U.S. patent application number 11/415861 was filed with the patent office on 2006-11-23 for system and method for display management based on user attention inputs.
This patent application is currently assigned to Trading Technologies international, Inc.. Invention is credited to Brian J. Buck.
Application Number | 20060265651 11/415861 |
Document ID | / |
Family ID | 35785570 |
Filed Date | 2006-11-23 |
United States Patent
Application |
20060265651 |
Kind Code |
A1 |
Buck; Brian J. |
November 23, 2006 |
System and method for display management based on user attention
inputs
Abstract
A system and method are provided for managing data being
displayed on at least one monitor screen based on monitoring user's
attention in relation to the monitor screen. In one embodiment,
upon detecting that the user's attention is leaving at least a
portion of a screen, the system may alert the user of such an
event. Alternatively, the system could alert the user upon
detecting a triggering condition while the user's attention is away
from the at least a portion of the screen. The step of alerting the
user may include modifying at least a portion of a display on a
monitor not being viewed by the user. Additionally, the system may
initiate preparation of a report including any data not being
viewed by a user during the time period when the user is not
viewing a portion of the monitor.
Inventors: |
Buck; Brian J.; (Lisle,
IL) |
Correspondence
Address: |
MBHB/TRADING TECHNOLOGIES
300 SOUTH WACKER DRIVE
SUITE 3200
CHICAGO
IL
60606
US
|
Assignee: |
Trading Technologies international,
Inc.
|
Family ID: |
35785570 |
Appl. No.: |
11/415861 |
Filed: |
May 2, 2006 |
Related U.S. Patent Documents
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Application
Number |
Filing Date |
Patent Number |
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10872617 |
Jun 21, 2004 |
|
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11415861 |
May 2, 2006 |
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Current U.S.
Class: |
715/700 |
Current CPC
Class: |
G06F 3/1431 20130101;
G09G 2360/04 20130101; G09G 5/14 20130101; G06Q 40/04 20130101;
G06Q 30/0201 20130101; G06F 3/013 20130101 |
Class at
Publication: |
715/700 |
International
Class: |
G06F 3/00 20060101
G06F003/00 |
Claims
1. A method for management of data displays based on user's
attention data, the method comprising: displaying data on at least
one display unit; monitoring a user's attention in relation to the
at least one display unit; detecting the user's attention shifting
from the at least a portion of the at least one display unit; and
alerting the user with respect to the at least one display
unit.
2-45. (canceled)
Description
FIELD OF INVENTION
[0001] The present invention is directed to managing data displays.
More specifically, the present invention is directed to managing
data displays based on user's attention data.
BACKGROUND
[0002] An exchange is a central marketplace with established rules
and regulations where buyers and sellers meet to trade. Some
exchanges, referred to as open outcry exchanges, operate using a
trading floor where buyers and sellers physically meet on the floor
to trade. Other exchanges, referred to as electronic exchanges,
operate by an electronic or telecommunications network instead of a
trading floor to facilitate trading in an efficient, versatile, and
functional manner. Electronic exchanges have made it possible for
an increasing number of people to actively participate in a market
at any given time. The increase in the number of potential market
participants has advantageously led to, among other things, a more
competitive market and greater liquidity.
[0003] With respect to electronic exchanges, buyers and sellers may
log onto an electronic exchange trading platform by way of a
communication link through their user terminals. Once connected,
buyers and sellers may typically choose which tradeable objects
they wish to trade. As used herein, the term "tradeable object"
refers to anything that can be traded with a quantity and/or price.
It includes, but is not limited to, all types of traded events,
goods and/or financial products, which can include, for example,
stocks, options, bonds, futures, currency, and warrants, as well as
finds, derivatives and collections of the foregoing, and all types
of commodities, such as grains, energy, and metals. The tradeable
object may be "real," such as products that are listed by an
exchange for trading, or "synthetic," such as a combination of real
products that is created by the user. A tradeable object could
actually be a combination of other tradeable objects, such as a
class of tradeable objects.
