Pending Apple Patent For 'Inferring User Mood'

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Pending Apple Patent For 'Inferring User Mood'

Posted by Soulskill on Saturday February 1, 2014 @02:32AM from the infers-that-you're-irritated-by-having-your-mood-inferred dept.

theodp writes: "Apple has recently disclosed a pending patent for Inferring User Mood Based on User and Group Characteristic Data, which has received surprisingly scant attention from the press even though it ups the ante for privacy intrusion. The brainchild of iAd team members, Apple boasts its invention will make it possible to 'charge a higher rate for mood based content delivery' by scrutinizing 'channel characteristics, demographic characteristics, behavioral characteristics, spatial-temporal characteristics, and mood-associated characteristics.' Apple further explains: 'Mood-associated physical characteristics can include heart rate; blood pressure; adrenaline level; perspiration rate; body temperature; vocal expression, e.g. voice level, voice pattern, voice stress, etc.; movement characteristics; facial expression; etc. Mood-associated behavioral characteristics can include sequence of content consumed, e.g. sequence of applications launched, rate at which the user changed applications, etc.; social networking activities, e.g. likes and/or comments on social media; user interface (UI) actions, e.g. rate of clicking, pressure applied to a touch screen, etc.; and/or emotional response to previously served targeted content. Mood-associated spatial-temporal characteristics can include location, date, day, time, and/or day part. The mood-associated characteristics can also include data regarding consumed content, such as music genre, application category, ESRB and/or MPAA rating, consumption time of day, consumption location, subject matter of the content, etc. In some cases, a user terminal can be equipped with hardware and/or software that facilitates the collection of mood-associated characteristic data. For example, a user terminal can include a sensor for detecting a user's heart rate or blood pressure. In another example, a user terminal can include a camera and software that performs facial recognition to detect a user's facial expressions.' Your move, Google!"

79 comments

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OBEY by Anonymous Coward · 2014-02-01 02:35 · Score: 0

Mood: disobedient.
Treatment: pending.
Ambulance: dispatched.
1. Re:OBEY by tripleevenfall · 2014-02-01 03:08 · Score: 4, Funny
  
  Eyes: Shifty
  Likely contemplating act of domestic terrorism. Dispatch Ministry for State Security
2. Re:OBEY by Anonymous Coward · 2014-02-01 05:15 · Score: 4, Insightful
  
  Apple patents hundreds I'd not thousands of things every year, like any large company that does any r&d. They probably don't implement even 10% of them in actual products though. This may also be more about keeping Google from being able to implement this process as it is Apple actually wanting to implement this process.
3. Re:OBEY by davester666 · 2014-02-01 07:40 · Score: 1
  
  That's the Ministry of State Love to you!
  
  --
  Sleep your way to a whiter smile...date a dentist!
4. Re: OBEY by Anonymous Coward · 2014-02-01 08:48 · Score: 0
  
  ahh, hello iWatch + iPhone/iPad/AppleTV.
5. Re:OBEY by flyneye · 2014-02-02 01:01 · Score: 1
  
  I still read it as "Apple Patents Pissing Off Users, Nonusers, Onlookers and Passers-by."
  Seems more plausable.
  
  --
  *Repent!Quit Your Job!Slack Off!The World Ends Tomorrow and You May Die!
I don't think the users will pay.... by Anonymous Coward · 2014-02-01 02:41 · Score: 0

...because the obvious people to benefit from this technology are the PORN industry, and they generally have a track record of being semi-legit at the best of times..
1. Re:I don't think the users will pay.... by ackthpt · 2014-02-01 06:01 · Score: 1
  
  I dunno. I first encountered it in ELIZA.
  
  --
  
  A feeling of having made the same mistake before: Deja Foobar
2. Re:I don't think the users will pay.... by davester666 · 2014-02-01 07:43 · Score: 2
  
  And how does ELIZA make you feel?
  
  --
  Sleep your way to a whiter smile...date a dentist!
No need for all that data collection for my mood by CmdrEdem · 2014-02-01 02:45 · Score: 0

Just remember: When you try to patent such idiocy I will be pretty pissed off. Nice rule of thumb.

