Method for controlling volume of electronic device and electronic device using the same

• US 9,323,366 B2
• Filed: 05/21/2013
• Issued: 04/26/2016
• Est. Priority Date: 05/24/2012
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: HTC Corporation
• Original Assignee: HTC Corporation
• Inventors: Chien, Chih-Ling
• Primary Examiner(s): Zhang, Leshui
• Application Number:
  US13/898,482
• Publication Number:
  US 20130315419A1
• Time in Patent Office: 1,071 Days
• Field of Search: 381/104, 381/105, 381/109, 381/110, 381/118, 381/119, 381/120, 381/123, 381/333, 381/334, 381/306, 381/61, 381/59, 381/302, 381/86, 345/177, 345/158, 345/156, 345/157, 345/159, 345/173, 700/94
• US Class Current: 1/1
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 1/1626 with a single-body enclosure integrating a flat display, e.g. Personal Digital Assistants [PDAs]
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 1/32 Means for saving power
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 1/324 by lowering clock frequency
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 3/041 Digitisers, e.g. for touch screens or touch pads, characterised by the transducing means
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 3/04883 for inputting data by handwriting, e.g. gesture or text
• CPC Class Codes: H03G 7/00 Volume compression or expansion in amplifiers frequency dependent H03G9/00
• CPC Class Codes: Y02D 10/00 Energy efficient computing, e.g. low power processors, power management or thermal management

Abstract

A method for controlling volume of an electronic device is proposed along with the electronic device using the same. The electronic device has a speaker module, a display and a touch sensor disposed on the display. The method includes the following steps. The touch sensor is driven when the display is disabled from displaying an image. A sensing signal is received from the touch sensor. Inputted information is determined based on the sensing signal. An audio signal of the electronic device is changed according to the inputted information. The changed audio signal is outputted.

Claims

1. A method for controlling audio volume of an electronic device having a speaker module, a display and a touch sensor disposed on the display, comprising:

changing driving frequency of the touch sensor from a first frequency to a second frequency when the display is disabled from displaying an image;

receiving a sensing signal from the touch sensor according to the second driving frequency;

determining inputted information based on the received sensing signal;

changing an audio signal of the electronic device according to the determined inputted information; and

outputting the changed audio signal.

2. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

receiving a data encoded with the audio signal;

detecting an object proximate the electronic device by using a sensor on the electronic device; and

disabling the display from displaying an image.

3. The method of claim 1, wherein the received sensing signal is generated by the touch sensor when an object touches on the touch sensor or hovers above the touch sensor.

4. The method of claim 1, wherein determined inputted information is determined by calculating the received sensing signal over a period of time.

5. The method of claim 1, wherein driving the touch sensor when the display is disabled from displaying the image further comprises driving a portion of the touch sensor to sense a touch on or above the touch sensor to generate the received sensing signal.

6. The method of claim 1, wherein the step of driving the touch sensor when the display is disabled from displaying the image further comprises partially charging a plurality of sensing elements on the touch sensor to sense a touch on or above the touch sensor to generate the received sensing signal.

7. The method of claim 1, wherein the step of changing the audio signal of the electronic device comprises:

transmitting the audio signal to a speaker module; and

adjusting the speaker module for changing a characteristic of the audio signal.

8. The method of claim 7, wherein the characteristic of the audio signal comprises audio volume, amplitude, frequency, pitch, or signal to noise ratio.

9. The method of claim 7, wherein adjusting the speaker module further comprises changing a gain of the speaker module.

10. An electronic device, comprising:

a display, configured to display an image;

a touch sensor, disposed on the display and configured to detect a contact on the touch sensor and sensing a touch on or above the touch sensor to generate a sensing signal when the display is not driven to display the image;

a driving circuitry, coupled to the display and the touch sensor, and configured to drive the display and the touch sensor and change driving frequency from a first driving frequency to a second driving frequency when the display is disabled from displaying the image;

a sensing circuitry, coupled to the touch sensor, configured to receive the sensing signal according to the second driving frequency and determining inputted information based on the received sensing signal;

a processing unit coupled to the driving circuitry and the sensing circuitry, transmitting an audio signal; and

a speaker module, coupled to the processing unit, outputting the audio signal;

wherein when the display is disabled from displaying the image, the sensing circuitry determines the inputted information according to the received sensing signal and the processing unit changes the audio signal according to the determined inputted information.

11. The electronic device of claim 10, wherein the contact is provided by any combination of one or more finger, a face, a palm, a pen or a hover-based input to the touch sensor.

12. The electronic device of claim 10, wherein the touch sensor comprises a plurality of sensing elements arranged in rows and columns, and the driving circuitry drives a portion of the sensing elements.

13. The electronic device of claim 10, wherein the received sensing signal is generated by the touch sensor when an object touches on the touch sensor or hovers above the touch sensor.

14. The electronic device of claim 10, wherein the determined inputted information is determined by calculating the received sensing signal over a period of time.

15. The electronic device of claim 10, wherein the touch sensor comprises a plurality of sensing elements arranged in rows and columns, and the driving circuitry partially charges the plurality of sensing elements.

16. The electronic device of claim 10, further comprising a sensor coupled to the processing unit, sensing a property of an object or an environment external to the electronic device and generating a sensing information based on the sensed property, wherein the display is not driven when the electronic device is coupled to a network for receiving a data encoded with the audio signal and the processing unit determines an object proximate the electronic device based on the sensing information.

17. The electronic device of claim 16, wherein the sensing information is an electrical signal as a function of the property of an object sensed by the sensor or the environment external to the electronic device imposed on the sensor.

18. The electronic device of claim 16, further comprising a wireless module, coupled to the processing unit and receiving the data from the network and transmitting the data to the processing unit to generate the audio signal.

19. The electronic device of claim 10, wherein the processing unit further comprises an audio amplifier coupled to the speaker module, or an audio filter coupled to the speaker module.

20. The electronic device of claim 19, wherein the processing unit changes a characteristic of the audio signal, and output the changed audio signal by using the speaker module.

21. The electronic device of claim 20, wherein the characteristic of the audio signal comprises audio volume, amplitude, frequency, pitch, or signal to noise ratio.