[0004] To profit in electronic markets, market participants must be
able to assimilate large amounts of data in order to recognize
market trends and to view current market conditions. Screen space
is often an important factor for a trader to consider when he/she
sets up a trading workstation, since the screen space directly
affects the trader's ability to quickly view and process market
data. Many traders use one large monitor running at a very high
resolution in an effort to get the maximum amount of data onto the
screen. However, in today's information-intensive markets, to be
successful, traders often need to simultaneously view multiple
trading interfaces, charts, industry news, spreadsheets, as well as
other information. Since each application-created interface has at
least one window, a single monitor does not allow a trader to
simultaneously view data on multiple windows, and the time it takes
the trader to flip between the windows does not make the single
monitor the most optimal trading workspace solution.
[0005] Therefore, many traders use multiple monitors to avoid
flipping from one window to another, and to efficiently view all
windows simultaneously. However, traders with multiple monitors can
actually only look closely at one monitor at a time. Although the
human peripheral field of vision is 180.degree., the field of
foveal vision (the region of the visual field where the user has
the greatest visual activity) is approximately 2.degree..
Therefore, a trader can only attend to a small part of each display
at any one point in time. When a trader's gaze returns to a monitor
after some period of time, it is simple to observe the current
state of the application, but, especially with a real-time
application like a trading interface or any other graphical display
of time-varying data, it will not be easy for a trader to determine
what has occurred during the time-interval when the trader-was
looking elsewhere. As a trader uses more monitors, the trader may
miss many important trading opportunities by not being able to
simultaneously view data that are displayed on different monitors.
Therefore, it would be beneficial to provide a system that could be
used by a trader to improve his awareness of market events when the
trader is using more than one monitor.
BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS
[0006] Example embodiments of the present invention are described
herein with reference to the following drawings, in which:
[0007] FIG. 1 is a block diagram illustrating an example network
configuration for a communication system utilized to access one or
more exchanges;
[0008] FIG. 2 is a block diagram illustrating an example system for
management of market data being displayed on multiple monitors
using gaze tracking in a trading environment;
[0009] FIG. 3 is a block diagram of a client device with a number
of layers defining different stages that can be used to implement
the example embodiments; and
[0010] FIGS. 4A and 4B are a flow diagram illustrating operation
and function of a possible implementation of the preferred
embodiments for managing multiple monitor displays according to one
example embodiment.
DETAILED DESCRIPTION
I. Display Management Using Gaze Input Controls
[0011] The preferred embodiments are provided, among other things,
to facilitate display management based on monitoring user's
attention in relation to one or more display monitors, such as
monitoring a user's gaze position in relation to one or more
monitors, or upon detecting some other user-defined events. In one
aspect of the preferred embodiments, a system includes, among other
elements, a plurality of monitors, one or more gaze tracking units,
and a display manager application. The gaze tracking units
preferably non-intrusively capture the direction of the user's gaze
and calculate which screen or which portion of the screen the user
is currently viewing. If one of the gaze tracking units detects the
user shifting his eyes away from a monitor or from one or more
graphical interfaces being displayed on the monitor, the gaze
tracking unit may notify the display manager application of the
occurrence of such an event, and the display manager application
can responsively start managing at least a portion of the display
monitor.
