Impact and contactless gesture inputs for docking stations

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-9575508-B2
Application number	US-201414257869-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Apr 21, 2014
Priority date	Apr 21, 2014
Publication date	Feb 21, 2017
Grant date	Feb 21, 2017

Abstract

A docking station configured to mate to an electronic device enables methods of interacting with the electronic device by impacting (e.g., knocking) on a table on which the device and/or the docking station are disposed and by means of contactless gestures. The electronic device may remain in a powered off state while the docking station continuously monitors for user input. The docking station may have a processor that is capable of detecting a user's impact and contactless gesture inputs.

First claim

What is claimed is:

1. A docking station for a portable electronic device, the docking station comprising:
a housing;
a vibration sensor configured to generate a vibration signal in response to vibration of a surface on which the docking station is disposed; and
a processor disposed within the housing and operatively coupled to the vibration sensor, the processor configured to:
detect an activation event;
delay a predetermined amount of time after the activation event is detected;
open a time window after delaying the predetermined amount of time, the time window having a predetermined starting time and a predetermined ending time based on the activation event;
analyze the vibration signal within the time window and identify one or more predefined user impact commands; and
in response to identifying the one or more predefined user impact commands transmit an activation signal to the portable electronic device.

2. The docking station according to claim 1 wherein a first predefined user impact command comprises two impacts within a defined time window and corresponds to a first activation signal.

3. The docking station according to claim 1 wherein a user impact command is recorded and learned such that subsequent similar impact commands may be identified.

4. The docking station according to claim 1 wherein the user impact command is recorded after a user initiates a training mode on the portable electronic device.

5. The docking station according to claim 4 wherein the portable electronic device notifies the user when the training mode is operative and has successfully captured a user impact command.

6. The docking station according to claim 1 wherein the activation signal instructs the portable electronic device to snooze an alarm.

7. The docking station according to claim 1 wherein the activation signal instructs the portable electronic device to answer an incoming phone call.

8. The docking station according to claim 1 wherein the activation signal is wirelessly transmitted to the portable electronic device.

9. The docking station according to claim 1 wherein the portable electronic device is in a sleep mode until the activation signal is transmitted.

10. The docking station according to claim 1 wherein the activation signal is a command comprising a plurality of fields/bits using a language the portable electronic device understands.

11. The docking station according to claim 1 wherein the predefined user impact command comprises an impact greater than a threshold value.

12. The docking station according to claim 1 wherein the predefined user impact command comprises a sequence of a plurality of user impact commands.

13. A portable electronic device comprising:
a housing;
a vibration sensor configured to generate a vibration signal in response to vibration of a surface on which the portable electronic device is disposed;
a processor disposed within the housing and operatively coupled to the vibration sensor and configured to:
detect an activation event;
delay a predetermined amount of time after the activation event is detected;
open a time window after delaying the predetermined amount of time, the time window having a predetermined starting time and a predetermined ending time based on the activation event;
analyze the vibration signal within the time window and identify one or more predefined user impact commands;
determine an action based on the one or more predefined user impact commands; and
perform the action on the portable electronic device.

14. The portable electronic device according to claim 13 wherein a first predefined user impact command is associated with a first geographic location.

15. The portable electronic device according to claim 14 wherein a second predefined user impact command is associated with a second geographic location.

16. The portable electronic device according to claim 13 wherein a first predefined user impact command comprises two impacts within a defined time window and corresponds to a first activation signal.

17. A docking station for an electronic device, the docking station comprising:
a housing;
a contactless sensor configured to generate a signal corresponding to a contactless gesture; and
a processor disposed within the housing and operatively coupled to the contactless sensor, the processor configured to:
detect an activation event;
delay a predetermined amount of time after the activation event is detected;
open a time window after delaying the predetermined amount of time, the time window having a predetermined starting time and a predetermined ending time based on the activation event;
analyze the signal within the time window and detect an attribute value of the contactless gesture; and
in response to identifying the attribute value, transmit a message to the electronic device based on the attribute value.

18. The docking station of claim 17 wherein the electronic device notifies the docking station of an operating state of the electronic device.

19. A docking station for an electronic device, the docking station comprising:
a housing;
a vibration sensor configured to generate a signal corresponding to a vibration of a surface on which the docking station is disposed; and
a processor disposed within the housing and operatively coupled to the vibration sensor, the processor configured to:
detect an activation event;
delay a predetermined amount of time after the activation event is detected;
open a time window after delaying the predetermined amount of time, the time window having a predetermined starting time and a predetermined ending time based on the activation event;
analyze the signal within the time window and identify one or more predefined user impact commands; and
in response to identifying the one or more predefined user impact commands, transmit a message to the electronic device based on the one or more predefined user impact commands.

Assignees

• Apple Inc

Inventors

• Kasar Darshan R
• Nayman Greg
• Watson Robert Doran
• Mcpeak James L
• Foo Edwin
• Golko Albert
• Terlizzi Jeffrey J

Classifications

• G06F2200/1636

  Sensing arrangement for detection of a tap gesture on the housing · CPC title

• G06F1/1632 Primary

  External expansion units, e.g. docking stations · CPC title

• G06F3/017 Primary

  Gesture based interaction, e.g. based on a set of recognized hand gestures (interaction based on gestures traced on a digitiser G06F3/04883) · CPC title

• G06F3/0346

  with detection of the device orientation or free movement in a three-dimensional [3D] space, e.g. 3D mice, 6-DOF [six degrees of freedom] pointers using gyroscopes, accelerometers or tilt-sensors · CPC title

• G06F1/3206

  Monitoring of events, devices or parameters that trigger a change in power modality · CPC title