WO2024015309A1

WO2024015309A1 - Symbiotic relationship between a loudspeaker and a haptic vibrator to reinforce the information being conveyed by these two components

Info

Publication number: WO2024015309A1
Application number: PCT/US2023/027287
Authority: WO
Inventors: Brad William PIERCEY; Brad D BRINSON; Alexander J. BROWN
Original assignee: Fossil Group, Inc.
Priority date: 2022-07-15
Filing date: 2023-07-10
Publication date: 2024-01-18

Abstract

A body-worn wearable device may include a coordination controller configured to create a symbiotic relationship between the operations of a loudspeaker and a haptic vibrator within the body-worn wearable device to reinforce information intended to be conveyed to a user of the body-worn wearable device. The coordination controller is configured to use a matrix to correlate vibrations per second from the haptic vibrator sensed by the user's sense of touch and an audio sound frequency being produced by at least one of the loudspeaker and the haptic vibrator anywhere from 0 to 100 hertz so that symbiotically the information intended to be conveyed to the user is sensed by both the user's sense of touch and sense of hearing.

Description

SYMBIOTIC RELATIONSHIP BETWEEN A LOUDSPEAKER AND A HAPTIC VIBRATOR TO

REINFORCE THE INFORMATION BEING CONVEYED BY THESE TWO COMPONENTS

RELATED APPLICATIONS

[0001] This application claims priority under 35 USC 119 to U.S. provisional patent application SN 63/389,739, titled “SYMBIOTIC RELATIONSHIP BETWEEN A LOUDSPEAKER AND A HAPTIC VIBRATOR TO REINFORCE THE INFORMATION BEING CONVEYED BY THESE TWO COMPONENTS” filed July 15, 2022, which the disclosures of such are incorporated herein by reference in their entirety.

FIELD

[0002] Embodiments of the design provided herein generally relate to a haptic vibration system. In an embodiment, a haptic vibrator is in a symbiotic relationship with a loudspeaker to reinforce the information conveyed by the two components.

BACKGROUND

[0003] A device with a traditional eccentric rotating mass (ERM) motor to create a spinning/rotational motion. The eccentric rotating mass motor has a vibration motor with a rotation and counterweight. The ERM motor also makes spurious noise, and some find it obnoxious noise when it makes its vibrations.

[0004] Normally, size dimensions of a smartphone do not limit the form factor of the loudspeaker and is not typically intended to be a body-worn wearable device. In addition, the speaker of a smartphone is not generally used for notifications. SUMMARY

[0005] A body-worn wearable device may include a coordination controller configured to create a symbiotic relationship between the operations of a loudspeaker and a haptic vibrator within the body-worn wearable device to reinforce information intended to be conveyed to a user of the body-worn wearable device. The coordination controller is configured to use a matrix to correlate vibrations per second from the haptic vibrator sensed by the user’s sense of touch and an audio sound frequency being produced by at least one of the loudspeaker and the haptic vibrator anywhere from 0 to 100 hertz so that symbiotically the information intended to be conveyed to the user is sensed by both the user’s sense of touch and sense of hearing.

DRAWINGS

[0006] The drawings refer to some embodiments of the design provided herein.

[0007] Figure 1 illustrates an embodiment of a block diagram of an example body-worn wearable device that contains a loudspeaker and a haptic vibrator integrated with a symbiotic relationship.

[0008] Figure 2 illustrates an embodiment of an exploded view of an example haptic vibrator implemented as a linear resonant actuator.

[0009] Figure 3 illustrates an embodiment of a graph with an example frequency response curve for the haptic vibrator implemented with a linear resonant actuator that has a form factor housable in a body-worn wearable device. [0010] Figure 4 illustrates an embodiment of a block diagram of an example haptic vibrator implemented with a piezoelectric actuator.

[0011] Figure 5 illustrates an embodiment of a graph with an example frequency response curve for the haptic vibrator implemented with a piezoelectric actuator that has a form factor housable in a body-worn wearable device.

[0012] Figure 6 illustrates an embodiment of graphs with example audio waveforms that the haptic vibrator implemented with a piezoelectric actuator can create.

[0013] Figures 7A and 7B are a flowchart of an example method for a body-worn wearable device.

[0014] Figure 8 illustrates a block diagram of an embodiment of one or more computing devices that can be a part of body-worn wearable device 100 for an embodiment of the current design discussed herein.

[0015] While the design is subject to various modifications, equivalents, and alternative forms, specific embodiments thereof have been shown by way of example in the drawings and will now be described in detail. It should be understood that the design is not limited to the particular embodiments disclosed, but - on the contrary - the intention is to cover all modifications, equivalents, and alternative forms using the specific embodiments. DESCRIPTION

[0016] In the following description, numerous specific details are set forth, such as examples of specific data signals, named components, number of servers in a system, etc., in order to provide a thorough understanding of the present design. It will be apparent, however, to one of ordinary skill in the art that the present design can be practiced without these specific details. In other instances, well known components or methods have not been described in detail but rather in a block diagram in order to avoid unnecessarily obscuring the present design. Further, specific numeric references such as a first server, can be made. However, the specific numeric reference should not be interpreted as a literal sequential order but rather interpreted that the first server is different than a second server. Thus, the specific details set forth are merely exemplary. Also, the features implemented in one embodiment may be implemented in another embodiment where logically possible. The specific details can be varied from and still be contemplated to be within the spirit and scope of the present design. The term coupled is defined as meaning connected either directly to the component or indirectly to the component through another component.

[0017] Figure 1 illustrates an embodiment of a block diagram of an example body-worn wearable device 100 that contains a loudspeaker 140 and a haptic vibrator 120 integrated with a symbiotic relationship. The loudspeaker 1 0 paired with the haptic vibrator 120 are integrated within the body-worn wearable device 100 in this example. A symbiotic relationship is created between the loudspeaker 140 and the haptic vibrator 120. The haptic vibrator 120 is mounted within the casing as a linear resonant actuator mounted on an X or Y axis of the wearable device. The loudspeaker 140 is integrated within the casing on the left-hand side of the body- worn wearable device 100.