--
This combination doesn`t exist: ETIs that know about humanity and want to see us dead. Otherwise we wouldn't exist.
Not that hard to impliment by Anonymous Coward · 2014-02-01 02:46 · Score: 0

AppleUser Mood = smug If Java then Mood = Grumpy
Your Move Patent Office by Nerdfest · 2014-02-01 02:53 · Score: 0

Your Move Patent Office. Are they trying to patent an idea again? More precisely, an overly broad, idea that would be fairly trivial to implement using existing hardware. Given that, do they have even a working implementation? These are real questions, I haven't read TFA. These are the kind of patents that need to stop though. Copyright the implementation of your algorithm and move on.
1. Re:Your Move Patent Office by Anonymous Coward · 2014-02-01 02:59 · Score: 1
  
  Oh no... Trying to patent an idea! It's almost like that's what patents are designed for!
2. Re:Your Move Patent Office by drinkypoo · 2014-02-01 03:10 · Score: 2
  
  Your Move Patent Office. Are they trying to patent an idea again?
  yes
  
  --
  "You're right," Fisheye says. "I should have set it on 'whip' or 'chop.'"
3. Re:Your Move Patent Office by Theaetetus · 2014-02-01 04:54 · Score: 4, Informative
  
  Your Move Patent Office. Are they trying to patent an idea again?
  Well, yeah, that's what patents are for.
  
  More precisely, an overly broad, idea that would be fairly trivial to implement using existing hardware.
  A steam engine is pretty easy to build. Hell, you can 3D print one at home now. Does that mean they should never have been patentable? Difficulty of implementation has never been a requirement for patentability in the statutes... if you disagree with that, then contact Congress, not the patent office, because only the legislature can add a new requirement.
  
  Given that, do they have even a working implementation?
  Most likely, but even if they don't, prototypes haven't been required for decades. That's a good thing - it makes it easier for small inventors with brilliant ideas but no capital to get protection for their invention and then sell it to large companies who have the ability to implement it. Say, for example, you come up with a great idea for a new, super-efficient and secure file system architecture. Are you going to write your own OS? And try to make it in the marketplace as a brand new OS, competing with Apple and Microsoft? You'd never get past .01% market share. But if you could sell it to one of them and it gets implemented in their next OS release, your idea would get used by a much greater portion of the population. Isn't this a good thing for society?
  
  These are real questions, I haven't read TFA. These are the kind of patents that need to stop though.
  How do you know, if you haven't read TFA? We already know that you're wrong about the requirement for difficulty of implementation, the requirement of prototypes, and the requirement that something not be an idea. Why should we think you're right when you haven't even read the article?
  
  Copyright the implementation of your algorithm and move on.
  Copyright will protect you from people making exact copies of your algorithm, from your source code. If they reverse engineer it and remake it - like say one of those OS companies and your file system architecture - it's not copyright infringement. Copyright only protects things where having the specific thing is important - it protects movies, because you want to see "The Hulk", and not the Mockbuster "Angry Green Man" knockoff, or you want to rent "Drop Kick Panda" instead of "Chop Kick Panda". It protects art because you want a Warhol original, not the selfie I just took of me holding a soup can. It protects books because you want OSC's "Ender's Game" and not "Fighting Kids in Space".
  But it doesn't protect software, because you don't really care about the specific thing, you want the general concept - you don't care whether you use TaxAct or TurboTax; you don't care if you play Farmville or Farmtown; or Tiny Tower vs. Dream Heights; or Candy Crush Saga vs. Candy Link Epic. It's only useful where someone is locked into a particular implementation due to lack of compatibility - you have to use Microsoft Word because you keep getting .doc files with proprietary formatting, etc. And those are bad things for consumers.
  Basically, copyright is useless for most developers, unless they're leveraging a monopoly power to lock people into their software.
4. Re:Your Move Patent Office by Nerdfest · 2014-02-01 05:09 · Score: 1
  
  I know what copyright is for, but you're not allowed to patent algorithms. This more than most software patents is an algorithm with how to create a result from set of common existing sensor inputs. It should not be patentable based on that alone.
5. Re:Your Move Patent Office by Anonymous Coward · 2014-02-01 05:17 · Score: 0
  
