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  • US - 10299520 - B1 - Fabric Based Sensing

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    US_10299520_B1

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    US_10299520_B1 - fabric based sensing

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    US_10299520_B1

    Copyright:

    © All Rights Reserved
    Download as PDF or read online from Scribd
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    7 views20 pages

    US - 10299520 - B1 - Fabric Based Sensing

    Uploaded by

    Bender Bending Rodríguez
    US_10299520_B1

    Copyright:

    © All Rights Reserved
    Download as PDF or read online from Scribd
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    co» United States Patent Shaffer et al. US010299520B1 (10) Patent No.: (45) Date of Patent: US 10,299,520 BI May 28, 2019 (sa) om m m en @ @) on (58) PABRIC-BASED ITEMS WITH ENVIRONMENTAL CONTROL ELEMEN Applicant: Apple Ine., Cupertino, CA (US) Inventors: Benjamin A. Shaffer, Cupertino, CA (US); James H. Foster, Cupertino, CA (us) Assignee: Apple Ine., Cupertino, CA (US) Notice: Subject o any disclaimer, the tem ofthis patent is extended or adjusted under 35 USC. 154(b) by 71 days Appl. No. 14/824,805 Filed: Aug. 12, 2018 Related US. Application Data Provisional application No. 621036,532, filed on Aug 12,2014. Int. Cl HOB 334 (200501) AMID 132005 200601) AGIB 5/00 (200501) ‘A618 0205 200601) us. cl. CPC adr 1370083 (2013.01); AD 130051 (2013.01); ABLE 502055 (2013.01, AGT 5/6804 (2013.01), AGIB 576893 (2013.01) HOSE 3/347 (2013.01); HOSB 203/016 201301) Fleld of Classification Search, None See application file for complete search history. 66) References Cited US. PATENT DOCUMENTS 5105067 A$ 41992. Brskkestran ... GOSD 232401 260 671933 BE 22004 Kochman ot al S308489 BD 112012 Lee eal ~ S307317 BD '12013 Monk 02127065 BD* 22010 Kunkey ost 9146 20060280048 A1* 122006. Moreshead wb S034 ‘24111 20070199137 AL $2007 Numes Ramos De Carvalho. tal aonwonsy721 A1* 42008 Katee... AAR -3005 292M (Continued) Primary Examiner — Joseph M Pella (74) Auornes; Agent, or Firm —Treyz Law Group, PC Keadall W. Abbasi on ABSTRACT A fabrie-basod item may adapt to and adjust the biometic State of an individual that is wearing or touching the fabric: based item, The fabrie-based item may be a cover for a seat in a vehicle, an article of clothing, a wrist band, oF other stitable fabrie-based item. The fabrie-based item may Include one or more sensors that gather biometric informa tion about the individual and one or more environmental control devices that adjust or maintain the environment ‘round the individnal based on the biometric information The sensors may include temperature sensors, humidity sensors, pressure sensors, hear rate sensors, o ther sensors that gather biometric information abou the wer, The env ronmental control elements may be used 10 control the temperature, humidity, airflow oF other aspect of the env ronment around the individual based onthe biomettc sate of the individual 20 Claims, 9 Drawing Sheets id [et US 10,299,520 BI Page 2 (56) References Cited US. PATENT DOCUMENTS 20100173848 41% 72010 Kuhn cw wis2 4272 2011/0062134 AI* 32011 Loebiman Dowstti78 219.201 2OLVOIZ7248 AL* 62011 Moreshead oo... BORD L076 21920 2OLVOI28686 A1* 62011. Moreshead 0. BORD 10076 "1167901, DOIVOISONIS AI* 62011 Mores... AGIP 3000S! ord 2010282168 AL 12011 Yang eb DOLLODDOTNS Al* 122011 Schacter BON 2/5685 “Ip sik 20120RISTRE_AL® 123012 Lavin Je Aap 108 319 2t 20190001212 AI* 12013. Mangoubi econ HOSD 10272 219211 2010186884 AI* 72013 Bariss pap 1100 219509 2D1MRUG61E AL —LL2013 Fey Je Mb 100 219211 2OISUITSEES AI* 62015 Gordon Fas 2108 6233, 20180280824 AI 82015 Stevens a dono Ale 62017 Fan AeiD 31.038 dovrozoan At® 92017 beseve "AGILE 07 2010333 W017 Stesker Aa sensi » cited by examiner US 10,299,520 B1 U.S. Patent May 28, 2019 Sheet 1 of 9 4 “ ip FABRIC b 2 tu] SENSORG) a CONTROL aaa CIRCUITRY wt OUTPUT DEV 7 ory HEATING ELEMENTS 464 [COOLING ELEMENTS 459 HAPTIC ELEMENTS 5, FIG.T US 10,299,520 B1 Sheet 2 of 9 May 28, 2019 U.S. Patent FIG. 2 FIG. 3D FIG. 3C U.S. Patent May 28, 2019 Sheet 3 of 9 US 10,299,520 BI L E I 2 | fi re ar Ee i in __x) KLE KLE RM kl / FIG. 4 OHODO AR ; \) we 22 SSZZS \ U.S. Patent May 28, 2019 Sheet 5 of 9 US 10,299,520 BI 1» off TT rrr ii 4 of & SENSORS hw HEATING ELEMENTS “ COOLING ELEMENTS 52 ODOR ABSORBING/EMITTING ELEMENTS 126 HUMIDITY CONTROL ELEMENTS 78 AIRFLOW CONTROL ELEMENTS h30 FIG. 6 U.S. Patent May 28, 2019 Sheet 6 of 9 US 10,299,520 BI oR U.S. Patent May 28, 2019 Sheet 7 of 9 US 10,299,520 BI FIG. 8 US 10,299,520 B1 Sheet 8 of 9 May 28, 2019 U.S. Patent eee oe FIG, 9E FIG. 9D U.S. Patent May 28,2019 Sheet 9 of 9 US 10,299,520 B1 GATHER SENSOR DATA FROM SENSORS EMBEDDED