US 5,977,964 · Granted 1999-11-02

Intel's Smart System That Learns When You Use It

Imagine your computer watching when you use it and what you do, then automatically adjusting itself to run faster at those times. This Intel patent describes a system that tracks your habits and tweaks its settings to match when you're actually working, so you get better performance when it matters most.

Curated and verified by the IsItPatented Editorial team

The plain-English version

What it protects

The claim covers a method where a computer monitors how a user interacts with it over time, builds a profile of that user's behavior, identifies the times when that user most frequently accesses the system, and then automatically reconfigures the system's settings and performance based on that profile and those preferred access times. What's protected here is the specific combination of tracking user interaction, updating a user profile from that tracking, determining peak usage times, and using all of that information to automatically adjust system configuration.

Why it matters

This patent addresses a real problem in personal computing: one-size-fits-all system configurations waste power and resources when users aren't actively working. By automating the process of learning individual usage patterns and adapting the system accordingly, Intel was patenting a way to make computers smarter about energy management and performance tuning without requiring users to manually tweak settings. This kind of adaptive technology became increasingly valuable as laptops and portable devices grew dependent on battery life.

Real-world use

When your laptop learns that you always work in the morning and dims its screen brightness or slows its processor in the evenings to save battery, that's the kind of adaptive behavior this patent describes.

Original USPTO abstract

A method and apparatus for automatically configuring a system based on a user's monitored system interaction and preferred system access times updates a user profile corresponding to the user based at least in part on the monitored user interaction with the system. Preferred system access times of the user are identified based at least in part on the user profile, and the system is automatically configured based at least in part on the user profile and the user's preferred system access times.

Patent details

Publication number: US 5,977,964
Filing date: 1998-01-05
Grant date: 1999-11-02
Assignee: Intel Corporation
Inventor(s): WILLIAMS; CHRISTOPHER D., GOLDSCHMIDT ITI; JEAN M., SHAH-NAZAROFF; ANTHONY A., WATTS; E. MICHAEL, MOORE; KENNETH ALAN, HACKSON; DAVID N.
CPC class: H04N21/4662

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