Mobile phone featuring audio-modulated vibrotactile module

• US 6,885,876 B2
• Filed: 03/12/2001
• Issued: 04/26/2005
• Est. Priority Date: 03/12/2001
• Status: Expired due to Fees

• Current Assignee: Nokia Mobile Phones UK Limited (Nokia Corporation)
• Original Assignee: Nokia Mobile Phones UK Limited (Nokia Corporation)
• Inventors: Ojala, Stina, Hämäläinen, Heikki, Aaltonen, Olli, Lang, Heikki, Karjalainen, Seppo, Kaikuranta, Terho, Jääskeläinen, Satu
• Primary Examiner(s): Trinh, Sonny
• Assistant Examiner(s): PHAN, HUY Q
• Application Number:
  US09/804,486
• Publication Number:
  US 20020128048A1
• Time in Patent Office: 1,506 Days
• Field of Search: 455/550.1, 455/567, 455/517, 455/550, 340/566, 340/582
• US Class Current: 455/550.1
• CPC Class Codes: G08B 6/00 Tactile signalling systems, e.g. personal calling systems
• CPC Class Codes: H04M 1/72478 for hearing-impaired users

Abstract

A telecommunications network includes a mobile phone with an audio-modulated vibrotactile module that responds to a telecommunications signal containing information about incoming speech from a called/calling party, for providing an audio-modulated vibrotactile module force containing information about the incoming speech from the called/calling party to vibrate a user'"'"'s fingers, facial skin, wrist, cheek or other suitable location. The audio-modulated vibrotactile module has an audio-to-vibrotactile converter that responds to the telecommunications signal, for providing an audio-to-vibrotactile converter signal containing information about a vibration modulation of the incoming speech from the called/calling party. The audio-modulated vibrotactile module also has a vibrotactile actuator that responds to the audio-to-vibrotactile converter signal, for providing the audio-modulated vibrotactile module force in the form of a vibrotactile actuator force. The telecommunications system may also have the audio-to-vibrotactile converter. The vibrotactile actuator may be an electromechanical actuator arranged in the housing of the mobile phone for providing vibration to a user'"'"'s fingers wrist or facial skin.

Claims

1. A telecommunications network having a mobile phone, characterized in that

the mobile phone comprises an audio-modulated vibrotactile module that responds to a telecommunications signal containing information about incoming speech from a called/calling party, for providing an audio-modulated vibrotactile module force containing information about the incoming speech from the called/calling party to vibrate a user'"'"'s fingers, facial skin, wrist, cheek or other suitable location.

2. A telecommunications network according to claim 1, characterized in that

the audio-modulated vibrotactile module comprises an audio-to-vibrotactile converter that responds to the telecommunications signal, for providing an audio-to-vibrotactile converter signal containing information about a vibration modulation of the incoming speech from the called/calling party.

3. A telecommunications network according to claim 2, characterized in that

the audio-modulated vibrotactile module comprises a vibrotactile actuator that responds to the audio-to-vibrotactile converter signal, for providing the audio-modulated vibrotactile module force in the form of a vibrotactile actuator force.

4. A telecommunications network according to claim 3, characterized in that the telecommunications network includes a separately-priced vibrotactile service network.

5. A telecommunications network according to claim 3, characterized in that the audio-to-vibrotactile converter includes a personalized hearing parameters module for adjusting speech processing so a user can have personalized hearing parameters.

6. A telecommunications network according to claim 5, characterized in that the personalized hearing parameters can either be selected by a trial-and-error basis, preset values or personalized values given by a user'"'"'s physician.

7. A telecommunications network according to claim 3, characterized in that the vibrotactile actuator is an electromechanical actuator.

8. A telecommunications network according to claim 3, characterized in that the vibrotactile actuator is suitably arranged in a housing of the mobile phone for providing vibration on the user'"'"'s fingers.

9. A telecommunications network according to claim 3, characterized in that the vibrotactile actuator is suitably arranged in a housing of the mobile phone for providing vibration on the user'"'"'s facial skin.

10. A telecommunications network according to claim 3, characterized in that the vibrotactile actuator is suitably arranged in a housing of the mobile phone for providing vibration on the user'"'"'s wrist.

