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Mobile Phone Patent 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.
Mobile Phone Patent Claims
We claim:
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.
Mobile Phone Patent Description
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION
1. Field of Invention
The present invention relates to a telecommunications network;
and, more particularly, to a mobile phone used therein.
2. Description of Related Art
Many people are either hard of hearing or cannot hear at all. These
people have a very hard time using a mobile phone, or cannot use
it at all.
In the prior art, there are only a few products that address this
problem, including a hearing aid or a mobile phone loop headset.
However, the hearing aids normally cannot be used with mobile phones.
The NMP loop headset is one solution, but this requires that a significant
amount of hearing capability still exists, and only the user's ears
are used as an input channel.
Moreover, vibrotactile representation of speech stimuli is known
in the art. In medical science, the vibrotactile-phenomenon is commonly
practiced in audiology. See "Vibrotactile Perception of Speech,"
by Stina Ojala, Phonetics, University of Turku, Finland, for a full
explanation of the vibrotactile phenomenon itself. Many different
vibrotactile device are known, including devices mounted on an ear
mould, a ring, a bracelet or a watch. These devices convert speech
into a vibration modulation that stimulates and assists the user.
SUMMARY OF INVENTION
The present invention provides both a method and apparatus for
assisting and improving hearing capability by feeding mechanical
vibration to the fingers or other suitable location. This vibration
is modulated by a received speech signal. This invention provides
a way of applying the vibrotactile-phenomenon to use in mobile phones
and a manner of implementing the same. The benefit of having this
feature is to make hearing easier in case of reduced hearing capability
or very loud background noise.
In its broadest sense, the present invention features a telecommunications
network having 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.
In one embodiment, 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. 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.
In another embodiment, the telecommunications system would comprise
the audio-to-vibrotactile converter, and the audio-modulated vibrotactile
module in the mobile phone would contain only the vibrotactile actuator.
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.
The present invention also includes a method comprising two steps,
i.e. a converting step and a transforming step. First, a telecommunications
signal containing information about incoming speech from a called/calling
party is converted into an audio-to-vibrotactile converter signal
containing information about a vibration modulation of the incoming
speech from the called/calling party. Next, the audio-to-vibrotactile
converter signal is transformed 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.
The step of converting may include performing vibration modulation
using frequency domain filtering or equalization, linear/non-linear
amplification, mixing speech signals, or a speech encoding algorithm.
The step of transforming may include electromechanically or acoustically
actuating the audio-modulated vibrotactile module force.
Implementation in a Mobile Phone
In particular, in the mobile phone an incoming voice information
is used as a source for vibration modulation. Speech is fed directly
or it can be modified by one or more known methods before it is
sent to the transducer component that transforms electrical signals
to mechanical vibration. The later modification can be done by hardware
or by software, and it can perform a specific algorithm if so specified.
If a hardware approach is used, a relatively simple modification
may be performed, such as frequency domain filtering or equalization,
linear/non-linear amplification or mixing speech signal with other
signal(s). A more complex modification may add considerable size,
cost and component number within a device.
If a software approach is used, typically a calculation method
or an algorithm can be used to modify the incoming speech signal.
By using this signal as an input signal, a new output signal is
determined according to the algorithm so that optimal vibration
will be produced. An advantage of the software approach is that
a known speech encoding algorithm can be utilized within the mobile
phone to produce input parameters for the actual modification purpose
for vibrotactile functionality. In the best case, only minor additions
to the existing speech coding software would need to be made, and
therefore the processing capacity requirement will not be significant,
which makes this feature quite easy to include in existing phones
from the software point of view. Another advantage is that, if needed,
the vibration defining parameters can be adjusted by the user through
a user interface, where the user may be the person him/herself,
the doctor of the person, or where parameters such as either direct
numerical parameters or a preset-list to select from may be used.
The electromechanical actuator may be any suitable component that
is able to produce feasible vibration located within the product
so that the optimal effect can be introduced. Vibration control
signal is fed into this component, and a vibration is felt on the
fingers, facial skin, wrist, cheek or other suitable locations.
The so-called FO-parameter (phonetic term, fundamental frequency)
of the speech may be used for coding (signal modification), which
helps one to interpret the incoming speech in a noisy environment.
This makes it is possible to take into account the intonation and
phonetic weight of the speech, which is an important property in
some languages, such as Chinese, Vietnamese, etc., in which the
tone and height of the voice is very important.
An acoustical transducer made to fit inside the user's ear could
incorporate the vibrotactile feature or functionality, for example,
such a transducer could easily be applied via the phone itself or
another small device, such as audio transducer or accessory device.
Implementation in a Network
The audio-to-vibrotactile conversion processing may, in some cases,
require so much processing power that it may be more feasible to
implement this functionality in the telecommunications network.
If a network-based solution is used, this feature will work with
older phones as well and more processing power can be used. Also,
a separately-priced network service can be provided to a specific
customer. In this case, a phone subscriber will make a personal
agreement with a network operator to use this kind of service, which
is then utilized as associated with the specific telephone number
in question. Network service can also utilize personalized hearing
parameters adjusting the speech processing. These personal parameter(s)
can be either selected by trial-error based, present values or personalized
values given by a customer's physician.
BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWING
The drawing includes the following Figures:
FIG. 1 is a diagram of one embodiment of a mobile phone in a telecommunications
network that is the subject matter of the present invention.
FIG. 2 is a diagram of a vibrotactile module shown in FIG. 1 that
is the subject matter of the present invention.
FIG. 3 is a diagram of a hardware-based signal processor that is
part of an audio-to-vibrotactile converter shown in FIG. 2.
FIG. 4 is a diagram of a frequency domain filtering or equalization
module that forms part of the hardware-based signal processor shown
in FIG. 3.
FIG. 5 is a diagram of a linear/non-linear amplification module
that forms part of the hardware-based signal processor shown in
FIG. 3.
FIG. 6 is a diagram of a speech mixing module that forms part of
the hardware-based signal processor shown in FIG. 3.
FIG. 7 is a diagram of a software-based signal processor that forms
part of an audio-to-vibrotactile converter shown in FIG. 2.
FIG. 8 is a diagram of a speech encoding algorithm module that
forms part of the software-based signal processor shown in FIG.
7.
FIG. 9 is a diagram of an electro-mechanical actuator that forms
part of a vibrotactile actuator shown in FIG. 2.
FIG. 10 is a diagram of an acoustic actuator that forms part of
a vibrotactile actuator shown in FIG. 2.
FIG. 11 is a diagram of another embodiment of a mobile phone in
a telecommunications network that is the subject matter of the present
invention.
FIG. 12 is a diagram of a personalized hearing parameters module
of an audio-to-vibrotactile converter shown in FIG. 11.
DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF INVENTION
FIG. 1: Mobile Phone
FIG. 1 shows a mobile phone generally indicated as 10 for use in
connection with a telecommunication network generally indicated
as 12. The scope of the invention is also intended to cover other
user equipment and mobile electronic devices, such as a portable
computer.
The mobile phone 10 includes a signal processor 13 connected to
a radio access network module 14 having an antenna 16, a display
module 18, an audio module 20, a microphone 22, a read only memory
24 (ROM or EPROM), a keyboard module 26 and a random access memory
28 (RAM), which are all known in the art. The operation of the signal
processor 13 in relation to the aforementioned elements is also
known in the art. Moreover, the scope of the invention is not intended
to be limited to any particular kind or type of these elements.
For example, the scope of the invention is intended to include the
radio access network module 14 being an antenna module 14, a radio
frequency (RF) module, a radio modem or the like.
The signal processor 13 is also connected to an audio-modulated
vibrotactile module 30. The whole thrust of the invention relates
to the operation of the audio-modulated vibrotactile module 30 with
respect to the voice modulation of incoming speech into a vibrotactile
sensation that can be sensed by the user of the mobile phone 10.
In operation, the audio-modulated vibrotactile module 30 responds
to a telecommunications signal containing information about incoming
speech from a called/calling party 11, and provides an audio-modulated
vibrotactile module force containing information about the incoming
speech from the called/calling party 11 to vibrate a user's fingers,
facial skin, wrist, cheek or other suitable location.
As discussed below, the audio-to-vibrotactile conversion may be
performed in the mobile phone 10 as shown in FIG. 1 or in the telecommunications
network as shown and described below in relation to FIG. 11.
FIG. 2: Audio-Modulated Vibrotactile Module
FIG. 2 shows in detail the audio-modulated vibrotactile module
30 having an audio-to-vibrotactile converter 40 and a vibrotactile
actuator 42.
In operation, the audio-to-vibrotactile converter 40 responds to
the aforementioned telecommunications signal, and provides an audio-to-vibrotactile
converter signal containing information about a vibration modulation
of the incoming speech from the called/calling party 11.
The vibrotactile actuator 42 responds to the audio-to-vibrotactile
converter signal, and provides the audio-modulated vibrotactile
module force in the form of a vibrotactile actuator force that contains
the information about the incoming speech from the called/calling
party 11 to vibrate a user's fingers, facial skin, wrist, cheek
or other suitable location.
The audio-to-vibrotactile converter 40 may be implemented in hardware
or software, as discussed below. The scope of the invention is not
intended to be limited to any particular implementation thereof.
The vibrotactile actuator 42 may be an electromechanical actuator
70 (FIG. 9) arranged in a housing generally indicated in FIG. 1
as 10a of the mobile phone 10 (FIG. 1) for providing a vibration
to a user's fingers, wrist or facial skin. Vibrotactile actuators
are known in the art, and the scope of the invention is not intended
to be limited to any particular type or kind thereof.
FIGS. 3-6: Hardware-Based Vibration Modulation
FIG. 3 shows a hardware-based signal processor 50 for performing
a vibration modulation in the audio-to-vibrotactile converter 40.
In the hardware-based signal processor 50, the vibration modulation
may be performed using a frequency domain filtering or equalization
module 52 shown in FIG. 4, a linear/non-linear amplification module
54 shown in FIG. 5, or a speech mixing module 56 shown in FIG. 6
for mixing speech signals with other signals.
