MOBILE DEVICE AND METHOD FOR PROCESSING AN ACOUSTIC SIGNAL

• US 20110084940A1
• Filed: 07/02/2010
• Published: 04/14/2011
• Est. Priority Date: 10/09/2009
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Samsung Electronics Co. Ltd.
• Original Assignee: Samsung Electronics Co. Ltd.
• Inventors: LEE, Ho-Sub
• Granted Patent: US 8,928,630 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 345/177
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 3/0416 Control or interface arrangements specially adapted for digitisers
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 3/043 using propagating acoustic waves
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 3/04883 for inputting data by handwriting, e.g. gesture or text

Abstract

A mobile device and method for processing an acoustic signal are provided. The mobile device may calculate a position of an inputted touch and recognize a character from the calculated position. The mobile device may perform a function corresponding to the recognized character, or display the position of the touch.

Claims

1. A mobile device for processing an acoustic signal, the device comprising:

a sensing unit configured to sense an acoustic signal based on a touch inputted from a surface of the mobile device;

an acoustic signal processing unit configured to perform signal processing on the sensed acoustic signal;

an acoustic signal position determining unit configured to calculate a position of the inputted touch based on the signal-processed acoustic signal; and

a character recognition unit configured to recognize a character from the calculated position.

2. The mobile device of claim 1, wherein the sensing unit comprises at least one of:

a noise sensor, a vibration sensor, and an ultrasonic sensor.

3. The mobile device of claim 1, wherein the acoustic signal processing unit is further configured to process the acoustic signal by performing at least one of:

amplifying and filtering the sensed acoustic signal.

4. The mobile device of claim 1, wherein the acoustic signal processing unit is further configured to process the acoustic signal to convert the sensed analog acoustic signal to a digital acoustic signal by performing at least one of:

a sampling operation, a quantization operation, and an encoding operation.

5. The mobile device of claim 1, wherein the acoustic signal position determining unit is further configured to calculate the position using a multilateration comprising a hyperbolic positioning method, based on the time it takes for the acoustic signal to reach the sensing unit.

6. The mobile device of claim 5, wherein the acoustic signal position determining unit is further configured to:

divide the signal-processed acoustic signal into segments; and

apply a position calculation algorithm to each of the divided segments to calculate consecutive coordinates with respect to the position of the inputted touch.

7. The mobile device of claim 1, wherein:

the sensing unit comprises a plurality of acoustic sensor pairs; and

the acoustic signal position determining unit is further configured to;

measure a difference in time from when the acoustic signal reaches each of the plurality of acoustic sensor pairs; and

calculate coordinates of the position using the measured difference in times.

8. The mobile device of claim 7, wherein the acoustic signal position determining unit is further configured to calculate the coordinates of the position inputted by the touch using Equations 1 and 2,

√

{square root over ((x−

x₁)²+(y−

y₁)²)}{square root over ((x−

x₁)²+(y−

y₁)²)}−

√

{square root over ((x−

x₃)²+(y−

y₃)²)}{square root over ((x−

x₃)²+(y−

y₃)²)}=vΔ

t_1,3, 

 

[Equation 1]

and

√

{square root over ((x−

x₂)²+(y−

y₂)²)}{square root over ((x−

x₂)²+(y−

y₂)²)}−

√

{square root over ((x−

x₄)²+(y−

y₄)²)}{square root over ((x−

x₄)²+(y−

y₄)²)}=vΔ

t_2,4, 

 

[Equation 2]

where x and y denote coordinates of the position of the inputted touch, and (x₁,y₁), (x₂,y₂), (x₃,y₃), and (x₄,y₄) denote coordinates of the locations of the plurality of acoustic sensor pairs.

9. The mobile device of claim 1, wherein the character recognition unit is further configured to recognize a character based on an input of consecutive coordinates of the calculated position.

10. The mobile device of claim 1, further comprising:

a user configuration unit configured to receive, from a user, a designation for a function to be performed in association with the recognized character; and

a function execution unit configured to perform a function corresponding to the recognized character.

