US 2019/0098122 A1 · HAPTIC LOCOMOTION USING WIDE-BAND ACTUATOR

Abstract

The disclosed embodiments of haptic locomotion use one or more actuators to: 1) determine the properties of contact surfaces to improve various applications that use haptic locomotion; 2) automatically improve power transfer efficiency during wireless charging or cellular or wireless signal reception; 3) increase device accessibility for visually or hearing impaired users; 4) improve speaker and microphone performance; 5) protect a free falling mobile device from impact damage by orienting the mobile device to a low-risk orientation during free fall, or by driving the mobile device away from a high-risk orientation during free fall; and 6) control asymmetric surface friction using a directional magnetic field provided by an actuator to improve haptic locomotion in a desired direction of travel.

Claims24

Dependent claims

A method comprising:

driving one or more actuators of a mobile device lying on a surface;
receiving, by a processor of the mobile device, motion data from one or more motion sensors of the mobile device, the motion data describing the mobile device motion on the surface resulting from driving the one or more actuators;
determining, by the processor, a friction coefficient based on the motion data;
determining, by the processor, one or more surface types based on the determined friction coefficient;
and
initiating, by the processor, one or more actions on the mobile based on the one or more determined surface types.

3 more elements

A mobile device comprising:

one or more actuators;
one or more motion sensors;
one or more processors;
memory storing instructions that when executed cause the one or more processors to perform operations comprising:
driving the one or more actuators to move the mobile device on a surface;
receiving motion data from the one or more sensors, the motion data describing the mobile device motion on the surface resulting from driving the one or more actuators;
determining a friction coefficient based on the measured motion;
determining one or more surface types based on the determined friction coefficient;
and
initiating one or more actions on the mobile based on the one or more determined surface types.

7 more elements

A mobile device comprising:

one or more actuators;
one or more motion sensors generating motion data;
a radio frequency signal receiver;
one or more processors;
memory storing instructions that when executed cause the one or more processors to perform operations comprising:
determining a target location and orientation of a mobile device on a surface based on the motion data;
determining a current location and orientation of the mobile device on the surface based on the motion data;
generating one or more waveforms based on the current and target mobile device locations and orientations;
responsive to the one or more waveforms, driving one or more actuators of the mobile device to move the mobile device on the surface;
receiving motion data describing the mobile device motion on the surface resulting from driving the one or more actuators with the one or more waveforms;
based at least in part on the motion data, determining that the mobile device has reached the target location and orientation;
and
initiating one or more actions on the mobile at the target location and orientation.

10 more elements

Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.

Haptic locomotion using wide-band actuator

Life of this patent

Haptic locomotion using wide-band actuator

Life of this patent

Abstract

Claims24