PROVIDING AN ALTERNATIVE HUMAN INTERFACE

• US 20110316769A1
• Filed: 06/28/2010
• Published: 12/29/2011
• Est. Priority Date: 06/28/2010
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Apple Inc.
• Original Assignee: Apple Inc.
• Inventors: Boettcher, Jesse, Lee, Jeffery T., Lindahl, Aram
• Granted Patent: US 9,417,665 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 345/156
• 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 1/1694 the I/O peripheral being a single or a set of motion sensors for pointer control or gesture input obtained by sensing movements of the portable computer
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 1/3212 Monitoring battery levels, e.g. power saving mode being initiated when battery voltage goes below a certain level
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 3/016 Input arrangements with force or tactile feedback as computer generated output to the user
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 3/0481 based on specific properties of the displayed interaction object or a metaphor-based environment, e.g. interaction with desktop elements like windows or icons, or assisted by a cursor's changing behaviour or appearance
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 3/0484 for the control of specific functions or operations, e.g. selecting or manipulating an object, an image or a displayed text element, setting a parameter value or selecting a range
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 3/0488 using a touch-screen or digitiser, e.g. input of commands through traced gestures
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 3/167 Audio in a user interface, e.g. using voice commands for navigating, audio feedback
• CPC Class Codes: G09G 2360/144 the light being ambient light
• CPC Class Codes: G09G 3/20 for presentation of an assembly of a number of characters, e.g. a page, by composing the assembly by combination of individual elements arranged in a matrix no fixed position being assigned to or needed to be assigned to the individual characters or partial characters

Abstract

Providing an alternative human interface for an electronic device when a current human interface is made ineffective by at least an environmental factor is described herein. By ineffective it is meant that the current human interface cannot maintain a minimum level of interactivity between a user and the electronic device in the current or anticipated environment. In addition to maintaining at least a threshold level of interactivity, the configuration of the alternative human interface can take into consideration other factors such as an expected operating state of the electronic device affected by the choice of alternative human interface.

Claims

1. A small form factor electronic device, comprising:

a processor;

an interface engine in communication with the processor; and

a sensor coupled to the processor arranged to;

detect at least one environmental factor, and

pass an indication of the detected environmental factor to the processor, wherein the processor and the interface engine cooperate to;

determine if an environment of the electronic device has changed,

identifying an updated human interface when the environment has changed, and

cause the small form factor electronic device to present the updated human interface only if a level of interactivity corresponding to the updated human interface is at least greater than a threshold level of interactivity.

2. The electronic device as recited in claim 1, further comprising:

a display device arranged to present visual content as directed by the processor; and

a battery used to provide power to the electronic device, wherein at least one of the environmental factors is an amount of charge remaining in the battery.

3. The electronic device as recited in claim 2, wherein when the processor has determined that the environment has changed, the processor is further arranged to:

determine a value of an operating state of the electronic device, and

cause the electronic device to present the updated human interface only if the value of the operating state of the electronic device in the changed environment using the updated human interface is greater than a pre-determined value.

4. The electronic device as recited in claim 3, wherein the value of the operating state comprises:

a charge remaining in the battery; and

an estimated amount of operating time for the electronic device at a current operating state in the changed environment using the updated human interface.

5. The electronic device as recited in claim 1, wherein the at least one environmental factor includes at least:

an ambient light level, an ambient sound level, a battery level, a context of use of the electronic device, and a motion of the electronic device.

6. The electronic device as recited in claim 1, wherein the updated human interface comprises:

a plurality of interface modes, the plurality comprising;

a visual interface mode;

a haptic interface mode;

an audio interface mode;

a speech/sound recognition mode; and

an inertial mode.

7. The electronic device as recited in claim 6, wherein the updated human interface further comprises:

at least two of the plurality of interface modes.

9. The method as recited in claim 7, further comprising:

providing power to the electronic device by a battery, wherein at least one of the environmental factors is an amount of charge remaining in the battery, and wherein the value of the operating state is duration of time for the electronic device to operate with the amount of charge remaining in the battery using the updated human interface.

