A WEARABLE SMART WATCH WITH A CONTROL-RING AND A USER FEEDBACK MECHANISM

• US 20180052428A1
• Filed: 04/11/2016
• Published: 02/22/2018
• Est. Priority Date: 04/12/2015
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Andrey Abramov
• Original Assignee: Andrey Abramov
• Inventors: Abramov, Andrey
• Granted Patent: US 10,852,700 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• CPC Class Codes: G04B 19/283 on rotatable rings, i.e. bezel for graduations on the bezels G04B19/18
• CPC Class Codes: G04B 47/00 Time-pieces combined with other articles which do not interfere with the running or the time-keeping of the time-piece clockwork cases for special purposes G04B37/12; clocks with magnifying glass built in the face G04B39/00; time-pieces in which parts or cases produce special effects, e.g. aesthetic effects, G04B45/00, particularly with inscriptions or pictures moved by hand G04B45/003, with specially shaped cases or parts G04B45/0069; combination of writing or drawing implements with devices for indicating time B43K29/087; combined with cameras, projectors, or photographic printing apparatus G03B29/00
• CPC Class Codes: G04C 3/001 Electromechanical switches for setting or display in general H01H
• CPC Class Codes: G04G 21/00 Input or output devices integrated in time-pieces
• CPC Class Codes: G04G 21/04 using radio waves radio-controlled time-pieces G04R
• CPC Class Codes: G04G 21/08 Touch switches specially adapted for time-pieces
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 1/163 Wearable computers, e.g. on a belt
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 1/1684 Constructional details or arrangements related to integrated I/O peripherals not covered by groups G06F1/1635 - G06F1/1675
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 3/016 Input arrangements with force or tactile feedback as computer generated output to the user
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 3/0362 with detection of 1D translations or rotations of an operating part of the device, e.g. scroll wheels, sliders, knobs, rollers or belts

Abstract

A wearable device or a smart watch with a control mechanism that allows efficient user interaction by a combination of means including a control-ring subsystem, with visual and haptic feedback subsystems.

Claims

1. A wearable device or a smart watch comprised at least of:

a controller capable of performing general calculations and data processing under the guidance of an operating system or various application software, data storage capable of storing the software to be executed by the controller and various data, a digital display capable of showing information in textual and graphic form, an input subsystem including at least a control ring, and a subsystem for haptic feedback and communication.

2. A wearable device or a smart watch of claim 1, wherein a sensor assembly associated with the control ring is capable of capturing and communicating to the controller of the smart watch the input events generated when an operator rotates, pushes, presses, squeezes, taps, double-taps, or otherwise interacts with the control ring.

3. A wearable device or a smart watch of claim 2 equipped with multiple control rings, where the various rings operate on a plurality of axis.

4. A wearable device or a smart watch of claim 3, where some of the control rings are exposed so as to be convenient to observe and operate from the direction coinciding with the face or dial of the watch, while others are exposed for operation along the edges of the wearable device.

5. An apparatus for interpreting the input of the sensor assembly claimed in claim 2, where the inputs generated when an operator rotates, pushes, presses, taps, double-taps, or otherwise interacts with the control ring are further interpreted, alone or in conjunction with the sequence of prior inputs, as indicating one or a combination of (a) discrete binary selection event, (b) an event of the control ring reaching a known fixed position, such a aligning against a marker, or (c) an event indicating a positive or negative change relative to a previously established value, (d) an event communicating a vector comprised of a direction, possibly in more than one dimensions, and a value, or (e) an event indicating progress along a continuum of possible values.

6. A wearable device or a smart watch of claim 2, wherein a sequence of inputs generated via a control ring and indicating a sharp change or multiple sharp changes in the velocity of the rotation of control ring, sharp change or multiple sharp changes in the direction of the rotation of control ring, or sharp change or multiple sharp changes in the pressure applied to the control ring, is interpreted as indicating a control event.

7. A wearable device or a smart watch of claim 6, wherein the control event is interpreted as an act of selection, a completion of an action, a cancelation of an action, or the like.

8. A wearable device or a smart watch of claim 6, wherein the control event is a binary selection.

9. A wearable device or a smart watch of claim 6, wherein different patterns of sharp change are interpreted as indicating different control events.

10. A wearable device or a smart watch of claim 6, wherein the parameters used to qualify a sharp direction change as applied by the user to the control ring, as one to be interpreted as a control event, are automatically adjusted based on prior user interactions.

11. A wearable device or a smart watch of claim 10, wherein the prior success of interpreting such sharp direction changes influence the parameters indicating the sharpness of the change

12. A wearable device or a wearable smart watch of claim 4, wherein an input generated by the control ring is interpreted to indicate progress along a scale.

