CONTROLLING INPUT/OUTPUT DEVICES

• US 20150242608A1
• Filed: 11/10/2014
• Published: 08/27/2015
• Est. Priority Date: 02/21/2014
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Samsung Electronics Co. Ltd.
• Original Assignee: Samsung Electronics Co. Ltd.
• Inventors: KIM, Hyun-Soo, SHIN, Hyun-Seok, CHOI, Jong-Min, CHEONG, Cheol-Ho
• Granted Patent: US 10,169,559 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 1/1
• CPC Class Codes: A61B 5/02405 Determining heart rate variability
• CPC Class Codes: A61B 5/02438 with portable devices, e.g. worn by the patient
• CPC Class Codes: A61B 5/1112 Global tracking of patients, e.g. by using GPS
• 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 5/4869 Determining body composition
• CPC Class Codes: A61B 5/6844 Monitoring or controlling distance between sensor and tissue
• CPC Class Codes: A61B 5/6898 Portable consumer electronic devices, e.g. music players, telephones, tablet computers
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 1/163 Wearable computers, e.g. on a belt
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 1/3231 Monitoring the presence, absence or movement of users
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 1/3287 by switching off individual functional units in the computer system
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 13/102 where the programme performs an interfacing function, e.g. device driver G06F13/105 takes precedence; scheduling within device drivers G06F9/52; contention policies within device drivers G06F9/4881
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 21/32 using biometric data, e.g. fingerprints, iris scans or voiceprints
• CPC Class Codes: H04M 1/67 by electronic means
• CPC Class Codes: H04M 1/72412 using two-way short-range wireless interfaces
• CPC Class Codes: H04M 1/72454 according to context-related or environment-related conditions
• 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
• CPC Class Codes: Y02D 10/00 Energy efficient computing, e.g. low power processors, power management or thermal management

Abstract

An electronic device is provided processor configured to: receive a biological signal of a user; detect whether the electronic device is attached to or detached from the user based on at least the biological signal; and control an I/O device operationally connected to the electronic device based on whether the electronic device is attached to or detached from the user.

Claims

1. An electronic device comprising a processor configured to:

receive a biological signal of a user;

detect whether the electronic device is attached to or detached from the user based on at least the biological signal; and

control an I/O device operationally connected to the electronic device based on whether the electronic device is attached to or detached from the user.

2. The electronic device of claim 1, wherein the biological signal represents at least one of an electrocardiogram (ECG), heart rate, heart rate variability (HRV), fingerprint, iris, body fat, oxygen saturation, pulse, skin hydration, skin hydration index, blood vessel information, a face image, a voice sample, an image of an eye, lines of the palm of a hand of the user, electromyogram or brain waves.

3. The electronic device of claim 1, wherein the processor is further configured to authenticate the user based on at least one of the biological signal or motion information of the electronic device.

4. The electronic device of claim 1, wherein the processor is further configured to obtain a signal strength of the biological signal, detect that the electronic device is attached to the user if the signal strength falls within a first range, and detect that the electronic device is detached from the user if the signal strength falls within a second range.

5. The electronic device of claim 4, wherein the processor is further configured to determine that the electronic device is incompletely attached to the user if the signal strength falls within a third range.

6. The electronic device of claim 5, wherein the processor is further configured to provide, through the I/O device, at least one of an indication that the electronic device is attached to the user and an indication that the electronic device is detached from the user.

7. The electronic device of claim 1, wherein the processor is further configured to:

determine setting information for the I/O device based on whether the electronic device is attached to or detached from the user; and

control the I/O device based on the setting information.

8. The electronic device of claim 1, wherein the processor is further configured to turn the I/O device on or off.

9. The electronic device of claim 1, wherein:

the I/O device includes at least one of a speaker, a haptic device, an odor generation device, or a display, and

controlling the I/O device includes at least one of controlling at least one of volume of the speaker, vibration intensity of the haptic device, intensity of odor produced by the odor generation device, or brightness of the display.

10. The electronic device of claim 1, wherein the processor is further configured to control the I/O device based on surrounding environment information of the electronic device.

11. The electronic device of claim 1, wherein processor is further configured to control I/O device based on at least one of status information of the electronic device, motion information of the electronic device, authentication information of the user, and information about a distance between the electronic device and an external device in communication with the electronic device.

12. A method comprising:

receiving, by an electronic device, a biological signal of a user of the electronic device;

detecting, by the electronic device, whether the electronic device is attached to or detached from the user based on at least the biological signal; and

controlling, by the electronic device, an input/output (I/O) device that is operationally connected to the electronic device based on whether the electronic device is attached to or detached from the user.

13. The method of claim 12, wherein:

determining whether the electronic device is attached to or detached from the user comprises obtaining attribute information of the biological signal;

the electronic device detects that the electronic device is attached to the user if the attribute information corresponds to a first predefined range;

the electronic device detects that the electronic device is detached from the user if the attribute information corresponds to a second predefined range; and

the electronic device detects that the electronic device is incompletely attached to the user if the attribute information corresponds to a third predefined range.

14. The method of claim 12, wherein detecting whether the electronic device is attached to or detached from the user based on at least the biological signal comprises detecting whether an application is running in the electronic device.

15. The method of claim 14, wherein the I/O device is controlled based on the application.

16. The method of claim 12, wherein controlling the I/O device includes determining setting information of the I/O device and controlling the I/O device based on the setting information.

17. The method of claim 16, wherein the setting information comprises at least one of turn-on/off information and signal strength information regarding at least one of an input signal and an output signal that is input or output through the I/O device.

18. The method of claim 12, wherein the I/O device is controlled based on a priority of an event detected by the electronic device.

19. The method of claim 18, wherein controlling the I/O device comprises providing notification information regarding the event, the notification information being provided via the I/O device, and the notification information being provided based on the priority of the event.

20. A non-transitory computer-readable medium having instructions recorded thereon which when executed by a processor, cause the processor to:

receive a biological signal of a user in an electronic device;

detect whether the electronic device is attached to or detached from the user based on at least the biological signal; and

control an I/O device operationally connected to the electronic device based on whether the electronic device is attached to or detached from the user.