Systems, devices, and methods for wearable electronic devices as state machines

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-10199008-B2
Application number	US-201514669878-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Mar 26, 2015
Priority date	Mar 27, 2014
Publication date	Feb 5, 2019
Grant date	Feb 5, 2019

Abstract

Systems, devices, and methods that implement state machine models in wearable electronic devices are described. A wearable electronic device stores processor-executable gesture identification instructions that, when executed by an on-board processor, enable the wearable electronic device to identify one or more gesture(s) performed by a user. The wearable electronic device also stores processor-executable state determination instructions that, when executed by the processor, cause the wearable electronic device to enter into and transition between various operational states depending on signals detected by on-board sensors. The state machine models described herein enable the wearable electronic devices to identify and automatically recover from operational errors, malfunctions, or crashes with minimal intervention from the user.

First claim

The invention claimed is:

1. A wearable electronic device operable to automatically identify and recover from operational errors, the wearable electronic device comprising:
at least one sensor responsive to at least one input effected by a user of the wearable electronic device, wherein in response to the at least one input the at least one sensor provides sensor signals;
a processor communicatively coupled to the at least one sensor; and
a non-transitory processor-readable storage medium communicatively coupled to the processor, wherein the non-transitory processor-readable storage medium stores processor-executable sensor signal processing instructions and processor-executable state determination instructions, wherein the state determination instructions include a variable that determines an operational state of the processor, and wherein, when the state determination instructions are executed by the processor, the state determination instructions cause the processor to:
automatically identify when the wearable electronic device encounters an operational error based on a determination that the sensor signal processing instructions are not calibrated; and
automatically recover from the operational error, wherein to automatically recover from the operational error the state determination instructions cause the processor to:
enter a standby state automatically in response to the determination that the sensor signal processing instructions are not calibrated, wherein in the standby state the processor recognizes a first indication from the user, wherein the first indication from the user is a rest gesture performed by the user, the rest gesture indicative that the user is ready to calibrate the wearable electronic device;
enter a calibration state automatically in response to a recognition of the first indication from the user while the processor is in the standby state, wherein in the calibration state the processor recognizes a second indication from the user and calibrates the sensor signal processing instructions in response to the second indication from the user; and
enter an active state automatically in response to calibrating the sensor signal processing instructions while the processor is in the calibration state, wherein in the active state the processor executes the calibrated sensor signal processing instructions, and wherein when executed by the processor the calibrated sensor signal processing instructions cause the processor to process at least one input effected by the user based at least in part on the calibration of the sensor signal processing instructions from the calibration state.

2. The wearable electronic device of claim 1 wherein the at least one sensor is responsive to at least one gesture performed by the user and provides sensor signals in response to the at least one gesture, and wherein the processor-executable sensor signal processing instructions include processor-executable gesture identification instructions that, when executed by the processor while the processor is in the active state, cause the processor to identify at least one gesture performed by the user based at least in part on the calibration of the gesture identification instructions from the calibration state.

3. The wearable electronic device of claim 2 wherein the first indication from the user includes a recognition by the processor that the user has donned the wearable electronic device, and wherein the non-transitory processor-readable storage medium further stores processor-executable instructions that, when executed by the processor, cause the processor to recognize when the user dons the wearable electronic device as the first indication from the user in the standby state.

4. The wearable electronic device of claim 2 wherein the non-transitory processor-readable storage medium further stores processor-executable instructions that, when executed by the processor, cause the processor to:
recognize at least one reference gesture performed by the user as the second indication from the user in the calibration state; and
calibrate the gesture identification instructions based on the at least one reference gesture.

5. The wearable electronic device of claim 2 wherein the at least one sensor includes at least one muscle activity sensor selected from the group consisting of: an electromyography (“EMG”) sensor and a mechanomyography (“MMG”) sensor.

6. The wearable electronic device of claim 1 wherein the at least one sensor includes at least one inertial sensor selected from the group consisting of: an inertial measurement unit, an accelerometer, and a gyroscope.

7. The wearable electronic device of claim 1 , further comprising:
at least one light-emitting diode (“LED”) communicatively coupled to the processor, wherein the non-transitory processor-readable storage medium further stores processor-executable instructions that, when executed by the processor, cause the wearable electronic device to activate at least one of:
a first color of the at least one LED in response to the processor entering the standby state;
a second color of the at least one LED in response to the processor entering the calibration state; and/or
a third color of the at least one LED in response to the processor entering the active state.

8. The wearable electronic device of claim 1 , further comprising:
a haptic feedback device communicatively coupled to the processor, wherein the non-transitory processor-readable storage medium further stores processor-executable instructions that, when executed by the processor, cause the processor to activate the haptic feedback module in response to at least one of:
entering the standby state;
entering the calibration state; and/or
entering the active state.

9. The wearable electronic device of claim 1 wherein the variable is a global variable that is accessed by, at least, both the processor- executable signal processing instructions and the processor-executable state determination instructions stored in the non-transitory processor-readable storage medium.

10. The wearable electronic device of claim 1 wherein, when executed by the processor, the state determination instructions cause the processor to:
monitor the sensor signals;
enter the wearable electronic device into a sleep state if a period of at least five seconds elapses with no input detected by the at least one sensor, and wherein in the sleep state at least some components of the wearable electronic device power down to conserve energy; and
wake the wearable electronics device out of the sleep state in response to an input detected by the at least one sensor while the wearable electronic device is in the sleep state.

11. A method of operating a wearable electronic device as a state machine to automatically identify and recover from operational errors, the wearable electronic device including at least one sensor responsive to at least one input effected by a user of the wearable electronic device, wherein in response to the at least one input the at least one sensor provides sensor signals, a processor communicatively coupled to the at least one sensor, and a non-transitory processor-readable storage medium communicatively coupled to the processor, wherein the non-transitory processor-readable storage medium stores at least: i) processor-executable state determination instructions that include a variable that determines an operational state of the processor, and ii) processor-executable sensor signal processing instructions, wherein the processor executes the state determination instructions to cause the wearable electronic device to perform the method, the method comprising:
automatically identifying when the we

Assignees

• North Inc

Inventors

• Aleem Idris S
• Ataee Pedram
• Lake Stephen

Classifications

• G06F1/1694

  the I/O peripheral being a single or a set of motion sensors for pointer control or gesture input obtained by sensing movements of the portable computer · CPC title

• G06F1/163

  Wearable computers, e.g. on a belt · CPC title

• G06F3/016

  Input arrangements with force or tactile feedback as computer generated output to the user · CPC title

• G06F3/015

  Input arrangements based on nervous system activity detection, e.g. brain waves [EEG] detection, electromyograms [EMG] detection, electrodermal response detection · CPC title

• G09G5/006 Primary

  Details of the interface to the display terminal (specific for a display terminal using a CRT G09G1/167; using a flat panel G09G3/2096; circuits for interfacing with colour displays G09G5/04) · CPC title