EP1327238A1

EP1327238A1 - Adaptive presentation system

Info

Publication number: EP1327238A1
Application number: EP01984362A
Authority: EP
Inventors: Jheroen Dorenbosch; Anthony Pallas
Original assignee: Motorola Inc
Current assignee: Motorola Solutions Inc
Priority date: 2000-07-08
Filing date: 2001-07-06
Publication date: 2003-07-16
Also published as: AU2002224579A1; CN1451151A; WO2002009086A1

Abstract

A method and system for presenting a presentation (203) to an audience. Audience information is associated with the members of teh audience and used to determined one or more audience characteristics based on the information and thereby selecting one of a plurality of presentation formats in accordance with the one or more audience characteristics.

Description

ADAPTIVE PRESENTATION SYSTEM

Technical Field

The present invention relates to apparatuses and methods for presentation systems and more particularly to such systems for automatic adapting a presentation to an audience. Background Art

In presentations, data is presented by a presenter (presentation operator) to a certain audience. The presentation may be, for example, a video presentation in which visual data, such as computer-generated graphics, are displayed on a monitor. The visual data may be a succession of still video frames or motion video pictures. In an audiovisual presentation, audio data (sound) may also be played in speakers to accompany the video data being displayed.

The presentations are often computer-generated, and may run under the control of the presentation operator. The presentation operator may, for example, advance the displayed still image to the next still image in the presentation at the appropriate time, or back up to a previously-displayed image in response to a question from an audience member.

The presentation is typically designed with a given audience in mind. Thus, for example, for an audience of engineers and scientists, a presentation may include high-level mathematical equations. For an audience of business people, a presentation may be designed which omits equations. As another example, for an internal company audience, confidential data may be included in the presentation. A presentation designed to be presented to an audience including third parties, however, may omit confidential information and trade secrets. However, it is not always known ahead of time, when designing the presentation, who the audience will be. Alternatively, the audience may change, thus making the presentation content and format less optimal for a given audience than possible. Clearly a need exists for a presentation system that solves the aforementioned problems.

Brief Description of Drawings

These and other features, aspects, and advantages of the present invention will become more fully apparent from the following description, appended claims, and accompanying drawings in which:

Fig. 1 is a block diagram of a dynamic presentation system in accordance with an embodiment of the present invention; and

Fig.2 is a flow chart illustrating preferred method of operation of the system of Fig. 1 in accordance with the invention. Disclosure of the Invention

The present disclosure employs means to identify characteristics about the audience and to dynamically change an aspect (format) of the presentation, to make the presentation as efficient and appropriate as possible based on the current audience and its characteristics. In the present application, a presentation is a display of at least visual content on a display device, with a presentation system, and/or audio played through a speaker. The presentation system may comprise a computer and a monitor, for example, and a database of presentation content and other presentation rules and data.

Referring now to Fig. 1 , there is shown a block diagram of a dynamic presentation system 100 in accordance with an embodiment of the present invention. System 100 comprises a computer such as PC 120, which has a processor 122 and memory 123. It is connected to wireless receiver means 121 , and to projector device 130 and speakers 132. Presentation content and data is stored in a database in memory 123, which may be RAM, CD-ROM, hard disk drive, or other types of storage or combinations of storage. Selected presentation content, in a particular format, is presented to the audience 110 via display means 131 and speakers 132.

Each or a dependence of members 111 , 115, of the audience 110 includes, in an embodiment, a readable identification tag or device, e.g. a wireless identification means 112, 116, which can be read by receiver 122 to determine characteristics about the member. For example, the actual or prospective audience members may wear an RF tag or v-card, which stores information about the person, such as the person's name, position in the company, education, technical proficiency, and other status and characteristics of the person. RF tags, sometimes referred to as RF transponder tags, RF-ID (identification) tags, RF-IDs, or electronic barcodes, can be an active or passive device. A passive RF tag typically has a capacitor which can be charged when the device passes through or is subjected to a sufficient RF field, to power the device. An external RF reader device can read information from the RF tag, for example by sending a wireless query to RF tag, which responds with information such as the identify of the item or person to which the tag is attached, a password, or status.