[0018] The body-worn wearable device 100 has a display screen with a user interface that is a touch screen and/or a highbred display screen that allows user’s input via finger/hand interactions on the screen in addition to button interaction with the user interface on the display screen. The sound below 100 hertz is combined with the linear resonant actuator to create an integrated subwoofer driver. The integrated subwoofer driver formed from the haptic vibrator 120 working symbiotically with the loudspeaker 140 can make audio sounds and haptic vibrations (broadly including haptic induced movements as well as oscillating waves of vibrations) between 0 and 100 hertz, which can be used for notification conveyed with at least one of audio only, vibration only, any combination of audio with vibration, any combination of audio with vibration plus visual, for the notifications.

[0019] The coordination controller is configured to create a symbiotic relationship between the operations of a loudspeaker 140 and a haptic vibrator 120 within the body-worn wearable device 100 to reinforce information intended to be conveyed to a user of the body-worn wearable device 100 (e.g., watch). Note, a body-worn wearable device is worn in direct contact with the body of the user. The information intended to be conveyed to a user can be a notification, and the body-worn wearable device 100 can be a watch. [0020] The body-worn wearable device 100 can use the loudspeaker 140 and the haptic vibrator 120 to present a notification, with both sound and vibration to the user to make it more noticeable either directly and/or as reinforcing the sound at a low frequency where the sound cannot be accurately or even sometimes physically reproduced by the loudspeaker 140.

[0021 ] A driver of the haptic vibrator 120 is controlled by the coordination controller to provide haptic vibration reinforcement of a specific audio tone/corresponding audio frequency and pattern for the information being communicated to the user through emitted sound waves sensed by the user’s sense of hearing and generated vibrations sensed by the user’s sense of touch, where the operations of the haptic vibrator 120 and the loudspeaker 140 are coordinated into the symbiotic relationship from 0 hertz to 100 hertz.

[0022] The symbiotic relationship between the loudspeaker 140 and its haptic vibrator 120 reinforces the information that is trying to be conveyed by these 2 components (the loudspeaker 140 cooperating operations with the haptic vibrator 120) to a user of a body-worn wearable device 100. Thus, correlate what is being felt through the nerves of the skin from the haptic vibration and correlate that to what audio information is being heard by the eardrum of a user between 0 to 100 hertz. The haptic device can generate the exact frequency or a harmonic of that audio frequency.

[0023] Finding housing space in a body-worn wearable device 100 such as a fitness tracker, smart watch, and/or traditional watch, to fit a form factor of a loudspeaker 140 into the size dimensions available in the body-worn wearable device 100 while still being able to perform well in a dynamic range all the way from 0 Hertz up to 20,000 Hertz, (e.g., the audio frequency range) is quite a challenge. However, when you create this symbiotic relationship between a loudspeaker 140 and a haptic vibrator 120 to reinforce the information that's being conveyed at the much lower frequency ranges such as 0 to 100 hertz, then you can put both the haptic vibrator 120 and a loudspeaker 140 into the body-worn wearable device 100 and use a matrix of the vibrations per second of the haptic vibrator 120 to audio sound in Hertz produced by the loudspeaker that it is symbiotically paired with in the body-worn wearable device 100 to reinforce those by symbiotically, by both operating to produce sounds and vibrations or possibly even just mute the loudspeaker at 0 to 100 hertz, or 0 to 20 Hertz depending upon what type of loudspeaker is pair with the particular type of haptic vibrator 120, and then just let the paired haptic vibrator 120 to exclusively make those sounds and vibrations at the bottom end frequency range of 0 to 20 Hertz or 0 to 100 hertz. Thus, in an embodiment, a loudspeaker 140 and haptic vibration reinforcement from a haptic vibrator 120 may act in concert with each other over a limited frequency band (e.g., about 20 to about 100 hertz) and a haptic vibration band (e.g., 2 to 10 haptic vibrations per second) for a wearable electronic device, such as a smart watch.

[0024] The loudspeaker 140 paired with the haptic vibrator 120 cannot accurately or even sometimes physically reproduce audio sounds at a frequency lower than 100 hertz, generally due to its required small form factor. Some types of loudspeakers’ 140 compact/small in form factor size have a lot of trouble reproducing sound waves audible below 100 hertz already and for those there is no need to mute the operation of that loudspeaker 140. Those types of loudspeakers 140 have a cut-off frequency for the loudspeaker 140 at and above 100 hertz already. Physically larger loudspeakers 140 can operate at a lower frequency and possess a lower cut-off frequency for the loudspeaker 140 but can be augmented and reinforced with the haptic vibrator 120. In an embodiment, the haptic vibrator 120 paired with the loudspeaker 140 is configured to exclusively make audio sounds and vibrations at frequencies below 100 hertz, and the loudspeaker 140 is configured to make audio sounds above 100 hertz.

[0025] Some loudspeakers 140 can be capable of generating and emitting sound waves throughout the audio frequency band [0 hertz - 20,000 hertz]. Typically, the haptic vibrator 120 can provide vibration reinforcement with a range of amount of movements/vibrations per second, which people can discernibly feel with their sense of touch is a much smaller range, such as 0 vibrations per second to 100, and, in some cases, up to 800 vibrations per sound. However, the important parts of the human body’s vibration frequency are generally located in about 3 to 17 movements/vibrations per second with a high sensitivity range from 6 to 8 movements/vibrations per second. Thus, the range of vibrations humans can feel is a much smaller range of vibrations than the user actually can hear. However, at low audio frequencies, for example, 0 to 100 hertz, the audio frequencies emitted in soundwaves can mimic and reinforce the sense of vibrations a user can sense with their sense of touch. Vice versa, low frequency soundwaves may be sensed by a user’s hearing as a low rumbling sound, and an amount of haptic vibrations per second can mimic and reinforce the specific band of frequencies being detected by the user’s ear. When the haptic vibrator 120 makes its vibrations, the haptic vibrator 120 actually makes a noise as well. The coordination controller creates a symbiotic relationship between operations of a loudspeaker 140 and a haptic vibrator 120 within the body-worn wearable device 100 to reinforce information intended to be conveyed to a user at frequencies below 100 hertz by audio frequencies emitted as soundwaves are mimicked and thus reinforced by the vibrations the user can sense with their sense of touch.

