Wearable Communication Device and User Interface

- SilverPlus, Inc.

Wearable communication devices, e.g. implemented in a watch, using short range communication to a cell phone, and facilitating natural and intuitive user interface with low-power implementation allow a user to easily access all features of the phone, all while a phone is nearby but not visible. Notification is performed with vibration, an LED light and OLED text display of incoming calls, texts, and calendar events. It allows communicating hands-free. This allows using the communication device as “remote control” for home devices, etc. via voice and buttons. The device comprises interfaces motion sensors such as accelerometers, magnetometer and gyroscope, infrared proximity sensors, vibrator motor, and/or voice recognition. Low power consumption is achieved by dynamical configuration of sensor parameters to support only the necessary sensor functions at any given state of the device.

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Description

This application claims priority to U.S. provisional patent application Ser. No. 61/682,804 filed Aug. 14, 2012, which is owned by a common assignee, and which is herein incorporated by reference in its entirety.

This application claims priority to U.S. provisional patent application Ser. No. 61/682,814 filed Aug. 14, 2012, which is owned by a common assignee, and which is herein incorporated by reference in its entirety.

This application claims priority to U.S. provisional patent application Ser. No. 61/681,791 filed Aug. 10, 2012, which is owned by a common assignee, and which is herein incorporated by reference in its entirety.

BACKGROUND

(1) Field of the Disclosure

This disclosure relates generally to electronic mobile devices and relates in particular to wearable communication devices using short range communication to a cell phone or other portable electronic device.

(2) Background

Notification watches are used for some time now, which can receive information from portable electronic devices such as cell phones. They notify a user when a mobile phone rings by a vibrating or alerting for specific issues. They can pass through from the mobile phone information such as emails, SMS, calendar events and caller Ids.

SUMMARY

A principal object of the present disclosure is to allow use of a wearable communication device, such as a watch (and hereinafter referred to as, but not limited to, a watch), which has a very small form factor and limited physical real-estate for conventional input mechanisms such as push buttons and scroll wheels, to be able to accept a large number of different user inputs in ways that are natural and intuitive for the user.

A further object of the present disclosure is to implement these users input methods with low power consumption as would be advantageous for wearable, battery-powered devices.

A further object of the present disclosure is to use, either individually or a combination of, the following type of sensors: accelerometer, magnetometer, gyroscope, infrared proximity detectors, and microphone and touch sensors.

A further object of the present disclosure is to achieve lower power consumption by only operating the required sensors, and at the lowest power states sufficient for processing the type of user input to be detected at a particular state of the device operation.

A further object of the present disclosure is to allow use of a wearable communication device, such as a watch (and hereinafter referred to, but not limited to, a watch), to be notified with vibration, an LED light and OLED text display of incoming calls, texts, and calendar events, all while a phone is nearby but not visible, such as in a pocket or purse.

A further object of the present disclosure is to be notified with vibration, an LED light and OLED text display of incoming calls, texts, and calendar events, all without a phone being visible.

A further object of the present disclosure is to put a wearable Bluetooth communication device into a watch that would connect to a cell phone.

A further object of the present disclosure is to achieve a wearable Bluetooth communication device enabling a hands-free communication with a cell phone.

Moreover an object of the present disclosure is to achieve a wearable Bluetooth communication device which can be used as input device to interact with a smart phone application.

In accordance with the objects of the invention a wearable communication device configured to talk and to listen, place and answer calls, send and receive text messages, initiate voice commands to mobile search for information and to find locations, and be notified of incoming calls, texts, and events, all while a smart phone is nearby has been achieved, The communication device disclosed comprises: a near-field short distance wireless communication chipset, wherein the near-field short distance wireless communication chipset is used for communication with the smart phone and motion sensors comprising an accelerometer, a magnetometer, and a gyroscope sensing movements of a user's arm or wrist determining velocity, direction and displacement vector in 3-D space which can be used as input selection for an application of the smart phone.