  Ignoring you obvious worship for everything Apple (unless you're being paid to do this sort of thing)
  A steam engine was not 3D-printable when it was first invented.
6. Re:Your Move Patent Office by Anonymous Coward · 2014-02-01 06:00 · Score: 0
  
  Oh no... Trying to patent an idea! It's almost like that's what patents are designed for!
  If by almost, you mean in no way, shape or form whatsoever, then yeah.
7. Re:Your Move Patent Office by Anonymous Coward · 2014-02-01 06:06 · Score: 0
  
  A steam engine was not 3D-printable when it was first invented.
  And today it is printable. So if I replicate any pre-existing device, will I get sued and/or thrown into jail for doing so? Where is the line drawn? And when is a piece of hardware considered public domain? Because someone will come along and sue, claiming to have patented the first wheel with rounded corners.
8. Re:Your Move Patent Office by andydread · 2014-02-01 06:10 · Score: 1
  
  THIS! a hundred times. I do not see how the patent office is going to let this massively overroad patent see the light of day. What the hell is the "invention" here? is it a machine? device? Apple stinks.
9. Re:Your Move Patent Office by Anonymous Coward · 2014-02-01 07:07 · Score: 1
  
  What the hell is the "invention" here? is it a machine? device?
  It's a method patent for integrating inputs and building a profile about a person. Same as the way Google has many such patents for building interest profiles based on input data it has about a user.
  
  Apple stinks.
  Ah. And there we get to your basic motivation. It must be so hard to maintain such pointless and arbitrary nerdrage.
10. Re:Your Move Patent Office by Theaetetus · 2014-02-01 07:12 · Score: 2
  
  I know what copyright is for, but you're not allowed to patent algorithms.
  You're allowed to patent processes, and isn't an algorithm just a process? Specifically, you're not allowed to patent mathematical algorithms. Algorithms that are not purely math, such as a string of commands executed by a processor, are not just mathematical algorithms. Basically, if you can do it on a pad of paper with a pencil, then it's not patentable... but if the claims expressly require a processor, then by definition, paper and a pencil isn't enough, and it is patentable - and doing it with just the paper and pencil wouldn't be patent infringement. It doesn't remove the mathematical algorithm from the public domain, just the computer implementation.
  
  This more than most software patents is an algorithm with how to create a result from set of common existing sensor inputs. It should not be patentable based on that alone.
  Didn't you say in your first post that you hadn't read the article? How do you know that this "more than most software patents is an algorithm" if you haven't read it? Plus, as noted above, processes are patentable - see 35 USC 101. The fact that this is a process doesn't make it not patentable.
11. Re:Your Move Patent Office by Anonymous Coward · 2014-02-01 10:52 · Score: 0
  
  Well, yeah, that's what patents are for.
  Well, no. Ideas != implementations, just as ideas floating around in your head aren't a film/novel/game.
12. Re:Your Move Patent Office by Crimey+McBiggles · 2014-02-02 06:03 · Score: 1
  
  Computers use the binary system to represent everything. Tell me again how manipulating strings using a computer process isn't mathematical.
  
  --
  Crimey
13. Re:Your Move Patent Office by Theaetetus · 2014-02-02 07:15 · Score: 1
  
  Computers use the binary system to represent everything. Tell me again how manipulating strings using a computer process isn't mathematical.
  Why would I do that? I never said that it wasn't mathematical. This is why Slashdot has a "quote parent" button.
  Rather than making you repost, I'll simply fix your post for you:
  
  You're allowed to patent processes, and isn't an algorithm just a process? Specifically, you're not allowed to patent mathematical algorithms. Algorithms that are not purely math, such as a string of commands executed by a processor, are not just mathematical algorithms.
  
  Computers use the binary system to represent everything. Tell me again how manipulating strings using a computer process isn't- and now I see that you wrote "purely math" and "just mathematical algorithms", but actually require hardware, and hardware isn't just math, even though it may use math, and now I realize that I should have probably read your entire post carefully before responding, and at the least should have quoted it. Sorry.
  No problem. Cheers.
14. Re:Your Move Patent Office by Anonymous Coward · 2014-02-03 02:53 · Score: 0
  
  You are still an idiot. If it can be done on a CPU, it can be done on a pad of paper. You appear to have zero understanding of algorithms, or math.
15. Re:Your Move Patent Office by dwightk · 2014-02-06 08:06 · Score: 1
  
  It protects books because you want OSC's "Ender's Game" and not "Fighting Kids in Space"
  spoiler alert!
  
