Compass calibration

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-9885574-B2
Application number	US-201314054802-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Oct 15, 2013
Priority date	Jun 9, 2013
Publication date	Feb 6, 2018
Grant date	Feb 6, 2018

Abstract

A method that performs a series of interactive operations to calibrate a compass in a mobile device. The method requires a user to move the device to a variety of different orientations. In order to ensure that the device moves to a sufficient number and variety of orientations, the method instructs the user to rotate the device in a series of interactive operations. The interactive operations provide feedback to inform the user how well the user is performing the interactive operations. In some embodiments, the feedback is tactile (e.g., a vibration). In some embodiments the feedback is audible (e.g., a beep or buzz). In some embodiments, the feedback is visual (e.g., an image or images on a video display of the device). The feedback in some embodiments is continuous (e.g., a changing visual display) and in some embodiments is discrete (e.g., the device beeps after taking a good reading).

First claim

What is claimed is:

1. A method performed by an electronic device with a display, an electronic compass, and a compass calibration application, comprising:
displaying a set of instructions on the display of the electronic device to change the orientation of the electronic device through a set of interactive actions that allow the compass calibration application to calibrate the electronic compass;
providing instructional feedback regarding the set of interactive actions to indicate a quality of the changes in orientation of the electronic device, wherein providing the instructional feedback comprises:
detecting a first sequence of changes in orientation of the device; and
in response to detecting the first sequence of changes in orientation of the device:
displaying an image of an object moving past a first location on the display and a second location on the display in accordance with the first sequence of changes in orientation of the electronic device; and
in accordance with a determination that a portion of the first sequence of changes in orientation of the device that corresponded to movement of the object past the first location met first quality criteria and that a portion of the first sequence of changes in orientation of the device that corresponded to movement of the object past the second location did not meet the first quality criteria, displaying visual feedback at the first location that indicates the first quality of the changes in orientation of the electronic device without displaying the visual feedback at the second location that indicates the first quality of the changes in orientation of the electronic device; and,

upon determining that the compass calibration application has fully completed the calibration of the electronic compass, displaying an indication of the completion of the calibration of the electronic compass on the display.

2. The method of claim 1 , wherein the compass calibration application requires re-orienting the electronic device to at least a threshold number of different orientations in order to calibrate the electronic compass.

3. The method of claim 1 further comprising measuring the re-orientation of the electronic device to account for any new interactive actions.

4. The method of claim 3 , wherein measuring the re-orientation of the device comprises identifying, based on an accelerometer reading, a tilt angle of the electronic device.

5. The method of claim 4 , wherein measuring the re-orientation of the electronic device further comprises, based on repeated accelerometer readings, determining a rotation speed of the electronic device.

6. The method of claim 5 , wherein the rotation speed is a rotation speed about an axis in the direction of gravity.

7. The method of claim 1 , wherein providing the instructional feedback comprises displaying an image of a ball on a track, wherein the ball is displayed at the lowest point of the track.

8. The method of claim 7 , wherein providing the instructional feedback further comprises displaying an image of lines growing from the track, the length of the lines indicating the quality of the re-orientation.

9. The method of claim 8 , wherein the quality of the re-orientation is determined based on a tilt angle and a rotation speed of the electronic device.

10. The method of claim 8 further comprising:
displaying the lines with a first length when an orientation and a speed of the electronic device are within a first set of parameters; and
displaying the lines with a second length when the orientation and the speed of the electronic device are within a second set of parameters.

11. The method of claim 1 , wherein moving the object on the display in accordance with a change in orientation of the device includes moving the object downward relative to gravity as the orientation of the device changes.

12. The method of claim 1 , wherein the providing the instructional feedback includes outputting tactile feedback.

13. The method of claim 1 , further comprising:
after detecting the first sequence of changes in orientation of the device, detecting a second sequence of changes in orientation of the device; and,
in response to detecting the second sequence of changes in orientation of the device:
displaying the image of the object moving past the second location on the display for a second time, after the first time, in accordance with the second sequence of changes in orientation of the electronic device; and
in accordance with a determination that a portion of the second sequence of changes in orientation of the device that corresponded to movement of the object past the second location a second time met the first quality criteria, displaying the visual feedback at the second location that indicates the first quality of the second sequence of changes in orientation of the electronic device.

14. The method of claim 1 , further comprising:
in response to detecting the first sequence of changes in orientation of the device, displaying visual feedback at the second location that corresponds to a second quality that is lower than the first quality;
after detecting the first sequence of changes in orientation of the device, detecting a second sequence of changes in orientation of the device; and,
in response to detecting the second sequence of changes in orientation of the device:
displaying the image of the object moving past the second location on the display for a second time, after the first time, in accordance with the second sequence of changes in orientation of the electronic device; and
in accordance with a determination that a portion of the second sequence of changes in orientation of the device that corresponded to movement of the object past the second location a second time met the first quality criteria, displaying the visual feedback at the second location that indicates the first quality of the second sequence of changes in orientation of the electronic device.

15. An electronic device comprising:
a display;
an electronic compass;
one or more processors;
memory; and
one or more programs, wherein the one or more programs are stored in the memory and configured to be executed by the one or more processors, the one or more programs including instructions for:
displaying a set of instructions on the display of the electronic device to change the orientation of the electronic device through a set of interactive actions that allow the compass calibration application to calibrate the electronic compass;
providing instructional feedback regarding the set of interactive actions to indicate a quality of the changes in orientation of the electronic device, wherein providing the instructional feedback comprises:
detecting a first sequence of changes in orientation of the device; and
in response to detecting the first sequence of changes in orientation of the device:
displaying an image of an object moving past a first location on the display and a second location on the display in accordance with the first sequence of changes in orientation of the electronic device; and,
in accordance with a determination that a portion of the first sequence of changes in orientation of the device that corresponded to movement of the object past the first location met first quality criteria and that a portion of the first sequence of changes in orientation of the device that corresponded to movement of the object past the second location did not meet the first quality criteria, displaying visual feedback at the first location that indicates the first quality of the changes in orientation of the electronic device without displa

Assignees

• Apple Inc

Inventors

• Moore Christopher D
• Barbour Sarah G
• Weinberg Joshua C
• Sabatelli Alessandro F
• Schmitt Brian

Classifications

• G01C17/38 Primary

  Testing, calibrating, or compensating of compasses · CPC title