In accordance with the objects of the disclosure a method to achieve a wearable communication device configured for gaming applications, to talk and to listen, place and answer calls, send and receive text messages, initiate voice commands to mobile search for information and to find locations, and be notified of incoming calls, texts, and events, all while a smart phone is nearby, has been disclosed. The method disclosed comprises the steps of: (1) deploying a mobile phone within reach of a near-field short distance wireless communication chipset used for communication between the wearable communication device and the mobile phone, (2) deploying the near-field short distance wireless communication chipset, (3) deploying motion sensors comprising an accelerometer, a magnetometer, and a gyroscope sensing movements of a user's arm or wrist determining velocity, direction and displacement vector in 3-D space which can be used as input selection for an application of the smart phone, and (4) connecting the mobile phone to the internet via Wi-Fi or to mobile phone networks.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

In the accompanying drawings forming a material part of this description, there is shown:

FIG. 1 shows a top view of an embodiment of a watch disclosed.

FIG. 2 shows a side view of a watch with touch sensor, motion sensors including an IR sensors being worn on the wrist as a watch, with the IR proximity sensors detecting the motion of the fingers.

FIG. 3a shows a preferred embodiment of the IR proximity sensors for detection of finger motion.

FIG. 3b shows the normal orientation of watch on the hand FIG. 3c shows the hand with watch tilted downwards

FIG. 3d shows the hand with watch tilted upwards

FIG. 3e shows the hand with watch oriented upwards

FIG. 3f shows the hand with watch oriented downwards

FIG. 3g shows hand motion down followed by selection

FIG. 4 shows the main components of the watch.

DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS

The preferred embodiments of the present disclosure present a wearable communication device and its interfaces, wherein the communication device can be, for example, a watch, comprising functions enabling to talk and to listen, place and answers call, send and receive text messages, initiates voice commands to mobile search for information and find locations, and be notified of incoming calls, texts, and events, all while a phone is nearby but not visible, as when it is in the user's pocket or purse.

It is a challenge to designers of wearable communication devices such as a watch, to provide access to the users the rich sets of features available on a phone, such as to talk and to listen, place and answers call, send and receive text messages, initiates voice commands to mobile search for information and find locations, and be notified of incoming calls, texts, and events, all while a phone is in a pocket or purse

FIG. 1 shows a top view of a preferred embodiment of the disclosure

The watch 1 has an always-on analog watch movement. Alternatively a digital watch display, instead of an analog clock, can be used; there is no need to touch the screen to see the time. The upper half shows the hands of an analog Quartz watch. The watch comprises two physical buttons 3 and 4. Knob 2 can be used to adjust time of the day. Button 3 is an upper command button; button 4 is a lower select button.

The buttons 3 and 4 are programmable buttons, configured by user via either (a) web portal or (b) smartphone app. Pre-programmed configurations such as “social”, “messaging/tweet”, “emergency”. Other pre-programmed configurations are possible, such as for example: in idle state, short press a button to activate voice recognition, long press to call last number dialed, OR, short press to read new texts or messages, long press to send new texts or messages.

The table below shows examples of such pre-programmed configurations. The functions in the table are determined by the state of the watch, together with the duration and number of times the button is pressed:

TOP BUTTON BOTTOM BUTTON CONFIG FUNCTIONS FUNCTIONS Default Voice command activation, Activate status display, make call, receive call, volume control. terminate call, pairing with phone. Social Read and send text Display new postings from messages social websites: e.g., Facebook, twitter. Safety Start/stop calling Call 911 pre-programmed numbers. Gaming/ Start/Stop 3D motion Left/right mouse button remote reporting (for cursor control control) Audio Start/stop playing music Volume control Record Activate voice recording Terminate voice recording audio

The preferred embodiment has an OLED display and an RGB LED light. Alternatively an LCD display, as e.g. one line LCD dot matrix, can be used. The communication is performed using a Bluetooth, or other near-field short distance wireless communication technology, chip. Bluetooth is a proprietary open wireless technology standard for exchanging data over short distances (using short-wavelength radio transmissions in the ISM band from 2400-2480 MHz) from fixed and mobile devices, creating personal area networks (PANs) with high levels of security. It can connect several devices, overcoming problems of synchronization. For example, a chip meeting the specifications of Bluetooth 4.0 can be used, together with a microphone and speaker. Speakerphone capabilities are built in the watch such as echo cancellation and make/receive calls. In the preferred embodiment a piezo speaker has been deployed. Other types of speakers are possible as well.

The two buttons 3 and 4 control all functions of the wearable communication device 1 other than setting time, which is performed by button 2, One button can be used to activate voice recognition, and use to, for example, initiate a call, e.g. “call home”.

