The present invention concerns a method and apparatus for the modulation of an acoustic field for providing tactile sensations. A method of creating haptic feedback using ultrasound is provided. The method comprises the steps of generating a plurality of ultrasound waves with a common focal point using a phased array of ultrasound transducers, the common focal point being a haptic feedback point, and modulating the generation of the ultrasound waves using a waveform selected to produce little or no audible sound at the haptic feedback point.

An acoustic-based Direction of Arrival (DoA) system uses acoustic information to determine the direction of incoming sound, such as a person talking. The direction of the sound is then used to focus a laser-based time of flight (ToF) system to narrow the area of laser illumination, improving the signal to noise ratio because laser illumination is focused on the direction of the sound. The DoA system also provides elevation information pertaining to the source of the sound, to further narrow the required field of view of the laser ToF system.

A position determining device and an operating method thereof are disclosed. According to the present invention, a position of a neighboring vehicle is determined by using the differences of the receiving time and strengths between two sensing signals received from two ultrasound sensors installed in a vehicle. Therefore, it is possible to estimate a position and a moving path for neighboring vehicles while driving a vehicle.

A method, system and computer readable medium for Ultrasound contact tracing comprising receiving one or more advertise messages determining a base station from the one or more advertise messages wherein the base station generates a broadcast order from at least the one or more advertise messages. A broadcast order is determined and an ultrasound message is sent according to the broadcast order. A detection period for ultrasound messages is initiated according to the broadcast order and a user may be notified of a detected ultrasound message.

A system for detecting objects using ultrasonic waves and methods for making and using the same are provided. The object detection system uniquely encodes each of a plurality of ultrasonic waves and transmit each of the uniquely-encoded ultrasonic waves in a respective direction. The object detection system then receives any of the emitted uniquely-encoded ultrasonic waves that are reflected from an object. By decoding the reflected ultrasonic waves, the object detection system distinguishes among the uniquely-encoded ultrasonic waves and detect the existence and location of the object.

Time of flight between two or more ultrasonic transceivers is measured using known delays between receiving a trigger and sending an ultrasonic pulse in reply. A receive time is measured from a beginning of a receive phase in which the pulse is detected until receipt of an ultrasonic reply pulse. A trip time is determined from a sum of the receive time and a difference between a known first reference period for a transceiver that sends the trigger pulse and a second know reference period for a second transceiver that sends the reply pulse. The second reference period corresponds to a delay between when the second transceiver receives the initial or subsequent trigger pulse from the first transceiver and when the second transceiver sends the reply pulse.

Gesture recognition is a key requirement for Human Computer Interaction (HCI) and multiple modalities are explored in literature. Conventionally, channel taps are estimated using least square based estimation and tap corresponding to finger motion is tracked. These assume that noise component is negligible and can reduce the tracking accuracy for low SNR. Thus, to mitigate the above-mentioned limitation, the system and method of the present disclosure explore the feasibility of using speaker and microphone setup available in most of smart devices and transmit inaudible frequencies (acoustic) for detecting the human finger level gestures accurately. More specifically, System implements the method for millimeter level finger tracking and low power gesture detection on this tracked gesture. The system uses a subspace based high resolution technique for delay estimation and use microphone pairs to jointly estimate the multi-coordinates of finger movement.

A robot cleaner having a main body, a driving unit for moving the main body, a sensing unit for sensing information related to an obstacle, and a controller for controlling the driving unit to prevent collision of the main body with the obstacle. The controller controls the driving unit to reverse the main body with respect to the obstacle so as to prevent the main body from contacting the obstacle based on a distance between the main body and the obstacle.

The present disclosure describes a system, device, and method for assisting a user to avoid contacting surfaces with their mobile device. An environment is sensed with one or more electronic sensors. The sensor readings are analyzed. Information is then provided to a user based on the analyzed sensor readings. The sensors may be configured so their sensor cones cross at a midpoint. Readings from the sensor(s) may be grouped according detection zone(s) corresponding to one or more areas about a mobile device. A computing module may control a feedback module according to detection zone readings. The feedback module may comprise an indicator for each detection zone. The indicator may be a vibration motor. The indicator may be a light. The computing module may set the colour of a light and/or control the vibrations based on the proximity of surfaces detected within the corresponding detection zone.

A method for evaluating an effect of an object in the surroundings of a transport device on a driving maneuver of the transport device. The method includes: ascertaining a first distance between the object and a first position of the transport device with the aid of a first ultrasonic sensor of the transport device; ascertaining a second distance between the object and a second position of the transport device different from the first position, using the first ultrasonic sensor of the transport device; calculating a change between the first distance and the second distance with regard to a path, which corresponds to a distance traveled between the first position and the second position of the transport device; and taking into account or not taking into account the object during the execution of the driving maneuver of the transport device as a function of a result of the calculation.