Haptic device

• US 10,560,563 B1
• Filed: 06/26/2019
• Issued: 02/11/2020
• Est. Priority Date: 06/25/2019
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Gestion Claude Zalac Incorporated
• Original Assignee: Bouton Sms Inc.
• Inventors: Zalac, Claude
• Primary Examiner(s): Patel, Mahendra R
• Application Number:
  US16/452,924
• Time in Patent Office: 230 Days
• Field of Search: 4554121, 348515, 370338
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 3/017 Gesture based interaction, e.g. based on a set of recognized hand gestures interaction based on gestures traced on a digitiser G06F3/04883
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 3/03547 Touch pads, in which fingers can move on a surface
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 3/04883 for inputting data by handwriting, e.g. gesture or text
• CPC Class Codes: G08B 3/105 with call or message storage means
• CPC Class Codes: G08B 6/00 Tactile signalling systems, e.g. personal calling systems
• CPC Class Codes: G08B 7/06 using electric transmission , e.g. involving audible and visible signalling through the use of sound and light sources
• CPC Class Codes: H04M 1/72436 for text messaging, e.g. short messaging services [SMS] or e-mails
• CPC Class Codes: H04M 2250/22 including a touch pad, a touch sensor or a touch detector digitizers for touch screens G06F3/041
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 4/02 Services making use of location information
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 4/06 Selective distribution of broadcast services, e.g. multimedia broadcast multicast service [MBMS]; Services to user groups; One-way selective calling services
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 4/12 Messaging; Mailboxes; Announcements
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 4/14 Short messaging services, e.g. short message services [SMS] or unstructured supplementary service data [USSD]
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 4/80 Services using short range communication, e.g. near-field communication [NFC], radio-frequency identification [RFID] or low energy communication

Abstract

The present haptic device is adapted for sending at least one message. The haptic device comprises a housing, a communication module located inside the housing, a touchpad and a processor. The touchpad is affixed to the housing. The touchpad captures a movement of a user and generates a signal corresponding to the captured movement. The processor is also located inside the housing. The processor receives the signal and instructs the communication module to transmit one of a plurality of stored messages corresponding to the captured movement. The transmitted message includes at least one predetermined recipient address and a message for the recipient.

Claims

1. A haptic device for sending at least one message, the haptic device comprising:

a housing;

a communication module located inside the housing;

a touchpad affixed to the housing, the touchpad capturing a movement of a user and generating a signal corresponding to the captured movement; and

a processor located inside the housing, the processor receiving the signal, analyzing the signal to determine a most probable corresponding message, and instructing the communication module to transmit one of a plurality of stored messages corresponding to the captured movement, the one of the stored messages including at least one predetermined recipient address and a message for the recipient, the most probable corresponding message being concurrently transmitted using two different wireless standards.

2. The haptic device of claim 1, wherein the housing covers the touchpad, and the touchpad captures the movement of the user through a mobile surface of the housing.

3. The haptic device of claim 1, wherein the communication module is a wireless communication module adapted for communicating using one or several of the following wireless standards:

GSM, 2G, 3G, 4G, 5G, LTE, Wi-Fi, Bluetooth, and Bluetooth Low Energy.

4. The haptic device of claim 3, wherein the communication module allows configuration of each of the stored messages.

5. The haptic device of claim 4, further comprising a memory for storing the stored messages.

7. The haptic device of claim 1, further comprising a sound module, and wherein the processor further instructs the sound module to generate sound corresponding to the stored message.

8. The haptic device of claim 1, wherein:

the touchpad captures at least one of the following movements;

a single tap, a double tap, a triple tap, a right swipe, a left swipe, a down swipe, an up swipe, a squeeze tap, and an explode tap;

the processor receives the captured movement and instructs the communication module to transmit the one of the stored messages to one or several recipients based on the captured movement.

9. The haptic device of claim 1, wherein the touchpad is one of a capacitive sensing touchpad and a resistive touchscreen.

10. The haptic device of claim 3, wherein the processor instructs the communication module to transmit the one of the stored messages in at least one of the following communications protocols:

IPv4, IPv6, Transmission Control Protocol (TCP/IP), User Datagram Protocol (UDP), Post Office Protocol (POP3), Internet Message Access Protocol (IMAP), Simple Mail Transfer Protocol (SMTP), Instant Messaging (IM), Short Message Service (SMS), and Bluetooth network encapsulation protocol (BNEP).

11. The haptic device of claim 8, wherein the processor instructs the communication module to transmit concurrently a plurality of messages for the signal received, wherein one of the plurality of messages is sent by the communication module using one wireless standard and one communication protocol, and another one of the plurality of messages is sent by the communication module using another wireless standard and another communication protocol.

6. The haptic device further comprising a light module, and wherein the processor further instructs the light module to generate light corresponding to the stored message.

12. A method for sending at least one message with a haptic device, the method comprising:

capturing a movement of a user on a touchpad affixed to a housing and generating a signal corresponding to the captured movement;

receiving by a processor located inside the housing the signal;

analyzing by the processor the signal to determine a most probable corresponding message;

instructing by the processor a communication module to transmit one of a plurality of stored messages corresponding to the captured movement, the one of the stored messages including at least one predetermined recipient address and a message for the recipient;

concurrently transmitting by the communication module the most probably corresponding message using two different wireless standards.

13. A system for sending at least one message, the system comprising:

a housing;

a communication module located inside the housing;

a memory storing messages corresponding to captured movements, each stored message including at least one predetermined recipient address and a message for the recipient;

a touchpad affixed to the housing, the touchpad capturing a movement of a user and generating a signal corresponding to the captured movement;

a processor located inside the housing, the processor receiving the signal, analyzing the signal to determine a most probable corresponding message, and instructing the communication module to transmit one of a plurality of stored messages corresponding to the captured movement, the most probable corresponding message being concurrently transmitted using two different wireless standards.

14. The system of claim 13, further comprising a USB port accessible through the housing, the USB port being used for recharging a battery of the system and/or configuration operation of the system.

15. The system of claim 13, wherein the memory stores configuration parameters for the captured movements, the configuration parameters including:

the message to the recipient to be sent in the form of payload, a sender'"'"'s identification and a recipient address.

16. The system of claim 15, wherein the sender identification at least one of the following:

any type of information that is meaningful to the recipient;

included in the payload;

a unique sender'"'"'s routable network address.

17. The system of claim 13, wherein the housing has one of the following shapes:

cylindrical, cubic, triangular prism, hexagonal prism, cone, or any other three-dimensional shape which provides sufficient interior space for receiving the communication module, the processor, the memory, the touchpad and a battery.

18. The system of claim 13, further comprising:

a light module for providing a visual feedback to a user of the system;

a sound module for providing an audible feedback to a user of the system; and

wherein the configuration parameters stored by the memory further comprise configuration for the light module and the sound module for the captured movements.

19. The system of claim 13, wherein the most probable message is based on the signal received from the touchpad which comprises variations in pressure and relative position of the pressure variation measured by the touchpad.

20. The system of claim 18, wherein the processor further determines whether the signal received corresponds to more than one of the stored movement, and when the signal received corresponds to more than one of the stored movement the processor generates a visual feedback through the light module and/or an audible feedback through the sound module for a user to retry.