Reducing power consumed by a head-mounted system that measures affective response to content

Abstract

Some aspects of this disclosure include systems, methods, and/or computer programs that may be used to reduce power consumed to measure affective response of a user to content presented via a display of a head-mounted system such as an augmented reality system or a virtual reality system. In one embodiment, a controller selects a mode of operation for a sensor coupled to the head-mounted system based on a received indication. The mode of operation is selected from a set comprising first and second modes of operation, and the sensor is configured to consume significantly less power while operating at the first mode of operation compared to the power it is configured to consume while operating at the second mode of operation.

What is claimed is: 
     
         1 . A head-mounted system, comprising:
 a display configured to present segments of content to a user;   a sensor configured to measure affective response of the user to the segments of content; and   a controller configured to receive an indication indicating a mode of operation for the sensor from among a set comprising first and second modes of operation, and to configure the sensor to operate in the indicated mode of operation; wherein the sensor consumes at least 50% less power while operating at the first mode of operation compared to the power it consumes while operating at the second mode of operation.   
     
     
         2 . The head-mounted system of  claim 1 , further comprising a processor configured to generate the segments of content as part of an interactive computer game, and to generate the indication; wherein the indication is provided in a form of a tag that describes a mode of operation in which to operate the sensor while the user consumes a certain segment of content. 
     
     
         3 . The head-mounted system of  claim 1 , wherein the indication is received from a content emotional response analyzer (content ERA) configured to: receive a segment of content, analyze the segment, and output an indication indicating whether a value related to an emotional response to the segment reaches a predetermined threshold. 
     
     
         4 . The head-mounted system of  claim 3 , wherein the segment comprises data representing text, and the content ERA utilizes semantic analysis of the text to produce the indication. 
     
     
         5 . The head-mounted system of  claim 1 , wherein the sensor is battery powered and is one or more of the following: a physiological sensor, and an image capturing device. 
     
     
         6 . The head-mounted system of  claim 1 , wherein the sensor is utilized to measure brainwave activity via electroencephalography (EEG). 
     
     
         7 . The head-mounted system of  claim 1 , wherein the segments of content comprise at least one of the following: augmented reality content, virtual reality content, and video content. 
     
     
         8 . A method for reducing power consumption of measuring affective response to content, comprising:
 presenting a user, via a display coupled to a head-mounted system worn by the user, a first segment of content;   receiving a first indication indicative of a first mode of operation in which to operate a sensor to measure affective response to the first segment; wherein the sensor is coupled to the head-mounted system;   measuring affective response of the user to the first segment, with the sensor, while the sensor is in the first mode of operation;   presenting the user, via the display, a second segment of content;   receiving a second indication indicative of a second mode of operation in which to operate the sensor to measure affective response to the second segment; and   measuring affective response of the user to the second segment, with the sensor, while the sensor is in the second mode of operation; wherein the sensor consumes at least 50% less power while operating at the first mode of operation compared to the power it consumes while operating at the second mode of operation.   
     
     
         9 . The method of  claim 8 , wherein the first and second segments comprise at least one of text and data that can be converted to text, and further comprising analyzing the first and second segments utilizing semantic analysis of the text to produce the first and second indications. 
     
     
         10 . The method of  claim 8 , further comprising refraining from taking measurements of affective response of the user when operating the sensor in the first mode of operation. 
     
     
         11 . The method of  claim 8 , further comprising forwarding data, obtained from the measuring of the affective response of the user to the second segment, to a measurement emotional response predictor (measurement ERP) for predicting emotional response. 
     
     
         12 . The method of  claim 8 , wherein the sensor is battery powered, and further comprising measuring the affective response of the user by utilizing the sensor for at least one of: taking a physiological measurement of the user, and capturing an image of the user. 
     
     
         13 . The method of  claim 8 , further comprising receiving from an interactive computer game the first and second segments and the first and second indications. 
     
     
         14 . The method of  claim 8 , further comprising: analyzing the first and second segments and determining that a first value related to a prediction of emotional response to the first segment does not reach a first predetermined threshold, while a second value related to a prediction of emotional response to the second segment reaches a second predetermined threshold. 
     
     
         15 . A non-transitory computer-readable medium having instructions stored thereon that, in response to execution by a system including a processor and memory, causes the system to perform operations comprising:
 presenting a user, via a display coupled to a head-mounted system worn by the user, a first segment of content;   receiving a first indication indicative of a first mode of operation in which to operate a sensor to measure affective response to the first segment; wherein the sensor is coupled to the head-mounted system;   measuring affective response of the user to the first segment, with the sensor, while the sensor is in the first mode of operation;   presenting the user, via the display, a second segment of content;   receiving a second indication indicative of a second mode of operation in which to operate the sensor to measure affective response to the second segment; and   measuring affective response of the user to the second segment, with the sensor, while the sensor is in the second mode of operation; wherein the sensor consumes at least 50% less power while operating at the first mode of operation compared to the power it consumes while operating at the second mode of operation.   
     
     
         16 . The non-transitory computer-readable medium of  claim 15 , wherein the first and second segments comprise text, or data that can be converted to text, and further comprising further comprising instructions defining a step of analyzing the first and second segments utilizing semantic analysis of the text to produce the first and second indications. 
     
     
         17 . The non-transitory computer-readable medium of  claim 15 , further comprising instructions defining a step of refraining from taking measurements of affective response of the user when operating the sensor in the first mode of operation. 
     
     
         18 . The non-transitory computer-readable medium of  claim 15 , further comprising instructions defining a step of forwarding data obtained from the measuring of the affective response of the user to the second segment to a measurement emotional response predictor (measurement ERP) that predicts emotional response. 
     
     
         19 . The non-transitory computer-readable medium of  claim 15 , further comprising instructions defining a step of receiving from an interactive computer game the first and second segments and the first and second indications. 
     
     
         20 . The non-transitory computer-readable medium of  claim 15 , further comprising instructions defining steps comprising: analyzing the first and second segments, and determining that a first value related to a prediction of emotional response to the first segment does not reach a first predetermined threshold, while a second value related to a prediction of emotional response to the second segment reaches a second predetermined threshold.