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US 8,077,163 B2Granted
Mobile device with acoustically-driven text input and method thereof
AssigneeQUALCOMM Incorporated
InventorYingyong Qi
Life of this patent
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Abstract
A mobile device has a housing having first and second display areas. A mic-array is integrated into the housing and has microphones operable to sense sound signals at multiple locations on the housing from a sound pen when handwriting an alphanumeric symbol on a surface separate from and in proximity to the housing. A handwriting-to-text converter is operable to graphically represent, for display on the first display area, simulated handwritten traces of the alphanumeric symbol and to convert the alphanumeric symbol into a computer-readable interchange code, representative of the alphanumeric symbol, for display in the second display area.
Claims21
A mobile device, comprising:
- a housing having first and second display areas;
- a mic-array integrated into the housing, the mic-array having a plurality of microphones operable to sense sound signals at multiple locations on the housing from a sound pen when handwriting an alphanumeric symbol on a surface separate from and in proximity to the housing;
- and
- a handwriting-to-text converter that graphically represents on the first display area simulated handwritten traces of the alphanumeric symbol and that converts the alphanumeric symbol into a computer-readable interchange code, representative of the alphanumeric symbol, for display on the second display area;
- wherein the mic-array comprises first and second microphones;
- wherein each emitted sound signal from the sound pen is sensed by the first and second microphones which creates two received sound signals y1(l) and y2(l) defined by
- y1(l)=α1s(l−t1)+η1(l)
- y2(l)=α2s(l−t2)+η2(l)
- where l is the discrete time index;
- t1 and t2 are the times needed for the two sound signals to travel from the sound pen to the first and second microphones, respectively;
- αi, i=1,2 is an amplitude of the received sound signal;
- ηi, i=1,2 is background noise that is uncorrelated or independent to the emitted sound signal s(l) and to each other;
- and
- wherein a correlation of the two received sound signals depends on a relative time delay of arrival (TODA), τ=|t1−t2| where the time t1 is the time of arrival at the first microphone and the time t2 is the time of arrival at the second microphone.
11 more elements
A mobile device, comprising:
- a housing;
- display means integrated in the housing for displaying on first and second display areas;
- sensing means integrated in the housing for sensing sound signals from a sound pen at multiple locations on the housing when handwriting an alphanumeric symbol on a surface separate from and in proximity to the housing;
- and
- representing and converting means for graphically representing, for display on the first display area, simulated handwritten traces of the alphanumeric symbol and for converting the alphanumeric symbol into a computer-readable interchange code, representative of the alphanumeric symbol, for display in the second display area;
- wherein the sensing means includes first and second microphones;
- wherein each emitted sound signal from the sound pen is sensed by the first and second microphones which creates two received sound signals y1(l) and y2(l) defined by
- y1(l)=α1s(l−t1)+η1(l)
- y2(l)=α2s(l−t2)+η2(l)
- where l is the discrete time index;
- t1 and t2 are the times needed for the two sound signals to travel from the sound pen to the first and second microphones, respectively;
- αi, i=1,2 is an amplitude of the received sound signal;
- ηi, i=1,2 is background noise that is uncorrelated or independent to the emitted sound signal s(l) and to each other;
- and
- wherein a correlation of the two received sound signals depends on a relative time delay of arrival (TODA), τ=|t1−t2| where the time t1 is the time of arrival at the first microphone and the time t2 is the time of arrival at the second microphone.
