On April 19, the US Patent & Trademark Office published Apple’s patent application titled Integrated proximity sensor and light sensor . Apple’s patent relates to the field of portable devices and, in particular, to systems and methods for sensing or determining user activities and responding to the user’s activities. More importantly, this is perhaps the first iPhone related patent to surface since being announced in January. Apple’s patent discusses the iPhone’s various uses of Artificial Intelligence, accelerometer and specialized sensors. Interestingly enough, the patent also presents alternative embodiments to the original iPhone design, such as a slick flip top design which may surface at some time in the future.
Apple’s Summary
The various apparatuses and methods described herein relate to an apparatus which senses proximity and detects light, such as ambient light, and to systems, such as data processing systems, which use an apparatus which senses proximity and also detects light, such as ambient light.
According to one embodiment of the inventions, an apparatus, which both senses proximity and detects light, includes an emitter of electromagnetic radiation and a detector of electromagnetic radiation. The detector is configured to detect electromagnetic radiation, such as infrared (IR) light, emitted from the emitter when the apparatus is configured to sense proximity. The emitter may be disabled at least temporarily to allow the detector to detect electromagnetic radiation from a source other than the emitter. In this case, the emitter may be disabled by turning power off for the emitter or by closing a shutter on the emitter to block radiation from being emitted to the environment or by other implementations which prevent the emitter’s radiation from being detected by the detector. In an alternative implementation, rather than disabling the emitter, the output from the detector may be processed, using known signal processing algorithms, to subtract the effect of the radiation detected from the emitter in order to produce a resultant signal which represents the radiation from sources other than the emitter. This may involve measuring proximity first to determine an amplitude and phase of a known signal from the emitter (e.g. a square wave signal with a known frequency and pulse width) and then subtracting this known signal from a detected signal from the detector. Alternatively, if the emitter has sufficiently long “on” and “off” pulses during its square wave signal, the detector may be configured to measure ambient light during one or more of the “off” pulses without having to turn off the emitter.
According to another embodiment of the inventions, a data processing system includes a proximity sensor to sense a proximity and to detect electromagnetic radiation when the proximity sensor is not sensing proximity. The proximity sensor includes an emitter of electromagnetic radiation (e.g. IR light) and a detector of electromagnetic radiation from the emitter when the sensor is sensing proximity. The data processing system also may include at least one of a display or an input device and also may include at least one processor which is coupled to the proximity sensor and which is configured to determine, based at least upon data from the proximity sensor, whether to modify a state (e.g. a setting) of the data processing system. The data from the proximity sensor may include data relating to proximity and data relating to ambient light measurements or other light measurements. The processor may modify the state of the data processing system automatically in response to a user activity, relative to the system, as indicated by the data from the proximity sensor, including both proximity data and ambient light data.
According to another embodiment of the inventions, a method of operating a proximity sensor, which provides light sensor capabilities, includes emitting light from an emitter of the proximity sensor, detecting, through a detector of the proximity sensor, light from the emitter, and sensing light, from a source other than the emitter, at the detector. The detector is configured, in a proximity sensing mode, to detect light from the emitter to determine proximity. The detector may sense light from a source other than the emitter by having the emitter disabled or by having its output signal processed to remove the effect of light from the emitter.
Key Patent Excerpts
At least certain embodiments of the inventions may be part of a digital media player, such as a portable music and/or video media player, which may include a media processing system to present the media, a storage device to store the media and may further include a radio frequency (RF) transceiver (e.g., an RF transceiver for a cellular telephone) coupled with an antenna system and the media processing system. In certain embodiments, media stored on a remote storage device may be transmitted to the media player through the RF transceiver. The media may be, for example, one or more of music or other audio, still pictures, or motion pictures.
The portable media player may include a media selection device, such as a click wheel input device on an iPod or iPod Nano media player from Apple Computer, Inc. of Cupertino, Calif., a touch screen input device, pushbutton device, movable pointing input device or other input device. The media selection device may be used to select the media stored on the storage device and/or the remote storage device.
Embodiments of the inventions described herein may be part of other types of data processing systems, such as, for example, entertainment systems or personal digital assistants (PDAs), or general purpose computer systems, or special purpose computer systems, or an embedded device within another device, or cellular telephones which do not include media players, or devices which combine aspects or functions of these devices (e.g., a media player, such as an iPod, combined with a PDA, an entertainment system, and a cellular telephone in one portable device).
