Mobile terminal and control method thereof

• US 10,083,042 B2
• Filed: 07/23/2013
• Issued: 09/25/2018
• Est. Priority Date: 07/26/2012
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: LG Electronics, Inc. (LG Corporation)
• Original Assignee: LG Electronics, Inc. (LG Corporation)
• Inventors: Ka, Hokyung
• Primary Examiner(s): Desta, Elias
• Application Number:
  US13/948,726
• Publication Number:
  US 20140032880A1
• Time in Patent Office: 1,890 Days
• Field of Search: 702 56, 702104, 702141, 702181, 702183, 702188, 224271, 362602, 455418
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 1/3206 Monitoring of events, devices or parameters that trigger a change in power modality
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 1/325 Power saving in peripheral device
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 1/3293 by switching to a less power-consuming processor, e.g. sub-CPU
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 2200/1637 Sensing arrangement for detection of housing movement or orientation, e.g. for controlling scrolling or cursor movement on the display of an handheld computer
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 9/3885 using a plurality of independent parallel functional units
• CPC Class Codes: Y02D 10/00 Energy efficient computing, e.g. low power processors, power management or thermal management

Abstract

A mobile terminal and a method for controlling the mobile terminal are disclosed. A mobile terminal according to one embodiment of the present invention comprises at least one sensor; a first processor for controlling operation of the at least one sensor; a second processor for controlling an application; and a vibration unit detecting a force applied by the user, where the vibration unit is woken up when a force applied by the user exceeds a predetermined magnitude while the at least one sensor, the first processor, the second processor, and the vibration unit are all in a sleep state; and if the first processor is woken up by the vibration unit, the first processor wakes up the second processor based on sensing data collected by the at least one sensor.

Claims

1. A mobile terminal, comprising:

a plurality of sensors configured to detect a status of the mobile terminal;

a first processor configured to control operation of the plurality of sensors;

a second processor configured to control at least one application; and

a vibration unit configured to;

detect a vibration pattern and a force applied to the mobile terminal by a user while the plurality of sensors, the first processor, the second processor, and the vibration unit are all in a sleep state,

change the sleep state of the vibration unit to a wake up state when the force applied by the user exceeds a predetermined magnitude, and

output a signal for waking up the first processor to the first processor,

wherein the first processor is woken up by the vibration unit, selects at least one sensor corresponding to the detected vibration pattern and force from among the plurality of sensors, wakes up the selected at least one sensor, and outputs a signal for waking up the second processor only when sensing data collected by the selected at least one sensor corresponds to predetermined context information,

wherein the second processor executes an application corresponding the predetermined context information.

2. The mobile terminal of claim 1, wherein the plurality of sensors include at least one of an accelerometer, gyro sensor, piezoelectric sensor, position sensor, temperature sensor, and humidity sensor.

3. The mobile terminal of claim 1, wherein the first processor adjusts a sampling period at which the at least one sensor obtains sensing data according to the magnitude of a force applied by the user.

4. The mobile terminal of claim 3, wherein the vibration unit classifies a state of the user according to the magnitude of the force applied by the user into a grip state in which the user grips the mobile terminal, a walking state in which the user walks while gripping the mobile terminal, and a running state in which the user runs while gripping the mobile terminal.

5. The mobile terminal of claim 1, wherein the first processor analyzes the collected sensing data and wakes up the second processor when the context information of the user is recognized based on the collected sensing data.

6. The mobile terminal of claim 1, wherein the application corresponds to a motion detection application.

7. The mobile terminal of claim 1, wherein the vibration unit enters the sleep state when the force applied by the user and detected by the vibration unit is less than a predetermined magnitude.

8. A method for controlling a mobile terminal, the method comprising:

detecting a vibration pattern and a force applied to the mobile terminal by a user through a vibration unit while a plurality of sensors, a first processor for controlling operation of the plurality of sensors, a second processor for controlling at least one application, and the vibration unit detecting the force applied by the user are all in a sleep state, wherein the plurality of sensors are for detecting a status of the mobile terminal;

changing the sleep state of the vibration unit to a wake up state when the detected force exceeds a predetermined magnitude, wherein the vibration unit outputs a signal for waking up the first processor to the first processor;

waking up a first processor for controlling operation of at least one sensor through the vibration unit, wherein the first processor is woken up by the vibration unit and selects at least one sensor corresponding to the detected vibration pattern and force from among the plurality of sensors;

waking up the selected at least one sensor through the first processor;

collecting sensing data through the selected at least one sensor woken up;

waking up, through the first processor, the second processor only when the sensing data collected by the at selected at least one sensor corresponds to predetermined context information; and

executing, through the second processor, an application corresponding to the predetermined context information.

9. The method of claim 8, wherein the collecting the sensing data adjusts a sampling period at which sensing data are obtained from the at least one sensor according to the magnitude of the force applied by the user.

10. The method of claim 8, wherein the waking up the second processor comprises:

analyzing the collected sensing data;

recognizing context information of the user based on the collected sensing data; and

waking up the second processor when the context information of the user is recognized.

11. The method of claim 8, wherein the vibration unit enters a sleep state when the force applied by the user and detected by the vibration unit is less than a predetermined magnitude while the vibration unit is activated.