[0026] The haptic vibrator 120 may be a piezoelectric actuator, linear resonant actuator, or any other suitable haptic vibrator 120. However, it should be noted that the haptic vibrator 120 is not an eccentric rotating mass motor. The haptic vibrator 120 is configured to create motion that allows electronic devices to impart information to the user through their sense of touch. For example, a smartwatch notifies the wearer about receiving a phone call, an email, or a text message by vibrating the skin of the wearer. The haptic vibrator 120 can generate motion/vibrations to provide tactile and vibrotactile feedback, which can be felt in the skin. The haptic vibrator 120 can generate motion in either the X- or Y-axis, or a combination of both. The driver module of the haptic vibrator 120 can cooperate with the driver module of the loudspeaker 140 to create haptic vibration reinforcement 1 ) of the output of a subwoofer speaker effect and/or 2) simply replace the output of a subwoofer speaker, in frequencies 0 to 100 hertz. The driver module of the haptic vibrator 120 provides haptic vibration reinforcement of the specific tone and pattern information being communicated to the user through the emitted sound wave sensed by the user’s hearing and the generated motions/vibrations sensed by the user’s sense of touch. The haptic vibrator 120 produces a subwoofer speaker like effect from 0 hertz to 100 hertz by creating both sounds and haptic feedback. Figure 6 illustrates an embodiment of graphs with example waveforms that the haptic vibrator 120 can create. From left to right: an “arbitrary” smooth analog signal; true square wave pulses with varying amplitude and duration; a sine wave of increasing frequency, or “chirp." Higher frequencies, e.g., 150 hertz to 20,000 hertz, can be generated and emitted by the loudspeaker 140 itself, and will not need to symbiotically act in sync with the haptic vibrator 120 to reinforce the specific tone and pattern information being communicated to the user through the emitted sound wave sensed by the user’s hearing and the generated motions/vibrations sensed by the user’s sense of touch. The loudspeaker 140 can also produce subwoofer speaker frequencies from 20 hertz to 100 hertz that are in sync with both sounds and haptic feedback from the haptic vibrator 120. The coordination controller is configured to create the symbiotic relationship between the operations of the loudspeaker 140 and the haptic vibrator 120 to provide two or more different types of notifications to the user of the body-worn wearable device 100, where each type of notification is associated with its own audio tone and vibration pattern combination. For audio only notifications, or audio plus video notifications, the haptic vibrator 120 (potentially in sync with a subwoofer if one is in the watch design) can be used to provide notifications such as text message notifications sound, text to speech, alarm, workout, reminders, medical, meditation, battery level, producing sound and haptic feedback from streaming broadcasts and/or on device audio and video. Any audio typically intended to come from the device speaker can be separated out for the haptic vibrator 120, such as a linear resonant actuator, to provide that frequency response.

[0027] A body-worn wearable device 100 can have a user interface (U I), a display with a touchscreen, or a hybrid combination of a display screen and buttons to operate and supply input into the III, a battery, memory, processor, and an application programming interface to interact with components and/or applications from a 3^rd party. Both the loudspeaker 140 and the haptic vibrator 120 can be located within the body-worn wearable device 100, such a smart watch, a fitness tracker, a virtual reality headset, etc.

[0028] The frequency band and patterns of the sound waves emitted from the loudspeaker 1 0 sensed by a user’s hearing can complement the amount and patterns of haptic vibrations generated by the haptic vibrator 120 (e.g., a tactile actuator that provides haptic vibration feedback) in contact with a user’s body and sensed by a user’s sense of touch (e.g., nerves/tactile response of the user). Thus, the disclosed loudspeaker 140 and haptic vibrator 120 with a symbiotic relationship to reinforce the information being conveyed by these two components can offer the benefit of coupling, i.e. , harmony, of two separate components. A coordination controller coordinates the operation of the loudspeaker 140 and the haptic vibrator 120 to operate as a single system to produce a unified combined audio and physical touch experience via the use of customized software drivers’ code, to control a synchronized operation of both components. The coordination controller harmonizes the operation of the loudspeaker 140 and the haptic vibrator 120 to enable the end user to feel like that the multicomponent system acts as one integrated component and not a collection of subsystems and/or components.

[0029] To that end, the two separate components (the loudspeaker 140 and the haptic vibrator 120) can be integrated into a single electronic module versus each component having its own separate electronic module. The coordination controller harmonizes the operation of the loudspeaker 140 and the haptic vibrator 120 from, e.g., 0 hertz to 100 hertz.

[0030] Loudspeakers 140 that have a form factor in dimensions that can fit within the smart body-worn wearable device 100 can have a hard time emitting sound across the entirety of the audio frequency spectrum, e.g., 0 hertz to 20,000 hertz, without sounding very tinny on the higher end of the frequency and having poor performance on the lower band of the frequency range. The disclosed integrated system can improve such a drawback via utilizing the haptic vibrator 120 and the loudspeaker 140 working more closely together to reinforce the combined audio and haptic information being conveyed. The coordination controller coordinates parts of the sound spectrum, from, for example, 20 hertz to 100 hertz, to be related to the haptic action of the haptic vibrator 120, such that the haptic vibrator 120 is activated to simultaneously vibrate and/or make noise in a same narrow band within, for example, the 0 to 100 hertz spectrum.

[0031] The loudspeaker 140 can be muted such that subwoofer sounds/lower tones can be made exclusively by the haptic vibrator 120. The coordination controller is programmed such that faster generated vibrations from the haptic device can generate correlatable noise and vibrations in a higher audio frequency and slower generated vibrations from the haptic device can generate correlatable noise and vibrations in a lower audio frequency.

[0032] The driver module and software of the coordination controller can use a correspondence matrix to harmonize the simultaneous actions between the speaker and the vibration motor so that from a user experience perspective, they can be perceived to be built and made for each other to work together and not two separate devices existing on a device, e.g., a watch. The coordination controller can use a matrix to correlate vibrations per second from the haptic vibrator 120 sensed by the user’s sense of touch and an audio sound frequency being produced by at least one of the loudspeaker 140 and the haptic vibrator 120 anywhere from 0 to 100 hertz so that symbiotically the information intended to be conveyed to the user is sensed by both the user’s sense of touch and sense of hearing.

[0033] The driver module and the software of the coordination controller can make the speaker and the haptic vibrator 120 work together and typically such cooperation occurs in the 20 to 100 hertz range. In some scenarios, the coordination controller can use a correspondence matrix to match what the loudspeaker 1 0 can do to enhance the haptics operation and/or what the haptic can do to enhance the speaker's operation.

