MOBILE TERMINAL AND CONTROL METHOD THEREOF

• US 20140032880A1
• Filed: 07/23/2013
• Published: 01/30/2014
• Est. Priority Date: 07/26/2012
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: LG Electronics, Inc. (LG Corporation)
• Original Assignee: LG Electronics, Inc. (LG Corporation)
• Inventors: KA, Hokyung
• Granted Patent: US 10,083,042 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 712/30
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 1/3206 Monitoring of events, devices or parameters that trigger a change in power modality
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 1/325 Power saving in peripheral device
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 1/3293 by switching to a less power-consuming processor, e.g. sub-CPU
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 2200/1637 Sensing arrangement for detection of housing movement or orientation, e.g. for controlling scrolling or cursor movement on the display of an handheld computer
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 9/3885 using a plurality of independent parallel functional units
• CPC Class Codes: Y02D 10/00 Energy efficient computing, e.g. low power processors, power management or thermal management

Abstract

A mobile terminal and a method for controlling the mobile terminal are disclosed. A mobile terminal according to one embodiment of the present invention comprises at least one sensor; a first processor for controlling operation of the at least one sensor; a second processor for controlling an application; and a vibration unit detecting a force applied by the user, where the vibration unit is woken up when a force applied by the user exceeds a predetermined magnitude while the at least one sensor, the first processor, the second processor, and the vibration unit are all in a sleep state; and if the first processor is woken up by the vibration unit, the first processor wakes up the second processor based on sensing data collected by the at least one sensor.

Claims

1. A mobile terminal, comprising:

at least one sensor;

a first processor configured to control operation of the at least one sensor;

a second processor configured to control an application; and

a vibration unit configured to detect a force applied by the user, wherein the vibration unit is woken up when a force applied by the user exceeds a predetermined magnitude while the at least one sensor, the first processor, the second processor, and the vibration unit are all in a sleep state; and

if the first processor is woken up by the vibration unit, the first processor wakes up the second processor based on sensing data collected by the at least one sensor.

2. The mobile terminal of claim 1, wherein the second processor executes at least one application corresponding to the collected sensing data from among at least one application.

3. The mobile terminal of claim 1, wherein the at least one sensor includes at least one of an accelerometer, gyro sensor, piezoelectric sensor, position sensor, temperature sensor, and humidity sensor.

4. The mobile terminal of claim 1, wherein the first processor adjusts a sampling period at which the at least one sensor obtains sensing data according to the magnitude of a force applied by the user.

5. The mobile terminal of claim 4, wherein the vibration unit classifies the user'"'"'s state according to the magnitude of a force applied by the user into a grip state in which the user grips the mobile terminal, a walking state in which the user walks while gripping the mobile terminal, and a running state in which the user runs while gripping the mobile terminal.

6. The mobile terminal of claim 1, wherein the first processor analyzes the collected sensing data and wakes up the second processor when context information of the user is recognized based on the collected sensing data.

7. The mobile terminal of claim 1, wherein the first processor activates at least part of sensors from among the at least one sensor based on a vibration pattern detected by the vibration unit.

8. The mobile terminal of claim 1, wherein the application corresponds to a motion detection application.

9. The mobile terminal of claim 1, wherein the vibration unit enters the sleep state in case the user'"'"'s force detected by the vibration unit is less than a predetermined magnitude.

10. A method for controlling a mobile terminal, comprising:

detecting a force applied by the user through a vibration unit while at least one sensor, a first processor for controlling operation of the at least one sensor, a second processor for controlling an application, and the vibration unit detecting the force applied by the user are all in a sleep state;

waking up the vibration unit when the detected force exceeds a predetermined magnitude;

waking up a first processor for controlling operation of at least one sensor through the vibration unit;

waking up at least one sensor through the first processor;

collecting sensing data through the at least one sensor woken up; and

waking up the second processor through the first processor.

11. The method of claim 10, further comprising carrying out at least one application corresponding to the collected sensing data from among at least one application if the second processor is woken up.

12. The method of claim 10, wherein the collecting the sensing data adjusting a sampling period at which sensing data are obtained from the at least one sensor according to a magnitude of a force applied by the user.

13. The method of claim 10, wherein the waking up the second processor comprises:

analyzing the collected sensing data;

recognizing context information of the user based on the collected sensing data; and

waking up the second processor if context information of the user is recognized.

14. The method of claim 10, wherein the waking up the at least one sensor analyzes a vibration pattern detected by the vibration unit and wakes up at least one sensor corresponding to the vibration pattern.

15. The method of claim 10, wherein the vibration unit enters a sleep state in case the user'"'"'s force detected by the vibration unit is less than a predetermined magnitude while the vibration unit is activated.