Patent Application
20170019783
The present invention relates generally to hand held electronic devices with a near field communication element, and more particularly, to hand held electronic devices which include a near field communication element and an associated sensor, which can include a further near field communication element.
Near field communication, often abbreviated as NFC, refers to a short range wireless connectivity technology that enables convenient short-range communications between multiple devices, and/or a device and a tag. The communications often involve an inductive coupling which allows a signal to be conveyed between the two devices, and/or the device and the tag. More specifically, near field communications often involve magnetic induction between respective antennas located within each other's near field, such as respective loop antennas, which effectively form an air core transformer. In such an instance, a signal generated in a first communication element can be detected in the second communication element provided the two elements are in a compatible orientation, and are within relative close proximity, typically within 10 centimeters or less. In some instances, it may be possible for the two interacting devices to respectively supply and derive power through the inductive coupling, which can enable a device to read data out of a passive element including some forms of tags that do not otherwise have their own source of power. Many hand held electronic devices, such as cellular radio frequency communication devices have incorporated near field communication capabilities.
Given the proximity and interaction requirements of near field communications, and the need for the near field communication antennas to be integrated in a device with other electronic and mechanical components including user interface elements, the location and orientation of the near field communication elements with respect to the device can affect the relative performance and capabilities of the near field communication elements. The inclusion of near field communication capabilities in at least some hand held devices, such as cellular radio frequency communication devices, have generally followed one of two approaches. A first approach has incorporated a near field communication element toward the center of the back side surface of the device with an area of interaction proximate thereto, while a second approach has alternatively incorporated a near field communication element toward the top side surface of the device.
Each approach will generally have their own set of advantages and disadvantages in their convenience and performance when being used with various tags and readers including the manner in which the device can be conveniently held by the user to facilitate interaction with the other communication elements. For example, for a device having a near field communication element near the top surface of the device, by cupping the device within one's hand across the back of the device, one might more readily orient the device, such that the top of the device can be pointed toward a detection surface of a near field communication reader. However, the top of the device can commonly include other communication elements, such as one or more other antennas, which may need to share space with a near field communication antenna that is co-located at or near the top of the device. This can impact how one designs the various communication elements, as well as impact how the various communication elements function whether separately or together. Alternatively, near field communication elements located toward the center of the back side surface of a device may make it easier to interact with a second device having a similarly located near field communication element, where it may be easier to hold the two devices together in back to back fashion in order to facilitate a transfer of data between the two devices via their respective near field communication elements. The position of the interacting near field communication element proximate the back surface will provide a different set of limitations, challenges and/or opportunities as to the nature and shape of the elements, which can be used to support near field communications.
Near field communications have at least four primary operational modes of use: (1) card emulation mode; (2) tag reading; (3) tag writing; and (4) peer-to-peer. In turn, the near field communication elements can be used, for example, to enable users to use their near field communication equipped devices to support making payments through touching or bringing their phones within proximity of a near field communication reader, to support swapping contact information by touching or bringing their device within proximity of other near field communication equipped devices, and to unlock their devices and/or to confirm the identity of the user by touching or bringing their device with proximity of a near field communication tag. Some devices might only support one of the operational modes and/or use cases, while other devices might support more and sometimes all of the use cases. Use agreements for some operating system, such as the use agreement for Android, and/or some service providers including some US carriers may generally require that a particular device support a full complement of the above near field communication operational modes, as well as one or more of the corresponding use cases. Furthermore, when using the near field communications to support making a payment, the inventors have recognized that it may be desirable to also be able to support confirming the identity of the user. However, because near field communications are proximity based, it may be difficult for the same near field communication element to simultaneously support interacting with a payment reader, while also confirming the identity of the user. More generally, when a particular near field communication element is being utilized for one type of use, it can be difficult for the same element at the same time to support a further usage including in some instances a second type of use or a second operational mode. As such, there is a challenge to develop a near field communication strategy that can be as flexible as necessary or desired to meet the established operational requirements, and/or in order to meet user expectations.
Relatively recently, near field communication chip set suppliers have introduced a feature called active load modulation, which allows different near field communication antenna options in addition to the more traditional loop antennas. In at least some instances, active load modulation has also allowed the near field communication antenna to become relatively smaller, and even in some instances for the antenna to share structure with another antenna. However, active load modulation near field communication antennas are generally more suitable to one of the primary use cases, namely card emulation mode, and is generally less suitable to some of the other use cases, which can also complicate the same element supporting multiple uses and/or modes, whether simultaneously or otherwise.
The present inventors have correspondingly recognized that integrating near field communication capabilities proximate the top of a device in conjunction with an associated sensor, which can include a further near field communication element, near the back side surface of the device would be beneficial.
