Wrist wearable apparatus with transformable substrate

• US 9,560,186 B2
• Filed: 01/29/2015
• Issued: 01/31/2017
• Est. Priority Date: 02/03/2014
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Electronics and Telecommunications Research Institute
• Original Assignee: Electronics and Telecommunications Research Institute
• Inventors: Shin, Sung-Yong, Son, Yong-Ki, Cho, Il-Yeon, Lee, Dong-Woo, Shin, Hyung-Cheol, Kim, Ji-Eun, Sohn, Jong-Moo, Jeong, Hyun-Tae
• Primary Examiner(s): Cumming, William D
• Application Number:
  US14/608,709
• Publication Number:
  US 20150222742A1
• Time in Patent Office: 733 Days
• Field of Search: 455/456.7, 455/456.3, 455/456.6, 455/457, 455/566, 340/565, 340/686.1, 340/905
• US Class Current: 1/1
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 1/163 Wearable computers, e.g. on a belt
• CPC Class Codes: H04B 1/385 Transceivers carried on the body, e.g. in helmets
• CPC Class Codes: H04B 2001/3855 carried in a belt or harness
• CPC Class Codes: H04B 2001/3861 carried in a hand or on fingers
• CPC Class Codes: H04M 1/72412 using two-way short-range wireless interfaces
• CPC Class Codes: H04M 1/72454 according to context-related or environment-related conditions

Abstract

The apparatus has a transformable substrate having a flat state, a deformed state, a partially deformed state, and the like, and thus provides a function and a user interface that change according to the deformed state when a user wears the apparatus on his or her wrist and the flat extended state when the user detaches the apparatus from his or her wrist. When the method suggested in the present invention is used, the user can conveniently carry the apparatus on his or her wrist and use the apparatus on or off the wrist as necessary, thereby resolving inconveniences of carrying and using an existing mobile apparatus.

Claims

1. An apparatus wearable on a wrist of a user comprising:

a flexible substrate that is flexibly transformable into a plurality of shapes and that is detachably attachable to the wrist of the user;

a sensor that detects a shape among shapes of the substrate;

input/output interfaces; and

a signal processor that switches to an input mode corresponding to an input/output interface among the input/output interfaces, of the input/output interface based on the detected shape of the substrate,

wherein the input/output interfaces includes any one of an audio input/output, a video input/output, an inertial measurement unit (IMU), and a proximal sensor.

2. The apparatus of claim 1, wherein the substrate is a material having a bi-stable structure or a transformable material.

3. The apparatus of claim 1, wherein the sensor is able to distinguish a flat shape, a partially deformed shape, and a fully deformed shape as the shapes of the apparatus.

4. The apparatus of claim 1, wherein the sensor further detects a detached state from the wrist based upon the detected shape and switches the input mode according to the detached state.

5. The apparatus of claim 1, further comprising a battery and an antenna.

6. The apparatus of claim 1, wherein the signal processor processes signals input into and output from the apparatus.

7. The apparatus of claim 1, further comprising:

a communication processing unit configured to couple the apparatus with an external apparatus and connect the apparatus directly to a wireless communication network.

8. The apparatus of claim 1, wherein the sensor includes an acceleration sensor or a gyro sensor which is capable of detecting a motion of the apparatus, or an inertial measurement unit (IMU) sensor configured as a combination of the acceleration sensor and the gyro sensor.

9. The apparatus of claim 8, wherein the input/output interfaces further includes a finger motion detector.