The present invention pertains to mobile applications. More specifically, the present invention pertains to methods, arrangements and systems for using a gesture (e.g., a flip gesture) to control a communications application on a mobile
There are a wide variety of ways to interact with mobile devices and phones. The most conventional way of interacting with a device is for a user to press a mechanical button or lever on the device. Some mobile phones include a touch sensitive, capacitive screen. Users can close, activate or interact with applications by touching icons or text that appear on the screen.
In some situations, touching a button or screen is somewhat inconvenient. As a result, some mobile devices include motion sensors or accelerometers that enable users to control their devices using gestures. An example of such an approach is the Undo function on an Apple IPHONE that is running the IOS operating system. After a user has typed, edited or cut text using the IPHONE, the user can shake the device to obtain a prompt that allows the user to undo the last action.
Although the above approaches work well for a variety of applications, there are continuing efforts to develop new ways for users to interact with mobile devices.
Generally, the present invention relates to a telecommunication and media management system for mobile devices. More specifically, motion can be used to control a communications application on a mobile device. In one aspect, physical movement of a mobile device is detected using a motion sensor in the mobile device. A determination is made as to whether the movement of the mobile device exceeds a predetermined toggle threshold. A feature on the mobile device is then toggled based on the toggle threshold determination. In some implementations, a user can toggle a recording function, a listen/rendering function or talk feature on a mobile device simply by gesturing with the device. Thus, the user is not required to find and press a button on the device. In still other embodiments, motion in more than one dimension (e.g., a curling motion or a flip gesture rather than a motion only along one axis) is required to toggle the recording feature.
The invention and the advantages thereof, may best be understood by reference to the following description taken in conjunction with the accompanying drawings in which:
In the drawings, like reference numerals are sometimes used to designate like structural elements. It should also be appreciated that the depictions in the figures are diagrammatic and not to scale.
The present invention relates generally to methods and mechanisms for using motion to control an application on a mobile device. In various implementations, a user interacts with a mobile phone or other device that is capable of receiving and transmitting messages. The mobile device contains a motion sensor or accelerometer. When a user wishes to contact someone, the user can simply gesture with the device in a particular manner to activate the recording functionality of the device. If the user is receiving a call or message, the user can likewise gesture to activate the microphone of the device and respond to the call. This approach eliminates the need for a user to scrutinize the mobile device and press a particular button or icon. In addition to the above example, the present invention contemplates a wide variety of other approaches for using gestures to toggle, activate or deactivate features in a mobile device application.
Referring initially to
The motion sensor 102 is arranged to detect motion e.g., when the mobile device 100 is shaken, swung or physically moved. In various embodiments, for example, the motion sensor is an accelerometer, although any suitable motion detecting sensor may be used. Various implementations of the motion sensor involve detecting a movement or acceleration of the device along one, two or three axes in three dimensional space (e.g., the x, y, z axes of a Cartesian coordinate system.) The motion sensor detects the motion and transmits one or more values indicating the motion to the motion activation determination module 106.
The motion activation determination module 106 receives the output of the motion sensor 102 and determines whether a particular operation should be triggered or toggled. To use a simple example, the module 106 may determine whether the mobile device 100 has been moved using a flip gesture or curling or waving motion. To make such determinations, a wide variety of motion-related algorithms may be used. Such algorithms, for example, may require a particular amount of acceleration or movement along one or more axes, require that little or no acceleration be performed along one or more axes, or any combination thereof. If the module 106 determines that the required motion has been made, the module sends a corresponding signal indicating this determination to the recording module 104.
The recording module 104 is arranged to control and monitor the activation and deactivation of a microphone, video camera or other media capturing tool on the mobile device 104. The recording module 104 receives the signal from the module 106 indicating that a user made a designated motion with the mobile device 100. In response, the module 104 then toggles a recording feature on the mobile device 100. In various embodiments, the recording feature initiates or terminates a message. For example, if the mobile device is already in a recording mode such that media is being recorded and transmitted from the device 100, then the module 104 deactivates the recording mode (e.g., shuts down a microphone or video camera used to make a call or movie.) If the mobile device is not already in a recording mode, then the recording mode is activated (e.g., media capturing tools such as a video camera and/or a microphone are activated so that media can be generated, stored and/or transmitted from the mobile device 100.)
It should be appreciated that motion can be used to control and toggle a wide variety of features on the mobile device 100, and is not necessarily limited to the toggling of a recording mode. In some embodiments, for example, a particular motion can be used to cause the motion device to emit particular sounds or alerts, display information, send media, terminate a process, terminate a connection, or any combination thereof.
The above approach works particularly well with communications and media messaging applications. The assignee of the present application has filed a variety of applications relating to a new form of media management and telecommunications system, including U.S. patent application Ser. No. 13/555/,034 (referred to herein as the '034 application) and Ser. No. 13/466,011, which are each incorporated herein in their entirety for all purposes. The aforementioned applications describe various implementations of a communications system, referred to sometimes as “Voxing,” in which a device progressively creates and sends media to another device, which progressively receives, stores and/or renders the media. Users are able to easily shift between two different modes of operation. In the first mode, users can communicate (e.g., using audio, video or some other type of media or signal) in real time or near real time. In the second, time-shifted mode, users can engage in a series of back and forth delayed transmissions. The mobile device 100 may include any feature, software or component described in connection with client 12 and device 13 of the '034 application. The motion controls described herein can be used to trigger, activate or toggle any of the features or operations described in the '034 application (e.g., mode shifts, activating the recording of a message/media, deactivating the recording of a message/media, initiating the progressive sending of a message/media to another device, etc.).
