Abstract:

Consumers around the world have strong demand for mobile devices such as mobile phones and mp3 players. For this reason, the mp3‐playing mobile phone has become one of the most popular mobile devices, especially for the younger generation. In this study, we propose an efficient method of utilizing small vibration motors embedded in the mobile phones to improve mp3 capability. The small vibration motors are generally embedded in the mobile phones to implement tangible user interface. The proposed method, which links acoustic information with areas on the mobile phone surface, utilizes the existing embedded small vibration motors to enhance mp3 capability. The use of additional small vibration motors can maximize mp3 capability but can cause additional power consumption and heat dissipation in the mobile phones. Therefore, the proposed method utilizes the pre‐embedded vibration motors to generate vibrations according to the acoustic information from mp3. Experimental results, performed by using up‐to‐date mobile phone platform over 50 persons, demonstrate that the proposed method is suitable for mp3‐playing mobile phones in case that the users want to feel vibrations with mp3. [Work supported by the MKE, Korea, under the ITRC supervised by the IITA [IITA‐2009‐(C1090‐0903‐0008)].]