  --
  Like anyone can even know that
Slashdot should test the beta site using this. by Anonymous Coward · 2014-02-01 02:57 · Score: 0

Slashdot should totally test the beta site using these techniques. I just wonder how they'd response to the results, though. The final report would look something like:

After being subjected to the Slashdot beta site against his or her will, the mood of the user was:
- Anger: 16%
- Rage: 14%
- Disappointment: 14%
- Outrage: 12%
- Resentment: 9%
- Exasperation: 8%
- Uncontrolled Weeping: 8%
- Diarrhea: 7%
- Disgust: 7%
- Brain Hemorrhage: 5%
Well, after looking at those results, I think the final decision about the beta site would actually be pretty clear: PUSH IT LIVE! ONLY 100% OF THE USERS TOTALLY HATE IT!
My mood is BAD, because Mavericks sucks. by Anonymous Coward · 2014-02-01 02:59 · Score: 0

Removal of useful features without asking the user base first is NOT a
smart move, Apple.
Tim Cook will become famous as the CEO who led Apple into the abyss
from which it never emerged. Mark my words.
1. Re:My mood is BAD, because Mavericks sucks. by Anonymous Coward · 2014-02-01 03:15 · Score: 0
  
  Pushing people to the "cloud" I see, just like those shit heads at Google and Microsoft.
2. Re:My mood is BAD, because Mavericks sucks. by Anonymous Coward · 2014-02-01 03:19 · Score: 0
  
  Pushing people to the "cloud" I see, just like those shit heads at Google and Microsoft.
  Your post has no relevance to what I posted.
  Have you had a brain scan recently ?
  Yours might be missing.
3. Re:My mood is BAD, because Mavericks sucks. by Anonymous Coward · 2014-02-01 03:53 · Score: 0
  
  Removed local syncing, now must use icloud.
4. Re:My mood is BAD, because Mavericks sucks. by Anonymous Coward · 2014-02-01 04:37 · Score: 0
  
  Which useful features did they remove?
5. Re:My mood is BAD, because Mavericks sucks. by Anonymous Coward · 2014-02-01 05:06 · Score: 0
  
  Are you referring to the latest versions of iTunes, which has nothing to do with Mavericks? Also there's no iCloud requirement; you can sync your contacts and calendars with any number of services, including your own.
6. Re:My mood is BAD, because Mavericks sucks. by Anonymous Coward · 2014-02-01 08:46 · Score: 0
  
  Which useful features did they remove?
  1) Local Sync for iOS devices has been crippled. Local sync for
  Address Book etc. is no longer possible using Mavericks. Apple
  gives no other choice but to use iCloud for sync, and for some users
  this is not a practical option.
  2) labels for files and folders used to be complete colored backgrounds
  for the text involved. In Mavericks the complete colored backgrounds
  for text are gone, and have been replaced with colored dots to the left
  of the file name or folder name. This can only have been done by someone
  who values appearance over usability -- the dots are FAR less visible than
  the complete colored backgrounds. What is most incredible is that Apple
  could easily have left the old labels as a choice but instead unilaterally
  did away with that choice. This is just bullshit.
  There are other issues with Mavericks but that's all I have time to list right now.
  If you are truly curious a few searches will find plenty of relevant info.
Could be useful... by LihTox · 2014-02-01 03:08 · Score: 4, Funny

...if it lets advertisers know how much ads piss me off.
1. Re:Could be useful... by Anonymous Coward · 2014-02-01 03:20 · Score: 0
  
  Hold that thought (emotion) {in}....
  Ben Bernanke and Janet Yellen juST CAME ON TV...
  "what is unfathomable is beyond calibration", me
Re:No need for all that data collection for my moo by Anonymous Coward · 2014-02-01 03:08 · Score: 0

