FALL EVENT HANDLING METHOD AND MOBILE ELECTRONIC DEVICE USING THE SAME

• US 20150317893A1
• Filed: 05/02/2014
• Published: 11/05/2015
• Est. Priority Date: 05/02/2014
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: HTC Corporation
• Original Assignee: HTC Corporation
• Inventors: Tseng, Chuan-Yu, Chen, Chun-Hung
• Granted Patent: US 9,342,973 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 1/1
• CPC Class Codes: G08B 21/18 Status alarms G08B21/02 takes precedence
• CPC Class Codes: H04M 1/72403 with means for local support of applications that increase the functionality
• CPC Class Codes: H04M 1/72436 for text messaging, e.g. short messaging services [SMS] or e-mails
• 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: H04W 4/14 Short messaging services, e.g. short message services [SMS] or unstructured supplementary service data [USSD]

Abstract

The present disclosure proposes a method of handling a fall event for use by a handheld mobile electronic device, and a handheld mobile electronic device using the same method. Accordingly, the handheld mobile electronic device first detects a fall event. In response to the fall event determined to have exceeded a predetermined distance, the device would detect whether the device has moved or has experienced a pressure variation within a time period after the fall event has ended. If the result is negative, the device would activate an alarm and transmit a notification related to the fall event.

Claims

1. A method of handling a fall event of a mobile electronic device comprising:

determining whether a falling distance of the mobile electronic device exceeds a predetermined distance;

activating an alarm and/or transmitting a notification related to the fall event based on a sensor variation of the mobile electronic device after the falling distance of the mobile electronic device is determined to exceed the predetermined distance.

2. The method of claim 1, wherein the step of activating the alarm based on the sensor variation further comprises:

determining whether the sensor variation of the mobile electronic device is greater than a non-zero predetermined variation threshold within a predetermined time period after the falling distance of the mobile electronic device is determined to exceed the predetermined distance; and

activating the alarm after the sensor variation of the mobile electronic device is determined to be not greater than the non-zero predetermined variation threshold within the predetermined time period.

3. The method of claim 2, wherein the step of determining whether the sensor variation of the mobile electronic device is greater than the non-zero predetermined variation threshold within the predetermined time period after the falling distance of the mobile electronic device is determined to exceed the predetermined distance further comprises:

determining whether the sensor variation of the mobile electronic device is greater than the non-zero predetermined variation threshold within the predetermined time period after a Z-component movement of the mobile electronic device is determined to exceed a speed threshold.

4. The method of claim 2, wherein the step of determining whether the sensor variation of the mobile electronic device exceeds the non-zero predetermined variation threshold within the predetermined time period after the falling distance of the mobile electronic device is determined to exceed the predetermined distance further comprises:

determining whether the sensor variation of the mobile electronic device is greater that the non-zero predetermined variation threshold within the predetermined time period when the fall event has ceased.

5. The method of claim 4, wherein the fall event has ceased when the Z-component movement of the handheld mobile electronic device is zero after the mobile electronic device has fallen beyond the specific distance.

6. The method of claim 1, wherein the sensor variation of the mobile electronic device comprises at least one of a pressure sensor variation of the mobile electronic device and an acceleration sensor variation of the mobile electronic device.

7. The method of claim 1, wherein the alarm comprises at least one of a sound alarm, a vibration alarm, and a visual alarm of the mobile electronic device.

8. The method of claim 1, wherein the notification related to the fall event comprises at least one of an email notification, an instant message notification, a short message service (SMS) message, a multimedia message service (MMS) message, and a paging message related to the fall event.

9. The method of claim 1, wherein the falling distance is measured by using one of an accelerometer, a pressure sensor and an altimeter.

10. The method of claim 2, wherein the predetermined time period is between 25˜

30 seconds.

11. A handheld mobile electronic device comprising:

a sensor array or hub comprising a sensor;

a transmitter for transmitting data; and

a processor coupled to the sensor array or hub and the wireless transmitter and is configured for;

determining whether a falling distance of the mobile electronic device exceeds a predetermined distance through the sensor;

activating an alarm and/or transmitting a notification related to the fall event through the transmitter based on a sensor variation of the sensor after the falling distance of the mobile electronic device is determined to exceed the predetermined distance.

12. The device of claim 11, wherein the processor is configured for activating the alarm based on the sensor variation further comprises:

determining whether the sensor variation of the mobile electronic device is greater than a non-zero predetermined variation threshold within a predetermined time period after the falling distance of the mobile electronic device is determined to exceed the predetermined distance; and

activating the alarm after the sensor variation of the mobile electronic device is determined to be not greater than the non-zero predetermined variation threshold within the predetermined time period.

13. The device of claim 12, wherein the processor is configured for determining whether the sensor variation of the mobile electronic device is greater than the non-zero predetermined variation threshold within the predetermined time period after the falling distance of the mobile electronic device is determined to exceed the predetermined distance further comprises:

determining whether the sensor variation of the mobile electronic device is greater than the non-zero predetermined variation threshold within the predetermined time period after a Z-component movement of the mobile electronic device is determined to exceed a speed threshold.

14. The device of claim 12, wherein the processor is configured for determining whether the sensor variation of the mobile electronic device exceeds the non-zero predetermined variation threshold within the predetermined time period after the falling distance of the mobile electronic device is determined to exceed the predetermined distance further comprises:

determining whether the sensor variation of the mobile electronic device is greater that the non-zero predetermined variation threshold within the predetermined time period when the fall event has ceased.

15. The device of claim 14, wherein the fall event is determined by the processor to have ceased when the Z-component movement of the handheld mobile electronic device is zero after the mobile electronic device has fallen beyond the specific distance which is at.

16. The device of claim 11, wherein the sensor variation of the mobile electronic device comprises at least one of a pressure sensor variation of the mobile electronic device and an acceleration sensor variation of the mobile electronic device.

17. The device of claim 11, wherein the alarm comprises at least one of a sound alarm, a vibration alarm, and a visual alarm of the mobile electronic device.

18. The device of claim 11, wherein the notification related to the fall event comprises at least one of an email notification, an instant message notification, a short message service (SMS) message, a multimedia message service (MMS) message, and a paging message related to the fall event.

19. The device of claim 11, wherein the falling distance is measured by using one of an accelerometer, a pressure sensor and an altimeter.

20. The device of claim 12, wherein the predetermined time period is between 25˜

30 seconds.