METHOD FOR CONSERVING POWER ON A PORTABLE ELECTRONIC DEVICE AND A PORTABLE ELECTRONIC DEVICE CONFIGURED FOR THE SAME

• US 20120154303A1
• Filed: 08/23/2011
• Published: 06/21/2012
• Est. Priority Date: 09/24/2010
• Status: Abandoned Application

• Current Assignee: Malikie Innovations Limited (Key Patent Innovations Limited)
• Original Assignee: Blackberry Limited
• Inventors: Lazaridis, Mihal, Lowles, Robert James, Lindsay, Donald James, Dodge, Danny Thomas, Dolson, John Edward
• Application Number:
  US13/215,481
• Publication Number:
  US 20120154303A1
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 345/173
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 1/3206 Monitoring of events, devices or parameters that trigger a change in power modality
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 1/3215 Monitoring of peripheral devices
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 3/017 Gesture based interaction, e.g. based on a set of recognized hand gestures interaction based on gestures traced on a digitiser G06F3/04883
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 3/04883 for inputting data by handwriting, e.g. gesture or text

Abstract

The present disclosure describes a method for conserving power on a portable electronic device and a portable electronic device configured for the same. In accordance with one embodiment, there is provided a method for conserving power comprising: switching a portable electronic device to a low power mode in response to a trigger condition; and switching the portable electronic device from the low power mode to a full power mode on the portable electronic device in response to detection of a designated wake-up gesture on a touch-sensitive overlay of the portable electronic device.

Claims

1. A method for conserving power on a portable electronic device, comprising:

switching the portable electronic device to a low power mode in response to a trigger condition;

detecting a touch on the touch-sensitive overlay;

determining touch attributes of the touch;

determining when the touch is the designated wake-up gesture based on the determined touch attributes; and

switching the portable electronic device from the low power mode to a full power mode on the portable electronic device in response to detection of the designated wake-up gesture on the touch-sensitive overlay of the portable electronic device.

2. The method of claim 1, wherein the designated wake-up gesture is a pair of swipes each in a designated direction.

3. The method of claim 2, wherein the designated wake-up gesture is a pair of down swipes located towards opposite sides of the portable electronic device.

4. The method of claim 2, wherein the designated wake-up gesture is a pair of up swipes located towards opposite sides of the portable electronic device.

5. The method of claim 1, wherein the designated wake-up gesture is a meta-navigation gesture, wherein the meta-navigation gesture comprises a gesture with a start location outside of a display area of the touch-sensitive overlay and an end location within the display area of the touch-sensitive overlay.

6. The method of claim 5, wherein the determined touch attributes comprise a start location of the touch and one or more of a distance travelled of the touch, a speed of the touch when the touch is detected, a direction of the touch when the touch is detected or an end location of the touch, wherein the touch is determined to be a meta-navigation gesture based on the start location and the one or more of the speed when the touch is detected, the direction of the touch when the touch is detected or the end location of the touch.

7. The method of claim 6, wherein the touch is determined to be a meta-navigation gesture when the start location of the touch is outside of a display area of the touch-sensitive display and the touch travels to the display area of the touch-sensitive display.

8. The method of claim 6, wherein the touch is determined to be a meta-navigation gesture when the start location of the touch is outside of a display area of the touch-sensitive display and an outside of a buffer region adjacent the display area and the touch travels through the buffer region to the display area of the touch-sensitive display.

9. The method of claim 8, wherein the touch is not a meta-navigation gesture when the start location is in the buffer region.

10. The method of claim 5, wherein detecting a touch comprises detecting multiple touches that overlap in time on the touch-sensitive display and determining touch attributes for each touch, wherein determining when the touch is the designated wake-up gesture comprises determining that the multiple touches comprise a meta-navigation gesture when at least one of the touches is a meta-navigation gesture.

11. The method of claim 1, wherein the designated wake-up gesture is performed in a designated area of the touch-sensitive overlay.

12. The method of claim 11, wherein the designated area is outside of a display area of the touch-sensitive overlay.

13. The method of claim 11, wherein the designated area is a buffer region between a display area and a non-display area of the touch-sensitive overlay.

14. The method of claim 11, wherein the designated area is a non-display area outside of a buffer region adjacent to a display area of the touch-sensitive overlay.

15. The method of claim 11, wherein only the designated area of the touch-sensitive overlay is scanned to detect the designated wake-up gesture.

16. The method of claim 1, wherein inputs other than the designated wake-up gesture are ignored when the portable electronic device is in the low power mode.

17. An electronic device comprising:

a display;

a touch-sensitive overlay which overlays a portion of the display;

a processor coupled to the touch-sensitive overlay, wherein the processor is configured for switching to a low power mode in response to a trigger condition;

detecting a touch on the touch-sensitive overlay;

determining touch attributes of the touch;

determining when the touch is the designated wake-up gesture based on the determined touch attributes; and

switching from the low power mode to a full power mode on the portable electronic device in response to detection of the designated wake-up gesture on the touch-sensitive overlay.

18. An electronic device comprising:

a display;

a touch-sensitive overlay which overlays at least a portion of the display;

a touch-sensitive bezel adjacent the touch-sensitive display;

a processor coupled to the touch-sensitive overlay and touch-sensitive bezel, wherein the processor is configured for switching to a low power mode in response to a trigger condition;

detecting a touch on the touch-sensitive overlay;

determining touch attributes of the touch;

determining when the touch is the designated wake-up gesture based on the determined touch attributes; and

switching from the low power mode to a full power mode on the portable electronic device in response to detection of the designated wake-up gesture on the touch-sensitive overlay.

19. The electronic device of claim 18, wherein the designated wake-up gesture is a meta-navigation gesture which comprises a gesture with a start location on the touch-sensitive bezel.

20. The electronic device of claim 19, wherein the meta-navigation gesture comprises a gesture with a start location on the touch-sensitive bezel and the touch travels across the touch-sensitive bezel to a display area of the touch-sensitive display.