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AssigneeFuji Xerox Co., Ltd.
InventorsLester D. Nelson, Elizabeth F. Churchill, Tomas Sokoler
Estimating the term…
Methods and systems for enabling discussions among people about physical objects are provided. Each physical object, of a plurality of physical objects, is associated with a unique corresponding identifier and with at least one person interested in the physical object. When an input including a unique identifier is received that input identifies one of the plurality of physical objects as a specific physical object of interest. A conversational element about the specific physical object of interest is eventually captured. This conversational element is likely produced by a person located at or near the specific physical object of interest. At this point at least one person interested in the specific physical object of interest is identified. This can be based on associations that were produced and the input received. The conversational element about the specific physical object of interest can then be provided to the at least one person interested in the specific physical object of interest.
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A method for enabling discussions among people about physical objects, comprising the steps of:
A method for enabling discussions among people about physical objects, comprising the steps of:
A method for enabling discussions among people about physical objects, comprising the steps of:
A method for enabling discussions among people about physical objects, comprising the steps of:
A system for enabling discussions among people about physical objects, comprising:
A system for enabling discussions among people about physical objects, comprising:
A system for enabling discussions among people about physical objects, comprising:
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.
From the US filing history. Foreign family members aren’t listed.
Backward citations are indexed for grants only.
Administration; Management: office automation; Time management
Finance; Insurance; Tax strategies; Processing of corporate or income taxes: trading; Exchange, e.g. stocks, commodities, derivatives or currency…
Information and communication technology [ict] specially adapted for administrative, commercial, financial, managerial
Term end not estimated
1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to methods and systems for enabling conversations among people about task-centric physical objects.
2. Description of the Related Art
The features, objects, and advantages of the present invention will become more apparent from the detailed description set forth below when taken in conjunction with the drawings in which like reference characters identify the same or similar elements throughout and wherein:
FIG. 1 illustrates a car with repair instructions written on its windshild;
FIGS. 2A, 2B and 2C, respectively, are representative of annotation, history and connection approaches of embodiments of the present invention;
In the description herein, the term synchronous communication refers to communication that occurs in real time or almost real time, such as a telephone conversation, an instant messaging conversation, and the like. In contrast, the term asynchronous communication refers to communication that does not occur in real time or almost real time, such as email and other store and forward communication.
An approach of embodiments of the present invention is to centralize conversations through the physical objects of interest by linking physical objects to a communication system. The physical objects of interest here are ones that serve a functional purpose for accomplishing a task (e.g., a tool). Further, these physical objects are not regarded as communication devices themselves (e.g., telephones, networked PDAs). High level task and object-specific protocols for communication centered around those objects are also provided. Discussions are thus held in context to the places, situations, and content of physical environments.
FIGS. 2A, 2B and 2C are used to represent three approaches for addressing this linkage in accordance with embodiments of the present invention. A first approach, represented in FIG. 2A, is annotation. Annotation provides record and playback ability (e.g., sound or text) so that users can annotate a physical object to permit asynchronous conversation in the presence of the physical object. Another approach, represented in FIG. 2B, is history. History is a record relating to the activity of physical objects (e.g., sensor logs) to capture some context for conversations held on the object. A further approach, connection, is represented in FIG. 2C. Such a connection can be, for example, from the physical object to a communication system (e.g., via a transceiver), directly or in combination with other communication devices. As will be appreciated from the following discussion, combinations of annotation, history and connection can be made to facilitate synchronous and/or asynchronous communications that occur either remotely or in the presence of the object.