METHOD OF RECOGNIZING SURROUNDING ENVIRONMENT AND ELECTRONIC DEVICE FOR THE SAME

• US 20160345113A1
• Filed: 04/22/2016
• Published: 11/24/2016
• Est. Priority Date: 05/22/2015
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Samsung Electronics Co. Ltd.
• Original Assignee: Samsung Electronics Co. Ltd.
• Inventors: LEE, Dong-Ju, YANG, Chul-Hyung, BAE, Han-Jae, SON, Bong-Sup, LEE, Ji-Woo
• Granted Patent: US 9,897,696 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 1/1
• CPC Class Codes: G01S 15/04 Systems determining presence of a target
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 2203/04108 Touchless 2D- digitiser, i.e. digitiser detecting the X/Y position of the input means, finger or stylus, also when it does not touch, but is proximate to the digitiser's interaction surface without distance measurement in the Z direction

Abstract

An electronic device is provided. The electronic device includes a housing, at least one ultrasonic wave generator and at least one ultrasonic sensor operatively disposed on the housing, and a processor electrically connected to the at least one ultrasonic wave generator and the at least one ultrasonic sensor and configured to emit ultrasonic waves from at least one surface of the housing using the at least one ultrasonic wave generator, receive reflected waves reflected from at least one object through the at least one ultrasonic sensor, and determine a proximity between the electronic device and the object based on at least a difference between a first time, at which the ultrasonic waves are emitted, and a second time, at which the reflected waves are received.

Claims

1. An electronic device, comprising:

a housing;

a display exposed from one surface of the housing;

at least one ultrasonic wave generator and at least one ultrasonic sensor operatively disposed on the housing and adjacently positioned to the display;

a processor electrically connected to the at least one ultrasonic wave generator and the at least one ultrasonic sensor; and

a memory electrically connected with the processor, wherein the memory stores instructions, by which the processor emits ultrasonic waves from at least one surface of the housing using the at least one ultrasonic wave generator, receives reflected waves reflected from at least one object through the at least one ultrasonic sensor, and determines a proximity between the electronic device and the object based on at least a difference between a first time, at which the ultrasonic waves are emitted, and a second time, at which the reflected waves are received.

2. The electronic device of claim 1, further comprising:

at least one speaker provided on the at least one surface of the housing,

wherein the at least one ultrasonic sensor is disposed adjacent to at least one of the speaker and the display.

3. The electronic device of claim 2, wherein the at least one ultrasonic wave generator is operated through the speaker.

4. The apparatus of claim 1, wherein the at least one ultrasonic wave generator and the at least one ultrasonic sensor operate as resonant type ultrasonic transducers for detecting the object before the object contacts the at least one surface of the housing.

5. The electronic device of claim 1, further comprising:

at least one other ultrasonic wave generator and at least one other ultrasonic sensor, which are operated in a manner differently from that of the at least one ultrasonic wave generator and the at least one ultrasonic sensor.

6. The electronic device of claim 5, wherein the at least one other ultrasonic wave generator and the at least one other ultrasonic sensor operate as resonant type ultrasonic transducers for detecting the object before the object contacts the at least one surface of the housing.

7. The electronic device of claim 1, wherein the at least one ultrasonic wave generator and the at least one ultrasonic sensor are disposed on the at least one surface of the electronic device.

8. A method of operating an electronic device, comprising:

emitting a first ultrasonic signal through a first ultrasonic transducer;

confirming whether a reception arrival time of reflected waves of the emitted first ultrasonic signal is within a threshold range;

activating a second ultrasonic transducer and emitting a second ultrasonic signal when the reception arrival time of the reflected waves is within the threshold range;

confirming a reflection coefficient based on the received reflected waves of the second ultrasonic signal; and

performing a function corresponding to an object confirmed based on the confirmed reflection coefficient.

9. The method of claim 8, further comprising:

activating the second ultrasonic transducer when one of the first ultrasonic signal is totally reflected and the object becomes relatively close to the electronic device.

10. The method of claim 8, further comprising:

emitting, by the first ultrasonic transducer, the first ultrasonic signal through a speaker of the electronic device; and

receiving reflected waves of the first ultrasonic signal through a microphone of the electronic device.

11. The method of claim 10, further comprising:

emitting a sound signal of an audible frequency band together with the first ultrasonic signal through the speaker; and

receiving a sound signal of a surrounding audible frequency band together with the reflected waves of the first ultrasonic signal.

12. The method of claim 8, further comprising:

inactivating the first ultrasonic transducer when the second ultrasonic transducer is activated.

13. The method of claim 8, further comprising:

confirming, by the second ultrasonic transducer, a type of the object after the object is one of in contact with the electronic device and relatively close to the electronic device.

14. The method of claim 8, wherein confirming the reflection coefficient comprises confirming a type of the object corresponding to a reflection coefficient stored in the electronic device.

15. The method of claim 8, further comprising:

recognizing when the object is water; and

when contact of a portion of a human body to the second ultrasonic transducer is detected when the object is water, performing an input function including at least one of a touch input and a gesture input by a drag.

16. The method of claim 15, wherein performing the input function comprises performing at least one of a camera mode entering function, an image capturing mode function, a volume up/down function, a function of switching from a sleep mode to an idle mode, and a power supply turn-off function.

17. The method of claim 8, wherein performing the function comprises one of:

when contact of a portion of a human body to the second ultrasonic transducer is detected, performing an input function including at least one of a touch input and a gesture input by a drag;

switching from a sleep mode to an idle mode; and

detecting contact of a portion of a human body when a call is initiated.

18. An electronic device, comprising:

a non-contact type ultrasonic transducer including a transmitter emitting a first ultrasonic signal and a receiver receiving reflected waves of the emitted first ultrasonic signal;

a contact type ultrasonic transducer configured to emit a second ultrasonic signal and receive reflected waves of the emitted second ultrasonic signal; and

a processor connected to the non-contact type ultrasonic transducer and the contact type ultrasonic transducer and configured to;

confirm whether a reception arrival time of reflected waves of the emitted first ultrasonic signal is within a threshold range, activate the contact type ultrasonic transducer and emit the second ultrasonic signal when the reception arrival time of the reflected waves is within the threshold range, confirm a reflection coefficient based on the received reflected waves of the second ultrasonic signal, and perform a function corresponding to an object confirmed based on the confirmed reflection coefficient.

19. The electronic device of claim 18, wherein the transmitter is a speaker for emitting a sound signal of an audible frequency band together with the first ultrasonic signal, and the receiver is a microphone for receiving a sound signal of a surrounding audible frequency band together with the reflected waves of the first ultrasonic signal.

20. The electronic device of claim 18, wherein when a portion of a human body contacts the contact type ultrasonic transducer, the processor if further configured to one of:

perform an input function including at least one of a touch input and a gesture input by a drag;

switch from a sleep mode to an idle mode; and

detect contact of a portion of a human body when a call is initiated.