1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to the field of haptics.
More particularly, the present invention provides the active use of haptics for context recognition of an electronic device, and based on the information obtained identifying the probable context the needed strength of a haptic effect reflective of the context.
2. Description of Related Art
Sensory technology such as haptics has been used in gamepads and joysticks to provide a sense of reality or “being there” to enhance a user's enjoyment and experience in playing the game. These systems are based on force feedback technology and have been used in electronic devices such as for example mobile phones to extend the sensory experience to the user. Mobile phones use vibration to alert the user for example of an incoming call. The vibration in today's mobile phone is generally of a single strength and frequency. By varying the frequency of the vibration or by using multiple tones generated by the mobile phone, different haptic effects may be realized to deliver a more compelling and fin experience to the mobile phone user. For example, on a driving game, the mobile phone user would feel engine vibrations as well as the feeling of the car changing gears. On a shooting game, the mobile phone user would feel different sensations when firing and reloading. Integrating haptic actuators and haptics tones into the mobile phone enables the use of haptic effects ranging for example from alerts to music to explosions and other such sensory experiences and applications.
In order for a haptic alert in a haptic enabled device such as a mobile phone to be efficient, the device should know or take into account its physical surrounding so that a user would be made aware of a haptic alert in order to enjoy the haptic effect. For example, the mobile phone may be on a table, or as an earpiece in the user's ear, or in a pocket, or in a backpack and other such differing contexts. The context where the mobile phone is located can be detected by combining information from various sensors and applications that passively monitor the mobile phone's environment, however, the information that can be gathered is typically not 100 percent accurate and therefore the strength of the haptic alert may not be suitable to reflect the mobile phone's context.
In view of this, there is a need in the industry to solve the aforementioned context recognition problem in the art to adapt the strength of a haptic alert to reflect the context of the mobile device.
The present invention provides a method and apparatus that features using haptics for actively probing the physical surrounding of a device, such as a mobile phone, and providing in response to the active probing a probable context of the device.
In a first broad aspect, the invention provides preparing a probing force for imparting a moving force to the device; providing the probing force for imparting the moving force to the device; sensing a displacement of the device relative to its physical surrounding in response to the moving force imparted to the device; and determining in response to the sensed displacement a probable context of the device. In some embodiments, the invention provides producing a context feedback signal indicative of the characteristics of the probable context of the device. In some other embodiments, the device is configured for producing a haptic alert and for providing a haptic effect responsive to the haptic alert. In some embodiments the invention provides adjusting the relative strength of a haptic alert according to the determined probable context of the device. In some embodiments, the invention provides increasing the strength of the haptic alert in response to a feedback signal indicative of the characteristic of the probable context of the device indicating a loose physical coupling between the device and its surrounding, and decreasing the strength of the haptic alert in response to a feedback signal indicative of the characteristic of the probable context of the device indicating a tight physical coupling between the device and its surrounding.
In a second broad aspect, the invention provides a device having one or more modules configured for actively probing the physical surrounding of the device, and one or more modules responsive to the active probing configured for providing a feedback signal indicative of the characteristics of the probable context of the device. In some embodiments, the device includes one or more preparing modules configured for preparing a probing force for imparting a moving force to the device; one or more modules configured for providing the probing force for imparting the moving force to the device; one or more sensing modules configured for sensing a displacement of the device in response to the moving force imparted to the device; and one or more determining modules configured for determining in response to the sensed displacement a probable context of the device. In some embodiments the device includes one or more haptic alert modules configured for producing a haptic alert, and one or haptic effect modules configured for providing a haptic effect. In some embodiments, the device includes one or more adjusting modules configured for adjusting the relative strength of a haptic alert in response to the determined probable context of the device. In some embodiments the device is a mobile communication device.
In a third broad aspect the invention provides a computer program product with a program code, which program code is stored on a machine readable carrier, for carrying out a method comprising actively probing the physical surrounding of a device, and providing in response to the active probing a feedback signal indicative of the probable context of the device when the computer program is run in a module of the device, such as a mobile communication device. In some embodiments, the invention provides implementing the actions of the method via a computer program running in a processor, controller or other suitable module in the device.
In a fourth broad aspect, the invention provides apparatus including means for actively probing the physical surrounding of the apparatus, means for providing in response to the active probing a probable context of the apparatus. In some embodiments, the apparatus provides means for preparing a probing force for imparting a moving force to the device; means for providing the probing force for imparting the moving force to the device; means for sensing a displacement of the device relative to its physical surrounding in response to the moving force imparted to the device; and means for determining in response to the sensed displacement a probable context of the device. In some embodiments the apparatus provides means for producing a haptic alert; means for providing a haptic effect; and means for adjusting the relative strength of a haptic alert in response to the determined probable context of the device. In some embodiments the apparatus is a mobile communication device.
The above and other features and advantages of the invention will become apparent from a consideration of the following detailed description presented in connection with the accompanying drawings, in which:
In addition,
A series or sequence of increasing strength vibrations could be used to sense the relative movement of the device. If the device responds with little or no displacement increase with increasing strength vibrations, this would be characteristic of a highly restrained context such as a tight pocket or other such tightly coupled situation. If the device responds with a large or increasing displacement increase with increasing strength vibrations, this would be characteristic of a loosely restrained characteristic such as a loose pocket or other such loosely coupled situation. Varying degrees of displacement in response to increasing vibrations would be characteristic of varying constraint contexts for example from a loose pocket to a tight pocket. A response characteristic could be empirically determined and stored in a look-up table for use by an appropriate algorithm for carrying out the method according to some embodiments of the invention. Similarly, these steps 12a-12d may be implemented in one or more modules configured to do the same in such electronic devices such as for example mobile communication terminals or such like devices.
It is understood that the aforementioned methods may include other steps known in the art that do not form a part of the underlying invention.
The scope of the invention is not intended to be limited to any of the aforementioned methods for context sensing and may be advantageously used with other methods to obtain more accurate results or information about a given context in the practice of those methods with which the inventive concept of the present invention may be used.
Consistent with that described above, the context recognition enabled device 16 is shown in the form of a mobile communication terminal 14 or other suitable electronic device either now known or developed in the future for producing and providing haptic alerts and haptic effects. The context recognition enabled device 16 may also have other device modules 20 that do not necessarily form part of the underlying invention and are not described in detail herein.
By way of example, and consistent with that described herein, the functionality of the modules 18, 18a, 18b and/or 18c may be implemented using hardware, software, firmware, or a combination thereof, although the scope of the invention is not intended to be limited to any particular embodiment thereof. In a typical software implementation, the modules 18a, 18b and 18c would be one or more microprocessor-based architectures such as for example a signal processor shown in
The other device modules 20 may also include other modules, circuits, devices that do no form part of the underlying invention per se. The functionality of the other modules, circuits, devices that do not form part of the underlying invention are known in the art and are not described in detail herein.
A schematic functional block diagram of a mobile communication terminal generally designated by 22 is presented by way of example in
One or more appropriate control algorithms are required to handle the signaling related to the motion actuator 22i to control the intensity and/or frequency of the force of the motion imparted to the device. One or more appropriate algorithms are required to handle the displacement measurements related to the sensor 22j in determining a probable context of the device. One or more appropriate algorithms are required for adjusting the relative strength of a haptic alert according to the determined probable context of the device.
It is to be understood that the above-described arrangements are only illustrative of the application of the principles of the present invention. Numerous modifications and alternative arrangements may be devised by those skilled in the art without departing from the scope of the present invention, and the appended claims are intended to cover such modifications and arrangements.