There's no need to infer your mood: bitchy.
Yes! by Anonymous Coward · 2014-02-01 03:09 · Score: 0

This is exactly what we've always needed!
It seems like any user tracking can be a mood by billrp · 2014-02-01 03:17 · Score: 2

In a quick skim of the patent I didn't see a definition of mood, so can almost any user tracking be considered mood inference? Suppose I bought something yesterday at Amazon, then something similar today, now if Amazon raises the prices for me on similar items tomorrow - is that an infringement because Amazon detected that I'm in the "mood" to buy similar items?
Just think ... by Rambo+Tribble · 2014-02-01 03:18 · Score: 1

... only a few years ago we would have considered this creepy and vaguely criminal.
Oh, wait! It is creepy and vaguely criminal.
1. Re:Just think ... by Anonymous Coward · 2014-02-01 04:54 · Score: 0
  
  http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mood_ring
  "Mood rings were a short-lived fad of the mid-1970s (like the pet rock) and were especially popular with young girls."
  If that demographic is what Apple is targeting, then if it worked before it'll work again.
Oh, don't worry it's just... by nightcats · 2014-02-01 03:21 · Score: 1

a ring. Next big thing you know: throw away your watch, the e-moodring is here, coming to a finger near you.

--
Development is programmable; Discovery is not programmable. (Fuller)
Great by Anonymous Coward · 2014-02-01 03:56 · Score: 0

Just what I fucking need now that I am stressed, is to be bombarded with fucking advertisements for drugs against hyper fucking tension and to top it off, get an increased inter fucking net ISP bill! Fuuuuck!
Inferring User Mood by Anonymous Coward · 2014-02-01 04:00 · Score: 0

I do that every day all day. This should be considered prior art.
As if ... by PPH · 2014-02-01 04:14 · Score: 2

... the aliens weren't enough. Now my laptop is trying to probe me.

--
Have gnu, will travel.
Reading hipster moods isn't hard by hessian · 2014-02-01 04:16 · Score: 0

If you can detect early signs of petulance, entitlement, ironism and PBR overdose, you've got it all covered.

--
Futurist Traditionalism
1. Re:Reading hipster moods isn't hard by Anonymous Coward · 2014-02-01 05:15 · Score: 0
  
  Coool. That means that once Samsung copies it, it'll work for their users as well.
2. Re:Reading hipster moods isn't hard by Anonymous Coward · 2014-02-01 05:37 · Score: 0
  
  you must be either paid, or a Japanese anti-Korean.
  Everyone knows Samsung is locked down using joogle-android-OS...
  Apple is the only manafacturer using an in-house OS.
  its not a samsung vs apple issue, its a (isreeli)PrimeSense-sensor-network vs a joogle-android sensor network.
  couple the joogle-android sensor-integration with your joogle-search-history (witch includes what you were searching for at that-time-of-the-month).
  Given that the great Sir Gay Brin was in the isreeli-defense-force, its pretty much a fixed game.
  Now back to my hot cuppa pragmateas`m....
  "Expose your sensors to the censors, these isreelis should be censured!" -me as misquoted by the illegal isreeli AMDOCS phonetap transcript
3. Re:Reading hipster moods isn't hard by Anonymous Coward · 2014-02-01 06:25 · Score: 0
  
  Misspelling basic words such as manufacturer, Google, Israeli or even it's drastically undermines whatever point you are trying to make.
  If you are going to post asinine drivel, please at least take the time to run it through a spellchecker before wasting our time with it.
  (captcha: delirium)
AI and Advertising by wjcofkc · 2014-02-01 04:20 · Score: 1

I have had a growing suspicion that has reached a level of almost certainty that the worlds first world and self-aware AI will be borne from technologies developed for data mining and advertising applications.

