Hamid Najafi Senior Director of Applications Engineering at InvenSense explores new capabilities revolutionising the smartphone user experience
Sensor technology, while fully developed, is still at the brink of enabling a whole new experience for smart phone users. With gyroscope, accelerometer, and pressure, touch and other sensors, along with smart microphones, it is now possible for smart phones to monitor the users environment, make predictions and provide valuable feedback.
With the latest sensor developments, the smartphone user experience is truly evolving into an ‘intelligent, companion relationship’ as the smart phone will have user-location awareness that goes beyond GPS, where the device can determine a variety of locations and environments and react accordingly.
Awareness of user biometrics enables the device to determine the user’s heart rate using an external sensor, body temperature, temperament (i.e., yelling, laughing or whistling), sleeping, snoring, etc.
It is possible to monitor the user’s daily routine to enable the device to know when the user wakes up, exercises, has breakfast, drives to work and the route taken, the daily calendar, and other daily routine events .
All of these capabilities are possible today, once smart phone developers and then users start taking advantage of the latest combination of sensor developments (accelerometer, gyroscope, compass, pressure sensor, microphone, touch sensor, temperature sensor, light sensor, proximity sensor, etc.), along with GPS, information available from the network.
This can then be combined with data stored by the user on the phone, as well as data the phone collects about the user over time, and then integrate this in a smart, adaptive way.
How will all this data be used?
Once all of these sensors are working in a coherent, integrated way, the applications are open to the imagination. For example: you are in a meeting, the phone knows this from your calendar, it also knows whether this is in your office or offsite. Using this information it can disable the ringer so if it is face up on a desk, it won’t vibrate (it is distracting to vibrate the whole conference room table), it will just show the caller id on display.
If it is in your pocket, or face down on a desk it will vibrate. It can remind you (by vibrating in your pocket or displaying on screen, depending on its position) when your meeting is supposed to end.
If you are to meet somewhere else, it calculates the estimated travel time and warns you to end your meeting and leave enough time for getting to your next appointment.
Once you leave the meeting, it calls your voice mail as soon as you put the phone to your ear. While listening to your messages, you can double tap it to hang up and call the person who left you a message, or skip the message by shaking the phone.
The phone hangs up once you put the phone in your pocket. This occurs without having to look at the phone display to look for keys to touch.
Another scenario may be that you leave your phone on a restaurant table while eating. The phone listens for your voice occasionally to make sure you are still there. If it does not hear your voice after a certain amount of time, it starts vibrating and if no response after 30 seconds it will ring very loud to get your attention. If you still do not pick it up, it will call a designated number in your directory and let them know you have left your phone and where.
If you are outside the phone can warn you of possible rain or snow ahead (it can check the weather of your location online as well) and tell you about the closest coffee shop you can go into to escape the rain.
Imagine it is evening and you are driving home. The phone remembers your routine over the last few days. If you usually turn on the radio, or play music from your phone it does that for you. If, on the other hand, if you normally call your partner, it can offer to call the number for you. It can also check traffic and give you suggested routes. If you get stuck in traffic, it can offer to read the headline news for you or tell you the value of your stock portfolio at close of market. You just nod for yes or shake your head for no, when the phone makes an offer.
There are many, many other tasks the phone can do if it intelligently integrates the inputs from ALL sensors and becomes an active companion to you, rather than just a passive device that you can access when needed.
The sensor technology is available today. It’s just a matter of time until the smartphone and app developers adopt and integrate this technology to give users novel device interaction experiences.
InvenSense
