Immersive story creation

Abstract

Immersive, dynamic storytelling functionality is described. The stories may include elements (e.g., characters, settings, duration, etc.) based on information provided, including in real time, by the user or presentation environment, and may be presented by projecting visual or audio story elements into the space surrounding the user. For example, as a child tells a story about a jungle, the room is filled with images of foliage. Animals that live in the jungle may be suggested as characters. Stories may be contextually tailored based on information about the user, environment, storytelling conditions, or other context. For example, story duration and excitement level may be influenced by the time of day, such that a story presented ten minutes before bedtime is an appropriate duration and excitement level. In some cases, objects of the presentation environment are incorporated into the story, such as a character projected as though entering through an actual doorway.

The invention claimed is: 
     
         1 . A computerized method for providing a dynamic, immersive story experience, the method comprising:
 receiving electronic story resources including
 (a) an unassembled plurality of story blocks, each story block of the plurality of story blocks having metadata specifying input data and output data for the story block, and a set of placeholders, and 
 b) a set of story element libraries; 
   receiving a first set of data comprising physical information about a story presentation environment and contextual information;   based at least on a portion of the metadata and the received contextual information, assembling a sequence of two or more story blocks from the unassembled plurality of story blocks into a story structure, the story structure linking the sequence of a first story block and a second story block by connecting the output data of the first story block to the input data of the second story block;   automatically populating a first placeholder of the first story block with a an element from the set of story element libraries based on the first story block's input data metadata;   generating electronic story-presentation instructions based on the story structure and the received physical information about the story presentation environment information; and   providing the electronic story-presentation instructions to a presentation device configured to present story content based on the electronic story-presentation instructions;   receiving, during presentation of the first story block, a second set of data including additional physical information about the story presentation environment or additional contextual information; and   responsive to receipt of the second set of data and during presentation of the first story block selecting a third story block from the unassembled set of story blocks, modifying the story structure by unlinking the first story block from the second story block and linking the output data of the first story block to input data of the third story block, and updating the presentation device with electronic story-presentation instructions including the modified story structure.   
     
     
         2 . The computerized method of  claim 1 , wherein the physical information about the story presentation environment is obtained by capturing an image of a known pattern projected into the presentation environment, and wherein the computerized-method further comprises:
 generating distortion information based on a determined difference in the captured image information compared to the known pattern;   based on the distortion information, determining a distortion correction; and   modifying story content for presentation in the story presentation environment based on the distortion correction.   
     
     
         3 . The computerized method of  claim 1 , wherein the presentation environment information comprises input from a human user located in the presentation environment. 
     
     
         4 . The computerized method of  claim 3 , wherein the input comprises speech, gestures, or motion by the human user. 
     
     
         5 . The computerized method of  claim 1 , wherein the story element comprises at least one of a story character, setting, sound effect, visual image, animation, video, or story logic. 
     
     
         6 . The computerized method of  claim 1 , wherein the contextual information comprises at least one of the time of day, day of week, age of a user located in the presentation environment, bed time of a user located in the presentation environment, or emotional-energy level of speech by a storyteller in the presentation environment. 
     
     
         7 . The computerized method of  claim 1 , wherein the electronic story-presentation instructions include a story-duration based on the contextual information. 
     
     
         8 . The computerized method of  claim 1 , wherein the electronic story-presentation instructions include instructions for presenting story prompts corresponding to the sequence of the two or more story blocks. 
     
     
         9 . The computerized method of  claim 1 , further comprising:
 receiving, during presentation of the story content, a third set of data including updated physical information about the story presentation environment or additional contextual information;   responsive to receipt of the second set of data and during presentation of the story content:   selecting the second story block from the unassembled set of story blocks, updating the story structure by linking the output data of the third story block to the input data of the second story block, and   providing the presentation device with the electronic story-presentation instructions including the updated story structure.   
     