The hardware-based signal processor 50 may be implemented to perform
any one of the aforementioned functions using a microcontroller-based
design. As a person skilled in the art would appreciate, the microcontroller-based
design would typically include an inexpensive microcontroller, ROM,
RAM, input/output devices and data and address lines for coupling
the same. The scope of the invention is not intended to be limited
to any particular hardware implementation of the signal processor
50.
FIGS. 7-8: Software-Based Vibration Modulation
FIG. 7 shows a software-based signal processor 60 for performing
vibration modulation in the audio-to-vibrotactile converter 40.
In the software-based signal processor 60, the vibration modulation
may be performed using a speech encoding algorithm module 62 shown
in FIG. 8.
The software-based signal processor 60 may be implemented to perform
any one of the speech encoded algorithm using a microprocessor-based
design. As a person skilled in the art would appreciate, the microprocessor-based
design would typically include a more expensive processor, ROM,
RAM, input/output and data and address lines for coupling the same.
The scope of the invention is not intended to be limited to any
particular software implementation of the signal processor 60.
Moreover, the software-based signal processor 60 may respond to
user adjustable vibration defining parameters received from the
user of the mobile phone 10 (FIG. 1), including direct numerical
parameters or a pre-set list of parameters, as discussed above.
FIGS. 9-10: Vibrotactile Actuator
The vibrotactile actuator 42 (FIG. 2) may be suitably arranged
in different portions of the housing 10a (FIG. 1) for providing
different vibrations on the different portions of the user of the
mobile phone (FIG. 1).
For example, the electromechanical actuator 70 shown in FIG. 9
may be suitably arranged as follows:
(1) in a lower portion of a housing 10a of the mobile phone 10
for providing vibration on the user's fingers,
(2) in a lower or intermediate portion of a housing 10a of the
mobile phone 10 for providing vibration on the user's facial skin,
(3) in a lower or intermediate portion of a housing 10a of the
mobile phone 10 for providing vibration on the user's wrist, or
(4) in an intermediate portion of a housing 10a of the mobile phone
10 for providing vibration on the user's cheek.
The scope of the invention is not intended to be limited to the
arrangement of the vibrotactile actuator 42 (FIG. 2) in the housing
10a of the mobile phone 10.
Moreover, the vibrotactile actuator 42 (FIG. 2) may also be an
acoustic actuator 80 shown in FIG. 10 suitably sized for fitting
into a user's ear.
FIG. 11: Telecommunications Network 100
FIG. 11 shows another embodiment of the present invention, wherein
the telecommunications system generally indicated as 100 comprises
an audio-to-vibrotactile converter 102. Consistent with that discussed
above, the audio-to-vibrotactile converter 102 may be implemented
in hardware or software, and the scope of the invention is not intended
to be limited to any particular implementation thereof.
In operation, the audio-to-vibrotactile converter 102 responds
to an incoming speech signal from a called/calling party 111, 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 111.
In this embodiment, the mobile phone 110 has an audio-modulated
vibrotactile module 130 that only includes a vibrotactile actuator
142. The vibrotactile actuator 142 responds to the audio-to-vibrotactile
converter signal from the audio-to-vibrotactile converter 102, for
providing the audio-modulated vibrotactile module force in the form
of a vibrotactile actuator force.
The telecommunications network 100 may be a separately-priced vibrotactile
service network.
The audio-to-vibrotactile converter 102 may include a personalized
hearing parameters module 150 shown in FIG. 12 for adjusting speech
processing so a user of the mobile phone can have personalized hearing
parameters. 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, for example.
Advantages of the Invention
Some advantages of the invention include the following:
1) New hearing aid devices can be made available.
2) The user's ears will not be the only channel to distribute speech
for listening.
3) People having significant hearing loss can use mobile phones
easier than before (if previously at all possible). The invention
will also help hearing in a noisy environment where there is typically
reduced hearing capability.
5) The invention may be implemented with only minor hardware/software
modification, which is primarily related to use of the mechanical
vibration component.
6) The invention has potential for integration with other audio
enhancement features, for example, such as with active background
noise reduction by shifting pitch as related to background noise
level to assist hearing with all other users as well.
7) If a hearing loss will prevent someone from having conversations,
they still are able to communicate with other people with the help
of a mobile phone having this feature. This feature has the potential
even to turn a phone into a hearing aid, leading to frequent and
required every day use of the device.
8) If a network-based solution is used, this feature will work
with older phones as well and more processing power can be used.
Also, a separately priced network service can be provided to a specific
customer.
9) Finally, some improvement of hearing capability can also be
expected in a noisy environment with normal hearing ability as well.
Scope of the Invention
Accordingly, the invention comprises the features of construction,
combination of elements, and arrangement of parts which will be
exemplified in the construction hereinafter set forth.
It will thus be seen that the objects set forth above, and those
made apparent from the preceding description, are efficiently attained
and, since certain changes may be made in the above construction
without departing from the scope of the invention, it is intended
that all matter contained in the above description or shown in the
accompanying drawing shall be interpreted as illustrative and not
in a limiting sense. |