Abstract
A user may watch media content such as movies, television shows, or short form videos on a variety of display devices that may include, but are not limited to, smart televisions (smart TVs) and smart display devices (e.g., laptop computers, tablet computers, mobile computing devices (e.g., smartphones), etc.). User engagement with the watching of the media content may often lead to a user engaging in distracted eating and lacking hydration due to the immersive nature of the media content. Existing ways for a user to track their food consumption may include but are not limited to the manual logging of what the user eats, and the use of applications included in a wearable device to track the food consumption of the user. These existing ways for a user to track and monitor their food consumption may be high-friction involving significant effort or may be prone to false positives by incorrectly indicating that the user may have an issue with their food consumption.
The disclosed technology may monitor user behavior while watching media content by way of, for example, a local camera that is present in the room where the user is watching the media content. In addition, or in the alternative, the disclosed technology may include a neural processing unit that provides non-intrusive wellness nudges based on a time duration or a pause or break in the providing or streaming of the media content. In some implementations, the disclosed technology may use real time skeletal tracking to detect hand-to-mouth gestures and to calculate consumption velocity based on the hand to mouth gestures to identify rapid snacking. In some implementations, the disclosed technology may use real time skeletal tracking to detect general movements of the user (e.g., when was the last time that the user moved) and to track the length of time that the user has been sedentary (e.g., how long has the user been seated (not moved)) to identify prolonged sedentary behavior.
When rapid snacking or prolonged sedentary behavior is identified, a display included in the display device may be subtly modified, for example, by desaturating the colors on the screen of the display, and/or by injecting extended hydration breaks between the streaming of sequential episodes of an episodic television series. The modifications and/or injections may be interventions that are processed locally (e.g., on the display device presenting the media content to the user) to maintain user privacy. The primary purpose of the modifications and/or interjections are to encourage mindful consumption of the media content that may include regular physical breaks without significantly interrupting the viewing experience for the user.
Publication Date
2026-03-04
Creative Commons License
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 License.
Recommended Citation
Agarwal, Nikita, "A Television Based Snacking and Hydration Assistant", Technical Disclosure Commons, ()
https://www.tdcommons.org/dpubs_series/9467