Device hold determination using bone conduction

• US 9,582,071 B2
• Filed: 09/10/2014
• Issued: 02/28/2017
• Est. Priority Date: 09/10/2014
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: AT&T Intellectual Property I LP (AT&T, Inc.)
• Original Assignee: AT&T Intellectual Property I LP (AT&T, Inc.)
• Inventors: Baldwin, Christopher, Amento, Brian S.
• Primary Examiner(s): Wang, Jack K
• Application Number:
  US14/482,091
• Publication Number:
  US 20160071383A1
• Time in Patent Office: 902 Days
• Field of Search: 340/407.1, 345/174, 345/173, 600/28
• US Class Current: 1/1
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 1/1698 the I/O peripheral being a sending/receiving arrangement to establish a cordless communication link, e.g. radio or infrared link, integrated cellular phone details of antennas disposed inside a computer H01Q1/2266
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 3/00 Input arrangements for transferring data to be processed into a form capable of being handled by the computer; Output arrangements for transferring data from processing unit to output unit, e.g. interface arrangements
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 3/011 Arrangements for interaction with the human body, e.g. for user immersion in virtual reality blind teaching G09B21/00

Abstract

Concepts and technologies are disclosed herein for device hold determination using bone conduction. According to one aspect, a device side transducer of a user device can receive a bone conduction signal from a user side transducer. The bone conduction signal can propagate through one or more bones of a user, such as one or more finger bones. An application can be executed by a processor of the user device to analyze the bone conduction signal to determine how the device is being held. In some embodiments, data regarding how the user device is being held by the user can be exposed to an application that is executable by the processor of the user device, an application external to the user device, an operating system that is executable by the user device, and/or a website.

Claims

1. A computer storage medium that stores computer-readable instructions that, when executed by a processor of a user device, cause the processor to perform operations comprising:

receiving a reference signal;

receiving, via a device side transducer of the user device, a bone conduction signal from a user side transducer, wherein the bone conduction signal has propagated through a bone of a user associated with the user device; and

analyzing, the bone conduction signal to determine how the user device is being held by the user, wherein analyzing comprises comparing the bone conduction signal to the reference signal to associate the bone conduction signal with at least a portion of a hand of the user to determine how the user device is being held in the hand of the user.

2. The computer storage medium of claim 1, wherein the operations further comprise exposing data regarding how the user device is being held by the user to an application that is executable by the processor of the user device, to an application that is external to the user device, to an operating system that is executable by the processor of the user device, or to a website.

3. The computer storage medium of claim 1, wherein the device side transducer of the user device is built-in to the user device, attached to the user device, built-in to a case of the user device, built-in to a display of the user device, or built-in to a component of the user device.

4. The computer storage medium of claim 1, wherein the user side transducer is built-in to a device worn by the user, attached to a device worn by the user, attached to or worn directly by the user, or disposed underneath the skin or within a body of the user.

5. The computer storage medium of claim 1, wherein the operations further comprise triggering the user side transducer to send the bone conduction signal.

6. The computer storage medium of claim 5, wherein triggering the user side transducer to send the bone conduction signal comprises sending a signal trigger to the user side transducer via a connection established between the user device and the user side transducer.

7. The computer storage medium of claim 1, wherein the operations further comprise:

receiving, via a further device side transducer of the user device, a further bone conduction signal from the user side transducer, wherein the further bone conduction signal has propagated through a further bone of the user associated with the user device; and

analyzing the further bone conduction signal to further determine how the user device is being held by the user.

8. The computer storage medium of claim 7, wherein analyzing the further bone conduction signal to determine how the user device is being held by the user comprises comparing the further bone conduction signal to the reference signal to associate the further bone conduction signal with at least a further portion of the hand of the user to further determine how the user device is being held in the hand of the user.

9. The computer storage medium of claim 1, wherein the operations further comprise:

receiving output from a sensor; and

analyzing the output from the sensor to determine how the user device is being held by the user.

10. A user device comprising:

a device side transducer;

a processor; and

a memory that stores instructions that, when executed by the processor, cause the processor to perform operations comprising;

receiving a reference signal;

receiving, via the device side transducer, a bone conduction signal from a user side transducer, wherein the bone conduction signal has propagated through a bone of a user associated with the user device; and

analyzing the bone conduction signal to determine how the user device is being held by the user, wherein analyzing comprises comparing the bone conduction signal to the reference signal to associate the bone conduction signal with at least a portion of a hand of the user to determine how the user device is being held in the hand of the user.

11. The user device of claim 10, wherein the instructions, when executed by the processor, cause the processor to perform further operations comprising exposing data regarding how the user device is being held by the user to an application that is executable by the processor, to an application that is external to the user device, to an operating system that is executable by the processor, or to a website.

12. The user device of claim 10, wherein the device side transducer is built-in to the user device, attached to the user device, or built-in to a case of the user device, built-in to a display of the user device, or built-in to a component of the user device.

13. The user device of claim 10, wherein the instructions, when executed by the processor, cause the processor to perform further operations comprising triggering the user side transducer to send the bone conduction signal.

14. The user device of claim 13, wherein triggering the user side transducer to send the bone conduction signal comprises sending a signal trigger to the user side transducer via a connection established between the user device and the user side transducer.

15. The user device of claim 10, further comprising a further device side transducer;

and wherein the instructions, when executed by the processor, cause the processor to perform further operations comprising;

receiving, via the further device side transducer, a further bone conduction signal from the user side transducer, wherein the further bone conduction signal has propagated through a further bone of the user associated with the user device; and

analyzing the further bone conduction signal to further determine how the user device is being held by the user.

16. The user device of claim 15, wherein analyzing the further bone conduction signal to determine how the user device is being held by the user comprises comparing the further bone conduction signal to the reference signal to associate the further bone conduction signal with at least a further portion of the hand of the user to further determine how the user device is being held in the hand of the user.

17. A computer storage medium that stores instructions that, when executed by a processor of a user device, cause the processor to perform operations comprising:

presenting a user interface on a display of the user device;

receiving data regarding how the user device is being held by a user, wherein the data is based upon comparing a bone conduction signal to a reference signal to associate the bone conduction signal with at least a portion of a hand of the user, and thereby reflecting how the user device is being held in the hand of the user;

causing the user interface of to be modified to accommodate how the user device is being held by the user; and

presenting the user interface as modified to accommodate how the user device is being held by the user on the display.

18. The computer storage medium of claim 17, wherein the operations further comprise:

receiving input via the user interface as modified to accommodate how the user device is being held by the user; and

causing an operation to be performed in response to the input.