imagine: compass, accelerometer -> indoor-navigation, ebook:page turn, gaming, menue selection, program start, textimput...

Tue Nov 21 17:05:12 CET 2006

Salve,

just 5 minutes brainstorm to highlight (again) that a free SPI bus inside 
would be great, but also I like to publishing some ideas to avoid trivial patents¹...
I fear someone had to publish ideas years befor...... e.G.

Yesterday I found a "great" invoation - just to combine to thinks
that already exist and making a sleeping paper out of it,
instead of saving lives:

   BBC: High hopes for smoke alarm mobile
   Tuesday, 30 September, 2003

   The Romanian inventors, Marian Gavrila and Garbriel
   Patulea, say the system could help save hundreds of lives
   if it is built into mobiles.
   They thought of the idea after hearing about a fatal train
   accident in France, in which a train travelling between
   Paris and Vienna caught fire.

Honorable idea, to save lives...

   Mr Gavrila and Mr Patulea are in the process of registering
   the idea internationally with the Canadian Patents Office 

Ah, making money...

   and hope mobile device makers will help them out with a 
   prototype.

Did you remember the to boys that had the idea to remove the
Irda LED to make the phone a torch? The spoke with Nokia and
I think they got nothing for this idea....
But interesting what the inventors stoped and there is no
mobil with a smoke alarm in the shops today:

   "We thought we would just be able to modify an existing
   device, but without the support of the manufacturer, it is
   almost impossible," said Mr Gavrila.

  They have already approached mobile giants Motorola, Nokia,
  Siemens and Sony Ericsson about the idea.
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/technology/3149810.stm   

Well by looking for a "Rauchmelder IC" the third hit was a german
report about this "inovating" idea... BTW there are several IC like
http://www.freescale.com/files/analog/doc/data_sheet/MC146010.pdf

Inovation and especialy "IP" is  %?"!$!%!%& of the unproductive lawer
- hey just to put a IC with a PIC bus - maybe solder only 4-5 lines -
on a mobil circuit board you have to consult patent databases and
pay lawer...... :(((((

But don't be angry that these two Romain "inventors" will ask for
money when we or FIC like to put a "somke sensor" on the board
ironicaly, their patent is useless, because 30 Seconds later I found 
an article in New Scientist magazine, 21 December 2002:
     Douglas Redman of Northamptonshire wants to build smoke alarms into
     cellphones (GB 2374484).

What a fu** mines field with patents... Thinking 1 Minutes about an
idea, hacking would be faster than the shipping of the IC - but fighting
with the lawer would take you month or years...

When somebody created a new material and build a new sensor, ok,
but to avoid that two already existing device will be combined
:(((((((((((((((
What a mad world!

Back to compass and accelerometer ;)

The Neo1973 has AGPS, but GPS could not work as a compas
- it could only calculate directions when you move. But
when you are standing at a crossing - rotatet to look which
street you will choose - your map on your device will not
rotate - it would be great to have a compass inside....

Beside of 2D electronic compasses there are 3D electornic compasses
(just the integration of 3 2D in on IC) - so this sensor could reconice
every rotation.
The same with accelerometer - 3D translocation detection 
   (could a cheap 3D accelerometer used as gravimeter?
   (are there small, cheap gravimeter ICs?)

This could be used for:

indoor-navigation

  accelerometer become a piedometer together with the compass
  also direction. It should be possible to detect waking on
  steps - using lift or escalator
  by walking into the building AGPS told the location,
  inside it could be neccessary to calibrate - manual,
  or the device please you to walk to a given point..

ebook:page turn

  just rotate the page virtualy ;)

gaming

  pushing forward or to side when you play games like packman
  but the game could messure your movments - you realy have
  to jump high when you want to do this in the game
  run fast, when you have to run fast
  and hit fast and hart into the air, when will do this virtualy.
  rotate - when you want to rotate virtually

  Just a litle like shadowboxing or asin martial arts trainings

  And the Fittnes work outs or the runner, such a device could
  display more then just how many steps you made - how good
  your run/training/work out was.... 

menue selection

  like the packman example push or pull it in front to the back,
  or from right to left - turn the device or rotate....

program start

  A special movement like 3 or more seconds standing still
  3 fast short jumps into the high and 3 seconds standing still
  will start a program on the device
  - e.g. an emergency call - which of course transitt your
  localisation. By having different "dancing figures"
  for your programmstarts, you could transmit different
  informations...
  This could be also interactive when the device has vibra
  alarm - when it be wanted that this starts/alerts
  will be confirmed first

textimput
  you deaf language by talking with your hands - I think it
  could be easy to learn 30 or more fast figures to move
  the device to write with moving the device

music instrument
  convert your moving with a synthesizer into sound
  (need more sensors, for my feeds, arms, head, hip...)

phone profile
  change the profile of your phone 

I alread thougt if it would be handy to use AGPS
for input how much you spend from your change purse 
by special movements....
Very easy for the case of my cafeteria - 3 different
prices for meals - coffe or no coffe makes 6 prices :)

So specials localisation could have special link
to your movement-funciont--action database like
swithing your phoning profile with special walks
(or walk interruption) or localisations...

no incomming calls beside my girlfrind when I walk
inside the park or visiting the park bank that she and I
likes most, by comming from the North side will call her
automaticaly...
:)))))

Back to the shop:
But to acquire how much money you left inside the shop
with let your device inside your pocked
compass and accelerometer could be more handy...

And at last - just a special movement to pick up the
phone - removes the need for pressing a button and
works also inside your pocket in case you use a
Bluetooth headset.

Oh Bluetooth, did someone aready mention that this would be nice?
(SCNR) IMHO would be the phone even with out it *great*...
but it would be *ingenious* with it and a free SPI/I2C bus 
signal line to the SoC (CPU).

Ok most of my ideas (today) are frisky...
but with freeing the mind from the restriction
todays mobile have we will find also smart ideas
that the mass market would like to have.

So what more ideas does you have?

Greetings,
rob

PS:
It would be fun when the caller (of course only friends of
you) could decide wich sound is used for ringing the phone
and that they could start taking to you bevore you pick up
the call to activate your mic....

¹Interesting video of a CCC seminar with Richard Stallman about
 software patents
 CCC (Chaos Computer Club)
 http://archiv.ulm.ccc.de/chaosseminar/200411-rms/cs-200411-rms_video.avi
 http://archiv.ulm.ccc.de/chaosseminar/200411-rms/cs-200411-rms-questions_video.avi

¹Interesting seminar with Richard Stallman organised by the
 CCC (Chaos Computer Club)
 http://archiv.ulm.ccc.de/chaosseminar/200411-rms/cs-200411-rms_video.avi
 http://archiv.ulm.ccc.de/chaosseminar/200411-rms/cs-200411-rms-questions_video.avi