The present invention provides a hand held electronic device, which includes a near field communication element located proximate a top of the device, that is adapted for being selectively enabled. The hand held electronic device further includes a user identification sensor, which is adapted for confirming the identity of an authorized user of the device. The user identification sensor is located in a user holding area at a back side surface of the device. The user identification sensor is adapted for sensing a user interaction in an area proximate the back side surface of the device and receiving as part of the interaction, user identification information corresponding to a particular user presently using the device, and determining whether the user identification information corresponding to the particular user matches identification information for one of the predetermined authorized users. Upon confirming the identity of an authorized user of the device by the user identification sensor, the near field communication element located proximate the top of the device is enabled. When the identity of an authorized user of the device is not confirmed by the user identification sensor, the near field communication element located at the top of the device is not enabled.
In at least one embodiment, the user identification sensor is a second near field communication element.
The present invention further provides a hand held electronic device, which includes a first near field communication element located proximate a top of the device, where the first near field communication element is adapted to operate in a card emulation mode for supporting a contactless card payment. The hand held electronic device further includes a second near field communication element located proximate a back side surface of the device, where the second near field communication element is adapted to operate in one or more modes different than the card emulation mode for which the first near field communication element is adapted to operate.
In at least one embodiment, the hand held electronic device still further includes a controller, which has a separate interface with each of the first near field communication element and the second near field communication element, where the controller can independently enable/disable the first near field communication element and the second near field communication element.
In at least a further embodiment, the second near field communication element is adapted for confirming the identity of an authorized user of the device through an interaction with an identity confirming smart tag, where when the identity of the user is confirmed to be an authorized user, the first near field communication element is selectively enabled.
The present invention still further provides a method for managing the operation of multiple near field communication elements in a hand held electronic device. The method includes storing identification information for one or more predetermined authorized users. A user interaction in an area proximate the back side surface of the device is sensed and as part of the interaction, user identification information corresponding to a particular user presently using the device is received. An identity of the present user of the device is confirmed as being an authorized user of the device by a user identification sensor, the user identification sensor being located in a user holding area at a back side surface of the device, by determining whether the user identification information corresponding to the particular user matches the stored identification information for one of the predetermined authorized users. Upon confirming the identity of the present user of the device as being an authorized user of the device by the user identification sensor, a near field communication element located proximate a top of the device, which is adapted for being selectively enabled, is enabled, and the near field communication element located at the top of the device, when the identity of the present user of the device is not confirmed by the user identification sensor as being an authorized user of the device is not enabled.
These and other objects, features, and advantages of this invention are evident from the following description of one or more preferred embodiments of this invention, with reference to the accompanying drawings.
While the present invention is susceptible of embodiment in various forms, there is shown in the drawings and will hereinafter be described presently preferred embodiments with the understanding that the present disclosure is to be considered an exemplification of the invention and is not intended to limit the invention to the specific embodiments illustrated. One skilled in the art will hopefully appreciate that the elements in the drawings are illustrated for simplicity and clarity and have not necessarily been drawn to scale. For example, the dimensions of some of the elements in the drawings may be exaggerated relative to other elements with the intent to help improve understanding of the aspects of the embodiments being illustrated and described.
In the illustrated embodiment, the radio frequency cellular telephone includes a display 102 which covers a large portion of the front facing. In at least some instances, the display can incorporate a touch sensitive matrix, that facilitate detection of one or more user inputs relative to at least some portions of the display, including interaction with visual elements being presented to the user via the display 102. In some instances, the visual element could be an object with which the user can interact. In other instances, the visual element can form part of a visual representation of a keyboard including one or more virtual keys and/or one or more buttons with which the user can interact and/or select for actuation. In addition to one or more virtual user actuatable buttons or keys, the device 100 can include one or more physical user actuatable buttons 104. In the particular embodiment illustrated, the device has three such buttons located along the right side of the device.
The exemplary hand held electronic device, illustrated in
The device can be received within the palm 302 of a user as seen in
In some instances, the presence of the ring might further activate the front facing camera to capture an image of the person using the device as a further check of the current user's identity. The image could then be compared against one or more prestored images of authorized users through one or more forms of facial recognition. Still further, the detection of a Bluetooth® accessory known to be associated with a particular user could also be used in support of identifying a particular user as being an authorized user. The Bluetooth® accessory could be worn by the person, such as on a keychain being carried by the person.
Furthermore with the user's palm facing toward the back side surface, as shown in
Given the space constraints near the top 112 of the device 100, as well as the need to fit other elements in the same or surrounding space, near field communication elements in this area often involve a single ended design, which is more suitable for supporting a card emulation mode using active load modulation. In at least some instances, the same antenna which supports the near field communications is also used to support the cellular radio frequency communications with the feed point for the corresponding near field communication being inductively coupled to the antenna structure. Often times such a configuration is limited to mobile payment type applications, as the antenna design and location may not be sufficient for tag read/write or peer-to-peer type near field communication applications, which often more optimally include a ferrite structure behind the antenna structure, which if used near the top of the phone might degrade the performance of the cellular antenna. In any event, a near field antenna proximate the top 112 of the device, together with a near field antenna located in the payment reader, when brought together can form the air core transformer like structure 310, that supports the inductive coupling needed to support at least some forms of near field communication.
