Device for detecting a carrying case using orientation signatures

• US 9,167,375 B2
• Filed: 06/06/2013
• Issued: 10/20/2015
• Est. Priority Date: 06/06/2013
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Malikie Innovations Limited (Key Patent Innovations Limited)
• Original Assignee: Blackberry Limited
• Inventors: Geris, Ryan Alexander, Zawada, Krzysztof, Mankowski, Peter, Nagji, Hussein Bahadur
• Primary Examiner(s): Dao, Minh D
• Application Number:
  US13/911,899
• Publication Number:
  US 20140364055A1
• Time in Patent Office: 866 Days
• Field of Search: 455/414.1, 455/41.1, 455/67.13, 455/566, 455/575.1, 455/575.6, 345/173, 345/156
• US Class Current: 1/1
• CPC Class Codes: H04M 1/04 Supports for telephone transmitters or receivers
• CPC Class Codes: H04M 2250/04 including near field communication means, e.g. RFID
• CPC Class Codes: H04M 2250/12 including a sensor for measuring a physical value, e.g. temperature or motion
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 4/80 Services using short range communication, e.g. near-field communication [NFC], radio-frequency identification [RFID] or low energy communication

Abstract

A device for detecting a carrying case using orientation signatures, and method therefor, is provided. The device includes: at least one orientation sensor; a memory storing one or more carrying-case insertion signatures; and, a processor configured to: receive output from the at least one orientation sensor as a function of time; and place the device in a carrying case mode when a time-dependent pattern in the output matches the one or more carrying-case insertion signatures.

Claims

1. A device comprising:

at least one orientation sensor;

a memory storing one or more carrying-case insertion signatures; and

,

a processor configured to;

receive output from the at least one orientation sensor as a function of time;

track an average of the time-dependent pattern and store at least a portion of the average in the memory as the one or more carrying-case insertion signatures when the time-dependent pattern matches the one or more carrying-case insertion signatures; and

,

place the device in a carrying case mode when a time-dependent pattern in the output matches the one or more carrying-case insertion signatures.

2. The device of claim 1, wherein the time-dependent pattern comprises an acceleration of the device as a function of time.

3. The device of claim 1, wherein the memory further stores one or more carrying-case removal signatures and the processor is further configured to place the device in an out-of-carrying case mode when the time-dependent pattern in the output matches the one or more carrying-case removal signatures.

4. The device of claim 1, wherein the at least one orientation sensor is configured to measure the orientation of the device in one or more directions, and the one or more carrying-case insertion signatures comprises a respective signature for each of the one or more directions.

5. The device of claim 1, wherein the processor is further configured to provision the one or more carrying-case insertion signatures at the memory by:

receiving input at an input device to begin monitoring the output from the at least one orientation sensor as a function of time; and

,

storing the output from the at least one orientation sensor as a function of time at the memory as the one or more carrying-case insertion signatures.

6. The device of claim 1, further comprising at least one sensor for determining one or more of a velocity and an acceleration of the device, and the processor is further configured to adjust a sampling rate of the at least one orientation sensor based on one or more of the velocity and the acceleration.

7. The device of claim 1, further comprising one or more of a near field communication (NFC) reader and a short range RF (radio-frequency) reader and the processor is further configured to confirm carrying-case insertion when the time-dependent pattern in the output matches the one or more carrying-case insertion signatures and the one or more of the NFC reader and the short range RF reader detects one or more of an NFC tag and a short range RF tag.

8. The device of claim 1, wherein the processor is further configured to filter noise from the time-dependent pattern in the output.

9. The device of claim 1, wherein the carrying case mode comprises one or more of:

a sleep mode, a peek mode, and a quiet mode.

10. The device of claim 1, wherein the orientation sensor comprises one or more of a gyroscope, an accelerometer, and a magnetometer.

11. A method comprising:

at a device comprising;

at least one orientation sensor;

a memory storing one or more carrying-case insertion signatures; and

, a processor,

receiving output at the processor from the at least one orientation sensor as a function of time;

tracking an average of the time-dependent pattern; and

storing at least a portion of the average in the memory as the one or more carrying-case insertion signatures when the time-dependent pattern matches the one or more carrying-case insertion signatures; and

,

the processor placing the device in a carrying case mode a time-dependent pattern in the output matches the one or more carrying-case insertion signatures.

12. The method of claim 11, wherein the time-dependent pattern comprises an acceleration of the device as a function of time.

13. The method of claim 11, wherein the memory further stores one or more carrying-case removal signatures and the method further comprises placing the device in an out-of-carrying case mode when the time-dependent pattern in the output matches the one or more carrying-case removal signatures.

14. The method of claim 11, wherein the at least one orientation sensor is configured to measure the orientation of the device in one or more directions, and the one or more carrying-case insertion signatures comprises a respective signature for each of the one or more directions.

15. The method of claim 11, further comprising provisioning the one or more carrying-case insertion signatures at the memory by:

receiving input at an input device to begin monitoring the output from the at least one orientation sensor as a function of time; and

,

storing the output from the at least one orientation sensor as a function of time at the memory as the one or more carrying-case insertion signatures.

16. The method of claim 11, wherein the device further comprises at least one sensor for determining one or more of a velocity and an acceleration of the device, and the method further comprises adjusting a sampling rate of the at least one orientation sensor based on one or more of the velocity and the acceleration.

17. The method of claim 11, wherein the device further comprises one or more of a near field communication (NFC) reader and a short range RF (radio-frequency) reader and the method further comprises confirming carrying-case insertion when the time-dependent pattern in the output matches the one or more carrying-case insertion signatures and the one or more of the NFC reader and the short range RF reader detects one or more of an NFC tag and a short range RF tag.

18. The method of claim 11, further comprising filtering noise from the time-dependent pattern in the output.

19. The method of claim 11, wherein the carrying case mode comprises one or more of a sleep mode, a peek mode, and a quiet mode.

20. A computer program product, comprising a non-transitory computer usable medium having a computer readable program code adapted to be executed to implement a method comprising:

at a device comprising;

at least one orientation sensor;

a memory storing one or more carrying-case insertion signatures; and

, a processor,

receiving output at the processor from the at least one orientation sensor as a function of time;

tracking an average of the time-dependent pattern; and

storing at least a portion of the average in the memory as the one or more carrying-case insertion signatures when the time-dependent pattern matches the one or more carrying-case insertion signatures; and

,

placing the device in a carrying case mode when the processor determines that a time-dependent pattern in the output matches the one or more carrying-case insertion signatures.