13. The scale of claim 12, wherein said scale is defined by any of discrete, linear, polynomial, logarithmic, exponential, power, or other algorithm.

14. The scale selection algorithm of claim 13, where the selection of said algorithm is driven by the user, by the previously expressed user preferences, by the Operating System, by the application software, or any combination thereof.

15. A wearable device or a smart watch of claim 5 where an input generated by the control ring is interpreted to indicate progress along a scale, wherein the function defining said scale and its parameters are chosen based on known or projected ranges of possible values;

on the speed, acceleration, or pressure with which the user operates the control ring;

or any combination thereof.

16. An apparatus of claim 5 where an input generated by the control ring is interpreted to indicate progress along a scale, wherein the function defining said scale and its parameters are chosen based on prior user interactions, thus incorporating implicit user preferences.

17. An apparatus of claim 16, where the input events are interpreted in conjunction with other simultaneous or preceding inputs coming from the same control ring or from other input devices such as other control rings, buttons, touchscreen, location and orientation sensors, and other sources of state, said sources of state taken into account as modifiers of the scale, direction, speed, acceleration, and functionality indicated by the input events generated via the control ring.

18. A wearable device or a smart watch of claim 2, wherein the control ring incorporates one or many visual markers, and the positions of said markers can be discovered by a sensor assembly and subsequently used by the Operating System and application software to facilitate user interaction, such as having the user align the control ring markers momentarily or continuously (a) against the markers shown on the digital display of the smart watch, (b) against a object or direction external to the smart watch, (c) within the boundaries indicated on the digital screen of the smart watch, or (d) outside of the boundaries indicated by the digital screen of the smart watch.

19. A wearable device or a smart watch of claim 18, wherein the visual indicators on the control ring are light elements, display elements, or a single digital display controlled by the operating system and application software of the wearable device, so that they can be activated, deactivated, blinked, present visual cues such as change in color, apparent location of the visual elements, combination of the visual elements, or all of the above, so as to provide a rich user interaction.

20. A wearable device or a smart watch of claim 19, wherein the operating system and application software coordinate the visual cues shown on the control ring with the user interface shown on the main display of the smart watch.

21. A wearable device or a smart watch of claim 19, wherein the control ring displays a list of options, and the user selects the desired option by aligning the option displayed on the control ring against a marker shown on the digital display or on the face of the smart watch.

22. A wearable device or a smart watch of claim 20, where when a known set of options is being chosen by the means of the control ring, only a subset of options closest to the selection marker are displayed.

25. A wearable device or a smart watch of claim 2, where the control ring is rotated by an actuator controlled by the digital components of the smart watch, its operating system and application software, so as to provide kinesthetic and visual information to the user.

26. A wearable device or a smart watch of claim 2, wherein variable friction is applied to the controlled ring, and the level of friction is controlled by the digital components of the smart watch, its operating system or application software, so as to provide kinesthetic feedback to the user, including, but not limited to the current scale, the location of the selectable options and their nature, the desirable or undesirable regions, and the points requiring user attention or a finer selection.

27. A wearable device or a smart watch of claim 2, wherein the digital components of the smart watch, its operating system, and application software, provide haptic feedback to the user by selectively applying patterns of variable vibration to the control ring or to the body of the device so as to indicate by tactile means the user'"'"'s progress in the current control ring operation, the magnitude of the effect of the current control ring operation, the passing of significant positions like the points of compass rose, hours, cardinal points, and the like;

selectable options and the nature of said selectable options, the points and operations requiring user attention, as well as other beneficial feedback.

28. A wearable device or a smart watch of claim 1, incorporating in the body of the watch or in its bracelet at least one digitally controlled pressure actuator.

29. The wearable device of claim 28 where the pressure actuator is a refreshable Braille cell so as to communicate to the tactile sense of the wearer graphical and textual information and operation feedback expressed in six point Braille alphabet, eight-point ASCII Braille, Computer Braille, Nemeth Braille, Unified English Braille, or some other tactile alphabet.

30. A wearable device or a smart watch of claim 27, incorporating multiple digitally controlled refreshable Braille cells or multiple groups of said Braille cells positioned at distinct locations on the watch, the watch bracelet, or both, so as to provide the user with multiple distinct channels for tactile information and operational feedback.

32. A wearable device or a smart watch of claim 28, wherein one or many transducers are used to inform the user of the passage of significant points in time by tactile means.

33. A wearable device or a smart watch of claim 1, incorporating within its control ring a digitally controlled pressure transducer, so as to communicate to the tactile sense of the wearer graphical and textual information and operation feedback expressed in six-point Braille alphabet, eight point ASCII Braille, Computer Braille, Nemeth Braille, Unified English Braille, or some other tactile alphabet.