IN FABRIC ~100 PROCESS SENSOR DATA TO DETERMINE INFORMATION ABOUT USER WEARING/TOUCHING FABRIC (E.G. COMPARE SENSOR DATA WITH THRESHOLD OR PREDETERMINED BIOMETRIC PROFILE) 102 TAKE APPROPRIATE ACTION (EG., ACTIVATE OR DEACTIVATE ONE OR MORE HEATING ELEMENTS, COOLING ELEMENTS, OR HAPTIC ELEMENTS. EMBEDDED IN FABRIC) [104 FIG. 10 US 10,299,520 BI 1 FABRIC-BASED ITEMS WITH. ‘VIRONMENTAL CONTROL ELEMENTS, ‘This application claims the beaeft of provisional patent pplication No. 62036,532 filed on Aug. 12,2014, which is hereby incorporated by reference hereit in its entirety. BACKGROUND, Tis relates generally to control systems and, more par- ticularly, to fabries with environmental contol elements People often interact with fabrc-based articles. For ‘example, «user may have a fabric-based watch band that \wraps around the user's wrist. Clothing articles may come ito contact witha user's skin. A carseat ina vehicle may have a fabric-based cover that rests against the passenger's legs and back. Conventional fubrie-based artiles donot adapt to @ persons biometric profile. person may find a fabric-based cle to be comfortable and bresthable when the person is at rest, but when emotionally stressed or physically active, the person may find the same article to be restrictive and ‘excessively warm. A person’s emotional or physical state ‘can be negatively afected by a non-responsive fabric tht, ‘docs not adapt to the person's activity or biometric state i wowld therefore be desimible 49 he able to provide improved fabri-hased items for adapting and responding to ‘stser'sbiomiettie profile SUMMARY A abric-basod item may adapt to and adjust the biometric state of an individual that is wearing or toeling the fabric- based item. The fabric-hased item may be a cover for # seat ina vehile, an anicle of clothing, a wrist band for a watch, ‘or other suitable fabric-based item. The labric-based item may include one oF more sensors that gather biometric information about the individval and ‘one oF more environmental control devices that adjust ar ‘ints the environment around the individual based on the biometec information, The sensors may include temperature sensors, humidity sensors, pressure sensor, heart rate sen- sors, or other sensors that gather biometric information ‘bout the user The environmental control elements may include thermal haptie devices such ss Peltier effect devices thar are used to adjust the temperature of the fabric and thereby adjust the thermal sensations fel by’ the individual ‘Other environmental contol elements that may he used t0 ‘control the environment around the individual include humidity control elements, airflow control elements, odor absorbing elements, odor emitting elements, of other envi ronmental contol elements that can adjust the sensations felt by the individual Control circuitry may be configured to operate the envi- ronmental control elements in the Tabric based onthe biometric information gathered by the sensors in the fabric The control cireitry may infer information about an indi- Vidal’ emotional state based on the biometric information athered by the sensors. For example, elevated temperatures in certain regions of the body may he indicative of inereased stress levels, The control ercultry may operate the eavion- ‘mental contol elements based on the inferred emotional sate of the individual, If desired, the contol eireitry may ‘attempt fo induce a certain emotional state using the envi ronmental control elements. For example, cooling elements » 2 Jn the fabric may be activated to cool certain areas of the individual's body, which may in tum lead to increased wakefulness. BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS FIG. 1 is a schematie diagram of an illustrative system that may include fabrie-based items in accordance with an ebodineat FIG. 2is op view of an illustrative conductive mesh that may be embedded in, integrated with, or attached to a Tabrc-based item in accordance with an embextimeat FIGS. 3A, 3B, 3C, and 3D show illustrative examples of sctvation schemes that may be used to activate sensors oF ‘output devices ina fabrie-based item in accordance with an embodiment FIG. 4 js 2 top view of anillusteative fabric-basod item that includes woven sirunds of material in aooordance With fn embodiment FIG. § is. top view of an illusiative fabrc-based item that includes warp knit strands of material in aecordance ‘with an embodiment, FIG, 6 is a cross-sectional side view of a illustrative {abec-baved item that includes a iter layer and one or more environmental control layers in accordance with an embol- ‘ment TIG. 7 is a side view of an illustrative vebicle with a fabrie-based environmental contol system in accordance With an embodiment FIG. 8s a diagram showing illistrative articles of cot