METHOD AND APPARATUS FOR OPERATING ELECTRONIC DEVICE BASED ON ENVIRONMENTAL INFORMATION

• US 20170146970A1
• Filed: 11/18/2016
• Published: 05/25/2017
• Est. Priority Date: 11/20/2015
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Samsung Electronics Co. Ltd.
• Original Assignee: Samsung Electronics Co. Ltd.
• Inventors: PARK, Jeong-Min, KIM, Tae-Ho, JOO, Jae-Seok
• Granted Patent: US 10,511,932 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• CPC Class Codes: G05B 19/042 using digital processors G05B19/05 takes precedence
• CPC Class Codes: G05B 2219/23227 Environment conditions affect execution of program
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 4/021 Services related to particular areas, e.g. point of interest [POI] services, venue services or geofences
• CPC Class Codes: Y02D 30/70 in wireless communication networks

Abstract

A method and apparatus for operating an electronic device based on environmental information are provided. The electronic device includes sensors functionally connected to the electronic device; and at least one processor configured to: receive, at least one sensor of the sensors, environmental information corresponding to a surrounding area of the electronic device, determine a risk level based on the environmental information, perform a first function if the risk level satisfies a first condition, and perform a second function if the risk level satisfies a second condition different from the first condition.

Claims

1. An electronic device comprising:

sensors functionally connected to the electronic device; and

at least one processor configured to;

receive, at least one sensor of the sensors, environmental information corresponding to a surrounding area of the electronic device,

determine a risk level based on the environmental information,

perform a first function if the risk level satisfies a first condition, and

perform a second function if the risk level satisfies a second condition different from the first condition.

2. The electronic device of claim 1,

wherein the environmental information includes information about dust, fine dust, micro dust, ozone, ultraviolet light, temperature, atmospheric pressure, humidity, disasters, diseases, or accidents associated with the surrounding area of the electronic device.

3. The electronic device of claim 1, wherein the environmental information includes location information, map information, text information, or geo-fence information corresponding to the surrounding area of the electronic device.

4. The electronic device of claim 1, wherein the at least one processor is further configured to:

if the risk level is equal to or higher than a reference risk level, determine that the first condition is satisfied, and

if the risk level is lower than the reference risk level, determine that the second condition is satisfied.

5. The electronic device of claim 1, wherein, as the first function, the at least one processor is further configured to:

determine a geo-fence based on the environmental information,

identify the at least one sensor detecting states of the surrounding area of the electronic device,

acquire location information of the electronic device,

determine a positional relationship between the electronic device and the geo-fence, and

control the at least one sensor according to the positional relationship between the electronic device and the geo-fence.

6. The electronic device of claim 5, wherein, as the first function, the at least one processor is further configured to:

extract the location information of the electronic device from the environmental information, and

determine the geo-fence based on the location information.

7. The electronic device of claim 5, wherein the at least one processor is further configured to:

compare map information included in the environmental information with reference map information,

acquire the location information corresponding to the surrounding area of the electronic device using the comparison result, and

determine the geo-fence using the location information.

8. The electronic device of claim 5, wherein the at least one processor is further configured to:

analyzing a sentence structure of text information included in the environmental information,

acquire location information corresponding to the surrounding area of the electronic device using the analysis result, and

determine the geo-fence using the location information.

9. The electronic device of claim 5, wherein the at least one processor is further configured to:

determine geo-fence using geo-fence information included in the environmental information.

10. The electronic device of claim 5, wherein, as first function, the at least one processor is further configured to:

determine an operating cycle of the at least one sensor according to the positional relationship between the electronic device and the geo-fence, and

acquire sensing data from the at least one sensor according to the operating cycle.

11. The electronic device of claim 5, wherein, as the first function, the at least one processor is further configured to:

determine sensing sensitivity of the at least one sensor according to the positional relationship between the electronic device and the geo-fence, and

acquire sensing data from the at least one sensor according to the sensing sensitivity.

12. The electronic device of claim 5, wherein, as the first function, the at least one processor is further configured to:

determine whether at least portion of a second geo-fence is within a predetermined range of the geo-fence, or the geo-fence and the second geo-fence are overlapped, and

determine a third geo-fence by combining the geo-fence and the range of the second geo-fence.

13. The electronic device of claim 5, wherein, as the first function, the at least one processor is further configured to:

modify a time period for detecting the environmental condition based on the geo-fence and the location information.

14. The electronic device of claim 1, wherein, as the first function, the at least one processor is further configured to:

determine a geo-fence based on the environmental information,

determine a state of the electronic device by using at least one sensor,

determine whether the at least one sensor is able to perform a sensing operation according to the state of the electronic device, and

provide a notification corresponding to the determination of whether the sensing operation is performed according to a location of the electronic device.

15. The electronic device of claim 14, wherein, as the first function, the at least one processor is further configured to:

acquire biometric information of a user using at least one biometric sensor of the electronic device, and

adjust a range of the geo-fence according to the biometric information.

16. The electronic device of claim 15, wherein the biometric information includes identification information, physical information, health information, disease information, exercise information, activity information, or stress information.

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

an interface configured to transmit sensing data to an external electronic device if the sensing data is acquired from the at least one sensor.

18. The electronic device of claim 1, wherein, as the second function, the at least one processor is further configured to:

determine whether there is a predetermined geo-fence, and

if there is the predetermined geo-fence, adjust the range of the predetermined geo-fence based on the risk level, or release the predetermined geo-fence.

19. A method for controlling an electronic device based on a state of a surrounding environment comprising:

receiving, at least one senor, environmental information corresponding to a surrounding area of the electronic device;

determining a risk level based on the environmental information;

performing a first function if the risk level satisfies a first condition, and

performing a second function if the risk level satisfies a second condition different from the first condition.

20. The method of claim 19, wherein determining the risk level comprises

if the risk level is equal to or higher than a reference risk level, determining that the first condition is satisfied, and

if the risk level is lower than the reference risk level, determining that the second condition is satisfied.