Method and apparatus for adjusting a sleep mode display mechanism of an electronic device

• US 10,481,667 B2
• Filed: 10/18/2017
• Issued: 11/19/2019
• Est. Priority Date: 08/11/2014
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Google Technology Holdings LLC (Alphabet Inc.)
• Original Assignee: Google Technology Holdings LLC (Alphabet Inc.)
• Inventors: Dharawat, Parikshit
• Primary Examiner(s): Elamin, Abdelmoniem I
• Application Number:
  US15/787,367
• Publication Number:
  US 20180039318A1
• Time in Patent Office: 762 Days
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 1/3215 Monitoring of peripheral devices
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 1/3265 Power saving in display device
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 1/3287 by switching off individual functional units in the computer system
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 1/3293 by switching to a less power-consuming processor, e.g. sub-CPU
• CPC Class Codes: Y02D 10/00 Energy efficient computing, e.g. low power processors, power management or thermal management
• CPC Class Codes: Y02D 30/50 in wire-line communication networks, e.g. low power modes or reduced link rate

Abstract

An electronic device performs a method for adjusting a sleep mode display mechanism. The method includes determining, responsive to a trigger, whether a trusted device is proximate to the electronic device. The method further includes adjusting a sleep mode display mechanism of the electronic device when the trusted device is determined to be proximate to the electronic device.

Claims

1. A method comprising:

responsive to receiving an indication of a triggering event, determining, by an electronic device and based on information received by a sensing component of the electronic device, whether the electronic device is proximate to a trusted device that is authenticated by the electronic device;

responsive to determining that the electronic device is proximate to the trusted device, adjusting a privacy setting that controls a sleep mode display mechanism of the electronic device to determine an amount of content that is displayed at a display component of the electronic device while one or more components of the electronic device are in a sleep mode.

2. The method of claim 1, wherein the triggering event comprises a primary processor of the electronic device awakening from the sleep mode for a first time duration to perform a function before returning to the sleep mode.

3. The method of claim 1, wherein the triggering event comprises an audio trigger detected while a primary processor of the electronic device is in the sleep mode.

4. The method of claim 1, wherein the sleep mode display mechanism is set to be activated for a time duration and then deactivated after expiration of the time duration.

5. The method of claim 1, wherein adjusting the privacy setting to determine the amount of content that is displayed at the display component comprises causing the display component to display expanded content instead of first content, the display component displaying the first content when the electronic device is not proximate to the trusted device.

6. The method of claim 5, further comprising:

after expiration of a time duration without receiving an indication of another triggering event to determine whether the electronic device is proximate to the trusted device, causing the display component to display the first content instead of the expanded content.

7. The method of claim 5, wherein the first content comprises an icon that indicates a message, and wherein the expanded content comprises at least a portion of content within the message.

8. The method of claim 1, wherein determining whether the electronic device is proximate to the trusted device comprises determining whether the electronic device has received a short-range communication signal from the trusted device.

9. The method of claim 8, wherein determining whether the electronic device is proximate to the trusted device further comprises determining at least one of:

whether a signal strength of the short-range communication signal exceeds a signal strength threshold;

or

whether a signal quality of the of the short-range communication signal exceeds a signal quality threshold.

10. The method of claim 1,

wherein adjusting the privacy setting comprises overriding the privacy setting for a time duration to determine the amount of the content that is displayed at the display component while the one or more components of the electronic device are in the sleep mode.

11. The method of claim 1, wherein determining the amount of the content that is displayed at the display component while the one or more components of the electronic device are in the sleep mode is based on a determined distance range from a plurality of distance ranges between the trusted device and the electronic device.

12. An electronic device comprising:

at least one processor;

a display component coupled to the at least one processor; and

a sensing component coupled to the at least one processor,

wherein the at least one processor is configured to;

responsive to receiving an indication of a triggering event, determine, based on information received by the sensing component, whether the electronic device is proximate to a trusted device that is authenticated by the electronic device; and

responsive to determining that the electronic device is proximate to the trusted device, adjust a privacy setting that controls a sleep mode display mechanism of the electronic device to determine an amount of content that is displayed at the display component of the electronic device while one or more of the display component or the at least one processor are in a sleep mode.

13. The electronic device of claim 12, wherein the at least one processor is configured to adjust the privacy setting to determine the amount of content that is displayed at the display component by causing the display component to display expanded content instead of displaying first content, the display component displaying the first content when the electronic device is not proximate to the trusted device.

14. The electronic device of claim 12, wherein the at least one processor includes a primary processor and a secondary processor, and wherein the primary processor is configured to:

periodically awaken from the sleep mode to an awake mode for a first time duration to perform a function and, during the first time duration, to operate with the sensing component to determine whether the electronic device is proximate to the trusted device; and

responsive to determining that the electronic device is proximate to the trusted device, signal the secondary processor to adjust the privacy setting that controls the sleep mode display mechanism of the electronic device to determine the amount of content that is displayed at the display component.

15. The electronic device of claim 12,

wherein the at least one processor includes a primary processor and a secondary processor,

wherein the electronic device further comprises an audio input component,

wherein the secondary processor is configured to monitor input into the audio input component for an audio trigger while the primary processor is in the sleep mode, and

wherein the audio trigger is the triggering event that initiates determining whether the electronic device is proximate the trusted device.

16. The electronic device of claim 12,

wherein the at least one processor is configured to adjust the privacy setting at least by being configured to override the privacy setting for a time duration to determine the amount of the content that is displayed at the display component while one or more of the display component or the at least one processor are in the sleep mode.

17. The electronic device of claim 12, wherein the at least one processor is configured to determine the amount of the content that is displayed at the display component while one or more of the display component or the at least one processor are in the sleep mode based on a determined distance range from a plurality of distance ranges between the trusted device and the electronic device.

18. The electronic device of claim 12, wherein the sensing component comprises a short-range communication component.

19. The electronic device of claim 18, wherein the at least one processor is configured to determine whether the electronic device is proximate to the trusted device at least by being configured to determine whether the short-range communication component has received a short-range communication signal from the trusted device.

20. The electronic device of claim 19, wherein the at least one processor is further configured to determine whether the electronic device is proximate to the trusted device by determining at least one of:

whether a signal strength of the short-range communication signal exceeds a signal strength threshold;

or

whether a signal quality of the of the short-range communication signal exceeds a signal quality threshold.