Jing which may include environmental contol elements in ‘aeordance with aa embodiment FIGS. 9A, 98, 9C, 9D, and 9F show illustrative ways in \whiel sensors and eovironmental control elements may be Jncomporate into a fabrie-hased article of clothing in accor- ddance with an embodiment. TIG, 10 is flow ebart of illustrative steps in operating a {abric-based item with environmental contol clements in accordance with an embodiment DESCRIPTION FFabric-based items such as clothing and seat covers may incorporate environmental contol elements. The enviton- ‘mental control elements may provide different sensations to ‘an individual who is wearing, siting on, or otherwise near the fabric-based item, As an example, cover for a car Seat in a vehicle may include environmental control elements that regulate the environment around a passenger's body ‘The environmental contml elements my respond (0 an individnal's biometric profile. One or more sensors in the {abre-based item may gather information about an individu. a's biometric state and the environmental contol elements may respond accordingly. The wse of environmental contro) systems in vehicle interion is sometimes deseribed herein as nexample. In general, environmental control elements may be use in any fabric-based item that comes close to an individual's body (eg... backpack or other bag. a couch, ‘wrist band, an article of clothing, etc). An illustrative fabre-based system of the type that may include fabric with embedded sensors and environmental «contol elements or other components js shown in FIG. 1 Fabrc-bosed system 40 may inelude fabric 10 and contro] circuitry 12 Control circuitry 12 may include storage and processing circuitry thats configured to execute software. The software ‘may control the operation of fabric 10 and/or components US 10,299,520 BI include in brie 10. For example, code that is executed on ‘contol circuitry 12 may be used in contelling the tempera ture of fabric 10, may be wsed in adjusting vibrating ele- ments or other mechanical devies ia fabric 10, and may be otherwise used in adjusting the properties of fabric 10 andior components embedded in fabric 10. Control circuitry 12 may be implemented using one or tore integrated cireits such as microprocessors, spplica- tion specific integrated circuits, memory and other storage and processing circuitry I'desired, control cireuty 12 may he included in an electronic device. For example, control ‘a eushion or other item formed using fabric 10, in multiple locations distributed throughout fabric 10 andor an item formed using fabric 10). In some embodiments, part of contol circuitry 12 may be formed ina first item (ee, an ‘loctrnic dovice suchas a portable electronic device, com- Pte, tablet computer, ete) and part of contro ereuitry 12 may be formed in a second item (eg., an item of clothing formed fom fabric 10, a cushion formed from fabric 10, ‘etc ). Configurations ia which control eirenitry 12 is distrib uted among three or more items may also be used (ex, thee ‘or more items such as clothing items, cushions or other furniture or seating items, electronic devices, et.) Fabric 10 may be a strand-based (eg. ber-based) srue- ture with intertwined strands (eg, fibers or other strands of material) that are woven, knitted, warp knitted, braided, oF otherwise intertwined together to form a fabric material Strands that are used to form fabric 10 may be formed natural hers (e, cotton, Tien, wool, ee.) of synthetic fibers (¢., polyester, nylon, acrylic, spandex, ete). Strands ray'be formed fiom one or more continuous filaments (-. ‘continuous filaments tat form a sirand), unvisted bundles ‘of continuous filaments, twisted bundles of non-continuous filaments, ete, Stands for fabric 10 can be fommed from dielectric materials (e.plastic), metal or other conductive material (eg, carbon fibers), plastic coated with metal, metal coated with plastic, or other conductive and/or non- ‘conductive stands. Fabric 10 may inclode embedded structures such as one or more sensors 14 and one oF more ouput devices 16. As ‘explained in detail below, sensors 14 can be integrated into fabric 10 or may be separate from fabric 10 (eg, may be mounted to, carried by, or otherwise attached 10 fabric 10 without being integrated into fabric 10). Sensor signals there by sensors 14 may be conveyed to contol circuitry A2using path 42, and contol circuitry’ 12 may issue control signals t output devices 16 using path 44, Control circuitry 12 may be separate from fabric 10 oF ray be cari by or integral with fabric 10. In arrangements ‘where all or part of control circuitry 12 is separate from fabric 10, the portion of control circuitry 12 thet is separate from fabric 10 may communicate with fabric 10 over an ‘leerical communications path or over a wireless commu