[0012] In one preferred embodiment, the display manager application
may record data being displayed on the monitor while the user's
gaze is away from the monitor. In such an embodiment, for example,
the data can be recorded during the entire trading session, and the
display manager application can select or mark portions of the data
being recorded so that the data corresponding to the time when the
user's gaze was away from the screen or a portion thereof can be
later easily identified. Alternatively, the display manager
application may modify the display, such as suppress or minimize
some or all of the displayed windows, or perform different
functions based on the user's preferences. Then, when the gaze
tracking unit detects the user's gaze returning back to the
monitor, an event indicating that marking of the data being
recorded should stop, the gaze tracking unit may notify the display
manager application to stop marking the data that is being
recorded. Alternatively, if the display manager application starts
data recording upon detecting that the user's gaze is away from the
monitor, or a portion thereof, the event of the user's gaze
returning back to the monitor can be interpreted as a request to
stop recording. In one embodiment, the display manager application
may prepare a report including events that happened during the time
period when the user's gaze was away from the monitor, and may
provide the report to a user upon detecting another event, such as
upon detecting the user's gaze returning back to the monitor. The
report could include a series of snapshots of textual and/or
graphical displays, or may include all recorded data which can be
later played to a user. Also, the report could highlight certain
elements on the user interfaces while the user's gaze was away from
the monitor. In another embodiment, the report could be a "weather
map" style fast forward display of what happened during the away
time. However, it should be understood that different report
formats could also be prepared based on the user's preferences.
[0013] In an alternative embodiment, or in addition to preparing a
report, the display manager application could also alert a user at
times when the user is not looking at a monitor or at one or more
windows being displayed on the monitor. In one embodiment, the
process of alerting a user may include modifying a full display
monitor or portions of the display, such as individual windows, not
being viewed by the user. For example, the display manager
application could modify the display by enhancing, enlarging, or
modifying colors of the windows or interfaces not being viewed by a
user. However, it should be understood that different modifications
could be applied to the individual windows or entire monitor
displays as well. Also, rather than enhancing the display of the
windows not being viewed by the user, such windows could be
minimized or covered with some other displays. Further,
alternatively, the alerts could be audio alerts, and could include
any audio messages or sounds. In such an embodiment, the content of
audio messages could be based on what a user is not looking at on
one or more screens. Alternatively, alerts could only be provided
to a user upon detecting a condition triggering generation of an
alert. It should be understood that such conditions could be user
configurable.
[0014] While the present invention is described herein with
reference to illustrative embodiments for particular applications,
it should be understood that the present invention is not limited
thereto. Other systems, methods, and advantages of the present
embodiments will be or become apparent to one with skill in the art
upon examination of the following drawings and description. It is
intended that all such additional systems, methods, features, and
advantages be within the scope of the present invention, and be
protected by the accompanying claims.
II. Hardware and Software Overview
[0015] As will be appreciated by one of ordinary skill in the art,
the present embodiments may be operated in an entirely software
embodiment, in an entirely hardware embodiment, or in a combination
thereof. However, for sake of illustration, the preferred
embodiments are described in a software-based embodiment, which is
executed on a computer device. As such, the preferred embodiments
take the form of a computer program product that is stored on a
computer readable storage medium and is executed by a suitable
instruction system in the computer device. Any suitable computer
readable medium may be utilized including hard disks, CD-ROMs,
optical storage devices, or magnetic storage devices, for
example.
[0016] In an electronic trading environment, when a trader selects
a tradeable object, the trader may access market data related to
the selected tradeable object(s). Referring to FIG. 1, an example
communication that might occur between an electronic exchange and a
client terminal in accordance with the preferred embodiments is
shown. During a trading session, market data 108, in the form of
messages, may be relayed from a host exchange 106 over
communication links 116 and 112 to a client terminal generally
indicated as 102. As illustrated in FIG. 1, intermediate devices,
such as gateway(s) 104, may be used to facilitate communications
between the client terminal 102 and the host exchange 106. It
should be understood that while FIG. 1 illustrates the client
terminal 102 communicating with a single host exchange, in an
alternative embodiment, the client terminal 102 could establish
trading sessions to more than one host exchange.
[0017] The market data 108 contains information that characterizes
the tradeable object's order book including, among other
parameters, order related parameters, and the inside market, which
represents the lowest sell price (also referred to as the best or
lowest ask price) and the highest buy price (also referred to as
the best or highest bid price). In some electronic markets, market
data may also include market depth, which generally refers to
quantities available for trading the tradeable object at certain
buy price levels and quantities available for trading the tradeable
object at certain sell price levels.