FIG. 4 shows a summary of the main components of the watch and their interconnections. There is the watch 40 having an analog or a digital display. The watch comprises two physical buttons 3 and 4. Knob 2 can be used to adjust the time of day. Button 3 is an upper command button; button 4 is a lower select button. Furthermore there is a one-line digital display 41, which can display a phone number, alphanumeric messages, icons, and the like. The display may be an LCD or an OLED display. Furthermore there may be a LED 42 providing by different colors status information.

In the case of an analog watch display, the analog watch movements may contain mechanisms for the watch hands to be adjusted according to signals sent by the Processor 43. It may also contain mechanisms for the hand positions to be sensed by the Processor. The analog watch may therefore be set accurately by the Processor, which receives time information over Bluetooth from the phone.

A processor 43 controls the operation of the watch disclosed including a microphone 44, a speaker 45, a vibration motor 500, motion sensors as a 3-axis accelerometer 46, a magnetometer 47, a gyroscope 48, an IR proximity sensor 405, and a touch sensor 406 connected to a capacitive touch panel 407.

Furthermore the processor 43 controls a Bluetooth (BT) chipset 49 which may comprise a regular BT chip and/or a Bluetooth low energy chip. Both used for communication to a phone, smartphone or another BT-device 401.

Moreover a Near Field Communication (NFC) chip 402 can be provided in the watch disclosed. It allows “bump”-type feature to transfer data from a cell phone to the watch, for instance for admission control, as used e.g. on subways in Taiwan, China, or Tokyo subways to eliminate the need for a separate subway card.

For the power supply of the watch is a micro USB-port 403 provided, which enables charging of the main battery 404. The main battery 404 provides power to all components of the watch requiring power.

Multiple similar devices can be synchronized via star or mesh network for multi-point motion sensing. For example, an arm-swing movement detected can cause a punching sound to be produced, in a “hand-combat” game. Two players may be networked with their watches synchronized, and depending on the velocity and 3-D locations of the watches, may be playing against each other with suitable sounds being generated to simulate the opponents being hit. Another example may be simulation of musical instrument sounds such as drum and guitar, and multiple players may engage in generating sounds synchronized with their watch movements, in a kind of “air-instruments” game, while background music is being played.

FIG. 2 shows a side view of a watch with touch sensor, motion sensors including an IR sensors being worn on the wrist as a watch, with the IR proximity sensors detecting the motion of the fingers.

FIG. 2 illustrates the watch comprising a 3-axis accelerometer 20 and magnetometer 21, a gyroscope 22, a touch sensor 23, infrared (IR) receivers 24, and IR transmitters 25.

Motion sensors such as accelerometer 20, magnetometer 21 and gyroscope 22 can be used to sense movement of the user's arm/wrist, determining velocity, direction, and displacement vector in 3-D space, which can be used as input selection for a smart phone application or together with an audio generation device for gaming applications. For example, an incoming call can be accepted by swinging the wrist in the horizontal direction, or vice versa rejected by swinging in the vertical direction. More complex motion up to full 3-D displacement can be determined by combining data generated by the accelerometer, magnetometer and gyroscope.

FIG. 3a shows a preferred embodiment of the IR proximity sensors for detection of finger motion. The IR sensors can be worn on the lower side of the arm to follow better the movement of the fingers.

Multiple devices can be synchronized via star or mesh network for multi-point motion sensing. Motion data can be tagged with time-stamp, sent wirelessly over Bluetooth using SCO packets, so that data from multiple devices are time-synchronized to each other. Multiple gaming controllers can be playing one game with audio and vibration feedback to each user in real time, all synchronized to each other.

Moreover through an application (app) on a Smart Phone or through a web portal a user can utilize the equivalent of paper ‘post-it notes’, which will be sent to the watch. Using hand gestures, as shown in FIGS. 3b-3g, or voice input, the user is able to see the list of post-it notes on the display.

It should be noted that the user can browse through menus using the wrist watch. The wrist watch has a small display, and an accelerometer. Therefore the user can browse through them by tilting the watch up/down/sideways, and select by a vertical shake, and exit/reject using a horizontal shake. This can be used by the user to view the contact list, and call them without touching the watch, or phone. As outlined above the watch can be used to look at post-it notes and also as a remote control.