Below is one example of how motion can be used to toggle a feature in a media messaging system. Consider a situation in which a friend uses a device to call or send media (e.g., voice data) to a mobile device 100. In some embodiments, the friend progressively creates (e.g., speaks into a microphone to generate the voice data, etc.) and transmits the media to the mobile device 100. The mobile device 100 detects the incoming media and identifies the user who is sending the media. To notify the user of the mobile device 100 that someone wishes to communicate with the user, the mobile device 100 generates an audio and/or visual alert. The user then physically gestures with the mobile device 100. The motion activation determination module 106 determines that the motion meets certain criteria and sends a signal indicating this determination to the recording module 104. In response to the motion determination, the recording module activates a previously deactivated microphone or other motion capturing tool on the mobile device 100. The user records his or her voice or other media and transmits it back to the sending device. In various implementations, this response is also progressively and concurrently sent while it is being created. In this example, the user is not required to take any other action other than the aforementioned gesture to trigger the recording and/or transmitting of the media.
Consider a second situation in which a user is in the midst of recording a voice or media message for transmission to another device. The user uses a microphone or other media capturing tool on the mobile device 100 to record the media. Once the user wishes to terminate the recording of the media, rather than pressing a button on an interface of the mobile device 100, the user simply gestures with the mobile device 100. The motion sensor 102 detects the gesture and sends data regarding the gesture to the motion activation determination module 106. The module 106 analyzes the gesture data and determines that a predetermined gesture has been made. The module 106 then sends this determination to the recording module 104. In response, the recording module 104 deactivates the recording function and the media capturing tool. Again, this deactivation is performed without any further involvement or interaction with the mobile device 100 by the user. It should be appreciated that the above two scenarios describe only example implementations, and that the present invention contemplates a wide variety of different approaches to using motion to control software or hardware operations on the mobile device 100.
Referring next to
At step 202, the motion activation determination module 106 determines whether a predetermined time period has passed since the last toggle of the recording feature in response to a detected motion. This step helps prevent erroneous toggling. For example, if a user makes a gesture with the mobile device 100, there is a possibility that the tail end of the gesture might be interpreted as an additional motion. If each motion triggers an activation or deactivation of a feature, then a single gesture could improperly result in a double toggle. As a result, the method 200 requires that after one motion is detected and triggers a toggle, a second toggle will not take place for a predetermined period of time. This time period may vary between different implementations. For example, a delay period of between ½ and 3 seconds works well for some applications. If the predetermined time period has not passed since the last toggle, the method 100 returns to step 201.
If the predetermined time period has passed, then the motion activation determination module 106 determines whether the acceleration parameters exceed a predetermined toggle threshold (step 204.) In other words, the module 106 analyzes the motion sensor data to determine whether a particular, designated motion (e.g., a horizontal motion, a vertical motion, a curved motion, a motion with sufficient speed or acceleration, etc.) has taken place. This determination may be performed using any suitable parameters, criteria and/or algorithms. For example, some algorithms require motion or acceleration to have taken place along one, two or three axes (e.g., such as the x, y and z axes of a Cartesian coordinate system) for the toggle threshold to be reached. Various systems require that motion or acceleration fall below a predetermined level along one, two or three axes. In one embodiment, vertical motion or acceleration is ignored or minimized in the determination of step 204 such that the up-and-down motion of the mobile device 100 in a pocket of a user does not trigger a toggle. In still another embodiment, a user must not only physically move the mobile device 100 along a particular trajectory, but most also at least partially spin or revolve the mobile device 100 at the same time.
One example of a simplified process for determining whether a motion has exceeded a toggle threshold is illustrated in the flow diagram of
In step 304, the values are used in a toggle algorithm. At step 306, the motion activation determination module 106 uses the algorithm to determine whether a toggle threshold has been exceeded. The present invention contemplates a wide variety of possible algorithms. For example, a simple example algorithm is as follows:
Some implementations involve taking into account additional parameters other than acceleration/motion along three axes. In some embodiments, angular acceleration around one or more axes is detected and used to determine whether the toggle threshold has been exceeded. For example, the above sample algorithm can be modified as follows:
Returning to
If the toggle threshold is met (meaning that a particular motion or gesture has been detected), then the motion activation determination module 106 and/or the recording module 104 determines whether record mode is already off (step 208). The record mode is then toggled. That is, if the record mode is toggled off, the record mode and any associated software or hardware (e.g., a microphone, a “talk” option in a software application, etc.) is deactivated. If the record mode is toggled on, then the record mode and any associated software/hardware is activated.
At step 214, a time of the toggle is recorded. This is later used to determine how much time has passed since the last toggle (step 202). The method 200 then repeats with step 201.
Although only a few embodiments of the invention have been described in detail, it should be appreciated that the invention may be implemented in many other forms without departing from the spirit or scope of the invention. For example,
This application claims priority to U.S. Provisional Patent Application No. 61/833,645, entitled “Motion Control of Mobile Device,” filed Jun. 11, 2013, which is incorporated herein in its entirety for all purposes.
Number | Date | Country | |
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61833645 | Jun 2013 | US |