Modifying computer behavior based on the physiological state of an end user (16-Nov-2009)

Modifying computer behavior based on the physiological state of an end user

The chances of computer users making costly mistakes increase as users become more and more sleep deprived. Example mistakes include accidentally deleting critical files, formatting the wrong hard drives, removing entire file systems, or executing programs on a 'production' server when it was thought that the user was logged on to a 'test' server.

Many techniques exist for detecting the drowsiness level of a human. Examples include eye tracking software, analysis of EEG data and head tracking software. Most examples deal with preventing automobile accidents by alerting drowsy drivers.

An additional solution is needed to prevent computer end users from making mistakes due to being drowsy. Further, computers should take steps to protect themselves when they detect that an end user is sleep deprived.

A diagram showing one example of how this invention works is shown below. The Figure shows that if the computer detects that the end user is drowsy then the computer will:
1) take a backup of critical files
2) change its internal state to Drowsy Mode

Drowsy Mode will prevent the end user from issuing certain system commands, such as 'delete', 'rmdir' or 'format', without first answering yes to a prompt asking if it is OK that the command be issued. Once the end user is no longe...