[0034] The software and driver module of the coordination controller can be configured below 100 hertz through the sound processing on a chip with instructions to be sent to the haptic vibrator 120 to perform various scenarios of synchronized actions to, for example, play the sound on the speaker as well as to divert some actions to the haptic to have, for example, a scale from 20 hertz to 100 hertz assigned to the haptic to vibrate at X amount of speed to match this sound. The matrix can map, for example, 20 vibrations per second corresponding to an audio sound wave of 100 hertz and a scale between the vibrations and the audio sound wave. The haptic vibrator 120 can vibrate at X speed to mirror and accentuate an audio frequency in the lower sound spectrum from this particular loudspeaker 140. The software based on testing between different makers of speakers and different makers of haptic vibrators 120 may be put into a correspondence matrix created to go both ways between the particular loudspeaker 140 and haptic vibrator 120 implemented in this particular smart body-worn wearable device 100.

[0035] The coordination controller can utilize a software code to map, through the matrix, on how that needs to be implemented through to achieve the harmonization of the speaker’s output and the haptic vibrator’s transmitted effect to complement each other. The coordination controller for the loudspeaker 140 and the haptic vibrator 120 integrated system can use a library of functions and pattern of married operations between the two components as well as use an API to the driver module so that a 3^rd party can supply a custom input to have the speaker and a haptic to perform a function not contained in the library of functions and pattern of married operations between the two components. The marriage/coupling of the speaker and the haptics working complementary with each other can further result in obtaining the narrow audio frequency wave functions, as well as narrow haptic vibrations per minute. As a result, a wider diversity of communication options to a user can be achieved.

[0036] Between 100 hertz and 20 hertz the coordination controller can perform the mapping between the amount of vibrations per second occurring from the haptic vibrator 120. The coordination controller can perform a mapping between the amount of vibrations per second occurring from the haptic vibrator 120 to the audio tones of the loudspeaker. Again, the haptic vibrator 120 can enhance the audio tones coming out of the loudspeaker 140 and/or replace the audio tones coming out of the loudspeaker 140. Thus, the tones coming out of the loudspeaker 140 from 20 to 100 hertz can be mapped over to how many vibrations per second coming out of the haptic vibrator 120.

[0037] It should be noted that, within the band of, for example, 20 to 100 hertz, many different discernable tones to normal human hearing can exist. With the multiple different discernable specific tones, different communications can be conveyed. That is, different communications can occur at, for example, 20 hertz, at, for example, 50 hertz, or at, for example, 75 hertz, and at, for example, 100 hertz. The multiple different discernable specific tones can be used, for example, - at 20 hertz to provide silent vibration notifications, at 75 hertz to provide audio and tactile notifications when the smart device is not set to silent mode, etc.

[0038] Figure 2 illustrates an embodiment of an exploded view of an example haptic vibrator 120 implemented as a linear resonant actuator. Figure 3 illustrates an embodiment of a graph with an example frequency response curve for the haptic vibrator 120 implemented with a linear resonant actuator that has a form factor housable in a body-worn wearable device 100. Due to the lack of using an eccentric rotating mass, the response time of the haptic vibrator 120 (e.g. linear resonant actuator) can perform faster, since there is no spinning involved. In order to create motion that allow electronic devices to transmit information to the wearer through the wearer’s sense of touch, the haptic vibrator 120 can be a piezoelectric actuator, or linear resonant actuator, but not an eccentric rotating mass motor.

[0039] The haptic vibrator 120 can produce motion with two different characteristics. The first characteristic can be amplitude, which essentially can be the strength of the motion and measured as acceleration, e.g., expressed in g’s, force, e.g., expressed in Newtons, or deflection, e.g., expressed in millimeters (mm). The second characteristic can be the speed of the motion, which can be measured as the response time (in seconds) or frequency (in hertz) for periodic signals.

[0040] Generally, ERM motors can use magnetic properties to spin a mass. On the other hand, linear resonant actuators can use magnetic properties to push a mass up or down. Thus, the linear resonant actuators can be the same type of actuators used in electric motors and speaker voice-coils that are common in modern appliances. ERM motors can produce motion across two axes, whereas linear resonant actuator actuators can create motion in a single axis. The haptic vibrator 120 can be a piezoelectric actuator or a linear resonant actuator, which both tend to have a higher and more stable signal strength produced in the low frequency range of 0 to 100 hertz, than an ERM. The piezoelectric actuator or a linear resonant actuator also are capable of a broad frequency response over the low frequency range of 0 to 100 hertz compared to an ERM.

[0041] Figure 4 illustrates an embodiment of a block diagram of an example haptic vibrator 120 implemented with a piezoelectric actuator. A simple mechanical diagram of a piezoelectric actuator with a 2-layer bending mode. In contrast, piezoelectric actuators can generate motion through the piezoelectric effect, a property that causes the material to squeeze or stretch when an electric signal is applied. For haptics, the most common configurations of piezoelectric actuators are the bender and the stack. Both benders and stacks can produce motion in a single axis, but benders generally have much more displacement.

[0042] The haptic vibrator 120 can use piezoelectric actuators that use benders. Piezoelectric Benders can consist of two pieces of piezoelectric material mounted in a cantilever beam configuration. When a voltage signal is applied, the beam bends, which creates significant motion at the tip of the beam. The resulting bending motion is the strength, which in this case can be called deflection or displacement, represented as AXout in Figure 4, which corresponds to the amount of force produced by the actuator, Fout. The typical base material for piezoelectric actuators is a class of ceramics called PZT, which are brittle in their raw form. Using piezoelectric materials can protect the ceramic element from cracking and insulate the electrically conductive surfaces.

[0043] Figure 5 illustrates an embodiment of a graph with an example frequency response curve for the haptic vibrator 120 implemented with a piezoelectric actuator

Y1 that has a form factor housable in a body-worn wearable device 100. A major advantage of such linear actuators is their fast response time, typically on the order of 1 millisecond. The deflection of the actuator can be directly proportional to the control signal, so the actuator can be set and held at a position or made to vibrate. Unlike ERM and a linear resonant actuator, both the position/amplitude and the frequency of deflection can be controlled independently in a piezoelectric actuator, so it is possible to create much more complex and detailed signals. This can let the wearable device convey a lot more information than with an ERM and a linear resonant actuator. For example, reproducing the heartbeat of a patient for a doctor or the clanking of a water pipe for a plumber.