FIG. 3b shows the normal orientation of the watch on the hand. Followed are some key functions of the watch which can be used in conjunction with hand/wrist orientation and/or movement:

    • The watch either displays using the LCD, or, plays audio, of either current State information, or, Selectable Action information, or, Menu information
    • The watch can be used as a remote control with BLE/IR.
    • Hand Tilt up/down, as shown in FIGS. 3c and 3d, can be used to scroll through next/previous State/Selectable Action/Menu
    • Hand Tilt up/down, as shown in FIGS. 3c and 3d, can be used as next/previous selections in remote control mode
    • Hand Orientation of up/down, as shown in FIGS. 3e and 3f, can be used for next/previous page of State/Selectable Action List/Menu List.
    • Hand Orientation up/down, as shown in FIGS. 3e and 3f, can be used as Fast Forward/Fast Backward in remote control mode
    • Vertical/Horizontal Hand Motion, as shown in FIG. 3g, is used to Accept/Reject current State/Selectable Action/Menu
    • Vertical/Horizontal hand motion can be used to play, Select/stop, and/or Exit in remote control mode

Motion sensing can also allow applications for the wearable communication device such as

    • Drums—coordinated arm motion to drum sounds—different drums, loudness and tones depending on motion parameters;
    • Punch-up—coordinated punching motion to impact sounds: wall, glass break, human screams, or locating and punching an opponent; and
    • Gesture control or vibration.

It should be noted that the sound comes from the watch itself, different than prior art devices.

Furthermore a vibrator motor of the watch can be used for haptic feedback, e.g. in combination with motion sensors to provide force effects for drums, punch-ups, etc.

Moreover the watch may be equipped with one or more infrared (IR) proximity sensors. These sensors can be deployed on the watch and/or watch bands to sense finger movements. The IR proximity sensors may be used for hand gesture input. The IR proximity sensors, mounted on wrist band with focus towards inside palm of hand, sense for example finger movements. The IR proximity sensors work by sensing heat, determining distance, and triangulating to determine position. Gaming applications can be provided by the IR proximity sensors of the watch, such as air guitar.

An important feature is also voice recognition. One exemplary application is for an incoming call, with the user saying “yes” to answer the call or “no” to decline and send the caller to a voicemail application. Other commands are of course possible to accept or to decline a call as well, especially considering other languages. The voice commands can also be used for other functions. It should be noted that this feature implements true hands-free use. More generally, voice command may be used to generate an action. Furthermore an incoming call could first turn on voice recognition; otherwise voice recognition can be left off to save power.

A list of exemplary actions which can be activated by voice recognition comprises read/send text; make/receive calls, read notifications, any internet searches as supported by any browsers, activating other phone apps, local settings for phone or watch (e.g. ringer off, mute on/off).

For low power consumption, sensors are configured so that only the sensors and the operations necessary to detect the specific user interface actions are activated at a given state of the device. For example, an incoming call may be answered by the user speaking either “yes” or “no”, or alternatively either a horizontal or a vertical wave of the watch. In this case the microphone and audio input circuitry is activated, but the voice recognition engine may be limited to a small vocabulary of the two words only. The accelerometer may be activated to detect the hand wave, but the sampling rate may be kept very low as it is only required to distinguish between two different axes of motion.

The following is an example list of parameters that can be adjusted to reduce power consumption:

    • Accelerometer: sampling rate, resolution
    • Gyroscope: sampling rate
    • Magnetometer: sampling rate
    • Microphone/audio input subsystem/voice recognition engine: sampling rate, resolution, vocabulary size
    • IR proximity sensor: transaction (Tx) intensity, sampling rate, Rx resolution
    • Touch sensor: sampling rate, resolution

A set of specific settings of the above parameters would be associated with each state of the device, so that the device power consumption is optimized dynamically with the device functions.

While the disclosure has been particularly shown and described with reference to the preferred embodiments thereof, it will be understood by those skilled in the art that various changes in form and details may be made without departing from the spirit and scope of the disclosure.

Claims

1. A wearable communication device configured to talk and to listen, place and answer calls, send and receive text messages, initiate voice commands to mobile search for information and to find locations, and be notified of incoming calls, texts, and events, all while a smart phone is nearby, comprising:

a near-field short distance wireless communication chipset, wherein the near-field short distance wireless communication chipset is used for communication with the smart phone; and
motion sensors comprising an accelerometer, a magnetometer, and a gyroscope sensing movements of a user's arm or wrist determining velocity, direction and displacement vector in 3-D space which can be used as input selection for an application of the smart phone.

