SYSTEM AND METHOD FOR ORIENTATION-BASED OBJECT MONITORING AND DEVICE FOR THE SAME

• US 20110054830A1
• Filed: 08/31/2009
• Published: 03/03/2011
• Est. Priority Date: 08/31/2009
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: James D. Logan
• Original Assignee: James D. Logan
• Inventors: Logan, James D.
• Granted Patent: US 9,519,417 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 702/141
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 3/011 Arrangements for interaction with the human body, e.g. for user immersion in virtual reality blind teaching G09B21/00
• 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 3/0346 with detection of the device orientation or free movement in a 3D space, e.g. 3D mice, 6-DOF [six degrees of freedom] pointers using gyroscopes, accelerometers or tilt-sensors
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 3/0487 using specific features provided by the input device, e.g. functions controlled by the rotation of a mouse with dual sensing arrangements, or of the nature of the input device, e.g. tap gestures based on pressure sensed by a digitiser

Abstract

This invention relates to methods and systems for accelerometer-based sensing of motion and orientation of a portable device affixed to or integral with an object, to trigger an audio or visual output based on the motion or orientation of the object the portable device is monitoring. The audio output can be pre-recorded in the device memory or can be user recorded through the “tilt and tell” device voice recording. The invention also employs unique movement and orientation to estimated usage, the person using the device, and other application specific usage information. The unique movement can also be used as user interface to the device.

Claims

1. An object-monitoring device for providing usage feedback of an object, the object-monitoring device comprising:

an accelerometer sensor that senses an orientation of the object-monitoring device so as to provide a sensed orientation of the device;

a processor that analyzes the accelerometer sensor to determine if the sensed orientation matches one of a plurality of pre-stored unique movement profiles;

a controller that performs an action corresponding to the pre-stored unique movement profile that matches the sensed orientation; and

an output mechanism that provides usage feedback of the object, the usage feedback representative of the sensed orientation and its corresponding action.

2. The object-monitoring device of claim 1 further comprising a clock and a memory for storing a time value associated with each orientation of the object-monitoring device, such that each orientation that is stored includes a respective time value.

3. The object-monitoring device of claim 1 wherein the output mechanism comprises an audio controller and speaker for performing the action of providing an audio feedback message.

4. The object-monitoring device of claim 3 further comprising a microphone for recording a personalized message, the recording occurring in response to one of the plurality of pre-stored unique movement profiles.

5. The object-monitoring device of claim 1 wherein the output mechanism comprises a display for providing a display feedback message representative of usage of the object.

6. The object-monitoring device of claim 1 wherein the output mechanism comprises memory for storing the usage feedback of the object.

7. The object-monitoring device of claim 1 further comprising memory for storing each orientation of the object-monitoring device to thereby create a log representative of overall usage of the object.

8. The object-monitoring device of claim 1 wherein the sensed orientation is stored as a multi-dimensional matrix lattice.

9. A method for monitoring an object using an object-monitoring device, the method comprising:

providing an object-monitoring device on the object that includes an accelerometer sensor for determining a sensed orientation of the object;

determining the sensed orientation of the object as sensed by the accelerometer sensor;

comparing the sensed orientation of the object to each of a plurality of pre-stored unique movement profiles, to determine if there is a match;

performing an action corresponding to the pre-stored unique movement profile that matches the sensed orientation; and

outputting usage feedback representative of the action corresponding to the pre-stored unique movement profile.

10. The method of claim 9 further comprising displaying the usage feedback.

11. The method of claim 9 further comprising storing the sensed orientation of the object in memory on the device.

12. The method of claim 9 wherein the object is a pill bottle and each of the plurality of pre-stored unique movement profiles correspond to an action selected from the group consisting of tilting, swinging, shaking, upright orientation and randomized motion.

13. The method of claim 9 wherein the object is a book and each of the plurality of pre-stored unique movement profiles correspond to an action selected from the group consisting of upright orientation, opening orientation, pages of book being turned, book laying flat on a surface, and randomized motion.

14. A method for monitoring usage of an object comprising:

providing an object-monitoring device on the object that includes an accelerometer sensor for determining an orientation of the object;

determining a first sensed orientation of the object, sensed by the accelerometer sensor on the object-monitoring device;

storing the first sensed orientation and corresponding pre-stored movement profile in memory on the object-monitoring device;

determining a second sensed orientation of the object, sensed by the accelerometer sensor on the object-monitoring device;

storing the second sensed orientation and corresponding pre-stored movement profile in memory on the object-monitoring device; and

outputting usage feedback representative of the first sensed orientation and the second sensed orientation.

15. The method of claim 14 further comprising determining a time lapsed between the first sensed orientation and the second sensed orientation.

16. The method of claim 15 further comprising displaying the time lapsed between the first sensed orientation and the second sensed orientation as the usage feedback.

17. The method of claim 14 further comprising performing an action corresponding to the pre-stored movement profile of the first sensed orientation.

18. The method of claim 17 further comprising performing an action corresponding to the pre-stored movement profile of the second sensed orientation.

19. The method of claim 14 wherein the object is a pill bottle and each of the pre-stored movement profiles is selected from the group consisting of tilting, swinging, shaking, upright orientation and randomized motion.

20. The method of claim 14 wherein the first sensed orientation and the second sensed orientation are each stored in memory on the device as a multi-dimensional matrix lattice.