Different types of RF tag systems are in use, for purposes such as production tracking, automatic toll collection, and anti-theft functions for consumer items. Many RF tags currently in use operate at relatively short distances, from a few inches to a few feet, while others operate from hundreds of feet to miles. Simple, inexpensive, passive RF tags used for anti- theft and product-identification purposes in stores, for example, are sometimes referred to as penny tags. ln an embodiment, content and rules for a dynamic presentation are stored in memory 123. The presentation is preferably an audio-visual, video, or audio presentation. PC 120 is able to present the data in different formats, and to select a format based on some characteristics or information about the audience, which is determined dynamically using receiver means 121. In an embodiment, PC 120 determines characteristics of as many audience members as possible, and then characterizes the audience based on this information, in a way relevant to the presentation. This may be done by associating one or more "categories" with the audience. The categories depend on, and are normally defined for, the presentation itself. Typical categories for a given audience member may be based on age, job function, gender, income, security clearance. The audience may be characterized by assigning to it one or more categories, some of which are based on individual member categories. For example, the audience may be categorized by the total number of audience members, by the average age (based on the age categories or ages of individual members), and so on. Then, PC 120 changes the presentation format depending on the audience characteristics, e.g. depending on the categories that have been determined to be present.

As an example, a presentation may be stored in memory 123 in both technical and non-technical formats. At the beginning of a presentation, the audience 110 consists solely of engineers. Each engineer wears an RF tag containing this information, which is read by PC

120 using receiver (RF tag reader) 121. Thus, each engineer is categorized as "technical," and the audience itself is characterized by the category "only engineers present". Subsequent motion video or frames of the presentation displayed by projector 130 on display screen 131 thus include presentation content in the technical format, which is appropriate for an audience having only engineers. Thus, for example, when PC 120 selects the technical format based on the engineer-only characteristic of audience 110, equations, numbers, decimal points, and the like are presented to audience 131.

Next, the CEO of the company walks into the presentation room. When this happens wireless data is transmitted from the CEO's RF tag to receiver 121 , and PC 120 categorizes the audience 110 as now containing a CEO or nontechnical person. I.e., one audience category switches from "only engineers present" to "some non-engineers present". Based on this change in audience characteristics, PC 120 changes to a non-technical or less technical format of the presentation. Thus, when the CEO enters the room, the presentation stops displaying equations and fractions and now displays information using pie charts, pretty colors, cartoon or stick figures, and the like. Concrete facts are replaced with buzzwords in vogue such as leverage, synergy, value-added, partner, challenge, innovative, empowerment, progressive and the like. Of course intermediate content presentations may also be available and presented.

Thus, the present invention is an adaptive presentation system that dynamically changes the presentation format based on audience characteristics, which are preferably determined by a wireless means. Referring now to Fig. 2, there is shown a flow chart illustrating a method of operation 200 of dynamic presentation system 100. Before beginning a presentation, system 100 determines one or more audience characteristics (step 201). Next, an initial presentation format is selected in accordance with this determination (step 202), and the presentation begins in this format (step 203). So long as there is no change in audience characteristics, the presentation continues in its current presentation format (steps 211 , 213). Whenever, during the presentation, system 100 determines a changed audience characteristic, the presentation format is adjusted accordingly (steps 211 , 212), and then the presentation continues from that point forward in the most recent presentation format, until the audience changes again. In an alternative embodiment, the presentation operator can overwrite the default behavior of the presentation system. In another alternative embodiment, alternative means may be employed by system 100 to discern audience information. For example, instead of using a wireless transmitter 112 on the audience member 111 and corresponding receiver 121 coupled to PC 120, a video camera and pattern recognition may be employed to recognize the person by facial features.

In yet another embodiment, system 100 detects the presence of audience members that do not carry a wireless transmitter, and uses this information to further tailor the mode or format of the presentation. For example, a video camera or turn-stile can detect the entry of a new audience member, even if the person does not have an RF tag. A dynamic presentation may be running which displays confidential information. A person walks in who is not wearing an RF tag, which would otherwise serve as a security badge and indicate the person has security clearance. Presentation system 100 detects the entrance of this person, but does not succeed in verifying that the person has the proper security presence (because they are not wearing an RF tag, for example). Thus, the presentation changes modes to an unsecure format in which confidential information is not displayed or otherwise presented. In this case, even though the newly arrived audience member does not have a transmitting device, system 100 nevertheless determines an audience characteristic (namely, that the audience contains an unverified person or person without an RF tag) and adjusts the presentation format accordingly. ln another embodiment, the presentation may be an advertisement, such as a video display on a sidewalk, under the control of PC 120. In this embodiment, presentation system 100 contains some means for identifying some characteristics of the audience, i.e. the people walking by on the sidewalk, and changes the advertisement based on these characteristics. In a mall type setting, for example, each customer may be provided with a special RF tag which may be customized to the person's characteristics. Alternatively, such an embodiment may be used in a situation in which many members of the public already wear personal RF tags or similar devices. Alternatively, a video camera and pattern recognition techniques may be used to estimate characteristics of the passers-by (e.g., age, profession, gender, number of people, ethnic group, and the like), from which overall audience characteristics may be determined.