Apple’s patent FIG. 2 below, illustrates a portable device according to one embodiment of the invention. FIG. 2 shows a wireless device in a telephone configuration having a “candy-bar” style. In FIG. 2, the wireless device may include a housing, a display device, an input device which may be an alphanumeric keypad, a speaker, a microphone and an antenna. The wireless device also may include a proximity sensor [point 44] and an accelerometer [point 46]. It will be appreciated that the embodiment of FIG. 2 may use more or fewer sensors and may have a different form factor from the form factor shown in FIG. 2.
Apple’s Forthcoming iPhone is Described
Apple’s patent FIG. 4 shown above, is a portable device in accordance with one embodiment of the invention. The portable device may include a housing, a display/input device, a speaker, a microphone and an optional antenna [top left of device in point 60] (which may be visible on the exterior of the housing or may be concealed within the housing). The portable device also may include a proximity sensor and an accelerometer. The portable device may be a cellular telephone or a device which is an integrated PDA and a cellular telephone or a device which is an integrated media player and a cellular telephone or a device which is both an entertainment system (e.g. for playing games) and a cellular telephone, or the portable device may be other types of devices described herein. In one particular embodiment, the portable device may include a cellular telephone and a media player and a PDA, all contained within the housing. The portable device may have a form factor which is small enough that it fits within the hand of a normal adult and is light enough that it can be carried in one hand by an adult. It will be appreciated that the term “portable” means the device can be easily held in an adult user’s hands (one or both); for example, a laptop computer and an iPod are portable devices.
In one embodiment, the display/input device may include a multi-point touch input screen in addition to being a display, such as an LCD. In one embodiment, the multi-point touch screen is a capacitive sensing medium configured to detect multiple touches (e.g., blobs on the display from a user’s face or multiple fingers concurrently touching or nearly touching the display) or near touches (e.g., blobs on the display) that occur at the same time and at distinct locations in the plane of the touch panel and to produce distinct signals representative of the location of the touches on the plane of the touch panel for each of the multiple touches.
In one embodiment, as shown in FIG. 4, the display/input device occupies a large portion of one surface (e.g. the top surface) of the housing of the portable device. In one embodiment, the display/input device consumes substantially the entire front surface of the portable device. In another embodiment, the display/input device consumes, for example, at least 75% of a front surface of the housing of the portable device. In alternative embodiments, the portable device may include a display which does not have input capabilities, but the display still occupies a large portion of one surface of the portable device. In this case, the portable device may include other types of input devices such as a QWERTY keyboard or other types of keyboard which slide out or swing out from a portion of the portable device.
In at least certain embodiments, the portable device may contain components which provide one or more of the functions of a wireless communication device such as a cellular telephone, a media player, an entertainment system, a PDA, or other types of devices described herein. In one implementation of an embodiment, the portable device may be a cellular telephone integrated with a media player which plays MP3 files, such as MP3 music files.
Possible Alternative iPhone Designs
Apple’s patent FIGS. 5A and 5B, also noted above, illustrate a portable device according to one embodiment of the invention. The portable device may be a cellular telephone which includes a hinge that couples a display housing 89 to a keypad housing. The hinge allows a user to open and close the cellular telephone so that it can be placed in at least one of two different configurations shown in FIGS. 5A and 5B. In one particular embodiment, the hinge may rotatably couple the display housing to the keypad housing. In particular, a user can open the cellular telephone to place it in the open configuration shown in FIG. 5A and can close the cellular telephone to place it in the closed configuration shown in FIG. 5B. The keypad housing may include a keypad which receives inputs (e.g. telephone number inputs or other alphanumeric inputs) from a user and a microphone which receives voice input from the user. The display housing may include, on its interior surface, a display (e.g. an LCD) and a speaker and a proximity sensor; on its exterior surface, the display housing may include a speaker, a temperature sensor, a display (e.g. another LCD), an ambient light sensor, and a proximity sensor. Hence, in this embodiment, the display housing may include a first proximity sensor on its interior surface and a second proximity sensor on its exterior surface. The first proximity sensor may be used to detect a user’s head or ear being within a certain distance of the first proximity sensor and to cause an illumination setting of displays and to be changed automatically in response to this detecting (e.g. the illumination for both displays are turned off or otherwise set in a reduced power state). Data from the second proximity sensor, along with data from the ambient light sensor and data from the temperature sensor 94, may be used to detect that the cellular telephone has been placed into the user’s pocket.
