Tap sensitive alarm clock

• US 10,317,849 B2
• Filed: 11/21/2014
• Issued: 06/11/2019
• Est. Priority Date: 08/12/2010
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Koninklijke Philips N.V.
• Original Assignee: Koninklijke Philips N.V.
• Inventors: Heeringa, Schelte, Wind, Roelof Jan, Rozeboom, Frans Wiebe, Botma, Jacob Hendrik, Van Oostrum, Hielke Simon, Schallig, Michiel Allan Aurelius, Godlieb, Robert
• Primary Examiner(s): Johnson, Amy Cohen
• Assistant Examiner(s): Wicklund, Daniel P
• Application Number:
  US14/550,329
• Publication Number:
  US 20160091868A1
• Time in Patent Office: 1,663 Days
• Field of Search: 368 72, 368 73, 368 76, 368245, 368255
• CPC Class Codes: G04G 13/021 Details
• CPC Class Codes: G04G 13/023 Adjusting the duration or amplitude of signals
• CPC Class Codes: G04G 13/028 combined with a radio
• CPC Class Codes: G04G 21/08 Touch switches specially adapted for time-pieces

Abstract

A tap sensitive alarm clock has a housing (20), a vibration sensor (22) mechanically coupled to the housing for receiving a shock due to a user tapping the housing, and a control circuit (24) coupled to the vibration sensor for controlling a function of the alarm clock. An audio unit (26) is coupled to an audio circuit (25) for generating sound, e.g. a loudspeaker in an alarm clock or a wake up light. To avoid interference of the sound and the vibration sensor, the alarm clock is provided with a filter (23) coupled to the vibration sensor and the control circuit. The filter has a filter curve matched to block frequencies occurring in the sound. Advantageously it is avoided that the sound frequencies trigger the function, while the sensor is sensitive to other frequencies up to the frequency range of the sound for reliably detecting the tapping.

Claims

1. A tap-sensitive alarm clock, comprising:

a housing;

a vibration sensor mechanically coupled to the housing for receiving a shock in response to a user tapping on the housing;

a control circuit for controlling a function of the alarm clock in response to said shock;

an audio unit coupled to an audio circuit, said audio circuit being operable to effect production by the audio unit of sound simultaneously with the reception by the vibration sensor of said shock, wherein the shock includes overlapping frequency components that overlap sound frequency components of the sound; and

a filter coupled to the vibration sensor, to the audio circuit, and to the control circuit, the filter having a filter curve matched to filter frequency components that are present in the sound so that only frequency components of the shock that do not overlap the sound frequency components are passed to the control circuit,

wherein the filter is automatically adjusted in dependence on audio content of the sound such that the filter curve is changed to remain matched to the filter frequency components that are present in the sound when the audio content of the sound changes and the filter continues to filter the sound to block the sound frequency components and the overlapping frequency components and to pass only the frequency components of the shock that do not overlap the sound frequency components.

2. The alarm clock as recited in claim 1 where the filter comprises a low-pass filter.

3. The alarm clock as recited in claim 2 where the filter has a corner frequency between 50 and 200 Hz.

4. The alarm clock as recited in claim 1 where the vibration sensor is adapted to produce an electrical signal that is coupled to the filter, and the filter is adapted to process said electrical signal.

5. The alarm clock as recited in claim 1 where the vibration sensor is mechanically arranged so as to be sensitive to a characteristic curve for the filter.

6. The alarm clock as recited in claim 1 where the filter has an adjustable amplification.

7. The alarm clock as recited in claim 6 where the filter is adapted to adjust the amplification in dependence on a level of the sound.

8. The alarm clock as recited in claim 1 where the filter is adapted to adjust a characteristic curve for the filter in dependence on the audio content of the sound.

9. The alarm clock as recited in claim 8 where the filter comprises a low-pass filter having a corner frequency and is adapted to adjust the corner frequency in dependence on the audio content of the sound.

10. The alarm clock as recited in claim 1 where the audio circuit comprises a high-pass filter having a predetermined characteristic curve for controlling the frequency components occurring in the sound.

11. The alarm clock as recited in claim 1 and comprising at least one of a wake-up light and a radio.

12. The alarm clock as recited in claim 1 where the function comprises a snooze function.

13. The alarm clock as recited in claim 1 where the vibration sensor comprises a piezo-electric element.

14. The alarm clock of claim 1, wherein the control circuit is connected to the audio unit.

15. The alarm clock of claim 1, wherein the vibration sensor is separate from and in addition to the audio unit.