Patent Application
20110294470
The present specification relates generally to holders for mobile electronic devices, and in particular to a method and apparatus within such holders for detecting and amplifying notification signals generated by a mobile electronic device.
Holders for electronic devices are known, For example, holsters are known to protect and conveniently transport a mobile electronic device such as smart telephones, PDAs, etc., when it is not in use. A holster may have a belt clip for attachment to a user's belt, or may have other attachment means for attachment to a purse or knapsack, or may simply be a small accessory that provides a protective cover for the device, which can be used to store the device in a pocket, purse, briefcase or wherever else desired. It is also known to provide a magnet in the holster, with a Hall Effect sensor in the device, so that the device is either turned off in response to being placed in the holster such that the sensor aligns with the magnet, or have certain functions thereof disabled. For example, it is common to disable a keyboard, trackball or other input means of the mobile electronic device, and to turn off any display.
The use of electronic applications such as calendar applications, cellular telephone applications and email applications, is widespread, with many mobile electronic devices having at least one such application installed. A number of such applications may cause a mobile electronic device to generate notification signals such as ring tones, blinking message lights, vibrations and the like for notifying a user of events such as incoming calls, incoming messages (e.g. email or SMS), appointments and tasks, etc.
However, when the mobile electronic device is disposed within a holster it is possible for such notifications to go unnoticed because an audio notification cannot be heard in a noisy environment, the device vibration or message light are not perceived if the holstered device is in a purse, etc., with the result that calendared meetings, incoming calls or tasks may be accidentally missed or overlooked.
Consequently, it is desirable to provide a notification mechanism when a mobile electronic device is stored in a holster.
It should be understood that the word “holster”, as used throughout this specification, means any holder adapted to accommodate the device, whether or not it is of the belt-mountable type most commonly referred to as a holster.
The embodiments will be better understood with reference to the following Figures in which like numerals denote like parts and in which:
In general, a method and apparatus are set forth for implementation within a holster for detecting and amplifying notification signals generated by a mobile electronic device.
According to one aspect of this specification, there may be provided a holster for a mobile electronic device, comprising at least one input for detecting at least one notification signal generated by said mobile electronic device; at least one output for generating at least one of an amplified or transformed notification signal; and a processor connected to said at least one input and at least one output for causing said at least one output to generate said at least one amplified or transformed notification signal in response to detection of said least one notification signal generated by said mobile electronic device.
According to another aspect, there may be provided a notification method comprising detecting at least one notification signal generated by a mobile electronic device; and in response generating at least one amplified or transformed notification signal.
According to yet another aspect, there may be provided a notification method comprising detecting holstering of a mobile electronic device; generating a notification signal according to a predetermined pattern; and detecting said pattern and in response generating at least one amplified or transformed notification signal in accordance with said pattern.
Preferably the sensor 3 is located near the bottom of the device, i.e. near the first part of the device to be inserted in the holster, and preferably well below the keyboard or trackball or other input means, so that the device is disabled before any accidental inputs from contact with the holster 1.
The mobile electronic device 2 may be provided with a ringer 14 for generating audio notification of an event such as an incoming call, message, calendar event, etc.; an internal vibration motor (not shown) for causing the device to vibrate and thereby provide tactile notification of an event or events; a message light 13 to provide visual notification of events such as an incoming message or voice mail. Other audio, visual or tactile notification mechanisms may also be provided on the mobile electronic device 2 for providing notification of phone, email, social networking events, etc.
In the exemplary embodiment of
An accelerometer 9 is also provided for detecting vibration of the device and a mechanical vibration motor 17 is provided for causing the holster 1 to vibrate. For example, accelerometer 9 may be configured to detect a range of acceleration having profile/signature that is typical of a vibrating motor (e.g. 100-250 Hz)
In addition to the optical sensor 8, accelerometer 9 and mechanical vibration motor 17 of
The embodiments of
As shown schematically in
In its simplest implementation, the mobile electronic device 2 does not need to be aware of the fact that it is disposed within the holster 1. The device behaves as usual and the holster 1 amplifies or transforms the notifications signals. One advantage of the holster according to the exemplary embodiment is that larger and more powerful notification signals can be generated than is possible using the device 2 alone, for example because space in a holster is not as limited as in the device 2 and/or obeys different space constraints than the device 2. For instance, the vibration motor 17 used in the holster 1 can be larger (and therefore more powerful) than its counterpart in the device 2. This is also true of the speaker 16 and lamp 11.
Additional description of the amplification/transformation functionality of holster 1 is provided with reference to
As shown in
As shown in
As shown in
As shown in
As discussed above, in its simplest implementation, the mobile electronic device 2 does not need to be aware of the fact that it is disposed within the holster 1. However, in more advanced implementations, the mobile electronic device 2 can modify the notifications in the event that it is disposed within holster 1. For example, device 2 may be programmed so that when the Hall Effect sensor 3 detects magnet 4 (step 30 in
In another embodiment, the holster 1 may be provided with a Hall Effect sensor, or other mechanism, for detecting the presence of device 2 (step 30 in
Specific embodiments have been shown and described herein. However, modifications and variations may occur to those skilled in the art. For example, as discussed above, although the exemplary embodiment has been described in terms of implementation on a portable handheld electronic device, the principles set forth herein may be applied to other devices such as PDA's, tablet computers, etc. Also, as discussed above, the holster 1 is not limited to an enclosure for holding the device 2. For instance, the holster can be in the form of a small accessory that can be kept in, or form part of, a purse or briefcase. Furthermore, the holster may contain one, all or fewer than all of the microphone 15, accelerometer 9 and sensors 8 and 12. For example, the holster 1 may be provided with only the microphone 15, which can be used to detect audio ringing or sound made by the electronic device 2 when it is vibrating, and to convert such detected notification signals to a suitable audio/visual/tactile output, as discussed above.
All such modifications and variations are believed to be within the sphere and scope of the present embodiment.