[0018] In addition to providing the tradeable object's order book
information, electronic exchanges can offer different types of
market information such as total traded quantity for each price
level, an opening price, last traded price, last traded quantity,
the closing price, or order fill information. It should be
understood that market information provided from an electronic
exchange could include more or fewer items depending on the type of
tradeable object or the type of exchange. Also, it should be
understood that the messages provided in the market data 108 may
vary in size depending on the content carried by them, and the
software at the receiving end may be programmed to understand the
messages and to act out certain operations.
[0019] A trader may view the information provided from an exchange
via one or more specialized trading screens created by software
running on the client terminal 102. Upon viewing the market
information or a portion thereof, a trader may wish to take
actions, such as send orders to an exchange, cancel orders at the
exchange, or change order parameters, for example. To do so, the
trader may input various commands or signals into the client
terminal 102. Upon receiving one or more commands or signals from
the trader, the client terminal 102 may generate messages that
reflect the actions taken, generally shown at 110. It should be
understood that different types of messages or order types can be
submitted to the host exchange 106, all of which may be considered
various types of transaction information. Once generated, user
action messages 110 may be sent from the client terminal 102 to the
host exchange over communication links 114 and 116.
III. System Function and Operation
[0020] FIG. 2 is a block diagram illustrating an example system 200
for management of market data displays on multiple monitors using
gaze tracking inputs according to one example embodiment. The
system 200 includes a plurality of computer display units or
screens 202-208, each associated with gaze tracking interfaces
210-216 for following and tracking positions and movements of the
user's head and eyes. There are many currently existing
technologies providing gaze detection and tracking functionality,
and the gaze tracking interfaces 210-216 can include any existing
or later developed gaze detection and tracking systems. According
to one preferred embodiment, the gaze tracking interfaces 210-216
may capture the user's gaze, and then provide the user's gaze
position data to a gaze control application 218. FIG. 2 illustrates
each monitor having a gaze tracking interface. However, in an
alternative embodiment, the system 200 could include a single gaze
tracking interface to monitor a user's gaze in relation to a
plurality of monitors. Also, it should be understood that the
embodiments described herein are not limited to any number of
monitors or gaze tracking interfaces, and fewer or more monitors
and gaze tracking interfaces could also be used.
[0021] Upon receiving the user's gaze position data, the gaze
control application 218 may first determine the user's gaze
position coordinates in relation to one of the monitors. When the
gaze control application 218 detects a user shifting his eyes away
from one of the monitors (or a portion of a display on one of the
monitors, depending on the user's preferences), the gaze control
application 218 may provide a signal to the display manager 220 so
that, in one preferred embodiment, the display manager 220 may
start preparing a report of events occurring while the user is not
looking at the monitor. It should be understood that the report may
take many different formats, and may include textual and/or
graphical data. Also, in a preferred embodiment, a user may specify
a number of rules defining which portions of the displayed
interfaces should be recorded. For example, if a monitor displays a
trading interface and a chart, a user may wish to configure a
number of rules that will cause the display manager 220 to only
record data being displayed on the trading interface, while not
recording any chart display data.
[0022] In a preferred embodiment, the display manager 220 may
continue preparation of the report until the gaze control
application 218 provides a stop signal to the display manager 220.
The gaze control application 218 may generate the stop signal upon
detecting that the user's gaze returned to the monitor. The display
manager 220 may then provide the generated report to a user. It
should be understood that the report could be displayed to a user
immediately upon detecting the user's gaze returning back to the
monitor for which the report was created. Alternatively, a user may
control when he/she wishes to view the report. As mentioned in
earlier paragraph, the report may take many different formats, and
may include a series of textual and/or graphical displays,
highlighting of certain elements on the application's user
interface, a fast forward display of what happened during the away
time, a combination thereof, or yet some other format. It should be
understood that a user could define a number of rules to be used by
the display manager 220 to prioritize which of the recorded data
should be shown to the trader first. In such an embodiment, the
display manager 220 may process data from many applications or
windows, and may report the highest priority items first. The
display manager 220 may then save each report in a database
222.
