Aggregate Avatar Clustering for Group Psychological State Display

Solution Overview

Problem

Existing methods for conveying psychological states in video conferences and similar settings often overwhelm viewers with individual notifications, straining display resources and causing distraction or annoyance.

Innovation Solution

The method involves clustering individuals with similar psychological states and generating aggregate avatars that represent the collective emotional or cognitive state of the group, reducing the need for individual notifications and conserving display space.

Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles

VSEngineering Contradiction Analysis

1Loss of information

If individual psychological state notifications are displayed for each participant, then complete information about individual states is conveyed, but display resources are strained and viewers become distracted or annoyed

Engineering Contradiction:

Improveinformation completenessVSAvoidviewer distraction

Core Design Contradiction:

Loss of informationVSObject-affected harmful factors

Solution Approach 1:

The patent merges multiple individual psychological state notifications into a single aggregate notification that represents the collective state of multiple participants. Instead of displaying separate notifications for each participant's emotional or cognitive state, the system combines these into one unified notification that conveys the overall group state, thereby reducing display clutter and viewer distraction while preserving essential information.

Inventive Principle:

Principle #5Merging (Combining)

Solution Approach 2:

The patent segments the display information by grouping participants into clusters based on their psychological states. Rather than treating each participant individually, the system segments them into meaningful groups (e.g., by emotional state categories or engagement levels) and displays one notification per segment, reducing the total number of notifications while maintaining information about diverse participant states.

Inventive Principle:

Principle #1Segmentation

2Loss of information

If individual psychological state notifications are displayed for each participant, then complete information about individual states is conveyed, but display space is overwhelmed

Engineering Contradiction:

Improveinformation completenessVSAvoiddisplay space

Core Design Contradiction:

Loss of informationVSArea of stationary object

Solution Approach 1:

The patent merges multiple individual psychological state notifications into a single aggregate notification that represents the collective state of multiple participants. Instead of displaying separate notifications for each participant's emotional or cognitive state, the system combines these into one unified notification that conveys the overall group state, thereby reducing display clutter and viewer distraction while preserving essential information.

Inventive Principle:

Principle #5Merging (Combining)

Solution Approach 2:

The patent segments the display information by grouping participants into clusters based on their psychological states. Rather than treating each participant individually, the system segments them into meaningful groups (e.g., by emotional state categories or engagement levels) and displays one notification per segment, reducing the total number of notifications while maintaining information about diverse participant states.

Inventive Principle:

Principle #1Segmentation

3Object-affected harmful factors

If aggregate psychological states are conveyed for groups of individuals, then display resources are conserved and viewer distraction is reduced, but individual psychological state information is lost

Engineering Contradiction:

Improveviewer distractionVSAvoidindividual state information

Core Design Contradiction:

Object-affected harmful factorsVSLoss of information

Solution Approach 1:

The patent segments the display information by grouping participants into clusters based on their psychological states. Rather than treating each participant individually, the system segments them into meaningful groups (e.g., by emotional state categories or engagement levels) and displays one notification per segment, reducing the total number of notifications while maintaining information about diverse participant states.

Inventive Principle:

Principle #1Segmentation

Solution Approach 2:

The patent applies local quality by providing different levels of information aggregation at different locations or contexts in the interface. Individual participant information may be available on-demand or in detailed views, while the primary display shows aggregate information. This allows the system to optimize for reduced distraction in the main view while preserving individual information accessibility when needed.

Inventive Principle:

Principle #3Local quality

Data Source

PatentUS12494293B2Conveying aggregate psychological states of multiple individuals

Publication Date: 2025.12.09 HEWLETT PACKARD DEVELOPMENT COMPANY LP

AI summary

Examples are described herein for determining aggregate psychological states of multiple individuals. In various examples, sensor data indicative of affects of multiple individuals may be analyzed. Based on the analyzing, the multiple individuals may be partitioned into multiple distinct clusters of individuals. An aggregate psychological state of the individuals of a given cluster of the multiple distinct clusters of individuals may be determined. Data indicative of the aggregate psychological state may be transmitted to cause a computing device to render output that conveys the aggregate psychological state of the individuals of the cluster.