2. The communication device of claim 1 wherein the communication device has also watch functions.

3. The communication device of claim 2 wherein the watch further comprises analog watch movement.

4. The communication device of claim 2 wherein the watch has a digital watch display.

5. The communication device of claim 2 wherein a time of day can be adjusted by a knob of the watch.

6. The communication device of claim 1 wherein said motion sensors can be used together with an audio generation for gaming applications.

7. The communication device of claim 1 further comprising a speakerphone means configured to make and receive phone calls via the mobile phone comprising a microphone and a loudspeaker device and to accept voice commands.

8. The communication device of claim 7 wherein incoming calls can be accepted or rejected via the motion sensors by swinging the arm in a defined direction related to the action desired.

9. The communication device of claim 1 wherein the communication device is further configured to use post-it notes which are sent to the communication device.

10. The communication device of claim 1 wherein the communication device is configured to browsing through menus using the display and an accelerometer by using movements of an arm wearing the communication device and of a wrist of the arm.

11. The communication device of claim 10 wherein a user of the communication device can browse through the menu by tilting the communication device up/down/sideways, select by a vertical shake, and exit/reject by a horizontal shake.

12. The communication device of claim 10 wherein a user can use the browsing to view a contact list and to place a call without touching the communication device or the mobile phone.

13. The communication device of claim 10 wherein key functions of the communication device can be used by the motion sensors via hand/wrist orientation and/or movement wherein the key functions comprise using the display or playing audio, of either state information, or selectable action information, or menu information, or using the communication device as a remote control via one or more infrared proximity sensors for detection of finger movements and the near-field short distance wireless communication chipset.

14. The communication device of claim 10 wherein hand tilt up/down, is used to scroll through next/previous State/Selectable Action/Menu, wherein fingers of the hand are moved from a horizontal position upwards.

15. The communication device of claim 10 wherein hand tilt up/down is used to scroll through next/previous State/Selectable Action/Menu in remote control mode, wherein fingers of the hand are moved from a horizontal position upwards.

16. The communication device of claim 10 wherein hand tilt up/down is used as next/previous selections in remote control mode, wherein the hand is moved from an upward pointing position to a downward pointing position.

17. The communication device of claim 10 wherein hand orientation up/down is used for next/previous page of state/selectable action list/menu list.

18. The communication device of claim 10 wherein hand orientation up/down is used for fast forward/fast backward in remote control mode.

19. The communication device of claim 10 wherein vertical/horizontal hand motion is used to accept/reject current state/selectable action/menu.

20. The communication device of claim 10 wherein vertical/horizontal hand motion is used to play, select stop, and/or exit in remote control mode.

21. The communication device of claim 1 further comprising a vibration motor.

22. The communication device of claim 1 wherein multiple communication devices are synchronized via star or mesh network for multi-point motion sensing.

23. The communication device of claim 22 wherein motion data are tagged with time stamp, sent wirelessly over the near-field short distance wireless communication chipset so that data from multiple communication devices are time synchronized to each other allowing multiple gaming controllers playing one game with audio and vibration feedback to each user in real time and all synchronized to each other.

24. The communication device of claim 1 further comprising one or more infrared proximity sensors for detection of finger movements.

25. The communication device of claim 24 wherein the infrared proximity sensors are worn on the lower side of the arm to follow better movements of the fingers.

26. The communication device of claim 24 wherein the infrared proximity sensors are used for hand gesture input.

27. The communication device of claim 24 wherein the infrared proximity sensors are sensing heat, determining distance and triangulating to determine position.

28. The communication device of claim 27 wherein gaming applications are provided by the infrared proximity sensors.

29. The communication device of claim 1 wherein said motion sensors are used for applications of the wearable communication device simulating drums by coordinating arm motions with drum sounds, wherein different drums, loudness and tones are depending on motion parameters and wherein the sound comes from the communication device itself.

30. The communication device of claim 1 wherein said motion sensors are used for applications of the wearable communication device simulating punch-ups by coordinating punching motions to impact sounds comprising wall, glass break, human screams or locating and punching an opponent and wherein the sound comes from the communication device itself.