11. A telecommunications network according to claim 3, characterized in that the vibrotactile actuator is suitably arranged in a housing of the mobile phone for providing vibration on the user'"'"'s cheek.

12. A telecommunications network according to claim 3, characterized in that the vibrotactile actuator is an acoustic actuator suitably sized for fitting into a user'"'"'s ear.

13. A telecommunications network according to claim 1, characterized in that

the telecommunications system comprises an audio-to-vibrotactile converter that responds to an incoming audio signal containing the incoming speech from the called/calling party, for providing the telecommunications signal in the form of an audio-to-vibrotactile converter signal containing information about a vibration modulation of the incoming speech from the called/calling party.

14. A telecommunications network according to claim 13, characterized in that

the audio-modulated vibrotactile module comprises a vibrotactile actuator that responds to the audio-to-vibrotactile converter signal, for providing the audio-modulated vibrotactile module force in the form of a vibrotactile actuator force.

15. A telecommunications network according to claim 13, characterized in that the telecommunications signal contains information about the incoming speech that is a source for vibration modulation.

16. A telecommunications network according to claim 1, characterized in that the audio-to-vibrotactile converter includes a hardware-based signal processor for performing a vibration modulation.

17. A telecommunications network according to claim 16, characterized in that the vibration modulation includes frequency domain filtering or equalization.

18. A telecommunications network according to claim 16, characterized in that the vibration modulation includes linear/non-linear amplification.

19. A telecommunications network according to claim 16, characterized in that the vibration modulation includes mixing speech signals with other signals.

20. A telecommunications network according to claim 1, characterized in that the audio-to-vibrotactile converter includes a software-based signal processor for performing vibration modulation.

21. A telecommunications network according to claim 20, characterized in that the vibration modulation includes using a speech encoding algorithm.

22. A telecommunications network according to claim 20, characterized in that the software-based signal processor responds to user adjustable vibration defining parameters.

23. A telecommunications network according to claim 22, characterized in that the user adjustable vibration defining parameters include direct numerical parameters.

24. A telecommunications network according to claim 22, characterized in that the user adjustable vibration defining parameters include a pre-set list of parameters.

25. A telecommunications network according to claim 1, characterized in that the telecommunications network uses an F0-format for speech encoding to assist in interpreting incoming speech in noisy environments.

26. A mobile phone comprising:

an audio-modulated vibrotactile module that responds to a telecommunications signal containing information about incoming speech from a called/calling party, for providing an audio-modulated vibrotactile module force containing information about the incoming speech from the called/calling party to vibrate a user'"'"'s fingers, facial skin, wrist, cheek or other suitable location;

the audio-modulated vibrotactile module having an audio-to-vibrotactile converter that responds to the telecommunications signal, for providing an audio-to-vibrotactile converter signal containing information about a vibration modulation of the incoming speech from the called/calling party; and

the audio-modulated vibrotactile module also having a vibrotactile actuator that responds to the audio-to-vibrotactile converter signal, for providing the audio-modulated vibrotactile module force in the form of a vibrotactile actuator force.

27. A method according to claim 26, characterized in that the step of transforming includes electromechanically actuating the audio-modulated vibrotactile module force.

28. A method according to claim 26, characterized in that the step of transforming includes acoustically actuating the audio-modulated vibrotactile module force.

29. A method comprising the steps of:

converting a telecommunications signal containing information about incoming speech from a called/calling party into an audio-to-vibrotactile converter signal containing information about a vibration modulation of the incoming speech from the called/calling party; and

transforming the audio-to-vibrotactile converter signal into an audio-modulated vibrotactile module force containing information about the incoming speech from the called/calling party to vibrate a user'"'"'s fingers, facial skin, wrist, cheek or other suitable location.

30. A method according to claim 29, characterized in that the step of converting includes performing vibration modulation using frequency domain filtering or equalization.

31. A method according to claim 29, characterized in that the step of converting includes performing vibration modulation using linear/non-linear amplification.

32. A method according to claim 29, characterized in that the step of converting includes performing vibration modulation using mixing speech signals with other signals.

33. A method according to claim 29, characterized in that the step of converting includes performing vibration modulation using a speech encoding algorithm.