MOBILE TERMINAL AND CONTROLLING METHOD THEREOF

• US 20140141800A1
• Filed: 10/16/2013
• Published: 05/22/2014
• Est. Priority Date: 11/16/2012
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: LG Electronics, Inc. (LG Corporation)
• Original Assignee: LG Electronics, Inc. (LG Corporation)
• Inventors: EUM, Hyejin, KIM, Hyunjin, PARK, Mihyun, KIM, Seonghyok, SHIM, Hongjo
• Granted Patent: US 9,131,348 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 455/456.1
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 4/043 using ambient awareness, e.g. involving buildings using floor or room numbers
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 4/33 for indoor environments, e.g. buildings

Abstract

A mobile terminal and controlling method thereof are disclosed, which facilitates a terminal to be used in further consideration of user'"'"'s convenience. The present invention includes sensing a humidity through a humidity sensor, receiving an AP (access point) location information through a wireless communication unit if a variation amount of the sensed humidity per unit time is equal to or greater than a prescribed value, determining whether a current location is an indoor space or an outdoor space based on the received AP location information, and activating a function of indoor location measurement if the determined location is the indoor space. The present invention determines a timing point of an outdoor-to-indoor or indoor-to-outdoor location shift of a mobile terminal and then activates an indoor location measuring function based on the result of the determination.

Claims

1. A mobile terminal comprising:

a humidity sensor;

a wireless communication unit; and

a controller sensing a humidity through the humidity sensor, the controller receiving an AP (access point) location information through the wireless communication unit if a variation amount of the sensed humidity per unit time is equal to or greater than a prescribed value, the controller determining whether a current location is an indoor space or an outdoor space based on the received AP location information, the controller activating a function of indoor location measurement if the determined location is the indoor space.

2. The mobile terminal of claim 1, wherein if the determined location is the indoor space and a plurality of estimated locations obtained through the indoor location measurement include both of the indoor location and the outdoor location, the controller determines that the estimated outdoor location is an invalid location.

3. The mobile terminal of claim 1, wherein the controller receives the AP location information through a short range communication network and wherein the AP location information comprises at least one of a location coordinates information of an AP acceded through the short range communication network and an identification information of the accessed AP.

4. The mobile terminal of claim 3, wherein the short range communication network comprises Wi-Fi network.

5. The mobile terminal of claim 1, wherein the controller receives AP location information and/or AP identification information of a plurality of APs through the wireless communication unit, wherein the controller senses strengths of AP signals respectively transmitted by a plurality of the APs, and wherein the controller performs the indoor location measurement based on the received location information and/or identification information and the sensed signal strength.

6. The mobile terminal of claim 5, wherein in performing the indoor location measurement, the controller obtains a plurality of the AP signal strengths measured at a plurality of different points in the indoor space and then estimates the current location by comparing each of the AP signal strength to the obtained AP signal strength at the current location.

7. The mobile terminal of claim 5, further comprising a motion sensing unit configured to sense a motion including at least one of direction and acceleration of the mobile terminal, wherein the controller performs the indoor location measurement further based on the sensed motion in performing the indoor location measurement.

8. The mobile terminal of claim 5, further comprising a memory configured to store information on an indoor layout, wherein the controller estimates a location in the indoor layout through the indoor location measurement.

9. The mobile terminal of claim 8, wherein the indoor layout information comprises at least one selected from the group consisting of a room of the indoor space, a room boundary and a room entrance location, wherein the controller further detects a variation of the humidity additionally through the humidity sensor, and wherein if an amount of the additionally detected variation of the humidity per unit time is equal to or greater than a prescribed value, the controller modifies the estimated location into the room entrance location.

10. The mobile terminal of claim 9, wherein if the indoor layout information includes locations of a plurality of room entrances, the controller modifies the estimated location into the location of the room entrance closest to the estimated location among the locations of a plurality of the room entrances.

11. A method of controlling a mobile terminal, comprising the steps of:

sensing a humidity through a humidity sensor;

receiving an AP (access point) location information through a wireless communication unit if a variation amount of the sensed humidity per unit time is equal to or greater than a prescribed value;

determining whether a current location is an indoor space or an outdoor space based on the received AP location information; and

activating a function of indoor location measurement if the determined location is the indoor space.

12. The method of claim 11, wherein if the determined location is the indoor space and a plurality of estimated locations obtained through the indoor location measurement include both of the indoor location and the outdoor location, the estimated outdoor location is determined as an invalid location.

13. The method of claim 11, wherein the receiving step comprises the step of receiving the AP location information through a short range communication network and wherein the AP location information comprises at least one of a location coordinates information of an AP acceded through the short range communication network and an identification information of the accessed AP.

14. The method of claim 13, wherein the short range communication network comprises Wi-Fi network.

15. The method of claim 11, further comprising the steps of:

receiving AP location information and/or AP identification information of a plurality of APs through the wireless communication unit;

sensing strengths of AP signals respectively transmitted by a plurality of the APs; and

performing the indoor location measurement based on the received location information and/or identification information and the sensed signal strength.

16. The method of claim 15, the indoor location measurement performing step, comprising the steps of:

obtaining a plurality of the AP signal strengths measured at a plurality of different points in the indoor space; and

estimating the current location by comparing each of the AP signal strength to the obtained AP signal strength at the current location.

17. The method of claim 15, further comprising the step of sensing a motion including at least one of direction and acceleration of the mobile terminal, wherein the indoor location measurement step is performed further based on the sensed motion.

18. The method of claim 15, the indoor location measurement performing step estimates a location in the indoor layout through the indoor location measurement.

19. The method of claim 18, wherein the indoor layout information comprises at least one selected from the group consisting of a room of the indoor space, a room boundary and a room entrance location, wherein the indoor location measurement performing step comprises the steps of further detecting a variation of the humidity additionally through the humidity sensor and if an amount of the additionally detected variation of the humidity per unit time is equal to or greater than a prescribed value, modifying the estimated location into the room entrance location.

20. The method of claim 19, the modifying step, comprising the step of if the indoor layout information includes locations of a plurality of room entrances, modifying the estimated location into the location of the room entrance closest to the estimated location among the locations of a plurality of the room entrances.