needs based on presence of participants, proximity, context, in order to facilitate interaction among participants. An aspect of the collaborative environment includes multifactor user recognition.

We claim the following: 
     
         1 . A method in a computer system to facilitate interactions among users in a conference area comprising operating the computer system to perform steps of:
 storing in a first data store a plurality of device information for a corresponding plurality of user devices, the plurality of device information including device identification (ID) data that identify the corresponding user devices and user ID data that identify users associated with the corresponding user devices;   receiving device ID data from a plurality of first user devices, the plurality of first user devices being a subset of the plurality of user devices;   using the device ID data received from the first user devices to access corresponding device information from the first data store;   using identification information obtained from the accessed device information to create a list of candidate users who are associated with the first user devices;   receiving sensed biometric information representative of a first user from one or more sensory devices deployed about the conference area;   accessing a second data store having stored thereon a plurality of biometric information for a corresponding plurality of users to access biometric information of only those users who are in the list of candidate users; and   comparing the sensed biometric information against the accessed biometric information to identity the first user.   
     
     
         2 . The method in  claim 2  further comprising receiving location information from one of the first user devices and selectively including a user associated with said one of the first user devices in the list of candidate users depending on whether a location represented by the location information is within a predetermined perimeter about the conference area. 
     
     
         3 . The method in  claim 2  wherein the location information represents a location of said one of the first user devices. 
     
     
         4 . The method in  claim 2  wherein the location information represents a location of a device in data communication with said one of the first user devices. 
     
     
         5 . The method in  claim 2  wherein receiving the sensed biometric information representative of the first user includes initiating sensing of the first user absent interaction with the first user. 
     
     
         6 . The method in  claim 5  wherein sensing the first user includes capturing an image and/or speech of the first user. 
     
     
         7 . The method in  claim 2  wherein receiving the sensed biometric information representative of the first user includes interacting with the user to initiate activity to obtain identification information from the first user. 
     
     
         8 . The method in  claim 7  wherein the activity includes capturing an image and/or speech of the first user. 
     
     
         9 . The method in  claim 2  wherein the first and second data store are in one data storage system. 
     
     
         10 . A computer system comprising:
 means for storing in a first data store a plurality of device information for a corresponding plurality of user devices, the plurality of device information including device identification (ID) data that identify the corresponding user devices and user ID data that identify users associated with the corresponding user devices;   means for receiving device ID data from a plurality of first user devices, the plurality of first user devices being at most a subset of the plurality of user devices;   means for accessing corresponding device information from the first data store using the device ID data received from the first user devices;   means for creating a list of candidate users who are associated with the first user devices using identification information obtained from the accessed device information;   means for receiving sensed biometric information from one or more sensory devices deployed about the conference area, the sensed biometric information representative of a first user;   means for accessing a second data store having stored thereon a plurality of biometric information for a corresponding plurality of users to access biometric information of only those users who are in the list of candidate users; and   means for comparing the sensed biometric information against the accessed biometric information to identity the first user.   
     
     
         11 . The computer system of  claim 10  further comprising means for receiving location information from one of the first user devices and selectively including a user associated with said one of the first user devices in the list of candidate users depending on whether a location represented by the location information is within a predetermined perimeter about the conference area. 
     
     
         12 . The computer system of  claim 11  wherein the location information represents a location of said one of the first user devices. 
     
     
         13 . The computer system of  claim 11  wherein the location information represents a location of a device in data communication with said one of the first user devices. 
     
     
         14 . The computer system of  claim 10  wherein the means for receiving the sensed biometric information representative of the first user includes means for initiating sensing of the first user absent interaction with the first user. 
     
     
         15 . The computer system of  claim 14  wherein the means for sensing the first user includes capturing an image and/or speech of the first user. 
     
     
         16 . A computer system to facilitate interactions among users in a conference area:
 first means for receiving data from a plurality of sensing devices deployed about the conference area;   second means, in communication with the first means, for detecting interactions among a plurality of first users;   third means, in communication with the second means, for accessing a data store of multimedia documents to access first multimedia documents based on the interactions among the first users and presenting the first multimedia documents on one or more output devices proximate the first users;   fourth means, in communication with the first means, for detecting a second user and for accessing the data store of multimedia documents to access second multimedia documents based on past activities of the second user.   
     
     
         17 . The computer system of  claim 16  wherein the interactions among the first users include conversations among the first users, wherein the first multimedia documents are based on the content of the conversations. 
     
     
         18 . The computer system of  claim 16  wherein the second user is among the plurality of first users. 
     
     
         19 . The computer system of  claim 16  wherein the past activities of the second user include previously accessed data, previous interactions with other users, and previously visited locations.