Prevention of accidental device activation

• US 8,311,514 B2
• Filed: 09/16/2010
• Issued: 11/13/2012
• Est. Priority Date: 09/16/2010
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Microsoft Technology Licensing LLC (Microsoft Corporation)
• Original Assignee: Microsoft Corporation
• Inventors: Bandyopadhyay, Shamik, Engstrom, G. Eric, Kapoor, Vikram, Lemson, Kathryn C.
• Primary Examiner(s): Magloire, Vladimir
• Application Number:
  US12/883,801
• Publication Number:
  US 20120071149A1
• Time in Patent Office: 789 Days
• Field of Search: 455/410, 455/411, 455/566
• US Class Current: 455/410
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 1/1643 the display being associated to a digitizer, e.g. laptops that can be used as penpads details related to the relative motion of the display enclosure with respect to the body enclosure, e.g. to move between laptop and tablet PC configuration G06F1/1615
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 1/1684 Constructional details or arrangements related to integrated I/O peripherals not covered by groups G06F1/1635 - G06F1/1675
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 1/3262 Power saving in digitizer or tablet
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 3/011 Arrangements for interaction with the human body, e.g. for user immersion in virtual reality blind teaching G09B21/00
• CPC Class Codes: H04M 1/67 by electronic means
• 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: H04M 2250/22 including a touch pad, a touch sensor or a touch detector digitizers for touch screens G06F3/041
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 52/0251 using monitoring of local events, e.g. events related to user activity
• CPC Class Codes: Y02D 30/70 in wireless communication networks

Abstract

The present application allows wake-up and unlock operations to occur using a single event, such as a single keystroke. Additionally, a check is made to ensure that activation was caused by human touch, not an object. In one embodiment, an area of a mobile device is designated as a wake-up area, which is separate from the touch screen. A user can touch the wake-up area to both activate the mobile device from a sleep mode and unlock the mobile device. In another embodiment, the wake-up area can be integrated into the touch screen, so that there is not an appearance of a separate button. Fingerprint checking and/or proximity sensors can also be integrated into the mobile device.

Claims

1. A method of activating a device from a low-power mode, comprising:

entering a low-power mode on the device, wherein a majority of a touch screen on the device is substantially disabled;

receiving an input to activate the device;

determining whether the input is from human touch;

if the input is from human touch, activating the device and simultaneously unlocking the device, wherein the input to activate the device is received on a push button that closes a switch through physical depression and wherein the push button further includes a capacitive sensor for the determining whether the input is from human touch.

2. The method of claim 1, further including checking a fingerprint of the received input and if the fingerprint matches a stored fingerprint, then unlocking the device.

3. The method of claim 1, further including checking a proximity sensor and ignoring the received input if an object is within a predetermined distance of the proximity sensor.

4. The method of claim 1, wherein the device is a mobile phone.

5. The method of claim 1, wherein the input to activate the device is received on a push button that is separate from the touch screen.

6. The method of claim 1, wherein a minority of the touch screen remains activated in low-power mode in order to receive the input.

7. A device, comprising:

a touch screen display;

a touch-sensitive wakeup area;

a controller coupled to the wakeup area for determining whether a human touched the wakeup area;

an application processor coupled to the controller for recovering from sleep mode and simultaneously unlocking the touch screen display in response to a human touch of the wakeup area, wherein the wakeup area is a separate push button including a capacitive sensor.

8. The device of claim 7, further including a proximity sensor coupled to the controller for detecting whether the device is in a confined space.

9. The device of claim 7, wherein the wakeup area includes a fingerprint reader.

10. The device of claim 7, wherein the wakeup area is coupled to a capacitor, which is coupled to a voltage comparitor for determining whether a human touched the wakeup area.

11. The device of claim 7, wherein the touch-sensitive wakeup area is a separate area than the touch screen display.

12. The device of claim 7, wherein the touch-sensitive wakeup area is integrated into the touch screen display, but can be separately controlled when the device is in a sleep mode.

13. The device of claim 7, wherein the wakeup area does not include hardware for determining touch location.

14. The device of claim 13, wherein a controller separately controls the wakeup area and touch screen area so that the wakeup area can be monitored for touch while the touch screen area is deactivated.

15. A method of activating and unlocking a mobile phone, comprising:

disabling a touch screen area of the mobile phone when the mobile phone is in a sleep mode of operation;

monitoring a wakeup area of the mobile phone;

detecting input received from a touching of the wakeup area, the input including a voltage received from a capacitor and a push button depression;

determining if the input received is from a human touch by checking whether the voltage exceeds a predetermined voltage;

if the input received is not from a human touch, ignoring the input; and

if the input received is from a human touch, simultaneously enabling the touch screen area and unlocking the mobile phone.

16. The method of claim 15, further including reading a fingerprint from the touching of the wakeup area and rejecting the input received if the fingerprint does not match a saved fingerprint.

17. The method of claim 15, further including detecting whether the mobile phone is within an enclosed area using a proximity sensor and ignoring the input received if the proximity sensor detects objects less than a predetermined distance from the proximity sensor.

18. The method of claim 15, wherein the wakeup area is a first wakeup area and wherein there are one or more additional wakeup areas.