MOBILE TERMINAL AND FUNCTION CONTROL METHOD THEREOF

• US 20100062804A1
• Filed: 03/06/2008
• Published: 03/11/2010
• Est. Priority Date: 03/13/2007
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Lenovo Innovations Ltd Hong Kong (Lenovo Group Ltd.)
• Original Assignee: Lenovo Innovations Ltd Hong Kong (Lenovo Group Ltd.)
• Inventors: Yonemochi, Yasuhiro
• Granted Patent: US 9,167,074 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 455/556.100
• CPC Class Codes: H04M 1/0245 using open/close detection
• CPC Class Codes: H04M 1/72463 to restrict the functionality of the device
• 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
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 4/027 using movement velocity, acceleration information

Abstract

The present invention provides a mobile terminal and a function control method thereof that can appropriately set or release an operation mode in accordance with a situation of a user. A mobile terminal includes an opening/closing sensor 18 that detects whether the mobile terminal is in an opened state or a closed state, an acceleration sensor 11 that detects acceleration and a posture of the mobile terminal, and a control unit 12 that restricts an execution of a specific function in accordance with the detection result of the opening/closing sensor 18 and releases a restriction of at least a portion of the restricted specific function in accordance with the detection result of the acceleration sensor 11.

Claims

1. A mobile terminal that takes at least two forms of a utilization state and a non-utilization state, comprising:

a state detecting unit that detects whether the mobile terminal is in the non-utilization state;

an acceleration sensor;

a posture detecting unit that detects a posture of the mobile terminal;

a restricting unit that restricts an execution of a specific function in accordance with the detection result of the state detecting unit; and

a restriction releasing unit that releases a restriction of at least a portion of the specific function restricted by the restricting unit, in accordance with the detection results of the acceleration sensor and the posture detecting unit.

2. The mobile terminal according to claim 1,

wherein the restriction releasing unit determines whether a possessor of the mobile terminal is moving in accordance with the detection result of the acceleration sensor, and determines whether the mobile terminal is held at an operation enabled posture in accordance with the detection result of the posture detecting unit, and

when it is determined that the possessor of the mobile terminal is not moving and the mobile terminal is not held at the operation enabled posture, the restriction releasing unit releases the restriction of at least a portion of the specific function restricted by the restricting unit.

3. The mobile terminal according to claim 1,

wherein the mobile terminal is a mobile phone terminal that has a mobile communication function.

4. The mobile terminal according to claim 1,

wherein the acceleration sensor and the posture detecting unit are integrally configured.

5. The mobile terminal according to claim 1,

wherein the specific function is information display.

6. The mobile terminal according to claim 1,

wherein the specific function is reception of an operation through a user interface.

7. A function control method of a mobile terminal, comprising:

a state detecting step of detecting whether the mobile terminal is in a utilization state or a non-utilization state;

an acceleration detecting step of detecting acceleration applied to the mobile terminal;

a posture detecting step of detecting a posture of the mobile terminal;

a restricting step of restricting an execution of a specific function, in accordance with the detection result in the state detecting step; and

a restriction releasing step of releasing a restriction of at least a portion of the specific function restricted in the restricting step, in accordance with the detection results in the acceleration detecting step and the posture detecting step.

8. The function control method according to claim 7,

wherein, in the restriction releasing step, it is determined whether a possessor of the mobile terminal is moving in accordance with the detection result in the acceleration detecting step, and it is determined whether the mobile terminal is held at an operation enabled posture in accordance with the detection result in the posture detecting step, and

when it is determined that the possessor of the mobile terminal is not moving and the mobile terminal is held at the operation enabled posture, the restriction of at least a portion of the specific function restricted in the restricting step is released.

9. A mobile terminal that takes at least two forms of a utilization state and a non-utilization state, comprising:

state detecting means for detecting whether the mobile terminal is in the non-utilization state;

an acceleration sensor;

posture detecting means for detecting a posture of the mobile terminal;

restricting means for restricting an execution of a specific function in accordance with the detection result of the state detecting means; and

restriction releasing means for releasing a restriction of at least a portion of the specific function restricted by the restricting means, in accordance with the detection results of the acceleration sensor and the posture detecting means.