8. A method performed by a processor and an interface engine in an electronic device, the processor in communication with a sensor, comprising:

detecting at least one environmental factor by the sensor;

passing an indication of the detected environmental factor to the processor;

determining if an environment of the electronic device is changed from a current environment by the processor based upon the indication received from the sensor,

identifying an updated human interface only when the environment is changed; and

causing the electronic device to replace the current human interface with the updated human interface only if a level of interactivity provided by the electronic device is greater than a pre-determined level of interactivity and a value of an operating state of the electronic device is greater than a threshold value.

10. The method as recited in claim 8, wherein the at least one environmental factor includes at least:

an ambient light level, an ambient sound level, a battery level, a context of use of the electronic device, and a motion of the electronic device.

11. The method as recited in claim 8, wherein the determining comprises:

comparing a difference between the detected environmental factor corresponding to the indication received from the sensor and a current environmental factor, wherein the environment is changed when the difference is greater than a threshold value.

12. A system, comprising:

an electronic device;

a multi-mode human interface (MMHI) engine associated with the electronic device; and

a sensor in communication with the MMHI engine arranged to;

detect at least one environmental factor, and

pass an indication of the detected environmental factor to the MMHI engine, wherein the MMHI engine uses the indication of the environmental factor received from the sensor to determine if the environment of the electronic device has changed, identify an updated MMHI when the environment has changed, and present the updated MMHI only when the MMHI engine determines that a level of interactivity between a user and the electronic device in the changed environment is at least maintained when compared to a pre-determined level of interactivity.

13. The system as recited in claim 12, wherein the electronic device further comprises:

a processor, wherein the processor includes processing resources some of which are used to implement the MMHI engine.

14. The system as recited in claim 12, wherein the updated human interface comprises at least two discrete interface modes.

15. The system as recited in claim 14, wherein discrete interface modes includes at least a visual interface mode, a haptic interface mode, an audio interface mode, a speech/sound recognition interface mode, and an inertial mode.

16. A method, comprising:

presenting a first human interface by an electronic device, the first human interface used to facilitate control of operations carried out by the electronic device in a first environment, the first human interface providing a first level of interactivity in the first environment;

detecting a change in an environment of the electronic device from the first environment to a second environment;

identifying a second human interface in accordance with the second environment; and

presenting the second human interface by the electronic device only if a level of interactivity provided by the second human interface in the second environment is at least equal to the first level of interactivity provided by the first human interface in the first environment.

17. The method as recited in claim 16, wherein at least a portion of the first human interface is presented by the electronic device on a display.

18. The method as recited in claim 16, wherein the updating the first human interface to the second interface, comprises:

receiving an indication of the change in the environment of the electronic device from the first environment to the second environment;

updating the first interface to the second interface based at least upon the received indication of the change in the environment of the electronic device; and

determining the level of interactivity of the second interface in the second environment.

19. The method as recited in claim 16, further comprising:

prior to presenting the second human interface,

determining an expected operating state of the electronic device in the second environment when the electronic device is presenting the second human interface;

presenting the second human interface only if the expected operating state is greater than a baseline operating state.

20. A non-transitory computer readable medium for storing computer program executed by a processor in an electronic device in communication with a sensor, the computer program comprising:

computer code for presenting a current human interface by the electronic device;

computer code for detecting at least one environmental factor by the sensor;

computer code for passing an indication of the detected environmental factor to the processor;

computer code for identifying an updated human interface when it is determined that the environment of the electronic device is changed; and

computer code for presenting the updated human interface in place of the current human interface only if a level of interactivity between a user and the electronic device is greater than a pre-determined level of interactivity and a level of an operating state of the electronic device is greater than a level corresponding to a pre-determined operating state.

21. The computer readable medium as recited in claim 20, further comprising:

computer code for providing power to the electronic device by a battery, wherein at least one of the environmental factors is an amount of charge remaining in the battery, and wherein the level of the operating state is duration of time for the electronic device to operate with the amount of charge remaining in the battery using the updated human interface.

22. The computer readable medium as recited in claim 20, wherein the at least one environmental factor includes at least:

ambient light, ambient sound, battery level, context of use, and motion.