Sensory Enhancement Systems and Methods in Personal Electronic Devices

摘要

Disclosed are personal electronic devices (PEDs) having a sensory enhancement (SE) system for monitoring environmental conditions and detecting environmental events, for example but not limited to, changes in acoustic, thermal, optical, electromagnetic, chemical, dynamic, wireless, atmospheric, or biometric conditions. The detection of such events can be used to invoke a notification, an alert, a corrective action, or some other action, depending upon the implementation to the PED user or another party.

主权项

1. A method for a personal electronic device (PED) that can be transported with a user, the PED having a computer based architecture with a memory and a processor designed to execute computer program code instructions stored in the memory, the PED designed to perform a first electronic based intelligence function, the first electronic based intelligence function enabling the user to initiate and receive wireless telephone calls over a telephone network, the computer program code instructions designed to enable the PED to perform a second electronic based intelligence function that is different than the first electronic based intelligence function, the second electronic based intelligence function involving detection of an event in an environment associated with the PED, the PED further comprising an RF subsystem transducer designed to interrogate radio frequency identification (RFID) tags to sense a signal from an RFID tag in the environment, the method comprising:
(a) performing a first electronic based intelligence function, the first electronic based intelligence function being a wireless telephone function that enables the user to initiate and receive telephone calls over a telephone network; and (b) performing a second electronic based intelligence function comprising:
(1) determining whether or not the RFID tag is within a predefined range of the PED by:
(i) transmitting a query signal from the RFID transducer to the RFID tag;(ii) in response to the query signal, receiving a response signal from the RFID tag with the RFID transducer;(iii) determining a sensed range of the RFID tag by analyzing signal communication information associated with the response signal; and(iv) comparing the sensed range and the predefined range; and(2) producing an alert when a determination is made that the RFID tag is not within the predefined range.