Marketers could soon get the chance to target consumers based on their emotional state after Microsoft revealed plans to build an “emotional database”, which uses the Kinect motion-sensing camera to track a user’s response to different media.
The move is part of the company’s plans to push the Kinect scheme beyond the Xbox game console and onto other systems, including computers running Windows, as it explores new ways to monetise online advertising.
In a patent application approved last week, Microsoft intends to store the emotional signals its technology observes and use that data to better target advertising.
The patent explains that the monitored activities of users are processed by a computer system to assign emotional states to each user. This is then stored in an “emotional state database”, along with identifiers for users.
It goes on to say that, once the advertisers receive information about a user’s emotional state, that advertiser “transmits, to the user, the selected advertisement with best monetisation value”.
As an example, the patent application said: “Weight-loss product advertisers may not want their advertisement to appear to users that are very happy.
“Because, a person that is really happy, is less likely to purchase a self-investment product that leverages on his or her shortcomings. But a really happy person may purchase electronic products or vacation packages.”
