Sensor interface, and methods and apparatus pertaining to same

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-9626238-B2
Application number	US-73313007-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Apr 9, 2007
Priority date	Apr 7, 2006
Publication date	Apr 18, 2017
Grant date	Apr 18, 2017

Abstract

A sensor interface is provided with a number of sensor inputs and a number of client inputs. The client inputs are configured to receive a number of data requests from a number of clients. The number of data requests include at least one data request that specifies a particular type of data to be returned, without identifying a particular physical sensor to be used in acquiring the particular type of data. A processor is configured to i) determine what sensor data can be used to satisfy the number of data requests, ii) configure ones of the sensor inputs to receive sensor data from a number of physical sensors, and iii) if possible, satisfy the number of data requests using the received sensor data. Methods and apparatus pertaining to such a sensor interface are also disclosed.

First claim

What is claimed is:

1. A sensor interface in a client device, comprising:
a number of sensor inputs;
a number of client inputs configured to receive one or more data requests from a number of client applications configured for execution by the client device, wherein the one or more data requests include a data request that specifies a particular type of sensor measurement data to be returned, without identifying a particular physical sensor to be used in acquiring the particular type of sensor measurement data; and
a processor configured to:
discover, in response to receiving the one or more data requests, a number of physical sensors that are physically installed in the client device from which the client device can currently receive sensor data that can be used to obtain the particular type of sensor measurement data specified by the data request;
receive, from at least two different types of physical sensors of the number of physical sensors that are physically installed in the client device, at least two different types of sensor data; and
attempt to satisfy the data request using the at least two different types of sensor data.

2. The sensor interface of claim 1 , wherein the processor is further configured to dynamically discover at least one additional physical sensor that resides outside of the client device in which the sensor interface is installed.

3. The sensor interface of claim 1 , wherein the number of sensor inputs is a plurality of sensor inputs.

4. The sensor interface of claim 1 , wherein the number of physical sensors is a plurality of physical sensors.

5. The sensor interface of claim 1 , wherein the number of client inputs is a plurality of client inputs.

6. The sensor interface of claim 1 , wherein the number of client applications is a plurality of client applications.

7. The sensor interface of claim 1 , wherein the processor is configured to combine the at least two different types of sensor data in response to determining that at least one of the two different types of sensor data is not capable of satisfying the data request.

8. The sensor interface of claim 1 , wherein the processor is configured to convert at least one of the two different types of sensor data in response to determining that the at least one of the two different types of sensor data is not capable of satisfying the data request.

9. The sensor interface of claim 1 , wherein the processor is configured to select from between two or more ways to satisfy the data request using the at least two different types of sensor data.

10. The sensor interface of claim 1 , wherein the processor is configured to select from between two or more ways to satisfy the data request using the at least two different types of sensor data, and wherein the selection is made to conserve power provided to the number of physical sensors that are physically installed in the client device.

11. The sensor interface of claim 1 , wherein the processor is configured to attempt to satisfy the data request by enabling only those of the number of physical sensors that are used to satisfy the data request.

12. The sensor interface of claim 1 , wherein the processor is configured to configure at least one of the two different types of physical sensors, as necessary to satisfy the data request.

13. The sensor interface of claim 12 , wherein the processor is configured to arbitrate satisfaction of the one or more data requests with conflicting configurations of the at least one of the two different types of physical sensors that the processor is configured to configure.

14. The sensor interface of claim 1 , wherein the processor is configured to configure at least one of the two different types of physical sensors, to satisfy multiple competing data requests in parallel.

15. The sensor interface of claim 1 , wherein the processor is configured to i) read one or more quality of service requests associated with the data request, ii) determine what sensor data can be used to satisfy the one or more quality of service requests, and iii) attempt to satisfy the data request in accordance with the one or more quality of service requests.

16. The sensor interface of claim 15 , wherein the processor is configured to, in response to at least one of the one or more quality of service requests, combine at least some of the determined sensor data to satisfy the data request.

17. The sensor interface of claim 15 , wherein the processor is configured to satisfy the data request by returning both data, and an indicator of a quality of the data.

18. The sensor interface of claim 15 , wherein the processor is configured to satisfy the data request by returning both data, and an indicator of a validity of the data.

19. The sensor interface of claim 1 , wherein the processor is configured to satisfy the data request by returning both data, and an indicator of quality of the data.

20. The sensor interface of claim 1 , wherein the processor is configured to satisfy the data request by returning both data, and an indicator of validity of the data.

21. The sensor interface of claim 1 , further comprising a wireless interface, wherein the processor is configured to initiate, via the wireless interface, a broadcast of an existence of one or more of the number of physical sensors.

22. The sensor interface of claim 1 , further comprising a wireless interface, wherein the processor is configured to initiate, via the wireless interface, a broadcast of an existence of the sensor interface.

23. The sensor interface of claim 1 , wherein the number of client inputs include i) at least one wired client input that is configured to receive data requests from client applications installed on the client device in which the sensor interface is physically installed, and ii) at least one wireless client input that is configured to receive data requests from clients external to the client device in which the sensor interface is physically installed.

24. The sensor interface of claim 1 , wherein the one or more data requests include a plurality of data requests, with two or more of the plurality of data requests being from different client applications.

25. The sensor interface of claim 1 , wherein the at least two different types of physical sensors include at least two different physical sensors selected from the group consisting of: a physical compass, a three-dimensional (3D) accelerometer, a temperature sensor, a pressure sensor, an altitude sensor, a linear motion sensor, and an orientation sensor.

26. The sensor interface of claim 25 , wherein the processor is configured to provide a virtual sensor comprising a tilt-compensated compass to satisfy the data request by compensating magnetic heading data received from the physical compass using tilt data received from the accelerometer.

27. The sensor interface of claim 25 , wherein the processor is configured to provide a virtual sensor comprising a temperature-corrected pressure sensor to satisfy the data request by correcting a pressure reading received from the pressure sensor using a temperature reading received from the temperature sensor.

28. The sensor interface of claim 25 , wherein the processor is configured to provide a virtual sensor comprising an altitude sensor to satisfy the data request by estimating a corresponding altitude based on a barometric pressure reading received from the pre

Assignees

• Sheynblat Leonid
• Wilson Bruce
• Adappa Abhishek
• Patwari Srinivas
• Yuen Ricky
• Qualcomm Inc

Inventors

• Sheynblat Leonid
• Wilson Bruce
• Adappa Abhishek
• Patwari Srinivas
• Yuen Ricky

Classifications

• G06F9/547 Primary

  Remote procedure calls [RPC]; Web services · CPC title

• G06F9/542

  Event management; Broadcasting; Multicasting; Notifications · CPC title

• G06F9/545

  where tasks reside in different layers, e.g. user- and kernel-space · CPC title

• G06F9/46 Primary

  Multiprogramming arrangements · CPC title

• G06F13/14

  Handling requests for interconnection or transfer · CPC title