Somatosensory type notification alerts

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-9443413-B2
Application number	US-201514806961-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Jul 23, 2015
Priority date	Jan 23, 2014
Publication date	Sep 13, 2016
Grant date	Sep 13, 2016

Abstract

A computing device is described that can receive contextual information related to a user associated with the computing device. The contextual information may relate to at least one of a physiological condition of the user at a current time or a type of activity associated with the user at the current time. The computing device can select, based at least in part on the contextual information, a type of alert to output as an indication of notification data. The type of alert may include at least one of an electric stimulus type alert, a shape-memory alloy type alert, and a vibration type alert. Responsive to selecting the type of alert, the computing device can output an alert based on the notification data, the alert being of the selected type of alert.

First claim

What is claimed is:

1. A method comprising:
receiving, by a computing device, sensor information related to a user associated with the computing device;
determining, by the computing device, based at least in part on the sensor information, a current physiological condition of the user as being one of stressed, relaxed, and neither stressed nor relaxed;
selecting, by the computing device, based at least in part on the current physiological condition and from a plurality of types of alerts, a type of alert to output as an indication of a receipt of notification data, wherein the notification data comprises information indicating that an event associated with the computing device has occurred; and
responsive to receiving the notification data, outputting, by the computing device, an alert as an indication of the receipt of the notification data, the alert being of the selected type of alert.

2. The method of claim 1 , wherein the sensor information is received from one or more sensors of the computing device, the one or more sensors comprising at least one of a gyroscope, an accelerometer, a proximity sensor, a temperature sensor, a galvanic skin response sensor, a heart rate sensor, or an inferred pulse sensor.

3. The method of claim 1 , further comprising:
receiving, by the computing device, from one or more input devices or communication components, other information related to the user associated with the computing device; and
determining, by the computing device, based at least in part on the other information, the current physiological condition of the user as being one of stressed, relaxed, and neither stressed nor relaxed, wherein the one or more input components or communication units include at least one of a global positioning system radio, a cellular radio, a wireless communication unit, a camera, a microphone, a keyboard, a touchpad, a network device, a processor, or a currently active application.

4. The method of claim 1 , wherein determining the current physiological condition of the user comprises:
determining, by the computing device, based on the sensor information, at least one physiological parameter value;
responsive to determining that the at least one physiological parameter value exceeds a threshold, determining, by the computing device, that the current physiological condition of the user is stressed; and
responsive to determining that the at least one physiological parameter value does not exceed the threshold, determining, by the computing device, that the current physiological condition of the user is relaxed or neither stressed nor relaxed.

5. The method of claim 1 , wherein determining the current physiological condition of the user comprises:
determining, by the computing device, based on the sensor information, at least one physiological parameter value;
responsive to determining that the at least one physiological parameter value exceeds a first threshold, determining, by the computing device, that the current physiological condition of the user is stressed;
responsive to determining that the at least one physiological parameter value does not exceed the first threshold and exceeds a second threshold, determining, by the computing device, that the current physiological condition of the user is neither stressed nor relaxed; and
responsive to determining that the at least one physiological parameter value does not exceed the first threshold or the second threshold, determining, by the computing device, that the current physiological condition of the user is relaxed.

6. The method of claim 1 ,
wherein selecting the type of alert comprises, responsive to determining that the current physiological condition of the user is stressed, selecting, by the computing device and from the plurality of types of alerts, an electric stimulus type alert to output as the indication of the receipt of the notification data.

7. The method of claim 1 , wherein selecting the type of alert comprises, responsive to determining that the current physiological condition of the user is relaxed, selecting, by the computing device and from the plurality of types of alerts, a shape-memory alloy type alert to output as the indication of the receipt of the notification data.

8. The method of claim 1 , wherein selecting the type of alert comprises, responsive to determining that the current physiological condition of the user is neither stressed nor relaxed, selecting, by the computing device and from the plurality of types of alerts, a vibration type alert to output as the indication of the receipt of the notification data.

9. The method of claim 1 , further comprising:
determining, by the computing device, based on the sensor information, a type of activity currently being performed by the user as being either a physical activity or a non-physical activity,
wherein the type of alert is further selected based on whether the type of activity currently being performed by the user is either the physical activity or the non-physical activity.

10. The method of claim 9 , wherein selecting the type of alert further comprises, responsive to determining that the activity currently being performed by the user is a physical activity, selecting, by the computing device and from the plurality of types of alerts, an electric stimulus type alert to output as the indication of the receipt of the notification data.

11. The method of claim 9 , wherein selecting the type of alert further comprises, responsive to determining that the activity currently being performed by the user is a non-physical activity, selecting, by the computing device and from the plurality of types of alerts, a shape-memory alloy type alert or a vibration type alert to output as the indication of the receipt of the notification data.

12. The method of claim 9 , further comprising:
responsive to determining that the type of activity currently being performed by the user is a non-physical activity, determining, by the computing device, whether the non-physical activity is a stressful type of activity or a non-stressful type of activity, wherein the type of alert is further selected based on whether the non-physical activity is the stressful type of activity or the non-stressful type of activity.

13. The method of claim 1 , further comprising:
determining, by the computing device, a type of application currently being used by the user, wherein:
the type of application currently being used by the user comprises either a game type application or a reading type application, and determining, by the computing device, based on the type of application, the at least one of the current physiological condition of the user comprises:
responsive to determining that the type of application is the game type application, determining, by the computing device, that the current physiological condition of the user is stressed; and
responsive to determining that the type of application is the reading type application, determining, by the computing device, that the current physiological condition of the user is relaxed.

14. A wearable computing device comprising:
one or more sensors;
at least one processor; and
at least one module operable by the at least one processor to:
receive sensor information from the one or more sensors related to a user associated with the wearable computing device;
determine, based at least in part on the sensor information, a current physiological condition of the user as being one of stressed, relaxed, and neither stressed nor relaxed;
select, based at least in part on the current physiological condition and from a plurality of types of alerts, a type

Assignees

• Google Inc

Inventors

• Faaborg Alexander
• Cohen Gabriel Aaron

Classifications

• H04W68/00

  User notification, e.g. alerting and paging, for incoming communication, change of service or the like · CPC title

• G08B21/18 Primary

  Status alarms (G08B21/02 takes precedence) · CPC title

• G08B6/00 Primary

  Tactile signalling systems, e.g. tactile personal calling systems · CPC title

• H04M1/72454 Primary

  according to context-related or environment-related conditions · CPC title

• H04M19/04

  the ringing-current being generated at the substations · CPC title