APPARATUS AND METHOD FOR CONTROLLING VOLUME IN PORTABLE TERMINAL

• US 20100226511A1
• Filed: 02/09/2010
• Published: 09/09/2010
• Est. Priority Date: 03/04/2009
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Samsung Electronics Co. Ltd.
• Original Assignee: Samsung Electronics Co. Ltd.
• Inventors: HUH, Jin-Young, IM, Byung-Jai, CHO, Hyoung-Sang, SOK, Jung-Hoon, PARK, Sei-Hwa, LIM, Kyoung-Man
• Granted Patent: US 9,548,712 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 381/107
• CPC Class Codes: H03G 3/20 Automatic control H03G3/005 takes precedence; combined with volume compression or expansion H03G7/00
• CPC Class Codes: H03G 3/32 the control being dependent upon ambient noise level or sound level

Abstract

An apparatus and a method for controlling a volume in a mobile terminal are provided. The apparatus includes a motion detector and a controller. The motion detector outputs motion information from a user'"'"'s movement. The controller determines the user'"'"'s activity from the motion information output from the motion detector, and determines an appropriate output volume level responsive to the activity.

Claims

1. An apparatus for controlling a volume in a mobile terminal, comprising:

a motion detector for detecting motion information from a user'"'"'s movement; and

a controller for determining the user'"'"'s activity from the detected motion information and determining an output volume level responsive to the user'"'"'s activity.

2. The apparatus of claim 1, wherein the motion information comprises at least one of a movement velocity corresponding to the user'"'"'s movement and a heartbeat.

3. The apparatus of claim 1, wherein the motion detector comprises one or more detecting units for providing the motion information.

4. The apparatus of claim 3, wherein one of the detecting units comprises an acceleration sensor for providing a movement velocity as the motion information.

5. The apparatus of claim 3, wherein one of the detecting units receives a Global Positioning System (GPS) signal when the user moves and provides a corresponding movement velocity as the motion information.

6. The apparatus of claim 1, wherein the apparatus is mounted on the user'"'"'s relevant body portion.

7. The apparatus of claim 1, wherein the motion detector receives the motion information from one or more external units and outputs the received motion information.

8. The apparatus of claim 7, wherein one or more external units are mounted on the user'"'"'s relevant body portion and communicate with the motion detector via a wired line or wirelessly to provide the motion information to the motion detector.

9. The apparatus of claim 8, wherein one of the external units provides the user'"'"'s heartbeat as the motion information.

10. The apparatus of claim 8, wherein one of the external units provides a movement velocity as the motion information.

11. The apparatus of claim 1, further comprising a storage unit for storing in advance volume levels corresponding to the user'"'"'s activities, and the controller determines a specific output volume corresponding the user'"'"'s activity based on the volume values stored in the storage unit.

12. The apparatus of claim 11, wherein the output volume corresponding to the activity is updatable by the user.

13. The apparatus of claim 1, wherein the apparatus transfers the output volume to the user via a wired line or wirelessly.

14. A method for controlling a volume in a mobile terminal, the method comprising:

obtaining motion information from a user'"'"'s movement via at least one detecting unit;

determining the user'"'"'s activity from the obtained motion information; and

determining an output volume in proportion to the determined activity.

15. The method of claim 14, wherein the motion information comprises at least one of a movement velocity corresponding to the user'"'"'s movement and a heartbeat.

16. The method of claim 15, wherein the user'"'"'s activity is in proportion to the movement velocity and/or the heartbeat.

17. The method of claim 15, wherein the obtaining of the motion information from the user'"'"'s movement comprises:

directly obtaining the motion information using the detecting unit provided inside the mobile terminal; and

/or

receiving the motion information from a separate external unit.

18. The method of claim 14, wherein the detecting unit is in communication with a Global Positioning System (GPS) signal.

19. The method of claim 14, wherein the detecting unit comprises an acceleration sensor for providing a movement velocity as the motion information.

20. The method of claim 14, wherein the mobile terminal is in communication with an external unit to obtain the motion information.