[0023] In the system 200 illustrated in FIG. 2, the display manager
220 is connected to multiple monitors that are part of a workspace.
However, alternatively, the display manager 220 could also control
monitors connected to more than one workstation. In such an
embodiment the display manager 220 may communicate over a network
with the gaze tracking interfaces associated with other workspaces,
and can mediate the reporting process over one or more
networks.
[0024] Also, while FIG. 2 and subsequent figures refer-to using
gaze related data, the preferred embodiments are not limited to
monitoring where the user is looking. Alternatively, the display
manager 220 can perform its functions in response to other user
attention based inputs. For example, the display manager 220 could
manage the display according to the preferred embodiments described
below when it detects that a portion or the entire window being
displayed on a monitor is covered by another window so that a user
cannot view the window underneath. However, it should be understood
that different events could also be considered to affect the user's
attention.
[0025] FIG. 3 is a block diagram illustrating a client device 300
with a number of layers defining different stages that may be used
to implement embodiments of the present invention. The layers
include a trading application 302, a gaze control application 304,
a display manager application 306, a database 308, an operating
system 310, and an application programming interface ("API") 312.
The client device 300 also preferably includes, among other things,
at least a processor and a memory unit (both of which are not shown
in the figure, but are well known computer components). Preferably,
the processor has enough processing power to handle and process
various types of market information. Therefore, the more market
information is received and processed, the more processing power is
preferred. However, any present day processor has enough processing
power to handle and process various types of market information.
Also, it should be understood that memory may include any computer
readable medium. The term computer readable medium, as used herein,
refers to any medium that participates in providing instructions to
a processor unit for execution.
[0026] Preferably, the trading application 302 and the display
manager applications 306 have access to market information from one
or more host exchange 314 through an interface, such as the API
312. A commercially available trading application that allows a
user to trade is X_TRADER.RTM. from Trading Technologies
International, Inc. of Chicago, Ill. X_TRADER.RTM. also provides an
electronic trading interface, referred to as MD Trader.TM., in
which working orders and/or bid and ask quantities are displayed in
association with a static axis of prices. However, the preferred
embodiments are not limited to any particular product that performs
translation, storage, and display functions.
[0027] Portions of the X_TRADER.RTM. and the MD Trader.TM.-style
display are described in U.S. patent application Ser. No.
09/590,692, entitled "Click Based Trading With Intuitive Grid
Display of Market Depth," filed on Jun. 9, 2000, U.S. patent
application Ser. No. 09/971,087, entitled "Click Based Trading With
Intuitive Grid Display of Market Depth and Price Consolidation,"
filed on Oct. 5, 2001, and U.S. patent application Ser. No.
10/125,894, entitled "Trading Tools for Electronic Trading," filed
on Apr. 19, 2002, the contents of each are incorporated herein by
reference.
[0028] When the gaze control application 304 receives user's gaze
position data from a gaze interface 320, the gaze control
application 304 may determine position coordinates of the user's
gaze in relation to one or more monitors in a user's workspace.
Upon detecting that the user has shifted his eyes away from one of
the monitors, the gaze control application 304 may provide a signal
to the display manager application 306 to start managing the
display of the monitor. The display manager application 306 may
start recording market data or any other data being displayed on
the monitor while the user is not looking at the monitor.
Alternatively, the display manager application 306 may suppress the
active display of the monitor by minimizing any windows that are
displayed on the monitor, or by obscuring the windows with a
snapshot of what the display looks like at various intervals.
However, it should be understood that any other mechanism, such as
intercepting low-level window manager messages related to commands
to paint the physical screen, could be used as well to modify a
display while a user is not looking at a monitor. Also, in one
preferred embodiment, the process of updating the monitor display
preferably resumes immediately upon detecting the user's eyes
returning back to the monitor. In fact, the display manager
application 306 could stop management of the display as soon as the
gaze interface 320 detects that there is a reasonable probability
of the gaze coming to rest upon the display monitor in
question.
