Input device with an accelerometer
Methods, devices, and systems are described for bumping a mobile device, such as a smart phone, against a fixed poster board display at a store to initiate a download of coupons, advertisements, or other benefits to the mobile device. Products can be rated by a user's up/down bump or other bump patterns. Using accelerometer-based inertial measurements, multiple users can control multiple mouse cursors on a large display with their mobile devices in order to select information to be downloaded to their mobile devices.
1. A method comprising:
receiving a first message from a mobile device, the first message indicating a bump sensed by an accelerometer coupled to the mobile device;
receiving a second message from a second device, the second message indicating a bump sensed by the second device;
temporally correlating the messages from the mobile and second devices as an event;
determining a benefit associated with the second device; and
sending data associated with the benefit to the mobile device based on the event.
2. The method of claim 1 wherein the second device comprises a poster display.
3. The method of claim 2 wherein:
the poster display comprises multiple bump areas; and
the benefit is associated with an area bumped by the mobile device.
4. The method of claim 1 wherein the data associated with the benefit includes a coupon having a bar code.
5. The method of claim 1 wherein the second message indicates a bump sensed by a pressure sensitive transducer coupled to the second device.
6. The method of claim 1 wherein the second message indicates a bump sensed by an accelerometer coupled to the second device.
7. The method of claim 1 wherein the mobile device comprises a smart phone.
8. The method of claim 1 wherein determining a benefit associated with the second device includes sending to a database a request for an advertisement or coupon and receiving the advertisement or coupon from the database.
9. The method of claim 1 further comprising:
determining a telephone number associated with the mobile device; and
sending data associated with the benefit in a multimedia messaging service (MMS) message to the telephone number.
10. A method comprising:
receiving a first message from a mobile device, the first message indicating a bump sensed by an accelerometer coupled to the mobile device;
receiving a second message from a second device displaying a benefit, the second message indicating a bump sensed by the second device;
temporally correlating the messages from the mobile and second devices as an event; and
recording the event,
thereby allowing future analysis of a consumer's acknowledgement of the benefit.
11. The method of claim 10 further comprising:
receiving a list of products from the mobile device based on the event;
looking up information about each product in the list of products; and
sending the information about each product.
12. The method of claim 10 further comprising:
displaying the information on a display.
13. The method of claim 10 wherein the information about each product includes a location of each product in a store.
14. The method of claim 10 wherein:
at least one of the first message and second messages indicates a bump intensity; and
the bump intensity is recorded with the event.
15. The method of claim 10 wherein:
at least one of the first message and second messages indicates a multiple bump pattern; and
the multiple bump pattern is recorded with the event.
16. The method of claim 10 wherein:
at least one of the first message and second messages indicates a bump direction; and
the bump direction is recorded with the event.