[0044] One downside to piezoelectric materials can be that the driver supplying the driving signal needs to be at a relatively high voltage, compared to ERM and linear resonant actuator, up to about 200V. There are commercially available “piezo driver” integrated circuits that can generate such a voltage from a low voltage source, e.g., 3.3V to 5V. Such piezo drivers can take less power than other actuators for similar types of output. The power efficiency of the driver chip can be an important factor in the total power consumption, which is typically on the order of 0.1 W to 1 W average during use. Because of the wide range of speed and amplitude that piezo benders have, piezo benders can operate effectively at the lower end of the power range.

[0045] The haptic vibrator 120 has at least one of a linear resonant actuator and a piezoelectric actuator based upon at least two of 1 ) a maximum size/ space available in the body-worn wearable device 100 that can be occupied by the loudspeaker 140 with the haptic vibrator 120, 2) a cut-off frequency of the loudspeaker 140, and 3) a type of driver utilized with the haptic vibrator 120. The haptic vibrator 120 can be implemented with i) a linear resonant actuator that has a form factor to fit within a casing of the body-worn wearable device 100 or ii) a piezoelectric actuator that has a form factor to fit within a casing of the body-worn wearable device 100.

[0046] The driving circuit and piezo actuator can be integrated into an integrated package for piezoelectric actuators with software to make a wide range of patterns and ranges of vibrations, amount of vibrations per second, and amplitudes of the impact of the vibration as sensed by the user

[0047] Eccentric Rotating Mass can be magnetic motors that spin an unbalanced mass to create vibrations. The eccentric rotating mass motors typically come in two form factors: coin and cylinder, which are the oldest and most commercially established technology and can come in a range of power and performance specifications. Due to the inertia of the mass, an ERM is slow to startup and shutdown, e.g., in the range of 50 to 100 milliseconds (ms). The amplitude (i.e. , the strength) of the output is also determined by the frequency (i.e., the speed) of the motor, which makes it difficult to produce complex and subtle waveforms.

[0048] ERMs may be advantageous in that an ERM is a more established technology, is more widely available, is simpler to use, and can have a lower cost.

On the other hand, the ERMs may be disadvantageous in that the ERM has a higher power consumption, has a slower start-up, and its amplitude depends on frequency. [0049] Referring to Figure 2, the haptic vibrator 120 can be a linear resonant actuator. Linear resonant actuators can consist of a magnetic coil that pushes a mass up and down to create vibrations which are enhanced by a spring. Linear resonant actuators can come in similar form factors to ERMs, and the linear motion they create gives the linear resonant actuator a more directed and cleaner-feeling output than ERMs. However, the resonance mechanism only operates over a narrow frequency range, but the amplitude is more flexible. The driving voltage is low, typically 2V, which is easy to control with standard components.

[0050] In terms of speed and frequency, piezoelectric actuators can have the highest performance followed by the linear resonant actuator. Both the piezoelectric actuators and the linear resonant actuators have a fast start up time, but the linear resonant actuator is more limited in frequency and typically can only be able to operate over a narrower range, such as 180 hertz bandwidth or less, due to a sharp resonance peak. While piezoelectric actuators also have a resonance peak, the piezoelectric actuators can operate effectively over a much wider frequency range, from 0 hertz up to around 1500 hertz.

[0051] For amplitude, the performances can be close, and all three actuators and motors can be in the same ballpark. For the ERM and the linear resonant actuator, amplitude is most often given as acceleration, which depends heavily on the mass of the system, i.e. , everything the actuator is touching. Acceleration also depends on other factors like damping and boundary conditions. For example, whether the actuator is tightly squeezed in a fist, or dangling on a string. Because of such complications, typically tip displacement is used instead of acceleration to measure the amplitude of piezoelectric actuators.

[0052] Aspects of the loudspeaker 140 and the haptic vibrator 120, as a linear resonant actuator, reinforcing each other can provide clearer audio, and more information from the device in vibration distinct both in movement on the skin, and amplitude of the movement as well as audio in different discernable specific tones to the user's ear. In addition, the haptic vibrator 120 can function as a subwoofer for the lower audio frequencies from 0-100 hertz. Further, the loudspeaker 140 and the linear haptic vibrator 120 can improve communication, such as a telephone call by enhancing the clarity, via reducing other noise emitted from the loudspeaker 140, while the haptic vibrator 120 reinforces the user’s sense of hearing and sense of touch being communicated the same reinforcing information in a very narrow bandwidth. Moreover, disabled persons who have poor hearing or some hearing loss can rely on hearing sounds through their ears and feeling reinforcement of that information with their sense of touch.

[0053] Maintaining narrow bandwidths of sounds waves reinforced by the haptics conveying a similar range of vibrations per second can allow multiple possible distinctions within an already small range of audio frequency, of for example 0 hertz to 100 hertz, which the user can clearly distinguish what is being communicated. The loudspeaker 140 and haptic vibrator 120 can further offer a more refined notification system. Such a notification system owes its refined notification to the fact that not just one of the two independent systems notifies the user; both the loud specker and the haptic vibrator 120 can notify the user. [0054] Even further, the loudspeaker 140 and haptic vibrator 120 system can be used for wellness such as meditation, winding down, or getting ready for your day. Power savings can also occur in comparison to the traditional motor operated haptic devices, power savings, and area/space savings in the form factor of the smartwatch can be improved by using the disclosed loudspeaker 140 and haptic vibrator 120 integrated system.

[0055] Harmonizing the loudspeaker 140 and haptics functions such that the two components are complimentary to each other can result in obtaining a narrow range of frequency coupled with vibrations per second to distinctly convey information to a user. For example, while swimming obviously your ears are underwater and to provide audio feedback of a certain range having that audio tonality match to the lower tones generated by the haptic feedback could be communicated as sound and/or vibration that a user feels.

[0056] Further, the loudspeaker 140 when it has a subwoofer producing the lower frequencies (e.g. 0-100 hertz) and haptic vibrator 120 integrated system can create the vibration from two different sources to create that pattern because now the vibration is created with the audio wave emitted from the speaker as well as vibration from the haptic vibrator 120. The loudspeaker 140 and haptic vibrator 120 integrated system can split narrower patterns and sequences between the loudspeaker 140 and the haptic vibrator 120 to communicate different information. [0057] The loudspeaker 140 and the haptic vibrator 120 integrated system can use waterproof speakers and the self-sealing capability of the linear haptic device to make a more water resistant and waterproof smart body-worn wearable device 100.