By incorporating a second set of near field communication elements, the device 100 can more readily support multiple forms of near field communications with greater convenience for the user, as well as support a new use case where the two sets of near field communication elements work in tandem to support new desirable functionality. For example, as noted above, the near field communication elements associated with the area 210 proximate the back side surface of the device could be used to interact with a user identity confirming tag, which when detected could be used to trigger the enablement of the near field communication element located in the area 112 proximate the top of the device 100 for interacting with a payment reader 308. Such an arrangement could serve to provide enhanced security relative to the processing of payments via an exchange of information through near field communications, which is made possible through the inclusion of an identity confirming aspect supported through a separate sensor, such as a finger print sensor 208 or a second near field communication element.
In some embodiments, the controller 502 could be implemented in the form of one or more microprocessors, which are adapted to execute one or more sets of pre-stored instructions 512, which may be used to form or implement the operation of at least part of one or more controller modules 504 and/or 510. The one or more sets of pre-stored instructions 512 may be stored in a storage element 508, which while shown as being separate from and coupled to the controller 502, may additionally or alternatively include some data storage capability for storing at least some of the prestored instructions for use with the controller 502, that are integrated as part of the controller 502.
The storage element 508 could include one or more forms of volatile and/or non-volatile memory, including conventional ROM, EPROM, RAM, or EEPROM. The storage element 508 may still further incorporate one or more forms of auxiliary storage, which is either fixed or removable, such as a hard drive, a floppy drive, or a memory stick. One skilled in the art will still further appreciate that still other further forms of storage elements could be used without departing from the teachings of the present disclosure. In the same or other instances, the controller 502 may additionally or alternatively incorporate state machines and/or logic circuitry, which can be used to implement at least partially, some of the modules associated with the controller 502.
In the illustrated embodiment, the device further includes one or more transceivers 514, which are coupled to the controller 502 and which serve to manage the external communication of data including their wireless communication using one or more forms of communications. In such an instance, the transceivers will generally each be coupled to a corresponding antenna 524 via which the wireless communication signals will be radiated and received. For example, the one or more transceivers 514 might include a receiver 516 for supporting communications with a global positioning system, a transceiver 518 for supporting cellular radio frequency communications, a transceiver 520 for supporting Bluetooth® type communications, as well as a transceiver 522 for supporting Wi-Fi® type communications. Transceivers for other forms of communication are additionally and/or alternatively possible. While in the illustrated embodiment, each transceiver is shown as being associated with a separate antenna, it is possible that some antennas may be able to support multiple forms of communication, as well as potentially some forms of near field communication. For example, in at least some instances, it is envisioned that in at least some instances an antenna that supports cellular communications may also support a single turn loop antenna design 526 for use with some forms of near field communications including near field communications that might support and make use of active load modulation.
In addition to the one or more transceivers 514, the device 100 additionally includes near field communication circuitry 528, which are coupled to respective antenna structure 526 and 530 for supporting near field communications via near field communication interface circuitry 532. In at least some instances, chipsets may be available, which provide control circuitry 528 for supporting near field communications. In some instances, a separate chipset may be necessary for each near field communication element. However, the present inventors envision the possibility that a chipset may be extended to support multiple near field communication elements, each with their own set of input and output terminals. In the illustrated embodiment, the device 100 can include at least a pair of near field communication elements including one located in an area 112 proximate the top of the device corresponding to a single turn loop antenna 526 with a single ended feed point, and one located in an area 210 proximate the back side surface of the device 100 corresponding to a multi-turn loop antenna 530.
In the illustrated embodiment, the device 100 can additionally include user interface circuitry 534. For example, the user interface circuitry 534 can include a display 102, which may further support a touch sensitive array 538. The user interface circuitry may also include a speaker 106, a microphone 108, one or more user actuatable switches 104, a vibrational element 536, one or more cameras 110, 202, and a finger print sensor 208. Still further alternative and additional forms of user interface elements may be possible without departing from the teachings of the present invention.
However, when multiple near field communications element are incorporated into a device, the various communication modes that need to be supported can be spread across the larger number of elements.
While the preferred embodiments of the invention have been illustrated and described, it is to be understood that the invention is not so limited. Numerous modifications, changes, variations, substitutions and equivalents will occur to those skilled in the art without departing from the spirit and scope of the present invention as defined by the appended claims.