31. The communication device of claim 1 wherein said motion sensors are used for applications of the wearable communication device to control gestures or vibration.

32. The communication device of claim 21 wherein the vibrator motor is used for haptic feedback

33. The communication device of claim 32 wherein the vibrator motor is used in combination with the motion sensors to provide force effects.

34. The communication device of claim 1 wherein communication device performs voice recognition.

35. The communication device of claim 34 wherein voice commands are used to generate an action.

36. The communication device of claim 35 wherein voice commands are used to accept or decline phone calls and send the phone call to a voicemail application.

37. The communication device of claim 36 wherein an incoming call first turns on voice recognition and otherwise voice recognition is turned off to save power.

38. The communication device of claim 34 wherein the voice commands are enabled for different languages.

39. The communication device of claim 34 wherein the voice commands allows hands-free operation of the communication device and of the mobile phone.

40. The communication device of claim 34 wherein a list of exemplary actions which can be activated by voice commands comprises read/send/text, make/receive phone calls, read notifications, Internet searches, activating other phone applications, local settings for the phone and the communication device.

41. The communication device of claim 1 wherein sensors are configured so that only that only the sensors and the operations necessary to detect the specific user interface actions are activated at a given state of the device for low power consumption.

42. The communication device of claim 1 wherein a list of parameters that can be adjusted to reduce power consumption comprises sampling rate and resolution of the accelerometer, sampling rate of the gyroscope, sampling rate of the magnetometer, sampling rate, resolution, and vocabulary size of a speakerphone means, transaction intensity, sampling rate, and reception resolution of infrared proximity sensors, and sampling rate and resolution of a touch sensor.

43. The communication device of claim 40 wherein settings of the parameters listed is associated with each state of the communication device so that the power consumption is optimized dynamically with the communication device functions.

44. A method to achieve a wearable communication device configured for gaming applications, to talk and to listen, place and answer calls, send and receive text messages, initiate voice commands to mobile search for information and to find locations, and be notified of incoming calls, texts, and events, all while a smart phone is nearby, comprising the steps of:

(1) deploying a mobile phone within reach of a near-field short distance wireless communication chipset used for communication between the wearable communication device and the mobile phone;
(2) deploying the near-field short distance wireless communication chipset;
(3) deploying motion sensors comprising an accelerometer, a magnetometer, and a gyroscope sensing movements of a user's arm or wrist determining velocity, direction and displacement vector in 3-D space which can be used as input selection for an application of the smart phone; and
(4) connecting the mobile phone to the internet via Wi-Fi or to mobile phone networks.

45. The method of claim 44 further comprising configuring the wearable communication device to support watch functions.

46. The method of claim 44 wherein the mobile phone is a smart phone.

47. The method of claim 44 further comprising configuring said motion sensors to be used together with an audio generation for gaming applications.

48. The method of claim 44 further comprising deploying a speakerphone means configured to make and receive phone calls via the mobile phone comprising a microphone and a loudspeaker device and to accept voice commands.

49. The method of claim 44 wherein further comprising configuring said motion sensors to accept or to reject incoming calls by swinging an arm wearing the communication device in a defined direction related to the action desired.

50. The method of claim 44 further comprising configuring said motion sensors to enable browsing through menus using the display and an accelerometer by using movements of an arm wearing the communication device and of a wrist of the arm.

51. The method of claim 50 wherein said browsing through the menu is performed by tilting the communication device up/down/sideways, select by a vertical shake, and exit/reject by a horizontal shake.

52. The method of claim 50 wherein said browsing is used to view a contact list and to place a call without touching the communication device or the mobile phone.

53. The method of claim 50 further comprising configuring said movement sensors to enable using key functions of the communication device in conjunction with hand/wrist orientation and/or movement wherein the key functions comprise using the display or playing audio, of either state information, or selectable action information, or menu information, or using the communication device as a remote control via one or more infrared proximity sensors for detection of finger movements and the near-field short distance wireless communication chipset.

54. The method of claim 50 further comprising using hand tilt up/down to scroll through next/previous State/Selectable Action/Menu, wherein fingers of the hand are moved from a horizontal position upwards.

55. The method of claim 50 further comprising using hand tilt up/down to scroll through next/previous State/Selectable Action/Menu in remote control mode, wherein fingers of the hand are moved from a horizontal position upwards.

