Skin proximity and tilt effect sensor

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-2016296172-A1
Application number	US-201315100627-A
Country	US
Kind code	A1
Filing date	Dec 20, 2013
Priority date	Dec 20, 2013
Publication date	Oct 13, 2016
Grant date	—

Abstract

A portable electronic device include one or more electrodes for calculating distances and rotational angles between the device and the user is disclosed. Based on the calculated distances and rotational angles, a physical activity of the user can be determined. Additionally, the calculated distances and rotational angles can be used for compensation of optical artifacts in one or more signals detected by the device. User movement or physical activity can introduce optical artifacts, which can lead to erroneous determination of the one or more characteristics. The calculated distances and rotational angles can be used to reduce or remove the optical artifacts, leading to a more accurate determination of the one or more characteristics of the user.

First claim

1 . A device comprising:
a touch panel including a touch screen located on a first surface of the device; one or more electrodes located on a second surface of the device, the second surface opposite the first surface; sensing circuitry coupled to the one or more electrodes and configured to generate sense signals indicative of one or more distances between the one or more electrodes and a proximate object; and logic coupled to the one or more electrodes, the logic configured to calculate the one or more distances.

2 . The device of claim 1 , wherein the one or more electrodes are configured such that the one or more electrodes are electrically isolated from one another and occupy substantially a full area of the second surface of the device.

3 . The device of claim 1 , further comprising:
a cover layer disposed on the surface of the device, wherein the cover layer is configured to allow capacitive coupling from the one or more electrodes to the proximate object.

4 . (canceled)

5 . The device of claim 1 , further comprising:
an insulating layer; and a shield disposed over the insulating layer, wherein the shield is configured to eliminate or reduce internal interference.

6 . The device of claim 1 , further comprising:
a drive circuitry configured to drive at least one of the one or more electrodes and form an electric field coupled to another electrode, wherein the sense circuitry is configured to generate sense signals including a change in capacitance between the at least one of the one or more electrodes and the another electrode.

7 . The device of claim 1 , wherein the logic is further configured to:
calculate one or more angles based on the calculated one or more distances, and estimate a physical activity from the calculated one or more angles.

8 .- 9 . (canceled)

10 . The device of claim 1 , further comprising:
one or more sensors configured to generate first signals, wherein the logic further comprises adjusting the first signals based on the sensed signals.

11 . (canceled)

12 . The device of claim 10 , further comprising:
one or more light emitters configured to generate light directed at the proximate object, wherein the one or more sensors are configured to detect the light generated from the one or more light emitters and passing through or reflected from the proximate object.

13 . The device of claim 12 , wherein the one or more sensors and the one or more light emitters are located on the second surface of the device.

14 . (canceled)

15 . A method of a device including one or more electrodes facing a proximate object, the method comprising:
detecting one or more capacitances coupled to the proximate object from the one or more electrodes; generating sense signals indicative of one or more distances between the one or more electrodes and the proximate object; calculating the one or more distances based on the sense signals; calculating one or more angles based on the calculated one or more distances; and estimating a physical activity from the calculated one or more angles.

16 .- 17 . (canceled)

18 . The method of claim 15 , further comprising:
changing an operating state of at least one of a display or a touch panel of the device based on the estimated physical activity.

19 . (canceled)

20 . The method of claim 15 , further comprising:
generating light directed at the proximate object; generating first signals from the light directed at the proximate object and passing through or reflected from the proximate object; and adjusting the first signals based on the sensed signals.

21 .- 25 . (canceled)

26 . The method of claim 15 , further comprising:
calculating one or more differences between at least two of the calculated one or more distances; and determining a first rotation of the device about a first axis based on the calculated one or more differences.

27 . The method of claim 26 , further comprising:
calculating another one or more differences between at least two of the calculated one or more distances; determining a second rotation of the device about a second axis based on the calculated another one or more differences; and determining a three-dimensional rotation of the device based on the first and second rotations.

28 . The method of claim 27 , further comprising:
forming a contour map from the determined three-dimensional rotation of the device; and determining a user activity from the formed contour map.

Assignees

• Apple Inc

Inventors

• Shi Justin
• Land Brian R
• Kestelli Nevzat Akin
• Isikman Serhan O

Classifications

• A61B5/1118

  Determining activity level · CPC title

• A61B5/6844 Primary

  Monitoring or controlling distance between sensor and tissue · CPC title

• A61B5/6898

  Portable consumer electronic devices, e.g. music players, telephones, tablet computers · CPC title

• A61B5/721

  using a separate sensor to detect motion or using motion information derived from signals other than the physiological signal to be measured · CPC title

• A61B5/02416

  using photoplethysmograph signals, e.g. generated by infrared radiation (A61B5/14552 takes precedence) · CPC title