About iPhone’s Artificial Intelligence
Apple’s patent FIG. 8 shows a diagram of various inputs from sensors that can be used and actions that can be performed in accordance with at least one embodiment of the invention. Any one of the devices described herein, including the devices shown in FIGS. 2, 3, 4, 5A and 5B, may operate in accordance with the use of artificial intelligence as represented by FIG. 8. One or more inputs on the left side of FIG. 8 are received from various sensors of a device and are input into the artificial intelligence (AI) logic. One or more actions on the right side of FIG. 8 may be implemented by the AI logic automatically in response to any combination of the inputs. In one implementation of this embodiment, the actions are implemented substantially immediately after the data is sensed by one or more sensors.
Exemplary inputs of FIG. 8 may include, for example, proximity data, proximity data and blob detect data (e.g., from a multipoint touch input screen), proximity data and accelerometer data, accelerometer data and blob detect data, proximity data and temperature data, proximity data and ambient light data, and numerous other possible combinations.
Exemplary actions of FIG. 8 may include, for example, turning off the backlight of the portable device’s display, suppressing the user’s ability to input at the user interface (e.g., locking the input device), changing the telephone’s mode, and the like. It will be appreciated that combinations of the above actions may also be implemented by the AI logic. For example, the AI logic may both turn off the display’s backlight and suppress the user’s ability to input at the user interface. As another example, the proximity data from a proximity sensor may be used to adjust the frequency response of the output of a receiver’s amplifier section. This adjustment would allow the amplifier section to compensate for the variation of frequency response which occurs as a result of the variation of the distance between a speaker and a user’s ear. This variation is caused by the variation of signal leakage introduced by a varying distance between the speaker and the user’s ear. For example, when the ear is close (in close proximity) to the speaker, then the leak is low and the base response is better than when the ear is not as close to the speaker. When the speaker is farther removed from the ear, the degraded base response may be improved, in at least certain embodiments, by an equalizer which adjusts the base relative to the rest of the output signal in response to the distance, measured by the proximity sensor, between the user’s ear and the speaker which provides the final output signal.
Accelerometer/Motion Sensor
Apple’s patent FIG. 11B shows a method of an embodiment of the present inventions which relates to a technique for controlling when data from an input device is processed as an input and when it is ignored as an intentional user input. In operation, the device receives movement data from one or more sensors. These sensors may include an accelerometer or a motion sensor or other types of sensors which indicate movement data. These sensors may be designed to distinguish between rapid movements and slow movements. This is particularly true if the movements involve high levels of acceleration. It is assumed in this embodiment that rapid movements may be so rapid that it is unlikely the user could be intending to enter a user input and hence the device may decide to ignore inputs which occur when such sensors indicate that the movement is faster than a threshold movement value. The movement data is analyzed in operation to determine whether or not to automatically suppress a user’s ability to input key inputs or other inputs based on the device’s movement. In operation, the device may automatically suppress a user’s ability to enter inputs on an input device in response to the analysis in operation.
Apple’s patent FIG. 11E shows an embodiment of the present inventions in which data relating to location of a device and data relating to touches on a touch input panel of the device are analyzed to determine whether to adjust a setting of the device. In this embodiment, data relating to location of the device is received in operation and data relating to touches on a touch input panel is received in operation. The data relating to location may be from a proximity sensor. The data relating to touches on a touch input panel may be from a multi-point touch input panel which is capable of detecting multiple point touches which may occur when a user’s face is pressed against or is otherwise near the touch input panel. In operation, the data relating to location and the data relating to touches are analyzed to determine whether to adjust a setting of the device. As a result of this analysis, in operation, one or more device settings are adjusted. For example, the adjustment may include automatically reducing power to the backlight of a display or changing the manner in which data from the touch input panel is processed, or both adjustments.
Apple lists the inventors of this patent as being Anthony M. Fadell and Achim Pantfoerder.
NOTICE: MacNN presents only a brief summary of patents with associated graphic(s) for journalistic news purposes as each such patent application and/or grant is revealed by the U.S. Patent & Trade Office. Readers are cautioned that the full text of any patent applications and/or grants should be read in its entirety for further details.
Written and researched by Neo.
