Apparatus and method for controlling portable terminal

• US 10,108,255 B2
• Filed: 06/26/2014
• Issued: 10/23/2018
• Est. Priority Date: 11/19/2004
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Samsung Electronics Co. Ltd.
• Original Assignee: Samsung Electronics Co. Ltd.
• Inventors: Shim, Jung-hyun, Kim, Kee-eung, Kim, Hyun-jin, Park, Joon-ah, Lee, Ho-yeal, Lee, Hyun-jeong, Chang, Wook, Chung, Seung-nyang, Cho, Sung-jung
• Primary Examiner(s): Di Prisco, German Viana
• Application Number:
  US14/315,987
• Publication Number:
  US 20140306885A1
• Time in Patent Office: 1,580 Days
• Field of Search: None
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 1/1626 with a single-body enclosure integrating a flat display, e.g. Personal Digital Assistants [PDAs]
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 1/1684 Constructional details or arrangements related to integrated I/O peripherals not covered by groups G06F1/1635 - G06F1/1675
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 1/1686 the I/O peripheral being an integrated camera
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 1/1694 the I/O peripheral being a single or a set of motion sensors for pointer control or gesture input obtained by sensing movements of the portable computer
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 3/011 Arrangements for interaction with the human body, e.g. for user immersion in virtual reality blind teaching G09B21/00
• CPC Class Codes: H04M 1/724 User interfaces specially adapted for cordless or mobile telephones
• CPC Class Codes: H04M 1/7243 with interactive means for internal management of messages
• CPC Class Codes: H04M 1/72442 for playing music files
• CPC Class Codes: H04M 1/72448 with means for adapting the functionality of the device according to specific conditions
• CPC Class Codes: H04M 1/72454 according to context-related or environment-related conditions
• CPC Class Codes: H04M 1/72469 for operating the device by selecting functions from two or more displayed items, e.g. menus or icons
• CPC Class Codes: H04M 2250/12 including a sensor for measuring a physical value, e.g. temperature or motion telephones including GPS signal receivers H04M2250/10

Abstract

Provided is an apparatus and method for controlling a portable terminal. The apparatus includes a contact sensing unit which senses an area of an external surface of the portable terminal contacted by a user as the user holds the portable terminal, a recognizing unit which recognizes a function mode of the portable terminal based on information about the contacted area sensed by the contact sensing unit, and a control unit which changes the portable terminal to a function mode recognized by the recognizing unit. Since a function mode of the portable terminal is controlled according to the way a user holds the portable terminal, convenience of changing a function mode of the portable terminal is provided through a single manipulation.

Claims

1. An apparatus comprising:

a motion sensor; and

a controller configured to perform operations comprising;

determining whether a motion, sensed through the motion sensor of the apparatus is a recognized motion in a stored recognition model;

in response to determining that the sensed motion is a recognized motion, selecting a function of the apparatus corresponding to the recognized motion from the stored recognition model;

executing the selected function;

requesting, after the executing the selected function, the user to confirm whether the executed function was a function intended by the user;

determining whether the executed function was a function intended by the user, based on information input by the user through a user interface of the apparatus in response to the request; and

updating the stored recognition model based on a result of the determining.

2. The apparatus of claim 1, wherein the motion sensor comprises at least one of an inertial sensor, an acceleration sensor or a gyroscope sensor.

3. The apparatus of claim 1, wherein the function is selected based at least in part on a number of times the function is executed in relation with the sensed motion.

4. The apparatus of claim 1, further comprising:

an external device sensing unit to generate an attachment information corresponding to an external device in relation with the apparatus.

5. The apparatus of claim 4, wherein the selecting

is further based on the generated attachment information.

6. A method comprising:

determining whether a motion, sensed through a motion sensor of an apparatus is a recognized motion in a stored recognition model;

in response to determining that the sensed motion is a recognized motion, selecting a function of the apparatus corresponding to the recognized motion from the stored recognition model;

executing the selected function;

requesting, after the executing the selected function, the user to confirm whether the executed function was a function intended by the user;

determining whether the executed function was a function intended by the user, based on information input by the user through a user interface of the apparatus in response to the request; and

updating the stored recognition model based on a result of the determining.

7. The method of claim 6, further comprising:

determining attachment information based at least in part on whether an external device is attached to or detached from the apparatus; and

selecting the function further based at least in part on the attachment information.

8. The method of claim 6, further comprising:

determining whether an earphone is attached to the apparatus; and

selecting the function further based on the determination that the earphone is attached.

9. The method of claim 6, wherein the recognition model comprises a stochastic model.

10. The method of claim 6, wherein the function is selected based at least in part on a number of times the function is executed in relation with the sensed motion.

11. A non-transitory machine-readable storage device storing instructions that, when executed by one or more processors, cause the one or more processors to perform operations comprising:

determining whether a motion, sensed through a motion sensor of an apparatus is a recognized motion in a stored recognition model;

in response to determining that the sensed motion is a recognized motion, selecting a function of the apparatus corresponding to the recognized motion from the stored recognition model;

executing the selected function;

requesting, after the executing the selected function, the user to confirm whether the executed function was a function intended by the user;

determining whether the executed function was a function intended by the user, based on information input by the user through a user interface of the apparatus in response to the request; and

updating the stored recognition model based on a result of the determining.