Mobile terminal and function control method thereof

• US 9,167,074 B2
• Filed: 03/06/2008
• Issued: 10/20/2015
• Est. Priority Date: 03/13/2007
• Status: Expired due to Fees

• Current Assignee: Lenovo Innovations Ltd Hong Kong (Lenovo Group Ltd.)
• Original Assignee: Lenovo Innovations Ltd Hong Kong (Lenovo Group Ltd.)
• Inventors: Yonemochi, Yasuhiro
• Primary Examiner(s): Appiah, Charles
• Assistant Examiner(s): YI, ALEXANDER J.
• Application Number:
  US12/529,435
• Publication Number:
  US 20100062804A1
• Time in Patent Office: 2,784 Days
• Field of Search: 455/556.1, 455/550.1, 455/411, 455/569.1, 455/575.3, 455/557, 709/220, 709/217, 709/8, 345/333.06, 248/346.06
• US Class Current: 1/1
• CPC Class Codes: H04M 1/0245 using open/close detection
• CPC Class Codes: H04M 1/72463 to restrict the functionality of the device
• CPC Class Codes: H04M 2250/12 including a sensor for measuring a physical value, e.g. temperature or motion
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 4/027 using movement velocity, acceleration information

Abstract

The present invention provides a mobile terminal and a function control method thereof that can appropriately set or release an operation mode in accordance with a situation of a user. A mobile terminal includes an opening/closing sensor 18 that detects whether the mobile terminal is in an opened state or a closed state, an acceleration sensor 11 that detects acceleration and a posture of the mobile terminal, and a control unit 12 that restricts an execution of a specific function in accordance with the detection result of the opening/closing sensor 18 and releases a restriction of at least a portion of the restricted specific function in accordance with the detection result of the acceleration sensor 11.

Claims

1. A wireless mobile terminal that takes at least two forms of a utilization state and a non-utilization state, comprising:

a restricting unit that restricts an execution of a specific function when detecting a closed state and movement of the mobile terminal;

a state detecting unit, having an acceleration sensor, that detects whether the mobile terminal is in the utilization state in accordance with the detection result of the acceleration sensor and determines whether a possessor of the mobile terminal is moving;

a posture detecting unit that detects an inclination angle of the mobile terminal and determines whether the mobile terminal is held at an operation enabled posture based on a pre-set margin of an angle; and

a restriction releasing unit that releases a restriction of at least a portion of the specific function restricted by the restricting unit when detecting an opened state of the mobile terminal, and releases a lesser portion of the specific function when detecting a closed state, in accordance with the detection results of the acceleration sensor and the posture detecting unit.

2. The mobile terminal according to claim 1,

wherein the mobile terminal is a mobile phone terminal that has a mobile communication function.

3. The mobile terminal according to claim 1,

wherein the acceleration sensor and the posture detecting unit are integrally configured.

4. The mobile terminal according to claim 1,

wherein the specific function is information display.

5. The mobile terminal according to claim 1,

wherein the specific function is reception of an operation through a user interface.

6. A method of a wireless mobile terminal, comprising:

restricting an execution of a specific function when detecting a closed state and movement of the mobile terminal;

detecting acceleration applied to the mobile terminal to determine whether a possessor of the mobile terminal is moving;

detecting an inclination angle of the mobile terminal to determine whether the mobile terminal is held at an operation enable posture based on a pre-set margin of an angle; and

releasing a restriction of at least a portion of the specific function when detecting an opened state of the mobile terminal, and releases a lesser portion of the specific function when detecting a closed state, in response to detecting the acceleration and detecting the inclination angle.

7. A wireless mobile terminal that takes at least two forms of a utilization state and a non-utilization state, comprising:

restricting means for restricting an execution of a specific function when detecting a closed state and movement of the mobile terminal;

state detecting means, having an acceleration sensor, for detecting whether the mobile terminal is in the utilization state in accordance with the detection result of the acceleration sensor and determining whether a possessor of the mobile terminal is moving;

posture detecting means for detecting a posture of the mobile terminal and for detecting an inclination angle of the mobile terminal and determines whether the mobile terminal is held at an operation enabled posture based on a pre-set margin of an angle; and

restriction releasing means for releasing a restriction of at least a portion of the specific function restricted by the restricting means when detecting an opened state of the mobile terminal, and releases a lesser portion of the specific function when detecting a closed state, in accordance with the detection results of the acceleration sensor and the posture detecting means.