[0029] Preferably, any data recorded by the display manager
application 306 may be saved in the database 308. The database 308
may be any data storage entity that provides writing and reading
access. In one preferred embodiment, the database 308 may record
any data for the display manager application 306, and the data
could be recorded directly to a memory unit or to some other
storage device, such as a computer's hard disk. The display devices
316 could be CRT-based video displays, LCD-based displays, gas
plasma-panel displays, displays that show three-dimensional images,
different display types, or the combination thereof. The input
devices 318 may include a mouse, a keyboard, a game pad, or a
stylus in the embodiments using touch-screen display devices.
However, different input devices could also be used.
[0030] The operating system 310 may be used to manage hardware and
software resources of the client terminal 300. General functions of
the operating system 310 may include processor management, memory
management, device management, storage management, application
interface, and user interface. Any type of the operating system 310
may be used to implement the present embodiments, and examples of
common operating systems include the Microsoft WINDOWS family of
operating systems, the UNIX family of operating systems, or the
MACINTOSH operating systems. However, those ordinarily skilled in
the art will recognize that the added complexity of an operating
system may not be necessary to perform the functions described
herein.
[0031] FIGS. 4A and 4B are a flow chart illustrating a method 400
for operation and function of a gaze control application of the
preferred embodiments for gaze control processing. It should be
understood that each block may represent a module, segment, or
portions of code, which includes one or more executable
instructions for implementing specific logical functions or steps
in the process. Alternate implementations are included within the
scope of the preferred embodiment of the present invention in which
functions may be executed out of order from that shown or
discussed, including substantially concurrently or in reverse
order, depending on the functionality involved, as would be
understood by those reasonably skilled in the art of the present
invention. The flow diagram 400 will be described in relation to
the elements of the client terminal in FIG. 3. However, it should
be understood that more, fewer, or different components could also
be used to execute the method 400.
[0032] Referring to FIG. 4A, at step 402, the gaze control
application 304 uses inputs that are provided by the gaze interface
320 to determine and monitor coordinates of the user's gaze in
relation to at least one monitor. In a preferred embodiment, the
gaze control application 304 uses the gaze coordinates to determine
the exact position of the user's eyes in relation to one of the
monitors. At step 404, the gaze control application 304 detects the
user's eyes shifting away from at least one monitor display. It
should be understood that, in an alternative embodiment, the gaze
control application 304 could be also configured to detect the
user's eyes shifting away from one or more windows or user
interfaces being displayed on a monitor. Also, alternatively,
events other than the user's gaze shifting away from the screen or
a portion thereof could be detected as well, and could trigger the
steps of the method described below. Such events, for example, may
include any user's attention based events, such as a window being
temporarily obscured by another window, or some other
user-configurable events.
[0033] When the gaze control application 304 detects that the
user's eyes has shifted away from one of the monitors or a portion
thereof, such as from one or more windows being displayed on the
monitor, at step 406, the gaze control application 304 may provide
a signal to the display manager application 306. In one embodiment,
the signal may include an identifier defining a monitor, or one or
more application windows that are not being viewed by the user. It
should be understood that the user could define which of the
application windows or monitors should be monitored by the gaze
control application 304 so that the gaze control application 304
would provide a signal to the display manager application 306 only
when it detects the user's eyes shifting away from one of the
specified application windows or monitors.
[0034] At step 408, the display manager application 306 may start
management of data being displayed on the monitor. In one preferred
embodiment, the display manager application 306 may prepare a
report by recording data being displayed on the monitor while the
user's eyes are away from that monitor. For example, the system may
be configured to record data being displayed on a monitor during
the entire trading session. In such an embodiment, the display
manager application 306 may record the time when the user's gaze
shifts away from the monitor or a portion thereof so that it can
later go back to the recording and identify the start of the
relevant data. It should be understood that different methods could
also be used to identify where the relevant data has started. In an
alternative embodiment, the display manager application 306 could
start recording the data at the time when the gaze control
application 304 detects the user's gaze shifting away from the
monitor or a portion thereof.