nications path. Wireless communications paths maybe implemented using wireless local area networe protocols (eg, IEEE 802.11 proceols sometimes refered to as WiFi), protocols for other short-range wireless communi- cations links suchas the Bluetooth® protocol, et. Electrical 4 communications path may be formed using conductive Signal paths in one or more wires (eq, fibers that are Separate from fabric 10 andlor that are part of fabric 10) oF ‘uy be forte using contive races on a substrate (eg, 4 Mexible printed circuit substrate, sigid printed circu substrate, or other suitable substeate). Sensors 14 may inclode one or more sensors foe gathering information sich ot biometric information about a user. For ‘example, sensors 14 may be used o gather biometric infor ‘mation about a user tha is wearing, sitting on, oF othervise contacting fabric 10. Sensors 14 may inchide temperature sensors, force sensors (e , piezelectrie sensor, resistive Taree sensors, capacitive fore sensors, et.) motion sensors (eg, accelerometers, gyroscopes, ec), switebes oF other ‘mechanical sensors, moisture detectors, stain amiges,pres- sre sensors, mierocloctromectsanical systems (MEMS) devices, capacitive sensors, touch sensors (eg, touch sensor electrodes, drive and sense circuitry, et.) resistance-based sensors, lght-based sensors (eg. infared sensors), piezo- electric sensors, andlor acousticsbased sensors such as ulra~ sone acoustie-basedl sensors (as examples). A user of system 40 may supply commands to sensors 14 (ex, a user may supply # touch command or other input command) and/or sensors 14 may gather information about the environment in ‘which system 40 is being used (@_, information on the temperature of the suroundings of system 40, ete), andor sensors 14 may gather biometric data on the user (eg, information on the temperature of part of the user's body, {information on how much pressures being exerted on fabric 10 by the user's body (ez, when a user is sitting on fabric 10 ors otherwise in contact with fabric 10), or may gather other informetion about the use, input from the user, and/or {information on the user's environment Information from sensors 14 may be used in gathering fnformation on the way in which a user is wearing oF touching fabric 10. For example, sensors 14 may detect one ‘or more user conditions that Congo eireuitey 12 may use to gather information about user, including, for example, ‘ser’ temperature (eg. skin temperature or body temper ture), perspiration, blood flow; blood pressure, pulse (heart rae), or otber biometic information. Information ean be tgthered thrgh direct contact betwen sensors 14 and the User andr the user's environment For example, temper- ture sensor in contact with @ user may measure the User's temperature or a pressure sensor in contact with a portion of the skin of a user's body may measure pressures impose on the sensor by the body. eat rate sensor may be formes! {rom one of more light sources (¢.., light emiting diodes) ‘and one oF more Tight deteciors (ez, photodiodes) that are ted to detect the amount of blow flaw in a region of the body (eg. user's wrist) adjacent tothe fabric, Information can also be gathered indirectly. Por example, a force sensor ‘may detect that fabrie 10 js being stretched and ean conclude from this stretching thatthe user's body is imposing a foree ‘on fabric 10, Sensing arrangements tha use combinations of tlireet and indirect sensing andlor that use one or more ferent types of sensor may also be used Control circuitry 12 may issue control signals to output devices 16 to provide output to a user (eg. in response 10 information gathered by sensors 14 or other information such as information on the current time, outpat from an application program running on contol circuitry 12 that is controlled by non-sensor input, output that is generated based on user commands, etc). ‘uiput devices 16 may include environmental contol elements 46 that are capable of manipulating the environ: ‘nent around users bol. Environmental contol elements US 10,299,520 BI 5 46 may include thermal haptic elements suet as heating ‘elements 50 (e.g, resistive heating elements, themnoeletric (Poli) effect heating devices, or other heating elements) ‘and cooling elements 82 (eg, reigeran lines, thermoelec= tric coolant structures, themnoclectic (Peter) cooling elect ‘cooling elements, fans, or other cooling elements). Outpot, device 16 may inchwe mechanical compenents such 8 mechanical haptic elements 84 (eg, an eloctromechanical actuator such as haptic foodbuck device, 8 vibrator for issuing alerts, a deviee for imparting othee vibrations or motions to fabric 10, aetustors based on shape memory metals, et: Components such as heating elements $0 and cooling

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