--
Brought to you by Carl's Junior.
1. Re:AI and Advertising by Anonymous Coward · 2014-02-01 04:40 · Score: 0
  
  So not only will clippy be cloying, but he will actually be smart and try to sell me something.
  Clippy: you seem down, would you like a chocolate bar? There is a sale on Hersheys three blocks south, door on the right.
  me: SHUT THE FUCK UP AND FIND ME SOMETHING THAT IS FREE TRADE YOU LITTLE BASTARD.
Interactions with humans by Anonymous Coward · 2014-02-01 04:32 · Score: 0

We, first as humans, second as consumers will charge corporations exceedingly for allowing them to interact with "us humans" at any level.
Mood? by rossdee · 2014-02-01 04:38 · Score: 1

" Mood's a thing for cattle and love play, "
1. Re:Mood? by ColdWetDog · 2014-02-01 04:48 · Score: 1
  
  OK, fine. We got the cattle part down pat.
  Now, were are the ornithopters and lase guns?
  
  --
  Faster! Faster! Faster would be better!
The new Kinect already does this by Anonymous Coward · 2014-02-01 04:45 · Score: 0

Yep, it has been shown by MS that the new Kinect already does this.
Sorry Apple, you were beaten to the punch.
Oh great... by amanaplanacanalpanam · 2014-02-01 05:00 · Score: 1

/*Mood Alarm Trigger Event*/

If mood=="horny" and activeApplicationType==browser
AlertMaritalUnit()
1. Re:Oh great... by Anonymous Coward · 2014-02-01 06:05 · Score: 0
  
  at first glance i saw mood alarm "ni**er" event
  lol
  if she can't dance to 2chainz she ain't worth the time
  captcha: disarm
  (lol)^2
Oh, they said ... by WoodstockJeff · 2014-02-01 05:08 · Score: 1

... infer use mood! I thought it was interfere with user mood.... That's got lots of prior computer art....
Pricing by mood... by Anonymous Coward · 2014-02-01 05:20 · Score: 0

If they want to charge me more depending on my mood, I can tell you what my mood is, and it might involve reprogramming something with a very large axe.
Can the Slashdot mobile site get any worse??? by mspohr · 2014-02-01 05:40 · Score: 1

Sorry for posting this off-topic but there is no other place to post this, so...
The mobile site:
- lousy view and navigation - confusing display of mod points
- no way to view normal site... mobile site is mandatory
- doesn't remember my login
- moderation doesn't work
- can't change view by mod points (outstanding, etc. categories are broken)
Breaking news! Now, just added!!! "popover" ads that won't go away!!!
I had an obnoxious ad for a survey overlay the site. Won't close.
In desperation, I even clicked on it to take the survey (and entered bogus information to screw up their responses) but still the ad won't go away!
(I'm using Chrome browser on Nexus7... if that makes any difference).

--
I don't read your sig. Why are you reading mine?
1. Re:Can the Slashdot mobile site get any worse??? by SternisheFan · 2014-02-01 06:20 · Score: 1
  
  in Chrome's tablet settings (upper right triple dots), scroll down to tic the "Request desktop" checkbox. I've got to agree, the mobile site is annoyingly unusable, and if it's made into a future permanent site page, If Dice keeps insisting I use the new interface, I'll be abandoning /. for good. There are just too many other tech sites out there to choose from.
2. Re:Can the Slashdot mobile site get any worse??? by satcomjimmy · 2014-02-01 08:12 · Score: 1
  
  I can infer this users mood without hardware or software.....I'll wait for the Apple lawyers' C&D notice.....
Sorry Apple by Anonymous Coward · 2014-02-01 06:19 · Score: 0

ToysRUs beat you to it:
http://www.toysrus.com/buy/cases-sleeves/xtrememac-mood-case-for-4gb-ipod-touch-green-99000018707-12194570
Being sensitive to the user by Jeremy+Erwin · 2014-02-01 06:44 · Score: 1

Computers can be helpful, but they can also annoy. Depending on my mood, a beep can be annoying, or it can be informative. A spoken warning can be more informative or irritating when I'm a bit snippy.
For some reason, probably having to do with the raised button on its current case, my ipad will , out of the blue, occasionally wake from sleep, and inform me that "Siri" [is] "not available".Because it's a wifi model, this is not entirely unexpected.
But if it could somehow understand that this normally useful message is inappropriate, that would be lovely.
Dude. Seriously. by whisper_jeff · 2014-02-01 07:22 · Score: 3, Informative

