Selective transmissions of sensor measurements of affective response to content

Abstract

Systems and methods for selective transmissions of sensor measurements of affective response to content. In one embodiment, a vote analyzer receives an indication that a user provided, via a voting mechanism, a vote regarding a segment of content consumed by the user. The vote analyzer determines whether the user consumed the segment in a duration that is shorter than a predetermined threshold; the predetermined threshold is selected such that, while consuming the segment in a period of time shorter than the predetermined threshold, the user is likely to have a single dominant emotional response to the segment. Accordingly, a transmitter may send a request to a measuring module to transmit measurements of the affective response of the user, taken by a sensor, which relate to consumption of the segment.

What is claimed is: 
     
         1 . A system comprising:
 a vote analyzer configured to receive an indication that a user provided a vote regarding a segment of content consumed by the user; wherein the vote is provided by the user via a voting mechanism; and wherein the voting mechanism comprises one or more of the following: a like voting mechanism, a dislike voting mechanism, a star rating mechanism, a numerical rating mechanism, an up voting mechanism, a down voting mechanism, a ranking mechanism, and a mechanism for entering comments comprising data representing text;   the vote analyzer is further configured to determine that the user consumed the segment in a duration that is shorter than a predetermined threshold; wherein the predetermined threshold is selected such that, while consuming the segment in a period of time shorter than the predetermined threshold, the user is likely to have a single dominant emotional response to the segment; and   a transmitter configured to send a request to a measuring module to transmit measurements of affective response of the user, taken by a sensor while the user consumed the segment; wherein at least some of the measurements are taken before the request is sent.   
     
     
         2 . The system of  claim 1 , wherein the measuring module comprises a sensor, a memory with capacity sufficient to store measurements of the user taken between essentially start of exposure of the user to the segment and the time the request is received by the measuring module, and a transceiver configured to fulfill the request, while reducing unnecessary transmissions, by transmitting, after receiving the request, measurements stored in the memory to fulfill the request. 
     
     
         3 . The system of  claim 2 , wherein the measuring module is further configured not to transmit a certain measurement if a request for the certain measurement is not received by the measuring module within a predetermined duration. 
     
     
         4 . The system of  claim 2 , further comprising a label generator configured to generate a label based on the vote; wherein the label is indicative of an emotional response, likely felt by the user, which is related to the vote; and further comprising a module configured to train a measurement emotional response predictor (measurement ERP) utilizing the label and a corresponding measurement received from the measuring module. 
     
     
         5 . The system of  claim 2 , further comprising a measurement emotional response predictor (measurement ERP) configured to predict emotional response of the user from data comprising a measurement received from the measuring module. 
     
     
         6 . The system of  claim 2 , wherein the sensor is implanted in the user. 
     
     
         7 . The system of  claim 2 , wherein no request is received for a certain measurement within a predetermined duration, and the measuring module is further configured not to transmit the certain measurement. 
     
     
         8 . The system of  claim 1 , wherein the vote analyzer is further configured to: receive an indication that the user provided a second vote regarding a second segment of content consumed by the user, and determine that the user consumed the second segment in a duration that is not shorter than a second predetermined threshold; wherein the transmitter is further configured not to send a second request to the measuring module to transmit affective response measurements of the user related to consumption of the second segment; and wherein the second predetermined threshold is selected such that, while consuming the second segment in a period of time shorter than the second predetermined threshold, the user is likely to have a single dominant emotional response to the second segment. 
     
     
         9 . The system of  claim 1 , wherein the vote analyzer is further configured to receive a characteristic of the segment and to set the predetermined threshold based on the characteristic of the segment. 
     
     
         10 . A method comprising:
 receiving an indication that a user provided a vote regarding a segment of content consumed by the user; wherein the vote is provided by the user via a voting mechanism; and wherein the voting mechanism comprises one or more of the following: a like voting mechanism, a dislike voting mechanism, a star rating mechanism, a numerical rating mechanism, an up voting mechanism, a down voting mechanism, a ranking mechanism, and a mechanism for entering comments comprising data representing text;   determining that the user consumed the segment in a duration that is shorter than a predetermined threshold; wherein the predetermined threshold is selected such that, while consuming the segment in a period of time shorter than the predetermined threshold, the user is likely to have a single dominant emotional response to the segment; and   sending a request to a measuring module to transmit measurements of affective response of the user, taken by a sensor while the user consumed the segment; wherein at least some of the measurements are taken before the request is sent.   
     
     
         11 . The method of  claim 10 , further comprising transmitting, by the measuring module, after receiving the request, measurements of the affective response of the user taken by the sensor, which fulfill the request. 
     
     
         12 . The method of  claim 10 , further comprising receiving an indication that the user provided a second vote regarding a second segment of content consumed by the user; determining that the user consumed the second segment in a second duration that is not shorter than a second predetermined threshold; and not sending a second request to the measuring module to transmit measurements related to consumption of the second segment; wherein the second predetermined threshold is selected such that, while consuming the second segment in a period of time shorter than the second predetermined threshold, the user is likely to have a single dominant emotional response to the second segment. 
     
     
         13 . The method of  claim 12 , further comprising not transmitting, by the measuring module, after receiving the second request, measurements that fulfill the second request. 
     
     
         14 . The method of  claim 10 , further comprising receiving a characteristic of the segment, and selecting the predetermined threshold based on the characteristic of the segment. 
     
     
         15 . The method of  claim 10 , further comprising generating a label based on the vote; wherein the label is indicative of an emotional response likely felt by the user, which is related to the vote. 
     
     
         16 . The method of  claim 15 , further comprising training a measurement emotional response predictor (measurement ERP) utilizing the label and corresponding measurements of affective response received from the measuring module. 
     
     
         17 . The method of  claim 10 , further comprising predicting emotional response of the user from data comprising measurements of affective response received from the measuring module. 
     
     
         18 . A system comprising:
 a vote analyzer configured to receive an indication that a user provided a vote regarding a segment of content, and receive a characteristic of the segment; wherein the segment is consumed by the user on the social network, and the vote is provided via a voting mechanism belonging to the social network;   the vote analyzer is further configured to select, based on the characteristic, a window during which the user likely expressed an affective response related to the content; wherein the window is shorter than duration in which the user consumes the content; and   a transmitter configured to send a request to a measuring module to transmit measurements of affective response of the user, taken by a sensor during the window, which relate to consumption of the segment; wherein start of the window precedes time the request is sent.   
     
     
         19 . The system of  claim 18 , wherein the measuring module comprises the sensor, a memory with capacity sufficient to store measurements of the user taken between the start of the window and the time the request is received by the measuring module, and a transceiver configured to fulfill the request, while reducing unnecessary transmissions, by transmitting, after receiving the request, measurements stored in the memory to fulfill the request. 
     
     
         20 . The system of  claim 19 , wherein the vote analyzer is further configured to receive a second indication that the user provided a second vote regarding a second segment of content consumed by the user on the social network; the system is further configured to receive a third indication that affective response expressed by the user in relation to the consumption of the second segment is not discernible; and the transceiver is further configured not to transmit affective response measurements of the user related to the consumption of the second segment.