12 more elements
A method of acoustically-driven text input for a mobile device having a housing with first and second display areas and a mic-array comprising first and second microphones positioned at different locations on the housing, comprising the steps of:
- sensing in the first and second microphones sound signals from a sound pen while a user handwrites an alphanumeric symbol on a surface separate from and in proximity to the housing;
- creating from the sensed sound signals two received sound signals y1(l) and y2(l) defined by
- y1(l)=α1s(l−t1)+η1(l)
- y2(l)=α2s(l−t2)+η2(l)
- where l is the discrete time index, t1 and t2 are times needed for the two sound signals to travel from the sound pen to the first and second microphones, respectively, αi, i=1,2 is an amplitude of the received sound signal, and ηi, i=1,2 is background noise that is uncorrelated or independent of the emitted sound signal s(l) and to each other;
- and
- correlating the two received sound signals depending on a relative time delay of arrival (TODA), τ=|t1−t2| where time t1 is a time of arrival at the first microphone and time t2 is a time of arrival at the second microphone;
- graphically representing on the first display area simulated handwritten traces of the alphanumeric symbol, wherein the graphically representing step includes the step of locating a sequence of pen locations derived from a first equation based on a difference in time of arrival of the sound signals and a second equation based on an amplitude ratio of the sound signals as the sound pen is moved;
- converting the handwritten traces to a computer-readable interchange code representative of the alphanumeric symbol;
- and
- displaying in the second display area the converted alphanumeric symbol.
8 more elements
A mobile communications device, comprising:
- a wireless communications transceiver operable to communicate wireless communications signals;
- a housing having first and second display areas;
- a sound pen for emitting sound signals when handwriting at least one alphanumeric symbol on a surface separate from and in proximity to the housing;
- and
- an acoustically-driven handwriting-to-text assembly for receiving sound signals emitted by the sound pen, graphically representing on the first display area simulated handwritten traces of the at least one alphanumeric symbol, and converting the at least one alphanumeric symbol into at least one computer-readable interchange code, representative of the at least one alphanumeric symbol, for display in the second display area;
- wherein the acoustically-driven handwriting-to-text assembly includes first and second microphones;
- wherein each emitted sound signal is received by the first and second microphones which creates two received sound signals y1(l) and y2(l) defined by
- y1(l)=α1s(l−t1)+η1(l)
- y2(l)=α2s(l−t2)+η2(l)
- where l is the discrete time index;
- t1 and t2 are the times needed for the two sound signals to travel from the sound pen to the first and second microphones, respectively;
- αi, i=1,2 is an amplitude of the sound signal as received;
- ηi, i=1,2 is background noise that is uncorrelated or independent to the emitted sound signal s(l) and to each other;
- and
- wherein a correlation of the two received sound signals depends on a relative time delay of arrival (TODA), τ=|t1−t2| where the time t1 is the time of arrival at the first microphone and the time t2 is the time of arrival at the second microphone.
12 more elements
A computer program product for acoustically-driven text input for a mobile device having a housing with first and second display areas and a mic-array comprising first and second microphones positioned at different locations on the housing, comprising:
- a non-transitory computer-readable medium having stored thereon computer-executable codes comprising:
- a first set of codes for causing a computer to sense via the first and second microphones sound signals from a sound pen while a user handwrites an alphanumeric symbol on a surface separate from and in proximity to the housing;
- a second set of codes for causing the computer to create from the sensed sound signals two received sound signals y1(l) and y2(l) defined by
- y1(l)=α1s(l−t1)+η1(l)
- y2(l)=α2s(l−t2)+η2(l)
- where l is the discrete time index, t1 and t2 are times needed for the two sound signals to travel from the sound pen to the first and second microphones, respectively, αi, i=1,2 is an amplitude of the received sound signal, and ηi, i=1,2 is background noise that is uncorrelated or independent of the emitted sound signal s(l) and to each other;
- a third set of codes for causing a computer to correlate the two received sound signals depending on a relative time delay of arrival (TODA), τ=|t1−t2| where time t1 is a time of arrival at the first microphone and time t2 is a time of arrival at the second microphone;
- a fourth set of codes for causing a computer to graphically represent on the first display area simulated handwritten traces of the alphanumeric symbol, wherein the graphically representing step includes the step of locating a sequence of pen locations derived from a first equation based on a difference in time of arrival of the sound signals and a second equation based on an amplitude ratio of the sound signals as the sound pen is moved;
- a fifth set of codes for causing the computer to convert the handwritten traces to a computer-readable interchange code representative of the alphanumeric symbol;
- and
- a sixth set of codes for causing the computer to display in the second display area the converted alphanumeric symbol.
8 more elements
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.