34. A wearable device or a smart watch of claim 33, where the pressure transducer is a digitally controlled refreshable Braille cell or multiple groups of Braille cells.

35. A wearable device or a smart watch of claim 34, where the Braille cell incorporated at a point of the control ring is rotatable, so that as the user rotates the control ring with a finger on the Braille cell, the position of the Braille cell relative to the finger remains unchanged, and thus the Braille cell remains easily readable via said finger.

36. A wearable device or a smart watch of claim 35, where the Braille cell incorporated at a point of the control ring is used to provide tactile feedback to the user as various options become available during the operation of the control ring.

38. A wearable device or a smart watch as described in claim 2, wherein during the operation of the control ring the digital display provides user feedback by means of text, graphs, as well as color and brightness applied to the pertinent text, graphs, or to their background.

39. A wearable device or a smart watch as described in claim 2, wherein the options made available for selection by operating a control ring are depicted on the digital display as a list of items and the currently selected item is indicated by being depicted with the most prominent size, color, font, applied visual effects like glow, shadow, and the like, or any combination thereof.

23. A method for controlling the user interface of a smart watch or a wearable device, said method comprising the steps of:

indicating to the user by means of a digital display, sound, haptic feedback, pressure actuators, or a Braille cell or cells embedded in the body of the wearable smart watch, in its bracelet, or both, or any combination thereof that a list of options is available for selection;

depicting on the digital display or display elements embedded in the control ring of the smart watch a subset of the list of options available for selection and closest to the selection marker;

processing the inputs generated by the sensor subsystem based on the user operating the control ring;

changing the partial list of options available for selection and closest to the selection marker in response to the user operating the control ring;

processing user selection as captured by the sensor subsystem of the wearable device; and

providing user feedback by displaying information on the digital display, playing a sound or a sound sequence, executing a vibration pattern, or communicating a text or a pattern via a Braille cell or cells.

24. The method of claim 23, where the selection marker is not explicitly displayed, and the currently selected item on the control ring is indicated visually through distinctive brightness, sharpness, contrast, size, color change, or other visual cues.

31. A method for controlling the user interface of a smart watch or a wearable device, said method comprising the steps of:

indicating to the user by means of a digital display, sound, haptic feedback, or a Braille cell or cells embedded in the body of the wearable smart watch, in its bracelet, or both, that a list of options is available;

generating tactile feedback corresponding to the particular options via a Braille cell or cells embedded in the body of the wearable smart watch, in its bracelet, or both, as the user operates the control ring by rotating the control ring or applying pressure to said control ring, resulting in the options becoming available for selection by the user;

processing user selection as captured by the sensor subsystem of the wearable device; and

providing user feedback by displaying information on the digital display, playing a sound or a sound sequence, executing a vibration pattern, or communicating a text or a pattern via a Braille cell or cells.

37. A method for controlling the user interface of a smart watch or a wearable device, said method comprising the steps of:

indicating to the user by means of a digital display, sound, haptic feedback, or pressure transducer that a list of options is available;

generating tactile feedback corresponding to the particular options via the pressure transducer embedded in the control ring, as the user operates the control ring by rotating or applying pressure to said control ring, resulting in the options becoming available for selection by the user;

processing user selection as captured by the sensor subsystem of the wearable device; and

providing user feedback by displaying information on the digital display, playing a sound or a sound sequence, executing a vibration pattern, or communicating a text by means of one or more pressure transducers.

40. A method for controlling the user interface of a smart watch or a wearable device, said method comprising the steps of:

indicating to the user by means of a digital display, sound, haptic feedback, or a Braille cell or cells embedded in the body of the wearable smart watch, in its bracelet, or both, or any combination thereof, that a list of options is available for selection;

depicting on the digital display a subset of the list of options available for selection and closest to the currently selected item;

indicating the currently selected item by depicting it with the most prominent size, color, font, applied visual effects like glow, shadow, and the like, or any combination thereof;

processing the inputs generated by the sensor subsystem based on the user operating the control ring;

changing the partial list of options available for selection and closest to the currently selected item in response to the user operating the control ring, and showing it on the digital display;

processing user selection as captured by the sensor subsystem of the wearable device; and

providing user feedback by displaying information on the digital display, playing a sound or a sound sequence, executing a vibration pattern, or communicating a text or a pattern via one or more pressure transducers.

41. A method of providing a user interface on a wearable device or a smart watch described in claim 40, wherein a set of options is made available for selection via operating a control ring, and the options, or a subset of options, are depicted as floating in three-dimensional space, and the currently selected item is displayed with such a combination of effects as to create an impression of it being brought to the foreground relative to all the other options.