11. A mobile device for processing an acoustic signal, the mobile device comprising:

a sensing unit configured to sense an acoustic signal based on a touch event with respect to an object that is approximately in contact with the mobile device;

an acoustic signal processing unit configured to perform signal processing on the sensed acoustic signal;

an acoustic signal position determining unit configured to calculate a position generated by the touch event using the signal-processed acoustic signal; and

a shape recognition unit configured to recognize the calculated position as a shape.

12. The mobile device of claim 11, further comprising:

a vibration unit configured to generate a vibration signal based on the sensed acoustic signal,

wherein the acoustic signal processing unit is further configured to measure an acoustic propagation speed comprising a speed in which the acoustic signal is propagated from the object, based on the distance between the sensing unit and the vibration unit and the time it takes for the vibration signal to be sensed by the sensing unit.

13. The mobile device of claim 12, wherein the acoustic signal position determining unit is further configured to calculate the position using a multilateration comprising a position calculation algorithm, based on a time delay from when the acoustic signal reaches the sensing unit and the measured acoustic propagation speed.

14. The mobile device of claim 11, further comprising a display unit configured to display the recognized shape in a symmetrical manner.

15. A method of processing an acoustic signal, the method comprising:

sensing an acoustic signal based on a touch inputted from a surface of a mobile device;

signal processing the sensed acoustic signal;

calculating a position of the inputted touch based on the signal-processed acoustic signal; and

executing a function based on the calculated position.

16. The method of claim 15, wherein the sensing comprises sensing the acoustic signal generated by touching an object that is approximately in contact with the mobile device.

17. The method of claim 15, wherein:

the signal processing comprises at least one of;

amplifying and filtering the sensed acoustic signal; and

the signal processing comprises at least one of;

a sampling operation, a quantization operation, and an encoding operation to convert the sensed analog acoustic signal into a digital acoustic signal.

18. The method of claim 15, wherein the calculating comprises:

dividing the signal-processed acoustic signal into segments; and

calculating consecutive coordinates of the position of the inputted touch by applying a position calculation algorithm to each of the divided segments.

19. The method of claim 15, wherein the calculating comprises calculating the position using a multilateration comprising a position calculation algorithm, based on the time it takes for the acoustic signal to reach an acoustic sensor that includes at least one of:

a noise sensor, a vibration sensor, and an ultrasonic sensor.

20. The method of claim 15, wherein the calculating comprises:

measuring a difference in time from when the acoustic signal reaches each of a plurality of acoustic sensor pairs for sensing the acoustic signal; and

calculating coordinates of the position by applying the measured difference in times to Equations 1 and 2,

√

{square root over ((x−

x₁)²+(y−

y₁)²)}{square root over ((x−

x₁)²+(y−

y₁)²)}−

√

{square root over ((x−

x₃)²+(y−

y₃)²)}{square root over ((x−

x₃)²+(y−

y₃)²)}=vΔ

t_1,3, 

 

[Equation 1]

and

√

{square root over ((x−

x₂)²+(y−

y₂)²)}{square root over ((x−

x₂)²+(y−

y₂)²)}−

√

{square root over ((x−

x₄)²+(y−

y₄)²)}{square root over ((x−

x₄)²+(y−

y₄)²)}=vΔ

t_2,4, 

 

[Equation 2]

where x and y denote coordinates of the position of the inputted touch, and (x₁,y₁), (x₂,y₂), (x₃,y₃), and (x₄,y₄) denote coordinates of the position of the plurality of acoustic sensor pairs.

21. The method of claim 15, further comprising:

storing, in a storing unit, a character corresponding to the function to be performed,

wherein the executing comprises;

recognizing, as a character, a consecutive input with respect to coordinates of the calculated position; and

executing the function based on the recognized character stored in the storing unit.

22. The method of claim 15, further comprising:

recognizing the calculated position as a continuous shape; and

displaying, on a screen, the recognized shape.

23. A computer-readable storage medium storing a program to process an acoustic signal, the storage medium comprising:

sensing an acoustic signal based on a touch inputted from a surface of a mobile device;

signal processing the sensed acoustic signal;

calculating a position inputted by the touch based on the signal-processed acoustic signal; and

executing a function based on the calculated position.