UESP – Unified State Emotion Packet - Empathy Ethicist™

Unified Emotion State Packet (UESP) v1.0.0

Canonical transaction record for emotional reasoning events under HEART governance

What is UESP?

The Unified Emotion State Packet (UESP) is the foundational data structure for all emotional reasoning transactions in HEART-compliant systems. Every time an AI system processes human emotional input, it generates a UESP capturing the complete reasoning chain from input to output.

UESP enables:

Auditability — Complete reconstruction of emotional reasoning decisions
Accountability — Traceable chain from inference to responsible party
Compliance Verification — Real-time Φ score validation
Forensic Analysis — Evidence-grade records for legal proceedings

Schema Reference

Code Block (styled):

$id: https://heartaifoundation.org/schemas/uesp/v1.0.0

Note: This URI serves as the canonical identifier for UESP v1.0.0. JSON Schema validators should reference this URI for compliance verification.

Packet Structure

Every UESP contains five required components:

Component 1: Identification

Field	Type	Description
`uesp_id`	UUID	Unique identifier for this packet
`uesp_version`	String	Schema version (e.g., “1.0.0”)
`timestamp`	DateTime	ISO 8601 generation timestamp
`emotion_id`	String	EmotionID fingerprint linking to audit chain

Component 2: Emotion State

Field	Type	Description
`primary_code`	String	Emotional Codex code (e.g., “SHA-002”)
`family_code`	String	Emotion family (e.g., “FAM-SHA”)
`intensity`	Number	0-1 intensity score
`confidence`	Number	0-1 classification confidence
`blend_states`	Array	Blended emotion codes
`cultural_context`	String	Cultural modifier code

Component 3: Reasoning Trace

Field	Type	Description
`input_hash`	String	SHA-256 hash of input text
`processing_stages`	Array	MEC components invoked
`decision_path`	String	Human-readable reasoning explanation
`fallback_invoked`	Boolean	Whether HEI fallback was used

Component 4: Validation

Field	Type	Description
`heart_compliant`	Boolean	Overall compliance status
`phi_score`	Number	FET Φ score for this transaction
`phi_components`	Object	Individual R, C, T, A scores
`axiom_compliance`	Array	List of satisfied axioms (A1-A7)
`flags`	Array	Active warning flags

Component 5: HVC Signature (for certified systems)

Field	Type	Description
`signature`	String	Ed25519 signature (base64)
`signed_at`	DateTime	Signature timestamp
`signed_by_fingerprint`	String	SHA-256 of signing key

Example UESP

Code Block:

json

{
  "uesp_id": "550e8400-e29b-41d4-a716-446655440000",
  "uesp_version": "1.0.0",
  "timestamp": "2026-01-13T14:32:00Z",
  "emotion_id": "user321-shame-20260113-a31b2",
  "emotion_state": {
    "primary_code": "SHA-002",
    "family_code": "FAM-SHA",
    "intensity": 0.72,
    "confidence": 0.89,
    "blend_states": ["SHA+FEA"],
    "cultural_context": "US-M-N"
  },
  "reasoning_trace": {
    "input_hash": "e3b0c44298fc1c149afbf4c8996fb924...",
    "processing_stages": ["EIL", "ESIL", "ERIS", "FEC"],
    "decision_path": "Input contains self-critical language patterns consistent with shame family. Blend with fear detected through uncertainty markers.",
    "fallback_invoked": false
  },
  "validation": {
    "heart_compliant": true,
    "phi_score": 0.87,
    "phi_components": {
      "recognition": 0.89,
      "coherence": 0.88,
      "transparency": 0.92,
      "alignment": 0.87
    },
    "axiom_compliance": ["A1", "A2", "A3", "A4", "A5", "A6", "A7"],
    "flags": []
  }
}

Reasoning Trace

Complete auditability of every emotional inference

Field	Description
`input_hash`	SHA-256 of input enabling verification without storing raw data
`processing_stages`	Ordered list of stages executed (e.g., EIL → ESIL → ERIS → FEC)
`decision_path`	Human-readable summary of reasoning logic
`fallback_invoked`	Whether recovery mechanisms were triggered
`fallback_reason`	Why fallback was necessary (low confidence, ambiguous signals)

Example decision path:

“Primary shame detected via self-referential negative language; fear blend from uncertainty markers; JP cultural modifier applied for indirect expression pattern”