Systems and methods for determining axial orientation and location of a user's wrist

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-10478099-B2
Application number	US-201715705644-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Sep 15, 2017
Priority date	Sep 22, 2016
Publication date	Nov 19, 2019
Grant date	Nov 19, 2019

Abstract

This relates to systems and methods for determining the axial orientation and location of the user's wrist using one or more sensors located on the strap, the device underbody, or both. For example, the strap can include a plurality of elastic sections and a plurality of rigid sections. Each elastic section can include one or more flex sensors. In some examples, on or more electromyography (EMG) sensors can be included to measure the user's electrical signals, and the user's muscle activity can be determined. In some examples, a plurality of strain gauges can be included to generate one or more signals indicative of any changes in shape, size, and/or physical properties of the user's wrist. In some examples, the device can include a plurality of capacitance sensors for increased granularity and/or sensitivity in measuring the amount of tension exerted by the user's wrist.

First claim

The invention claimed is:

1. A strap for a wearable device, the strap comprising:
an inner side and an outer side;
a plurality of strap holders configured to attach to a first edge and a second edge of a wearable device body; and
a plurality of capacitance sensors located on the inner side of the strap, the plurality of capacitance sensors configured to sense one or more changes in capacitance due to one or more forces of a user's wrist causing one or more changes in capacitance coupling, the plurality of capacitance sensors configured to generate one or more capacitance signals indicative of the one or more changes in capacitance coupling,
wherein the plurality of capacitance sensors is arranged as a grid of drive lines and sense lines.

2. The strap of claim 1 , further comprising:
a second plurality of capacitance sensors configured to capacitively couple to the plurality of capacitance sensors and located on the outer side of the strap.

3. The strap of claim 1 , further comprising:
a plurality of elastic sections, each elastic section including at least one flex sensor, wherein each flex sensor is configured to contract when the user's wrist has more tension and generate one or more signals indicative of the contraction; and
a plurality of rigid sections, one or more of the plurality of elastic sections separated by one or more of the plurality of rigid sections.

4. The strap of claim 3 , where each of the plurality of elastic sections is interleaved with each of the plurality of rigid sections.

5. The strap of claim 1 , further comprising:
a plurality of electromyography sensors configured to measure one or more electrical activities of the user's wrist.

6. The strap of claim 5 , further comprising:
a plurality of elastic sections, wherein the plurality of electromyography sensors is at least partially embedded in the plurality of elastic sections.

7. The strap of claim 6 , wherein the plurality of elastic sections generates both strain signals and electromyography signals.

8. The strap of claim 5 , wherein the plurality of electromyography sensors is interleaved with the plurality of capacitance sensors.

9. The strap of claim 5 , wherein the plurality of capacitance sensors is located at a first location of the inner side of the strap and the plurality of electromyography sensors is located at a second location of the inner side of the strap, the second location spatially separate from the first location.

10. The strap of claim 1 , further comprising:
one or more piezoelectric sensors configured to measure one or more strains caused by the user's wrist.

11. A device comprising:
a device body including a top side, an underside, a first edge, and a second edge;
a display located on the top side of the device body;
a strap comprising:
a plurality of strap holders configured to attach to the first and second edges of the device body;
an inner side and an outer side;
a plurality of sensors located on the inner side of the strap, the plurality of sensors including a plurality of capacitance sensors configured to sense one or more changes in capacitance due to one or more forces of a user's wrist causing one or more changes in capacitance coupling,
wherein the plurality of capacitance sensors is arranged as a grid of drive lines and sense lines;
the plurality of sensors configured to generate one or more signals; and

logic configured to:
receive the one or more signals, and
generate one or more images of the user's wrist from the received one or more signals, the one or more images include a two-dimensional representation of location, intensity, or both of the one or more forces.

12. The device of claim 11 , wherein the device is capable of automatic self-calibration, wherein self-calibration includes one or more of determining an axial location and determining an axial orientation of the device body on the wrist of the user.

13. The device of claim 11 , further comprising:
one or more optical sensors located on the underside of the device body and configured to measure a physiological information of the user.

14. The device of claim 11 , further comprising:
one or more motion sensors configured to measure a motion of the device,
wherein the logic is further configured to:
receive motion information associated with the motion of the device from the one or more motion sensors, and
determine a timing of an activity of the user based on the motion information.

15. The device of claim 11 , further comprising:
one or more piezoelectric sensors configured to measure one or more strains caused by the user's wrist,
wherein the logic is further configured to receive strain information from the one or more piezoelectric sensors, and
determine a grip of the user based on the strain information.

16. The device of claim 11 , further comprising:
one or more additional sensors configured to measure a motion of the user's wrist,
wherein the logic is configured to:
receive motion information from the one or more additional sensors, and
determine whether the device is attached to the user's left wrist or the user's right wrist based on the motion information.

17. The device of claim 11 , wherein the strap further comprises:
a plurality of elastic sections, each elastic section including at least one flex sensor, wherein each flex sensor is configured to contract when the user's wrist has more tension and generate one or more signals indicative of the contraction; and
a plurality of rigid sections, one or more of the plurality of elastic sections separated by one or more of the plurality of rigid sections.

18. The device of claim 11 , wherein the strap further comprises one or more strain gauges configured to measure one or more strains caused by the user's wrist,
wherein the one or more images of the user's wrist includes a two-dimensional representation of information from the one or more strain gauges.

Assignees

• Apple Inc

Inventors

• Lor Jason
• Nangia Siddharth

Classifications

• G06F1/163

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

• A63B2230/60

  muscle strain, i.e. measured on the user · CPC title

• G01L1/16

  using properties of piezoelectric devices · CPC title

• G01P13/00

  Indicating or recording presence, absence, or direction, of movement (electric switches H01H; counting moving objects G06M7/00) · CPC title

• A61B5/1122 Primary

  of movement trajectories · CPC title