Software agents and smart contracts to control disclosure of crowd-based results calculated based on measurements of affective response

Abstract

Software agents and smart contracts may assist users to control how their measurements of affective response are used and how they are compensated for providing their measurements. In one embodiment, a computer receives a measurement of affective response of a user to an experience, and also receives a request indicative of compensation to be provided to the user for a disclosure of a score for the experience. The score is to be calculated based on the measurement of the user and additional measurements of affective response of other users to the experience. The computer calculates a risk to privacy of the user due to a disclosure of the score. Responsive to the risk being below a first threshold and the compensation reaching a second threshold, the computer signs on behalf of the user, a smart contract that facilitates the disclosure of the score and a transfer of the compensation.

We claim: 
     
         1 . A system configured to operate a software agent on behalf of a user, comprising:
 a computer configured to:   receive a measurement of affective response of a user to an experience;   receive a request indicative of compensation to be provided to the user for a disclosure of a score for the experience that is to be calculated based on the measurement and additional measurements of affective response of other users to the experience;   calculate a risk to privacy of the user due to a disclosure of the score; and   responsive to the risk being below a first threshold and the compensation reaching a second threshold, sign on behalf of the user, a smart contract that facilitates the disclosure of the score and a transfer of the compensation.   
     
     
         2 . The system of  claim 1 , wherein the computer is further configured to generate, using homomorphic encryption, an encrypted form of the measurement; whereby the homomorphic encryption enables to calculation of the score using the encrypted form of the measurement without necessitating its decryption. 
     
     
         3 . The system of  claim 1 , wherein the computer is further configured to store the encrypted form of the measurement in a database; and wherein the smart contract further facilitates retrieval of the encrypted form of the measurement from the database and forwarding the encrypted form of the measurement to be utilized to calculate the score. 
     
     
         4 . The system of  claim 1 , wherein the transfer of the compensation comprises a transfer of a certain amount of a cryptocurrency to an account of the user. 
     
     
         5 . The system of  claim 1 , wherein the request is further indicative of the number of the other users, and the computer is further configured to calculate the risk to the privacy of the user based on the number of the other users. 
     
     
         6 . The system of  claim 1 , wherein the computer is further configured to provide the measurement after receiving an indication indicating that agreements to provide the measurements of the other users have been reached with software agents operating on behalf of the other users. 
     
     
         7 . The system of  claim 1 , wherein the computer is further configured to calculate the second threshold based on the risk as follows: responsive to the risk being below a third threshold, the second threshold is set to a first value, and responsive to the risk being above the third threshold, the second threshold is set to a second value, which is greater than the first value. 
     
     
         8 . The system of  claim 1 , wherein the computer is further configured to: (i) receive indications of previous contributions of measurements of affective response of the user to the experience, which were utilized to calculate previous scores to the experience, and (ii) calculate, based on the indications, a risk to the privacy of the user due to the disclosure of the score, given that the previous scores have already been disclosed. 
     
     
         9 . The system of  claim 1 , wherein the computer is further configured to send, prior to receiving the request, an offer indicative of: (i) an availability of the measurement of affective response of the user to the experience, and (ii) a desired compensation for providing the measurement to be used in a computation of a crowd-based result. 
     
     
         10 . The system of  claim 1 , wherein the computer is further configured to correct the measurement with respect to a bias of the user related to a certain factor, prior providing the measurement; and wherein the bias is corrected utilizing a model trained on previous measurements of affective response of the user, which correspond to events in which the user had various experiences, and descriptions of factors characterizing the events. 
     
     
         11 . The system of  claim 1 , wherein the request is indicative of a location associated with the experience and the computer is further configured to receive indications of the locations of the user at different times, identify a time frame during which the user was at the location, and to select the measurement of affective response of the user from among measurements taken during the time frame. 
     
     
         12 . A method for operating a software agent on behalf of a user, comprising:
 receiving a measurement of affective response of the user to an experience;   receiving a request indicative of compensation to be provided to the user for a disclosure of a score for the experience that is to be calculated based on the measurement and additional measurements of affective response of other users to the experience;   calculating a risk to privacy of the user due to a disclosure of the score; and   responsive to the risk being below a first threshold and the compensation reaching a second threshold, signing on behalf of the user, a smart contract that facilitates the disclosure of the score and a transfer of the compensation.   
     
     
         13 . The method of  claim 12 , further comprising generating, using homomorphic encryption, an encrypted form of the measurement, and storing the encrypted form of the measurement in a database; wherein the smart contract further facilitates retrieval of the encrypted form of the measurement from the database and forwarding the encrypted form of the measurement to be utilized to calculate the score; whereby the homomorphic encryption enables to calculation of the score using the encrypted form of the measurement without necessitating its decryption. 
     
     
         14 . The method of  claim 12 , wherein the request is further indicative of the number of the other users, and further comprising calculating the risk to the privacy of the user based on the number of the other users. 
     
     
         15 . The method of  claim 12 , further comprising providing the measurement after receiving an indication indicating that agreements to provide the measurements of the other users have been reached with software agents operating on behalf of the other users. 
     
     
         16 . The method of  claim 12 , further comprising calculating the second threshold based on the risk as follows: responsive to the risk being below a third threshold, setting the second threshold to a first value, and responsive to the risk being above the third threshold, setting the second threshold a second value, which is greater than the first value. 
     
     
         17 . The method of  claim 12 , further comprising: (i) receiving indications of previous contributions of measurements of affective response of the user to the experience, which were utilized to calculate previous scores to the experience, and (ii) calculating, based on the indications, a risk to the privacy of the user due to the disclosure of the score, given that the previous scores have already been disclosed. 
     
     
         18 . The method of  claim 12 , further comprising correcting the measurement with respect to a bias of the user related to a certain factor, prior providing the measurement; and wherein the bias is corrected utilizing a model trained on previous measurements of affective response of the user, which correspond to events in which the user had various experiences, and descriptions of factors characterizing the events. 
     
     
         19 . The method of  claim 12 , wherein the request is indicative of a location associated with the experience, and further comprising: receiving indications of the locations of the user at different times, identifying a time frame during which the user was at the location, and selecting the measurement of affective response of the user from among measurements taken during the time frame. 
     
     
         20 . 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:
 receiving a measurement of affective response of a user to an experience;   receiving a request indicative of compensation to be provided to the user for a disclosure of a score for the experience that is to be calculated based on the measurement and additional measurements of affective response of other users to the experience;   calculating a risk to privacy of the user due to a disclosure of the score; and   responsive to the risk being below a first threshold and the compensation reaching a second threshold, signing on behalf of the user, a smart contract that facilitates the disclosure of the score and a transfer of the compensation.