In another embodiment, the presentation system is a type of electronic "book" device, where, for example, the book content is displayed to the user on the book screen. In such an embodiment, the electronic book contains a means for characterizing the reader (audience) and changing the presentation format accordingly.

In another alternative embodiment, system 100 has the further feature whereby audience members can interact wirelessly with the system 100 to change the presentation mode. For example, the CEO can press a button on his transmitter indicating he is interested in seeing more detailed information, at which point the presentation displays more textual information and fewer graphics. In addition to formats displaying different types and levels of content, the presentation format or mode may include who is in control of the presentation. Thus, a person in the audience may wish to temporarily control the presentation, i.e. to move a cursor on the screen 131 and double click an item for more detail. This person may have a wireless mouse device, which itself, or along with the person's RF tag, indicates to the system 100 that the person has authority to control the presentation in this manner.

It will be understood that various changes in the details, materials, and arrangements of the parts which have been described and illustrated above in order to explain the nature of this invention may be made by those skilled in the art without departing from the principle and scope of the invention as recited in the following claims.

What is claimed is:

Claims

1. A method for presenting a presentation to an audience, characterized by: (a) automatically determining one or more audience characteristics; and

5 (b) presenting the presentation to the audience in one of a plurality of presentation formats selected in accordance with the one or more audience characteristics.

2. The method of claim 1 , wherein the presentation comprises visual presentation data, wherein step (b) comprises the step of displaying presentation data to the audience in the presentation format. o

3. The method of claim 1 , wherein the audience comprises a plurality of audience members, each member wearing an identification tag having readable information characterizing said each member, wherein step (a) comprises the step of reading the identification tags to characterize the audience members to determine the one or more audience characteristics. 5

4. The method of claim 3, wherein said identification tags are RF tags.

5. The method of claim 1 , wherein the audience comprises a plurality of audience members and step (a) comprises the step of employing a video camera and pattern recognition techniques to characterize the audience members to determine the one or more audience characteristics. 0

6. The method of claim 1 , wherein: the presentation is a displayed advertisement; and the audience comprises individuals passing by the advertisement.

7. The method of claim 1 , wherein step (b) comprises the step of presenting the presentation to the audience in a technical presentation format when the audience is 5 characterized as containing technical audience members.

8. The method of claim 1 , wherein step (b) comprises the step of presenting the presentation to the audience in a confidential presentation format when the audience is characterized as containing authorized audience members.

9. The method of claim 1 , wherein step (a) is performed repeatedly during the o presentation, further characterized by the step of changing the presentation format in accordance with changes in the audience characteristics.

10. A presentation system for presenting a presentation to an audience characterized by a plurality of audience members, each member wearing an identification tag having readable member information characterizing said each member, the system characterized by: (a) an identification tag reader for reading said member information from the identification tags; and

(b) a computer having a memory for storing presentation data, the computer being coupled to the reader for receiving said member information from the reader, wherein the computer is for determining one or more audience characteristics based on the member information and for selecting one of a plurality of presentation formats in accordance with the one or more audience characteristics.

11. The presentation system of claim 10, wherein the presentation comprises visual presentation data, the system further characterized by: (c) a presentation projector for displaying the visual presentation data to the audience in the presentation format.

12. The presentation system of claim 10, wherein said identification tags are RF tags.

13. The presentation system of claim 10, wherein the presentation is presented to the audience in a technical presentation format when the audience is characterized as containing technical audience members.

14. The presentation system of claim 10, wherein the presentation is presented to the audience in a confidential presentation format when the audience is characterized as containing authorized audience members.

15. A presentation system for presenting a presentation to an audience, characterized by:

(a) means for automatically determining one or more audience characteristics; and

(b) means for presenting the presentation to the audience in one of a plurality of presentation formats selected in accordance with the one or more audience characteristics.

16. The presentation system of claim 15, wherein the audience comprises a plurality of audience members, each member wearing an identification tag having readable information characterizing said each member, the system further characterized by a computer having a memory for storing presentation data, wherein the means for determining an audience characteristic comprises an identification tag reader coupled to the computer, wherein the identification tag reader is for reading said characterizing information from the identification tags.

17. The presentation system of claim 16, wherein said identification tags are RFtags.

18. The presentation system of claim 15, wherein the presentation comprises visual presentation data stored in the memory, wherein means (b) comprises a presentation projector for displaying presentation data to the audience in the presentation format.

19. The presentation system of claim 15, wherein the presentation is presented to the audience in a technical presentation format only if the audience is characterized as containing only technical audience members.

20. The presentation system of claim 15, wherein the presentation is presented to the audience in a confidential presentation format only if the audience is characterized as containing only authorized audience members.