     
         10 . One or more computer storage media having computer-executable instructions embodied thereon that, when executed by one or more computing devices, cause the one or more computing devices to perform operations comprising:
 receiving electronic story resources including an unassembled plurality of story blocks, each story block of the plurality of story blocks having metadata specifying input data and output data for the story block, and a set of placeholders;   capturing a first set of data comprising physical information about a story presentation environment and contextual information;   based at least on the metadata and the received contextual information, assembling a sequence of two or more story blocks from the unassembled plurality of story blocks into a story structure by, the story structure linking the sequence of a first story block and a second story block by connecting the output data of the first story block to the input data of the second story block;   automatically populating a first placeholder of the first story block with a an element from an story element library based on a property defined by the first story block's input data metadata;   generating electronic story-presentation instructions based on the story structure and the received physical information about the story presentation environment information;   initiating presentation a story based on the electronic story-presentation instructions;   receiving, during presentation of the story, a second set of data including additional physical information for the story presentation environment or additional contextual information; and   responsive to receipt of the second set of data and during presentation of the story, selecting a third story block from the unassembled set of story blocks, modifying the story structure by unlinking the first story block from the second story block, linking the output data of the first story block to input data of the third story block, and updating the electronic story-presentation instructions including the modified story structure.   
     
     
         11 . The media of  claim 10 , wherein the story structure further includes a guidance information and logic for providing a portion of the guidance information to a human storyteller based on the sequence of two or more story blocks. 
     
     
         12 . The media of  claim 10 , wherein the story structure further comprises one or more story content libraries for obtaining the story content for populating the at least one placeholder in each block. 
     
     
         13 . The media of  claim 10 , wherein the story structure is generated using a software application and the story structure is packaged with the story content. 
     
     
         14 . The media of  claim 10 , wherein each story block further specifies a story-transition from a previous story block or a subsequent story block. 
     
     
         15 . A computerized method for providing an immersive story experience, the method comprising:
 capturing, using one or more presentation-environment sensors, information from a human storyteller;   determining a first concept associated with the received information;   identifying a set of concepts related to the first concept;   collecting a set of story blocks from an unassembled plurality of story blocks, each story block having a set of placeholders;   generating a story structure from the collected set of story blocks, the story structure including a sequence of two or more story blocks and generated by connecting at least output data of a first story block to input data of a second story block;   populating the story structure with a set of story content corresponding to the set of related concepts;   initiating presentation of the story structure populated with the set of story content;   identifying a second set of concepts based on additional information received from the human storyteller during presentation of the story structure corresponding to the first story block;   responsive to identification of the second set of concepts, selecting a third story block from the unassembled set of story blocks; and   modifying the story structure by unlinking the first story block from the second story block and linking the output data of the first story block to input data of the third story block during presentation of the story structure corresponding to the first story block.   
     
     
         16 . The computerized-method of  claim 15 , wherein presenting the set of story content comprises providing electronic story-presentation instructions corresponding to the set of story content to the presentation device configured to present the set of story content based on the electronic story-presentation instructions. 
     
     
         17 . The computerized-method of  claim 15 , further comprising:
 analyzing the received information from the human storyteller to determine a storytelling level of assistance associated with the human storyteller;   based on the determined level of assistance, generating a set of guidance information; and   providing the set of guidance information to a presentation device configured to present the set of guidance information to the storyteller.   
     
     
         18 . The computerized-method of  claim 15 , further comprising:
 receiving information about a presentation environment;   extracting one or more features from the received information; and   based on the extracted one or more features, determining an object in the presentation environment, wherein the set of story content is further determined based on the object in the presentation environment.   
     
     
         19 . The computerized-method of  claim 15 , wherein the received information from the storyteller comprises information derived from speech, motion, gestures, or an indication of a book or toy. 
     
     
         20 . The computerized method of  claim 15 , further comprising:
 receiving, using the one or more presentation-environment sensors, contextual information,   wherein the set of story content is further determined based on the received contextual information, and   wherein the received contextual information comprises at least one of the time of day, day of week, or an emotional-energy level of speech by the human storyteller.