MOBILE TERMINAL AND EVENT PROCESSING METHOD

• US 20080032748A1
• Filed: 07/13/2007
• Published: 02/07/2008
• Est. Priority Date: 08/02/2006
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Samsung Electronics Co. Ltd.
• Original Assignee: Samsung Electronics Co. Ltd.
• Inventors: CHOI, Kyu-Ok, Bang, Won-Chul
• Granted Patent: US 9,203,950 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 455/566
• CPC Class Codes: H04M 1/0202 Portable telephone sets, e.g. cordless phones, mobile phones or bar type handsets constructional features of telephone transmitters or receivers, e.g. of speakers or microphones H04M1/03
• 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 19/04 the ringing-current being generated at the substations
• CPC Class Codes: H04M 19/047 Vibrating means for incoming calls
• CPC Class Codes: H04M 19/048 Arrangements providing optical indication of the incoming call, e.g. flasher circuits
• CPC Class Codes: H04M 2250/12 including a sensor for measuring a physical value, e.g. temperature or motion
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 68/005 Transmission of information for alerting of incoming communication

Abstract

Provided is a mobile terminal having a sensor detecting movement thereof and an event processing method. The mobile terminal includes: a placement attitude detector for monitoring, in response to detection of an event, movement of the mobile terminal for a preset time duration to identify a placement attitude of the mobile terminal; and a controller for processing the event in an operating mode corresponding to the identified placement attitude. As a result, the user can readily switch operating modes of the mobile terminal by changing placement attitudes thereof.

Claims

1. A mobile terminal comprising:

a placement attitude detector for monitoring, in response to detection of an event, movement of the mobile terminal for a preset time duration to identify a placement attitude of the mobile terminal; and

a controller for processing the event in an operating mode corresponding to the identified placement attitude and to a first placement attitude set in advance.

2. The mobile terminal of claim 1, wherein the controller processes the event in a silent mode if the identified placement attitude remains constant for the preset time duration and is equal to the first placement attitude.

3. The mobile terminal of claim 1, wherein the placement attitude detector comprises a sensor for measuring acceleration of the mobile terminal, and an attitude determiner for calculating the placement attitude of the mobile terminal using the measured acceleration.

4. The mobile terminal of claim 1, further comprising a memory unit for storing the processed event.

5. The mobile terminal of claim 2, wherein the controller processes the event in a mode set by a user if the identified placement attitude is changed to a placement attitude other than the first placement attitude within the preset time duration.

6. The mobile terminal of claim 2, wherein the preset time duration is less than 1 second.

7. The mobile terminal of claim 4, wherein the memory unit stores the first placement attitude set for event processing in a silent mode.

8. The mobile terminal of claim 7, wherein the first placement attitude is a placement attitude of the mobile terminal that remains constant for a preset time interval.

9. The mobile terminal of claim 1, further comprising a display unit for displaying the event, and wherein the controller shuts off supply of power to the display unit if the identified placement attitude is equal to the first placement attitude.

10. The mobile terminal of claim 1, wherein the event corresponds to one of an incoming call, an incoming message, a wake-up alarm, and a schedule alarm.

11. The mobile terminal of claim 10, further comprising a communication unit for receiving an incoming call, and wherein the controller processes the received call in a no-answer state if the identified placement attitude is equal to the first placement attitude.

12. The mobile terminal of claim 11, wherein the controller controls the communication unit to transmit an automatic response message to another mobile terminal transmitting the call.

13. The mobile terminal of claim 10, wherein the controller controls, in response to detection of an event corresponding to one of an incoming message, a wake-up alarm and a schedule alarm, a display operation to display contents of the detected event as a popup.

14. An event processing method for a mobile terminal having a sensor for measuring acceleration, comprising:

identifying, in response to detection of an event, a placement attitude of the mobile terminal; and

processing the event in an operating mode corresponding to the identified placement attitude and to a first placement attitude set in advance.

15. The event processing method of claim 14, wherein in the processing the event step, the operating mode is set to a silent mode if the identified placement attitude remains constant for a preset time duration and is equal to the first placement attitude.

16. The event processing method of claim 15, wherein in the identifying a placement attitude step, acceleration of the mobile terminal is measured and the placement attitude of the mobile terminal is calculated using the measured acceleration.

17. The event processing method of claim 15, wherein the processing the event step further comprises storing the processed event.

18. The event processing method of claim 15, further comprising processing the event in a mode set by a user if the identified placement attitude is changed to a placement attitude other than the first placement attitude within the preset time duration.

19. The event processing method of claim 15, wherein the preset time duration is less than 1 second.

20. The event processing method of claim 14, further comprising setting the first placement attitude for event processing in a silent mode.

21. The event processing method of claim 20, wherein the first placement attitude is a placement attitude of the mobile terminal that remains constant for a preset time interval.

22. The event processing method of claim 14, further comprising shutting off supply of power to a display unit if the identified placement attitude is equal to the first placement attitude.

23. The event processing method of claim 14, wherein the event corresponds to one of an incoming call, incoming message, wake-up alarm, and schedule alarm.

24. The event processing method of claim 23, wherein in the processing the event step, a received call is processed in a no-answer state if the identified placement attitude is equal to the first placement attitude.

25. The event processing method of claim 24, wherein in the processing the event step, an automatic response message is transmitted as a reply to another mobile terminal transmitting the call.

26. The event processing method of claim 23, wherein in the processing the event step, in response to detection of an event corresponding to an incoming message, a wake-up alarm or a schedule alarm, contents of the detected event are displayed as a popup.