Microsoft Kinect Can Figure Out Your Mood

 Patents

A Microsoft patent application, made public this week, proposes targeting ads to users based on their emotional state at any given point.

M icrosoft has applied for a patent for targeting ads to users based on their emotional state, using a Kinect type device, GeekWire reports.

Do you look happy? You’ll see ads for vacation packages and consumer electronics, but not weight-loss programs or self-help products. Do you look sad? You won’t see that over-the-top animated ad for children’s birthday parties at the local bowling alley. Feeling frustrated? It’s PC support ads for you.

Those are actual examples from the patent application, which incorporates some of the same ideas as the earlier filing for deducing the user’s mood — including scanning messages and social media postings.

Also included: audio and video capture devices (to detect facial expressions and tone of voice) in addition to the company’s Kinect sensor, which would be used to analyze body movements as another input for the emotion-detecting algorithm.

It is not clear yet if the system will also be implemented for Kinect's robotic applications, such as in robots that convey emotions, or other uses.



SOURCE  GeekWire

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