[0058] The loudspeaker 140 and the haptic vibrator 120 integrated system can use a loudspeaker 140 with a dynamic range of operation across a full spectrum of the audio frequency range to support voice commands as well as a full spectrum of words and sounds so a digital voice assistant such as Alexa, Siri, etc. can engage in a natural language conversation with the user.

[0059] The haptic vibrator 120 can be enclosed in a box, and the haptic vibrator 120 can use a voltage applied to control the frequency. A linear haptic can be basically just two magnets with a mass in the center floating and two magnets at each end of the mass. The polarity can flip, and the mass can bounce back and forth to create the haptic and/or the vibration.

[0060] The loudspeaker 140 and the haptic vibrator 120 integrated system can output a very low volume sound at 300 hertz, with loudness increasing steadily until around 800-900 hertz. After that, a roughly flat response of up to 20 kilohertz can be reached. It should be noted that, linear haptic frequencies can vary. A linear resonant actuator may have a resonant frequency between 10-250 hertz, depending on the size or shape of the linear resonant actuator. In some embodiments, the frequency response range for the linear resonant actuator can be very narrow. In some embodiments, the piezoelectric haptics may have a wider bandwidth compared to the linear resonant actuators, which may be limited by the size of the piezoelectric, which in the case of a wearable may be small.

[0061] A few factors considered when implementing the haptic vibrator 120 with a linear resonant actuator or with a piezoelectric actuator is 1 ) a maximum size/ space available in the body-worn wearable device 100 that can be occupied by the loudspeaker 140 with the haptic vibrator 120. Another factor is a bandwidth needed. The linear resonant actuator typically can have a bandwidth of 100 hertz plus or minus 10 hertz. Whereas, an example, some piezoelectric actuators can accurately generate signals between 1 hertz and 15,000 hertz but an amplitude of the generated signal will be smaller than the same frequency being produced by the linear resonant actuator. Another manufacturing advantage is a linear resonant actuator can use almost any off the shelf driver; whereas, the piezoelectric actuator is tougher to integrate with the speaker on a chip and needs a special driver and higher supply voltage. This results in a higher cost and a larger form factor for a piezoelectric actuator compared to a linear resonant actuator implementation of the haptic vibrator 120. The amplitude/signal strength produced from a linear resonant actuator can be higher compared to an equivalent sized piezoelectric actuator. Piezoelectric actuator can be physically more reliable for a body-worn wearable device 100 that is expected to get knock around a lot during its lifetime of use of the body-worn wearable device 100.

[0062] Figures 7 A and 7B are a flowchart of an example method for a body-worn wearable device. [0063] At step 110, the body-worn wearable device 100 is provided a coordination controller to create a symbiotic relationship between the operations of a loudspeaker 140 and a haptic vibrator 120 within the body-worn wearable device 100 to reinforce information intended to be conveyed to a user of the body-worn wearable device 100.

[0064] At step 120, the body-worn wearable device 100 is a watch, and the information intended to be conveyed to the user is a notification from the watch.

[0065] At step 130, the body-worn wearable device 100 is provided the haptic vibrator 120 paired with the loudspeaker 140 to exclusively make audio sounds and vibrations at frequencies below 100 hertz.

[0066] At step 140, the body-worn wearable device 100 is provided the haptic vibrator 120 implemented as at least one of a linear resonant actuator and a piezoelectric actuator based upon at least two of 1 ) a maximum size/ space available in the body-worn wearable device 100 that can be occupied by the loudspeaker 140 with the haptic vibrator 120, 2) a cut-off frequency of the loudspeaker 140, and 3) a type of driver utilized with the haptic vibrator 120.

[0067] At step 150, the body-worn wearable device 100 is provided the haptic vibrator 120 with a linear resonant actuator.

[0068] At step 160, the body-worn wearable device 100 is provided the loudspeaker 140, paired with the haptic vibrator 120, that cannot accurately reproduce audio sounds at a frequency lower than 100 hertz. [0069] At step 170, the body-worn wearable device 100 is provided the haptic vibrator 120 with a piezoelectric actuator.

[0070] At step 180, the body-worn wearable device 100 is provided the coordination controller to create the symbiotic relationship between operations of the loudspeaker 140 and the haptic vibrator 120 to provide two or more different types of notifications to the user of the body-worn wearable device 100, where each type of notification is associated with its own audio tone and vibration pattern combination.

[0071 ] At step 190, the body-worn wearable device 100 is provided a driver of the haptic vibrator 120 to be controlled by the coordination controller to provide haptic vibration reinforcement of a specific audio tone and pattern for the information being communicated to the user through emitted sound waves sensed by the user's sense of hearing and generated vibrations sensed by the user's sense of touch, where the operations of the haptic vibrator 120 and the loudspeaker 140 are coordinated into the symbiotic relationship from 0 hertz to 100 hertz.

[0072] Computing devices

[0073] Figure 8 illustrates a block diagram of an embodiment of one or more computing devices that can be a part of body-worn wearable device 100 for an embodiment of the current design discussed herein.

[0074] The computing device may include one or more processors or processing units 620 to execute instructions, one or more memories 630-632 to store information, one or more data input components 660-663 to receive data input from a user of the computing device 600, one or more modules that include the management module, a network interface communication circuit 670 to establish a communication link to communicate with other computing devices external to the computing device, one or more sensors where an output from the sensors is used for sensing a specific triggering condition and then correspondingly generating one or more preprogrammed actions, a display screen 691 to display at least some of the information stored in the one or more memories 630-632 and other components. Note, portions of this design implemented in software 644, 645, 646 are stored in the one or more memories 630-632 and are executed by the one or more processors 620. The processing unit 620 may have one or more processing cores, which couples to a system bus 621 that couples various system components including the system memory 630. The system bus 621 may be any of several types of bus structures selected from a memory bus, an interconnect fabric, a peripheral bus, and a local bus using any of a variety of bus architectures.

