Audible Sound Tags for Hands-Free Dialing
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Solution Overview
Problem
Handheld electronic devices, such as cellular telephones, require visual attention for dialing, which is undesirable when used while driving or engaging in other activities, as users must look at the device to select numbers, even if stored numbers can be recalled.
Innovation Solution
The device provides audible sound tags in the form of spoken words for digits, allowing users to dial by rotating a rotatable input dial and selecting digits based on the sounds, enabling telephone number assembly without visual attention.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Reliability
If a conventional keyboard or display is used for dialing, then the device can provide visual feedback for number selection, but the user must divert visual attention from the road or current activity, reducing safety
Solution Approach 1:
The patent replaces the visual display system with an auditory output system for number feedback. Instead of showing digits on a screen, the device speaks the selected digit through a speaker, allowing users to dial without looking at the device. This substitution of visual feedback with auditory feedback resolves the contradiction by maintaining ease of operation while improving safety.
2Ease of operation
If a rotatable dial with audible feedback is used, then the user can dial without visual attention, but the device complexity increases due to additional components
Solution Approach 1:
The rotatable dial serves multiple functions: it navigates through stored numbers, selects individual digits, and can be combined with a push button for confirmation. This multi-functionality reduces the need for separate controls, thereby managing device complexity while achieving hands-free dialing capability.
Solution Approach 2:
The patent introduces an auditory intermediary (spoken digit feedback) between the user's action of rotating the dial and the dialing outcome. This intermediary provides clear feedback without requiring visual attention, enabling hands-free operation while keeping the physical interface relatively simple.
3Productivity
If stored telephone numbers are provided for recall, then dialing can be simplified, but the user still requires visual attention to select and confirm the correct number
Solution Approach 1:
The patent replaces visual confirmation of stored numbers with auditory confirmation. As the user rotates the dial to select a stored number, the system speaks the number back to the user, allowing verification and selection without visual attention. This maintains fast dialing productivity while eliminating the visual attention requirement.
Data Source
AI summary
An improved hand held electronic device and an associated method provide facilitated telephone dialing by providing audible sound tags in the form of spoken words representative of numbers that can be selected by a user for dialing. The handheld electronic device includes an input apparatus that can generate a plurality of navigational inputs and at least a first selecting input. The input apparatus may include a rotatable dial, the rotation of which provides navigational inputs, and the dial may be translatable, with the translation generating a selecting input. When a processor of the handheld electronic device detects one of the navigational inputs, the handheld electronic device outputs an audible sound in the form of a spoken word of the digit that corresponds with that navigational input.