[0035] In an alternative embodiment, the display manager
application 306 may initiate a process of alerting a user upon
detecting that the user's gaze has shifted away from the monitor or
from one or more windows being displayed on the monitor. For
example, the display manager application 306 could enhance,
enlarge, or change colors of all or some windows or interfaces not
being viewed by the user. Further, alternatively, the display
manager application 306 could minimize some windows being displayed
on the monitor, or could cover some or all windows not being viewed
by a user with some other windows. Also, the process of alerting a
user could include providing audio alerts, such as playing messages
or different sounds to a user. In such an embodiment, the message
content or the type of the alert used may depend on data not being
viewed by a user at one of the monitors or portions of the monitor.
Also, it should be understood that the process of alerting a user
may be initiated at the time when the user shifts his attention
from the monitor or the window, or at some other time, such as upon
detecting an alert triggering condition along with the user's
attention being away from a monitor or from a window.
[0036] At step 410, the gaze control application 306 determines if
the user's gaze has returned back to the monitor or to one or more
windows being displayed on the monitor. Referring to FIG. 4B, when
the user's gaze returns back to the monitor or windows being
displayed on the monitors, at step 412, the display manager
application 306 may discontinue data management for the monitor
display. For example, the display manager application 306 may
record the time when the event happened so that it can later
identify the end of the relevant data from the recorded data. In an
alternative embodiment where the display manager application 306
only starts recording data upon detecting a user attention based
event, the display manager application 306 may stop recording upon
detecting the user's gaze returning back to the monitor. Further,
alternatively, the display manager application 306 could
discontinue generating alerts for a user in relation to windows or
the monitor being currently viewed by the user, or may stop
modifying the display of the monitor or the windows.
[0037] At step 414, the display manager application 306 may
determine if a report was prepared for a user. As explained in
reference to earlier paragraphs, in a preferred embodiment, the
report may include all or some data recorded during the time
interval when the user's gaze was away from the monitor, or away
from one or more windows on the monitor. Also, it should be
understood that the report may take many different formats. For
example, the report could be a series of textual and/or graphical
displays of what happened during the user's away time.
Alternatively, the report could include a series of screen/window
snapshots, or video data highlighting certain elements on the user
interfaces during the user's away time. Also, a user could control
which of the displayed data should be recorded, or what events
should trigger the process of recording data. It should be
understood that any combination of report types could be used, or
yet some other report type could also be generated.
[0038] If the report has been generated, at step 416, the display
manager application 306 provides the report to a user. In one
embodiment, the display manager application 306 may provide to the
user the fast forward style of display of what happened during the
away time period so that the user could control how quickly he
reviews the data in the report. However, it is possible that the
user's eyes may quickly shift to another display while the user is
viewing the report, only to shift back again to the original or yet
another display. In such an embodiment, the display manager
application 306 may note that there has not been sufficient time to
report to the user all actions that occurred during the time
interval when the user's gaze was away from the monitor or one or
more windows on the monitor, and may keep that information stored
for later reporting. Optionally, the display manager application
306 can require an acknowledgement of the reported information,
such as by an action the user may take with an input device, or by
detecting that the user had a sufficient time to view the reported
items. In another embodiment, if there is not enough space on a
screen to display the report without obscuring other windows, the
display manager application 306 could display a report data window
on top of one or more other windows. In such an embodiment, any
data displayed via the report data window can be transparent so
that a user can view both the report data as well as any other data
being displayed on the underlying windows.
[0039] Alternatively, rather than waiting for the user's gaze to
return back to the monitor, the user may opt to view the generated
report via another device while the user is away from the location
of the monitors. As an example, the user could view the report via
a wireless device that is capable of receiving and displaying to
the user snapshots of information being received from the display
manager application 306.