[0075] Computing device 602 typically includes a variety of computing machine- readable media. Non-transitory machine-readable media can be any available media that can be accessed by computing device 602 and includes both volatile and nonvolatile media, and removable and non-removable media. By way of example, and not limitation, non-transitory machine-readable media use includes storage of information, such as computer-readable instructions, data structures, other executable software, or other data. Non-transitory machine-readable media includes, but is not limited to, RAM, ROM, EEPROM, flash memory or other memory technology, CD-ROM, digital versatile disks (DVD) or other optical disk storage, 1 magnetic cassettes, magnetic tape, magnetic disk storage or other magnetic storage devices, or any other tangible medium which can be used to store the desired information, and which can be accessed by the computing device 602. Transitory media such as wireless channels are not included in the machine-readable media. Machine-readable media typically embody computer readable instructions, data structures, and other executable software.

[0076] In an example, a volatile memory drive 641 is illustrated for storing portions of the operating system 644, application programs 645, other executable software 646, and program data 647.

[0077] A user may enter commands and information into the computing device 602 through input devices such as a keyboard, touchscreen, or software or hardware input buttons 662, a microphone 663, a pointing device and/or scrolling input component, such as a mouse, trackball or touch pad 661 . The microphone 663 can cooperate with speech recognition software. These and other input devices are often connected to the processing unit 620 through a user input interface 660 that is coupled to the system bus 621 , but can be connected by other interface and bus structures, such as a lighting port, game port, or a universal serial bus (USB). A display monitor 691 or other type of display screen device is also connected to the system bus 621 via an interface, such as a display interface 690. In addition to the monitor 691 , computing devices may also include other peripheral output devices such as speakers 697, a vibration device 699, and other output devices, which may be connected through an output peripheral interface 695. [0078] The computing device 602 can operate in a networked environment using logical connections to one or more remote computers/client devices, such as a remote computing system 680. The remote computing system 680 can a personal computer, a mobile computing device, a server, a router, a network PC, a peer device or other common network node, and typically includes many or all of the elements described above relative to the computing device 602. The logical connections can include a personal area network (PAN) 672 (e.g., Bluetooth®), a local area network (LAN) 671 (e.g., Wi-Fi), and a wide area network (WAN) 673 (e.g., cellular network). Such networking environments are commonplace in offices, enterprise-wide computer networks, intranets and the Internet. A browser application and/or one or more local apps may be resident on the computing device and stored in the memory.

[0079] When used in a LAN networking environment, the computing device 602 is connected to the LAN 671 through a network interface 670, which can be, for example, a Bluetooth® or Wi-Fi adapter. When used in a WAN networking environment (e.g., Internet), the computing device 602 typically includes some means for establishing communications over the WAN 673. With respect to mobile telecommunication technologies, for example, a radio interface, which can be internal or external, can be connected to the system bus 621 via the network interface 670, or other appropriate mechanism. In a networked environment, other software depicted relative to the computing device 602, or portions thereof, may be stored in the remote memory storage device. By way of example, and not limitation, remote application programs 685 as reside on remote computing device 680. It will be appreciated that the network connections shown are examples and other means of establishing a communications link between the computing devices that may be used. It should be noted that the present design can be carried out on a single computing device or on a distributed system in which different portions of the present design are carried out on different parts of the distributed computing system.

[0080] In certain situations, each of the terms “engine,” “module” and “component” is representative of hardware, firmware, and/or software that is configured to perform one or more functions. As hardware, the engine (or module or component) may include circuitry having data processing and/or storage functionality. Examples of such circuitry may include, but are not limited or restricted to a processor, a programmable gate array, a microcontroller, an application specific integrated circuit, wireless receiver, transmitter and/or transceiver circuitry, semiconductor memory, or combinatorial logic. Alternatively, or in combination with the hardware circuitry described above, the engine (or module or component) may be software in the form of one or more software modules, which may be configured to operate as its counterpart circuitry. For instance, a software module may be a software instance that operates as or is executed by a processor, namely a virtual processor whose underlying operations is based on a physical processor such as virtual processor instances for Microsoft® Azure® or Google® Cloud Services platform or an EC2 instance within the Amazon® AWS infrastructure, for example. Illustrative examples of the software module may include an executable application, a daemon application, an application programming interface (API), a subroutine, a function, a procedure, an applet, a servlet, a routine, source code, a shared library/dynamic load library, or simply one or more instructions. A module may be implemented in hardware electronic components, software components, and a combination of both. A module is a core component of a complex system consisting of hardware and/or software that is capable of performing its function discretely from other portions of the entire complex system but designed to interact with the other portions of the entire complex system. The term “computerized” generally represents that any corresponding operations are conducted by hardware in combination with software and/or firmware. The terms “computing device” or “device” should be generally construed as physical device with data processing capability, data storage capability, and/or a capability of connecting to any type of network, such as a public cloud network, a private cloud network, or any other network type. Examples of a computing device may include, but are not limited or restricted to, the following: a server, a router or other intermediary communication device, an endpoint (e.g., a laptop, a smartphone, a tablet, a desktop computer, a netbook, loT device, networked wearable, etc.) Finally, the terms “or” and “and/or” as used herein are to be interpreted as inclusive or meaning any one or any combination. As an example, “A, B or C” or “A, B and/or C” mean “any of the following: A; B; C; A and B; A and C; B and C; A, B and C.” An exception to this definition will occur only when a combination of elements, functions, steps or acts are in some way inherently mutually exclusive.

[0081] Note, an application described herein includes but is not limited to software applications, mobile applications, and programs routines, objects, widgets, plug-ins that are part of an operating system application. Some portions of this description are presented in terms of algorithms and symbolic representations of operations on data bits within a computer memory. These algorithmic descriptions and representations are the means used by those skilled in the data processing arts to convey the substance of their work most effectively to others skilled in the art. An algorithm is here, and generally, conceived to be a self-consistent sequence of steps leading to a desired result. The steps are those requiring physical manipulations of physical quantities. Usually, though not necessarily, these quantities take the form of electrical or magnetic signals capable of being stored, transferred, combined, compared, and otherwise manipulated. It has proven convenient at times, principally for reasons of common usage, to refer to these signals as bits, values, elements, symbols, characters, terms, numbers, or the like. These algorithms can be written in a number of different software programming languages such as Python, C, C++, Java, HTTP, or other similar languages. Also, an algorithm can be implemented with lines of code in software, configured logic gates in hardware, or a combination of both. In an embodiment, the logic consists of electronic circuits that follow the rules of Boolean Logic, software that contain patterns of instructions, or any combination of both. Note, many functions performed by electronic hardware components can be duplicated by software emulation. Thus, a software program written to accomplish those same functions can emulate the functionality of the hardware components in the electronic circuitry.

