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US 9,288,305 B2Granted
Method and apparatus for monitoring a characteristic of an object in mechanical contact with a mobile terminal
AssigneeNokia Corporation
InventorSeppo Tapio Turunen
Life of this patent
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Abstract
An apparatus comprising at least one processor and at least one memory including computer program code the at least one memory and the computer program code configured to, with the at least one processor, cause the apparatus at least to perform, actuating within an apparatus a motion in at least one actuation direction, monitoring the motion in the apparatus in at least one monitoring direction, and determining from the monitoring an characteristic of an object in contact with the apparatus.
Claims17
An apparatus comprising:
- at least one actuator and at least one sensor, the at least one actuator being configured to generate a motion of the apparatus in at least one direction upon receiving an actuation signal, wherein the motion of the apparatus is detected in at least one monitoring direction using at least one of the at least one actuator and the at least one sensor;
- and
- a signal processor connected to at least one of the at least one actuator and the at least one sensor, wherein the signal processor is configured to receive a detected motion signal and to determine a state of the apparatus in terms of whether an object is located in contact with the apparatus, and wherein the signal processor includes a comparator to determine a difference between the detected motion signal and the actuation signal, said difference determining a characteristic of an object in contact with the apparatus and the state of the apparatus,
- whereby the apparatus selects a mode of operation based on the determined state of the apparatus.
1 more element
A method comprising:
- actuating within an apparatus a motion of the apparatus in at least one actuation direction with an actuation signal;
- monitoring the motion of the apparatus in at least one monitoring direction by detecting a motion signal;
- determining a difference between the motion of the apparatus in the at least one monitoring direction and an expected motion by comparing the actuation signal with the detected motion signal;
- and
- determining from the difference whether an object is located in contact with the apparatus.
2 more elements
An apparatus comprising:
- at least one actuator configured to generate a vibration in the apparatus with an actuation signal, wherein the vibration in the apparatus is detected using at least one of the at least one actuator and an at least one sensor;
- and
- a processor configured to receive an indication of the detected vibration by using at least one of the at least one actuator and the at least one sensor to receive a detected motion signal, wherein the processor determines a state of the apparatus dependent on a difference between the generated vibration and the detected vibration by comparing the actuation signal and the detected motion signal, wherein the state of the apparatus is determined dependent on an object located in contact with the apparatus.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.