56. The method of claim 50 further comprising using hand tilt up/down as next/previous selections in remote control mode, wherein the hand is moved from an upward pointing position to a downward pointing position.

57. The method of claim 50 further comprising using hand orientation up/down for next/previous page of state/selectable action list/menu list.

58. The method of claim 50 further comprising using hand orientation up/down for fast forward/fast backward in remote control mode.

59. The method of claim 50 further comprising using vertical/horizontal hand motion to accept/reject current state/selectable action/menu.

60. The method of claim 50 further comprising using vertical/horizontal hand motion to play, select stop, and/or exit in remote control mode.

61. The method of claim 44 further comprising synchronizing multiple communication devices via star or mesh network for multi-point motion sensing.

62. The method of claim 61 further comprising tagging motion data with time stamp and sending wirelessly over the near-field short distance wireless communication chipset so that data from multiple communication devices are time synchronized to each other allowing multiple gaming controllers playing one game with audio and vibration feedback to each user in real time and all synchronized to each other.

63. The method of claim 44 further comprising deploying one or more infrared proximity sensors for detection of finger movements.

64. The method of claim 63 further comprising wearing the infrared proximity sensors on the lower side of the arm to follow better movements of the fingers.

65. The method of claim 64 further comprising using the infrared proximity sensors for hand gesture input.

66. The method of claim 63 wherein the infrared proximity sensors are sensing heat, determining distance and triangulating to determine position.

67. The method of claim 63 further comprising providing gaming applications by the infrared proximity sensors.

68. The method of claim 44 further comprising using said motion sensors for applications of the wearable communication device simulating drums by coordinating arm motions with drum sounds, wherein different drums, loudness and tones are depending on motion parameters and wherein the sound comes from the communication device itself.

69. The method of claim 44 wherein further providing using said motion sensors for applications of the wearable communication device simulating punch-ups by coordinating punching motions to impact sounds comprising wall, glass break, human screams or locating and punching an opponent and wherein the sound comes from the communication device itself.

70. The method of claim 44 further comprising using said motion sensors for applications of the wearable communication device to control gestures or vibration.

71. The method of claim 44 further comprising using a vibrator motor for haptic feedback

72. The method of claim 68 further comprising using the vibrator motor in combination with the motion sensors to provide force effects.

73. The method of claim 44 further comprising performing voice recognition.

74. The method of claim 73 further comprising using voice commands to generate an action.

75. The method of claim 73 further comprising using voice commands to accept or decline phone calls and to send the phone call to a voicemail application.

76. The method of claim 73 further comprising first turning on an incoming call voice recognition and otherwise turning off voice recognition to save power.

77. The method of claim 73 further comprising enabling the voice commands for different languages.

78. The method of claim 73 further comprising enabling the voice commands to perform hands-free operation of the communication device and of the mobile phone.

79. The method of claim 73 further comprising using a list of exemplary actions which can be activated by voice commands comprising read/send/text, make/receive phone calls, read notifications, internet searches, activating other phone applications, local settings for the phone and the communication device.

80. The method of claim 44 further comprising configuring the sensors so that only that only the sensors and the operations necessary to detect the specific user interface actions are activated at a given state of the device for low power consumption.

81. The method of claim 44 further comprising adjusting a list of parameters to reduce power consumption comprising sampling rate and resolution of the accelerometer, sampling rate of the gyroscope, sampling rate of the magnetometer, sampling rate, resolution, and vocabulary size of the speakerphone means, transaction intensity, sampling rate, and reception resolution of the infrared proximity sensor, and sampling rate and resolution of the touch sensor.

82. The method of claim 81 wherein settings of the parameters listed is associated with each state of the communication device so that the power consumption is optimized dynamically with the communication device functions.

Patent History
Publication number: 20140045547
Type: Application
Filed: Aug 12, 2013
Publication Date: Feb 13, 2014
Applicant: SilverPlus, Inc. (Irvine, CA)
Inventors: Suresh Singamsetty (Aliso Viejo, CA), Dennis Kwan (San Diego, CA), Jeffrey Hsieh (Dove Canyon, CA)
Application Number: 13/964,823
Classifications
Current U.S. Class: Operable On More Than One System (455/552.1)
International Classification: H04W 88/06 (20060101);