[0082] Unless specifically stated otherwise as apparent from the above discussions, it is appreciated that throughout the description, discussions utilizing terms such as "processing" or "computing" or "calculating" or "determining" or "displaying" or the like, refer to the action and processes of a computer system, or similar electronic computing device, that manipulates and transforms data represented as physical (electronic) quantities within the computer system's registers and memories into other data similarly represented as physical quantities within the computer system memories or registers, or other such information storage, transmission or display devices.

[0083] While the foregoing design and embodiments thereof have been provided in considerable detail, it is not the intention of the applicant(s) for the design and embodiments provided herein to be limiting. Additional adaptations and/or modifications are possible, and, in broader aspects, these adaptations and/or modifications are also encompassed.

Claims

1 . A body-worn wearable device, comprising: a coordination controller configured to create a symbiotic relationship between operations of a loudspeaker and a haptic vibrator within the body-worn wearable device to reinforce information intended to be conveyed to a user of the body-worn wearable device.

2. The body-worn wearable device of claim 1 , where the coordination controller is configured to use a matrix to correlate vibrations per second from the haptic vibrator sensed by the user’s sense of touch and an audio sound frequency being produced by at least one of the loudspeaker and the haptic vibrator anywhere from 0 to 100 hertz so that symbiotically the information intended to be conveyed to the user is sensed by both the user’s sense of touch and sense of hearing.

3. The body-worn wearable device of claim 1 , where the information intended to be conveyed to the user is a notification, and the body-worn wearable device is a watch.

4. The body-worn wearable device of claim 1 , where the haptic vibrator paired with the loudspeaker is configured to exclusively make audio sounds and vibrations at frequencies below 100 hertz.

5. The body-worn wearable device of claim 1 , where the haptic vibrator has at least one of a linear resonant actuator and a piezoelectric actuator based upon at least two of 1 ) a maximum size/ space available in the body-worn wearable device that can be occupied by the loudspeaker with the haptic vibrator, 2) a cut-off frequency of the loudspeaker, and 3) a type of driver utilized with the haptic vibrator.

6. The body-worn wearable device of claim 1 , where the haptic vibrator is implemented with a linear resonant actuator.

7. The body-worn wearable device of claim 1 , where the haptic vibrator is implemented with a piezoelectric actuator, and where the loudspeaker paired with the haptic vibrator cannot accurately reproduce audio sounds at a frequency lower than 100 hertz.

8. The body-worn wearable device of claim 1 , where the coordination controller is configured to create the symbiotic relationship between operations of the loudspeaker and the haptic vibrator to provide two or more different types of notifications to the user of the body-worn wearable device, where each type of notification is associated with its own audio tone and vibration pattern combination.

9. The body-worn wearable device of claim 1 , further comprising: a driver of the haptic vibrator is controlled by the coordination controller to provide haptic vibration reinforcement of a corresponding audio frequency and pattern for the information being communicated to the user through emitted sound waves sensed by the user’s sense of hearing and generated vibrations sensed by the user’s sense of touch, where the operations of the haptic vibrator and the loudspeaker are coordinated into the symbiotic relationship from 0 hertz to 100 hertz.

10. A method for a body-worn wearable device, comprising: providing a coordination controller to create a symbiotic relationship between operations of a loudspeaker and a haptic vibrator within the body-worn wearable device to reinforce information intended to be conveyed to a user of the body-worn wearable device.

11 . The method of the body-worn wearable device of claim 10, further comprising: where the body-worn wearable device is a watch, and providing the information intended to be conveyed to the user as a notification from the watch.

12. The method of the body-worn wearable device of claim 10, further comprising: providing the haptic vibrator paired with the loudspeaker to exclusively make audio sounds and vibrations at frequencies below 100 hertz.

13. The method of the body-worn wearable device of claim 10, further comprising: providing the haptic vibrator implemented as at least one of a linear resonant actuator and a piezoelectric actuator based upon at least two of 1 ) a maximum size/ space available in the body-worn wearable device that can be occupied by the loudspeaker with the haptic vibrator, 2) a cut-off frequency of the loudspeaker, and 3) a type of driver utilized with the haptic vibrator.

14. The method of the body-worn wearable device of claim 10, further comprising: providing the haptic vibrator with a linear resonant actuator, and providing the loudspeaker, paired with the haptic vibrator, that cannot accurately reproduce audio sounds at a frequency lower than 100 hertz.

15. The method of the body-worn wearable device of claim 10, further comprising: providing the haptic vibrator with a piezoelectric actuator.

16. The method of the body-worn wearable device of claim 10, further comprising: providing the coordination controller to create the symbiotic relationship between operations of the loudspeaker and the haptic vibrator to provide two or more different types of notifications to the user of the body-worn wearable device, where each type of notification is associated with its own audio tone and vibration pattern combination.

17. The method of the body-worn wearable device of claim 10, further comprising: providing a driver of the haptic vibrator to be controlled by the coordination controller to provide haptic vibration reinforcement of a specific audio tone and pattern for the information being communicated to the user through emitted sound waves sensed by the user’s sense of hearing and generated vibrations sensed by the user’s sense of touch, where the operations of the haptic vibrator and the loudspeaker are coordinated into the symbiotic relationship from 0 hertz to 100 hertz.

18. The method of the body-worn wearable device of claim 10, further comprising: providing a matrix for the coordination controller to use to correlate vibrations per second from the haptic vibrator sensed by the user’s sense of touch and an audio sound frequency being produced by at least one of the loudspeaker and the haptic vibrator anywhere from 0 to 100 hertz so that symbiotically the information intended to be conveyed to the user is sensed by both the user’s sense of touch and sense of hearing.

19. A watch, comprising: a display screen with a user interface, a loudspeaker paired with a haptic vibrator, and a coordination controller configured to create a symbiotic relationship between operations of a loudspeaker and a haptic vibrator within the watch to reinforce information intended to be conveyed to a user of the watch.

20. The watch of claim 19, further comprising: a driver module of the haptic vibrator is controlled by the coordination controller to provide haptic vibration reinforcement of a corresponding audio frequency and pattern for the information being communicated to the user through emitted sound waves sensed by the user’s sense of hearing and generated vibrations sensed by the user’s sense of touch, where the operations of the haptic vibrator and the loudspeaker are coordinated into the symbiotic relationship from 0 hertz to 100 hertz.