IP Library › Granted Patent US 10,860,805
Granted Patent B1
US 10,860,805 · App. 16/007,218 · Granted Dec 8, 2020

Computerized analysis of team behavior and communication to quantify and optimize team function

Inventors: Glen Coppersmith (Plymouth, MA); Patrick N. Crutchley (Philadelphia, PA); Ophir Frieder (Chevy Chase, MD); Ryan Leary (Woodstock, GA); Anthony D. Wood (Waltham, MA); Aleksander Yelskiy (Norwood, MA)
Assignee: Qntfy Corp.
G06F40/30G06F40/40
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Quick Facts
Patent No.
US 10,860,805
App. No.
16/007,218
Granted
Dec 8, 2020
Kind
B1
Abstract

A computer evaluates free-form text messages among members of a team, using natural language processing techniques to process the text messages and to assess psychological state of the team members as reflected it the text messages. The computer assembles the psychological state as reflected in the messages to evaluate team collective psychological state. The computer reports a trend of team collective psychological state in natural language text form.

Claims (43)

1. A method, comprising the steps of:

by computer, evaluating free-form text messages among team members of a team, using natural language processing techniques to process the text messages and to assess psychological states of the team members as reflected in the text messages;

by computer, assembling a psychological state of each of the team members as reflected in the messages to evaluate team collective psychological state;

in the memory of a computer, modeling the team with a multiplex graph to obtain the team collective psychological state, wherein nodes of the graph correspond to team members, layers of the multiplex graph correspond to respective psychological attributes of the assembled psychological states of the team members, and edges of the graph within each layer represent the respective psychological attributes as reflected between the team members corresponding to the nodes of the edges, wherein each of the nodes is annotated by a characteristic vector of individual signals from predictive linguistic model output, raw linguistic features, and extralinguistic features, obtained from the evaluating of the free-form text messages; and

by computer, reporting a trend of the team collective psychological state in natural language text form.

2. The method of claim 1 , further comprising the step of:

using natural language processing techniques to process the text messages and to assess at least three emotions of the team members as reflected in the text messages, the three emotions drawn from the group consisting of anger, disgust, fear, happiness, sadness, love, surprise, trust, distrust, surprise, or anticipation.

3. The method of claim 1 , further comprising the step of:

using natural language processing techniques to process the text messages and to assess sentiment of the team members as reflected in the text messages, sentiment lying on a spectrum from positive to neutral to negative.

4. The method of claim 1 , further comprising the step of:

monitoring one or more environmental factors in a work area of the team, at least one of the monitored environmental factors being drawn from a group consisting of temperature and humidity.

5. The method of claim 1 , further comprising the step of:

in the memory of a computer, histogramming psychological state assessment counts of each of the team members by time interval.

6. The method of claim 5 , further comprising the step of:

in the memory of a computer, histogramming psychological state assessment counts of each of the team members by time interval and psychological assessment value.

7. The method of claim 1 , further comprising the step of:

in the memory of a computer, computing a trend of the assessed team collective psychological state and assessment counts by time interval.

8. Apparatus, comprising:

a computer processor;

a nontransitory memory, the memory having stored therein one or more programs to cause the processor to:

evaluate free-form text messages among team members of a team, using natural language processing techniques to process the text messages and to assess psychological state of the team members as reflected in the text messages;

assemble the psychological state of each of the team members as reflected in the messages to evaluate team collective psychological state;

model the team with a multiplex graph to obtain the team collective psychological state, wherein nodes of the graph correspond to team members, layers of the multiplex graph correspond to respective psychological attributes of the assembled psychological states of the team members, and edges of the graph within each layer represent the respective psychological attributes as reflected between the team members corresponding to the nodes of the edges, wherein each of the nodes is annotated by a characteristic vector of individual signals from predictive linguistic model output, raw linguistic features, and extralinguistic features, obtained from the evaluating of the free-form text messages; and

report a trend of the team collective psychological state in natural language text form.

9. The apparatus of claim 8 , the programs being further programmed to cause the processor to:

using natural language processing techniques to process the text messages and to assess at least three emotions of the team members as reflected in the text messages, the three emotions drawn from the group consisting of anger, disgust, fear, happiness, sadness, love, surprise, trust, distrust, surprise, or anticipation.

10. The apparatus of claim 8 , the programs being further programmed to cause the processor to:

using natural language processing techniques to process the text messages and to assess sentiment of the team members as reflected in the text messages, sentiment lying on a spectrum from positive to neutral to negative.

11. The apparatus of claim 8 , further comprising the step of:

monitoring one or more environmental factors in a work area of the team, at least one of the monitored environmental factors being drawn from a group consisting of temperature, humidity, sound level, and sound character.

12. The apparatus of claim 8 , the programs being further programmed to cause the processor to:

in the memory of a computer, histogramming psychological state assessment counts by time interval.

13. The apparatus of claim 12 , the programs being further programmed to cause the processor to:

in the memory of a computer, histogramming psychological state assessment counts by time interval and psychological assessment value.

14. The apparatus of claim 8 , the programs being further programmed to cause the processor to:

in the memory of a computer, computing a trend of the assessed team collective psychological state and assessment counts by time interval.

15. The method of claim 1 , wherein each edge of the multiplex graph captures a separate relationship between pairs of team members.

16. The method of claim 1 , wherein each edge of the multiplex graph comprises a model of a dyadic pair of team members.

17. The method of claim 16 , wherein each edge of the multiplex graph is annotated by characteristics of interactions between the dyadic pair.

18. The method of claim 1 , further comprising:

determining measures of graph connectedness between nodes to assess overall level of intrateam communication.

19. The method of claim 1 , further comprising:

determining measures of graph centrality to determine putative influencers in the team.

Assignments (6)
RELEASE OF SECURITY INTEREST Recorded Jul 21, 2026
From: JPMORGAN CHASE BANK
To: SONDERMIND INC.
Reel/Frame 075344/0500 →
SECURITY INTEREST Recorded Jul 14, 2026
From: SONDERMIND INC.; SONDERMIND PROVIDER NETWORK, LLC
To: HERCULES CAPITAL, INC., AS AGENT
Reel/Frame 075267/0062 →
SECURITY INTEREST Recorded Jun 11, 2024
From: SONDERMIND INC.
To: JPMORGAN CHASE BANK, N.A.
Reel/Frame 067691/0035 →
ASSIGNMENT OF ASSIGNOR'S INTEREST Recorded Aug 26, 2021
From: QNTFY CORP.
To: SONDERMIND INC.
Reel/Frame 057301/0041 →
ASSIGNMENT OF ASSIGNOR'S INTEREST Recorded Nov 23, 2018
From: COPPERSMITH, GLEN A; CRUTCHLEY, PATRICK N; FRIEDER, OPHIR; HILLAND, CASEY; LEARY, RYAN E; RICHTER, JOHN E; YELSKIY, ALEKSANDER; WOOD, ANTHONY D
To: QNTFY CORP.
Reel/Frame 048158/0951 →
ASSIGNMENT OF ASSIGNOR'S INTEREST Recorded Nov 16, 2018
From: COPPERSMITH, GLEN A; CRUTCHLEY, PATRICK N; FRIEDER, OPHIR; HILLAND, CASEY; LEARY, RYAN E; RICHTER, JOHN E; YELSKIY, ALEKSANDER; WOOD, ANTHONY D
To: QNTFY CORP.
Reel/Frame 047582/0919 →
Continuity (2)
Provisional Application 62520486 · Jun 15, 2017
Provisional Application 62522637 · Jun 20, 2017
Cited By (2)
US 12,265,793 US 12,431,123