Ok, look. I know it's popular on Slashdot, especially with some submitters, to paint certain companies in as negative a light as possible and Apple is one of those companies but, good gawd, this is NOT NEWS!!
Here's a pro tip - companies the size of Apple, who invest billions (let me say that again - BILLIONS) of dollars into R&D also file for a LOT of patents. A vast majority (by a very wide margin) go nowhere other than the filing cabinet. They are patented because someone came up with an invention and, well, we live in a world where you patent inventions. Apple does it. Google does it. Microsoft does it. IBM. Samsung. HTC. The list goes on and on and on.
Implying that anything nefarious is happening because of one patent filing is absolutely, over the top, useless. If you are doing it for one company, you are very clearly and obviously trolling because, like I said, THEY ALL DO IT. I guarantee - I am willing to bet a year's salary - that if you look at every patent filing from the top 20 tech companies, you will find a notable number which are "nefarious" or "alarming".
In other words, THIS ISN'T NEWS. I don't care if it's Apple or Google or Samsung or whatever company you'd care to name. Filing a patent is not news. IMPLEMENTING a patent is news. Filing one is just business as usual.
Mood ring by Anonymous Coward · 2014-02-01 08:16 · Score: 0

Put your iDevice on a mood ring. Remove device. Done.
How many years have you shilled? by Anonymous Coward · 2014-02-01 08:25 · Score: 0

Better hope no one clicks on your username and sees what a piece of shit you are.
what about prior art? by strstr · 2014-02-01 09:06 · Score: 0

The government has this already. All satellites are being used to track:
Heart rate, breathe rate, facial gestures, brain wave/thought content and more FROM space.
And NSAs technology is pretty good at filtering: audio, video, graphics, and textual content from a variety of sources including phone calls, YouTube clips, and conversations in public.
Mood management is done based on all those same principles. Rate and tension of speech, conversation content, facial recognition, .. the monitoring of brain waves allows them to pinpoint emotion, thoughts, and memory on top of this.
Furthermore, polygraph software has been around for ages in the public realm that does all this based on voice analysis alone, which is how they can extract a variety of things from merely analysing voice, including your emotion, thought pattern, and truthfulness/intent.
Apple is seemingly combining technology from numerous other places for apparent use in their operating systems. Which is nothing special, and I wonder if they actually invented any part of this themselves.
Read more about some of the NSAs technology for this, including Thought Amplifying and Mind Interface at this site, plus patents for mind / mood reading using brain wave analysis: http://www.oregonstatehospital...
1. Re:what about prior art? by Anonymous Coward · 2014-02-02 09:31 · Score: 0
  
  Ah, more fascinating nonsense from Psychotic Todd. How's the "case" going, Todd? I see the judge flushed you down the toilet yet again! Is the NSA still forcing you to masturbate in public parks?
Late Night Food Advertisements on TV by Anonymous Coward · 2014-02-01 11:23 · Score: 0

I will push for new legislation limiting the hours locally that the fast food industry can push their high calorie greasy food on TV. Its a no brainer when you consider that half the people in the US are overweight. 25% are obese.
Re:mood detected by Applehu+Akbar · 2014-02-01 12:30 · Score: 1, Troll

You couldn't do this in Windows 8, because the function would return "total rage meltdown" with every call.
Over-hyped BS by Anonymous Coward · 2014-02-01 21:36 · Score: 0

They CLAIM they can do that stuff - but it's all smoke and mirrors and utterly meaningless. Anyone who claims they can detect or predict someone's mood is selling something. This Big Brother mentality is nothing more than window dressing for funding. It's impossible, period. Absolutely invalid - just like so-called polygraphs that repeatedly prove they are of NO USE other than putting that doubt in the subject's mind. Nothing more.
This explains a lot. by Anonymous Coward · 2014-02-02 00:27 · Score: 0

I was wondering why I keep getting in the mood to snort cocaine then go hijack a bulldozer in a thong, but keep in mind I've never used cocaine.
reply to comment by Anonymous Coward · 2014-02-02 12:40 · Score: 0

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Not an original idea by peosys · 2014-02-10 22:47 · Score: 1

I worked on some aspects of this over 15 years ago and can prove it. There is nothing original here and therefore this should not a valid patent. These ideas have been openly discussed many times before.