MOBILE TERMINAL AND CONTROLLING METHOD THEREOF

• US 20140269224A1
• Filed: 08/02/2013
• Published: 09/18/2014
• Est. Priority Date: 03/15/2013
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: LG Electronics, Inc. (LG Corporation)
• Original Assignee: Jiyoung Huh
• Inventors: HUH, Jiyoung, Park, Myungeun, Hong, Seungbum
• Granted Patent: US 9,310,779 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 368/73
• CPC Class Codes: A61B 5/024 Detecting, measuring or recording pulse rate or heart rate A61B5/0205, A61B5/021 take precedence
• CPC Class Codes: A61B 5/026 Measuring blood flow A61B3/1233, A61B3/1241 take precedence
• CPC Class Codes: A61B 5/14542 for measuring blood gases A61B5/14551 takes precedence
• CPC Class Codes: A61B 5/318 Heart-related electrical modalities, e.g. electrocardiography [ECG]
• CPC Class Codes: A61B 5/369 Electroencephalography [EEG] devices for psychotechnics A61B5/16
• CPC Class Codes: A61B 5/389 Electromyography [EMG]
• CPC Class Codes: A61B 5/4806 Sleep evaluation A61B5/4821 takes precedence; devices for inducing sleep A61M21/02
• CPC Class Codes: G04G 13/021 Details
• CPC Class Codes: G04G 21/025 for measuring physiological data
• CPC Class Codes: H04M 1/72403 with means for local support of applications that increase the functionality
• 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

Abstract

A terminal and a method of controlling the same are disclosed, by which a snooze function for an alarm can be activated depending on whether a user sleeps after outputting the alarm. The terminal may include a measuring unit configured to measure a bio-information of a user, a memory having an alarm set therein, an alarm unit configured to output the alarm, and a controller configured to measure the bio-information of the user through the measuring unit after the outputted alarm. The controller, when determining that the user is currently asleep based on the measured bio-information, may control a snooze function for the alarm to be automatically activated.

Claims

1. A mobile terminal, comprising:

a sensor configured to sense information associated with a user;

a memory to store prescribed alarm settings;

an output device to provide an alarm based on the stored alarm settings; and

a controller configured to control the alarm based on the sensed information, wherein the controller

controls the output device to output the alarm based on the alarm settings,

controls the sensor to sense the information associated with the user after the alarm is provided,

determines whether the sensed information corresponds to a sleep state of the user, and

automatically activates a snooze function when the sensed information corresponds to the sleep state.

2. The mobile terminal of claim 1, wherein the sensed information includes at least one of a pulse, a body temperature, data for an electrocardiogram, data for an electromyogram, data for an electroencephalogram, a blood flow or oxygen saturation.

3. The mobile terminal of claim 1, wherein the mobile terminal is a wristwatch, and wherein the sensor is provided on a surface of the wristwatch to contact the user'"'"'s skin.

4. The mobile terminal of claim 1, further including a wireless communication interface that receives time information associated with a sunrise, and wherein the alarm is set to output based on the received time information while the user is asleep.

5. The mobile terminal of claim 1, further including a light sensor that measures a level of ambient light, wherein the alarm is set to output when the measured level of light is greater than or equal to a prescribed threshold while the user is asleep.

6. The mobile terminal of claim 1, wherein the controller sets the alarm when the user is asleep.

7. The mobile terminal of claim 1, further including a sensor that senses a motion of the mobile terminal, wherein the alarm is set to output when an amount of sensed motion is less than or equal to a prescribed threshold while the user is asleep.

8. The mobile terminal of claim 1, further including a sensor that senses acceleration of the mobile terminal, wherein the alarm is set to output when the sensed acceleration of the mobile terminal is greater than or equal to a prescribed threshold while the user is asleep.

9. The mobile terminal of claim 1, wherein the alarm is set to output in response to a prescribed event while the user is asleep, the prescribed event being at least one of a sunrise, a sunset, an amount of ambient light, vital signs of a user, a motion of the mobile terminal, an acceleration of the mobile terminal, or an output from an application program executing on the mobile terminal.

10. The mobile terminal of claim 1, wherein a setting for the snooze function is stored in the memory, the snooze setting including at least one of a period of time between alarm outputs, a number of times the alarm is output, or a type of sound output during the snooze function, and wherein the snooze setting is changeable after activation of the snooze function.

11. The mobile terminal of claim 10, further including

a motion sensor configured to sense a motion gesture performed on the mobile terminal;

and

a touchscreen configured to sense a touch gesture,

wherein the controller sets or changes the at least one of the period of time between alarm output, the number of times the alarm is output, or the type of sound output during the snooze function in response to the motion gesture sensed by the sensor or the touch gesture sensed by the touchscreen.

12. The mobile terminal of claim 1, further including

a display, wherein when the snooze function is activated, the controller is configured to recognize a current state of health of the user based on the measured information, and wherein the controller controls the display to display at least one of information indicating the recognized state of health or information regarding exercises for improving the recognized state of health.

13. The mobile terminal of claim 1, wherein, after the snooze function has been activated, the controller controls the sensor to sense information associated with the user, determines a sleep state of the user based on the sensed information, and determines whether to end the snooze function based on the recognized sleep state.

14. The mobile terminal of claim 13, wherein the controller determines a level of sleep corresponding to a level of the sensed information, a lower level of sleep associated with light sleep and a higher level of sleep associated with deep sleep,

wherein, when the determined level of sleep is lower than or equal to a reference level, the controller ends the snooze function, and

wherein, when the determined sleep level is higher than the reference level, the controller maintains the snooze function.

15. The mobile terminal of claim 14, wherein, when the determined level of sleep gets closer to the reference level, the controller decreases a volume of an alarm for the snooze function, and when the level of sleep gets farther from the reference level, the controller increases the volume of the alarm for the snooze function.

16. The mobile terminal of claim 14, wherein, when the snooze function is active while an audio content is being played back, a volume of the audio content is increased corresponding to an increase in the determined level of sleep and decreased corresponding to a decrease in the determined level of sleep.

17. The mobile terminal of claim 14, wherein, in a case the snooze function is active while an audio content is being played, when the determined level of sleep is lower than or equal to the reference level, the controller ends the snooze function and decreases a volume of the audio content, and when the determined level of sleep is higher than the reference level, the controller maintains the snooze function and stops playback of the audio content.

18. The mobile terminal of claim 14, wherein, when a prescribed event is detected while the snooze function is active, the controller is configured to defer notification of the prescribed event when the determined level of sleep is greater than the reference level.

19. The mobile terminal of claim 13, further including a wireless communication interface coupled to at least one external device, wherein when the controller maintains the snooze function based on the recognized sleep state, the controller controls the at least one external device to output an alarm according to the snooze function, and when the controller ends the snooze function based on the recognized sleep state, the controller controls the at least one external device to perform a previously set operation.

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

activating an alarm function based on an alarm setting stored in a memory;

determining whether a prescribed condition is satisfied according to the alarm setting;

outputting an alarm through an output device in response to the prescribed condition;

sensing information associated with a user after the alarm is output, the sensed information corresponding to vital signs of the user;

determining whether the sensed information corresponds to a prescribed sleep state based on the sensed information; and

automatically activating a snooze function when the sensed information corresponds to the prescribed sleep state.