US 11,906,303 B2
Wearable skin vibration or silent gesture detector
Mehmet Mutlu, Grover Beach, CA (US); and Ahmet Fatih Cihan, San Jose, CA (US)
Assigned to Apple Inc., Cupertino, CA (US)
Filed by Apple Inc., Cupertino, CA (US)
Filed on Aug. 24, 2022, as Appl. No. 17/894,571.
Application 17/894,571 is a continuation of application No. 16/849,826, filed on Apr. 15, 2020, granted, now 11,473,898.
Claims priority of provisional application 62/852,481, filed on May 24, 2019.
Prior Publication US 2022/0404138 A1, Dec. 22, 2022
This patent is subject to a terminal disclaimer.
Int. Cl. G01B 9/02 (2022.01); G06F 3/01 (2006.01); H04R 1/10 (2006.01); G06F 3/16 (2006.01)
CPC G01B 9/02092 (2013.01) [G06F 3/017 (2013.01); G06F 3/167 (2013.01); H04R 1/1091 (2013.01); H04R 2460/13 (2013.01)] 20 Claims
OG exemplary drawing
 
1. A wearable device, comprising:
a frame configured to attach the wearable device to a user and to direct a beam of light toward a skin portion of the user;
a self-mixing interferometry sensor mounted to the frame and configured to emit the beam of light; and
an interpreter configured to:
receive a self-mixing interferometry signal from the self-mixing interferometry sensor;
detect skin vibration information in the self-mixing interferometry signal; and
transmit one or more signals responsive to a detection of the skin vibration information in the self-mixing interferometry signal.