[0040] In another preferred embodiment, the display manager
application 306 could operate in conjunction with another display
data application. In such an embodiment, the display manager
application 306 may notify the display data application of the
event that the recording should begin, such as upon detecting a
user's gaze shifting away from a monitor or a portion thereof, as
in the embodiment described in reference to FIGS. 4A and 4B, or
upon detecting some other event, such as a window being covered by
other interfaces. Later, the display manager application 306 could
notify the display data application of another event indicating
that the display data application should preferably stop recording.
Then, the display manager application 306 could provide another
signal upon detecting the occurrence of an event that a report
should be prepared and provided to a user. However, it should be
understood that still different embodiments could be possible as
well.
[0041] While the above embodiments described the display manager
application 306 preparing a report or modifying a display of a
monitor while the user's gaze is away from the monitor, different
embodiments are possible as well. For example, the display manager
application 306 managing a monitor that is not being attended by a
user may encounter an event of such a high priority that it might
notify the user right away. In one embodiment, because the display
manager application 306 continuously receives user's gaze position
data from the gaze control application 304, it may at any time
determine the current position of the user's gaze based on the
received data. Knowing the current user's gaze position, the
display manager application 306 may place notifications of
appropriate severity within the edges of the user's current field
of view, preferably without obscuring the interface that is central
to the user's gaze, yet still be able to attract the user's
attention. For example, the notification could include textual
and/or graphical information, depending on the user's preferences.
Also, any alert signals could be an audio signal. In one
embodiment, the notification displayed to the user could include
portions of the application window not being viewed by the user, so
that the user could also interact with the application window if he
wishes to do so, and not just read or become aware of the past
activity. Alternatively, based on the user's preferences, the
notification could include the application window in its
entirety.
[0042] In addition to monitoring the user's gaze, the gaze control
application 304 could also use other events as triggers to start
managing displayed data according to the preferred embodiments. For
example, the events may include an action of minimizing one or more
application windows, or detecting that a window is obscured by
another window, thus, effectively preventing a user from viewing
any data being displayed on the window. In an embodiment where the
display manager 306 prepares a report, the display manager
application 306 may consider the event of restoring the window or
the window becoming again visible on the screen as a signal to stop
recording data being displayed via that window. Upon detecting
either of the events above, the display manager application 306 may
provide a report to the user, and the report may include
significant events that occurred since the last time the user saw
the window, or otherwise summarize the activity that has taken
place when the window was minimized or obstructed by another
window.
[0043] In further alternative embodiment, risk managers could use
the system and methods described above to receive information
related to activities of several traders. For example, a display
manager application running on a computer of a risk manager may be
configured to receive information from display manager applications
of the individual traders, and may alert the risk manager when one
or more preconfigured alert conditions are detected based on the
received data from one or more traders. In such an embodiment, the
risk manager could view summary reports describing each user's
activities, snapshots of displays corresponding to one or more of
the user's monitors, or even full videos of actual users during a
specific timeframe, along with information defining where the
user's eyes were fixed during that time. However, it should be
understood that different embodiments are possible as well.
[0044] The above description of the preferred embodiments,
alternative embodiments, and specific examples, are given by way of
illustration and should not be viewed as limiting. Further, many
changes and modifications within the scope of the present
embodiments may be made without departing from the spirit thereof,
and the present invention includes such changes and
modifications.
[0045] It will be apparent to those of ordinary skill in the art
that methods involved in the system and method for display
management using gaze control inputs or any other user attention
based inputs may be embodied in a computer program product that
includes one or more computer readable media. For example, a
computer readable medium can include a readable memory device, such
as a hard drive device, a CD-ROM, a DVD-ROM, or a computer
diskette, having computer readable program code segments stored
thereon. The computer readable medium can also include a
communications or transmission medium, such as, a bus or a
communication link, either optical, wired or wireless having
program code segments carried thereon as digital or analog data
signals.
[0046] The claims should not be read as limited to the described
order or elements unless stated to that effect. Therefore, all
embodiments that come within the scope and spirit of the following
claims and equivalents thereto are claimed as the invention.
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