Biofeedback for third party gaming content

Abstract

Techniques are disclosed for deploying game-based therapy correlated with, but independent from, an executing game program. In general, game content within a display can be improved with an overlay of visual therapeutic content such as a visual indicator of a current emotional or physiological state, along with visual features or effects that alter game difficulty. A variety of visual effects can usefully be integrated with third-party game content with requiring direct computation access to the executing game code. For example, effects such as dimming, fading, pixelating, or fogging can be rendered within active regions of a game window independently from, but correlated with the visual content of, the current game. This is suitable for delivering treatment for a range of cognitive and similar disorders and permits rendering of user-specific therapeutic content in combination with third-party games and gaming platforms.

What is claimed is: 
     
         1 . A method comprising:
 executing gaming software on a computer;   presenting a visual output from the gaming software on a display for a user;   monitoring game progress for the gaming software;   receiving biofeedback from the user of the gaming software; and   independently from the gaming software, generating visual effects to modify the visual output from the gaming software in response to the biofeedback from the user and deploying the visual effects over the visual output from the gaming software.   
     
     
         2 . The method of  claim 1 , wherein the visual effects include a visual indicator of a physiological response of the user during gameplay. 
     
     
         3 . The method of  claim 1 , wherein the visual effects alter a difficulty of gameplay for the gaming software. 
     
     
         4 . The method of  claim 1 , wherein deploying the visual effects includes writing the visual effects directly to the display. 
     
     
         5 . The method of  claim 1 , wherein deploying the visual effects includes writing the visual effects to a video buffer for the display. 
     
     
         6 . The method of  claim 1 , wherein monitoring game progress includes programmatically monitoring the visual output from the gaming software. 
     
     
         7 . The method of  claim 1 , wherein monitoring game progress includes receiving game information from an application programming interface for the gaming software. 
     
     
         8 . The method of  claim 1 , wherein the visual effects are selected to provide remedial content during gameplay. 
     
     
         9 . A computer program product, the computer program product comprising computer executable code embodied in a non-transitory computer-readable medium that, when executing on one or more computing devices, performs the steps of:
 executing gaming software on a computer;   presenting a visual output from the gaming software on a display for a user;   monitoring game progress for the gaming software;   receiving biofeedback from the user of the gaming software; and   independently from the gaming software, generating visual effects to modify the visual output from the gaming software in response to the biofeedback from the user and deploying the visual effects over the visual output from the gaming software.   
     
     
         10 . The computer program product of  claim 9 , wherein the visual effects include a visual indicator of a physiological response of the user during gameplay. 
     
     
         11 . The computer program product of  claim 9 , wherein deploying the visual effects includes writing the visual effects directly to the display. 
     
     
         12 . The computer program product of  claim 9 , wherein deploying the visual effects includes writing the visual effects to a video buffer for the display. 
     
     
         13 . The computer program product of  claim 9 , wherein monitoring game progress includes programmatically monitoring the visual output from the gaming software. 
     
     
         14 . The computer program product of  claim 9 , wherein monitoring game progress includes receiving game information from an application programming interface for the gaming software. 
     
     
         15 . The computer program product of  claim 9 , wherein the visual effects are selected to provide remedial content during gameplay. 
     
     
         16 . A system comprising:
 a display;   a processor;   a physiological monitor configured to provide a physiological signal, the physiological monitor coupled in a communicating relationship with the processor; and   a memory storing an assessment of a person, the assessment including evaluation of an emotional or behavioral state of the person, wherein the memory and processor are configured by computer executable code to perform the steps of receiving digital content from a third party for presentation on a display of a computer, monitoring a physiological response of a person while presenting the digital content with a sensor that acquires biofeedback from the person, varying a property of the digital content with a processor based on the biofeedback, measuring a change in the physiological response as the property of the digital content changes, and modifying the property of the digital content using effects when the physiological response exceeds a predetermined threshold, wherein modifying the property includes presenting an overlay on top of the digital content on the display.   
     
     
         17 . The system of  claim 16 , wherein deploying the visual effects includes writing the visual effects directly to the display. 
     
     
         18 . The system of  claim 16 , wherein monitoring game progress includes programmatically monitoring the visual output from the gaming software. 
     
     
         19 . The system of  claim 16 , wherein monitoring game progress includes receiving game information from an application programming interface for the gaming software. 
     
     
         20 . The system of  claim 16 , wherein the visual effects are selected to provide remedial content during gameplay.