Apparatus and method for preventing accident in portable terminal

• US 9,355,543 B2
• Filed: 03/13/2014
• Issued: 05/31/2016
• Est. Priority Date: 04/04/2013
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Samsung Electronics Co. Ltd.
• Original Assignee: Samsung Electronics Co. Ltd.
• Inventors: Park, Jeongmin, Chun, Jaewoong
• Primary Examiner(s): Wang, Jack K
• Application Number:
  US14/208,641
• Publication Number:
  US 20140300466A1
• Time in Patent Office: 810 Days
• Field of Search: 340/539.1, 340/539.11, 340/501, 348/158, 348/159, 455/404.2
• US Class Current: 1/1
• CPC Class Codes: G08B 19/00 Alarms responsive to two or more different undesired or abnormal conditions, e.g. burglary and fire, abnormal temperature and abnormal rate of flow
• CPC Class Codes: H04M 1/72454 according to context-related or environment-related conditions
• 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 2250/52 including functional features of a camera constructional features concerning the integration of cameras in portable phones H04M1/0264

Abstract

An apparatus and a method for preventing an accident in a portable terminal are provided. The method includes obtaining environmental situation information from a sensor, detecting a dangerous object by analyzing the environmental situation information, extracting at least one of a notice service mapped to the dangerous object and a control service mapped to the dangerous object, and executing the at least one of the extracted notice service and the extracted control service.

Claims

1. A method for preventing an accident in a portable terminal, the method comprising:

obtaining environmental situation information from a sensor;

detecting a dangerous object by analyzing the environmental situation information;

identifying a danger level of the detected dangerous object;

extracting a first service mapped to the dangerous object if the danger level is lower than a predetermined level;

extracting a second service mapped to the dangerous object if the danger level is higher than the predetermined level; and

executing the at least one of the extracted first service and the extracted second service.

2. The method of claim 1,

wherein the first service mapped to the dangerous object is extracted from a notice service database storing information on mapping of at least one notice service to at least one dangerous object, and

wherein the second service mapped to the dangerous object is extracted from a control service database storing information on mapping of at least one control service to at least one dangerous object.

3. The method of claim 1, wherein the obtaining of the environmental situation information using the sensor includes at least one of:

obtaining an image of an environmental situation using an image sensor,

detecting a sound of the environmental situation using a voice input unit,

detecting a motion of the portable terminal using a sensor,

detecting a temperature of the environmental situation using a temperature sensor,

detecting an approaching object using a proximity sensor, and

detecting a noxious substance of the environmental situation using an environmental sensor.

4. The method of claim 3, wherein the detecting of the approaching object further comprises determining whether stored environmental situation information matching the obtained environmental situation information exists.

5. The method of claim 3, wherein the stored environmental situation information is stored in an environmental situation information database.

6. The method of claim 1, wherein the detecting of the dangerous object by analyzing an environmental situation information is at least one of:

detecting a dangerous object by detecting at least one of a person and an object through an analysis of an image obtained from an image sensor and determining an approach of the at least one of the person and the object,

detecting the dangerous object by analyzing a sound obtained from a sound detection sensor,

detecting dangerous states of an impact, a collision, and a drop of the portable terminal by analyzing a movement of the portable terminal obtained from a motion sensor,

detecting a dangerous state of surroundings of the portable terminal by analyzing a temperature value obtained from a temperature sensor,

detecting an approach of the at least one of the person and the object in the surroundings of the portable terminal if the approach of the at least one of the person and the object is detected through a proximity sensor, and

detecting a noxious substance in the surroundings of the portable terminal if a noxiousness is detected by an environmental sensor.

7. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

wherein the first service is a notice service comprising displaying an object corresponding to the dangerous object together with a screen of an application being extracted; and

wherein the second service is a control service comprising turning off a display unit.

8. The method of claim 7, wherein the determining of the danger level of the detected dangerous object comprises determining that at least one of:

the environmental situation may inflict an injury on a user if an approach of at least one of a person and an object is identified to be higher than another level by analyzing an image obtained from an image sensor,

the environmental situation may inflict an injury on the user if at least one of a movement, an impact, and a collision of the portable terminal detected by a motion sensor is identified to be higher than yet another level,

the environmental situation may inflict an injury on the user if a temperature value detected by a temperature sensor is identified to be higher than a temperature value,

the dangerous object having a higher possibility of colliding with the user approaches the user if the dangerous object detected by a proximity sensor is closer than a distance value, and

the environmental situation may inflict an injury to the user if a noxiousness detected by an environmental sensor is higher than a noxiousness value.

9. The method of claim 7, wherein the control service is at least one of:

an execution of stopping an application operating in the portable terminal,

an execution of terminating the application,

an execution of partially or fully covering the screen, and

an execution of providing an alarm notice sound.

10. The method of claim 7, wherein the notice service is at least one of:

an execution of outputting metaphors including at least one of a text, a symbol, and an icon for notifying a dangerous state in a screen, image contents corresponding to the dangerous object, a silhouette corresponding to the dangerous object, and at least one of an image and a moving image contents corresponding to the dangerous object while operating an application in the portable terminal,

an execution of reducing a brightness of the screen,

an execution of outputting a separate warning sound through at least one of a speaker, an earphone, and a headset,

an execution of vibrating an additional accessory,

an execution of turning on a light provided in the portable terminal, and

an execution of transmitting a danger signal to a wearable device connected with the portable terminal through at least one of a wireless communication unit and wired communication unit.

11. An apparatus for preventing an accident in a portable terminal, the apparatus comprising:

a sensor unit configured to obtain environmental situation information of the portable terminal;

a control unit configured to;

detect a dangerous object by analyzing the environmental situation information obtained from the sensor unit,

extract a first service mapped to the dangerous object if the danger level is lower than a predetermined level;

extract a second service mapped to the dangerous object if the danger level is higher than the predetermined level, and

execute the at least one of the extracted first service and the control extracted second service; and

a storage unit configured to store environmental situation information for comparing with the at least one of the extracted first service and the extracted second service.

12. The apparatus of claim 11,

wherein the storage unit is configured to store a first service database storing information on mapping of at least one first service to at least one dangerous object,

wherein the storage unit is configured to store a second service database storing information on mapping of at least one second service to at least one dangerous object, and

wherein the storage unit is configured to store environmental situation information in an environmental situation information database.

13. The apparatus of claim 11, further comprising at least one of a speaker, a headset, and an earphone,

wherein the at least one of the speaker, the headset, and the earphone are configured to output an alarm notice sound according to the at least one of the first service and the second service.

14. The apparatus of claim 11, further comprising an additional accessory configured to:

be connectable to the portable terminal through at least one of a wireless communication unit and a wired communication unit, and

execute at least one of outputting a vibration and outputting a sound according to the at least one of the first service and the second service.

15. The apparatus of claim 11, further comprising a wearable device configured to:

be connectable to the portable terminal through at least one of a wireless communication unit and a wired communication unit, and

receive a danger signal according to the at least one of the first service and the second service,

wherein the wearable device is configured to include at least one of;

eyeglasses,

a watch,

clothes, and

an object that may be disposed on a body of a user of the portable terminal.

16. The apparatus of claim 11, further comprising a wireless communication unit configured to automatically transmit information of the dangerous object determined by the control unit to a predetermined contact number,

wherein the contact number is at least one of a telephone number of a family member and a friend determined by at least one of a designer and a user, and telephone numbers of at least one of a fire station, a police station, and a police box.

17. The apparatus of claim 11, wherein the second service is at least one of:

an execution of stopping an application operating in the portable terminal,

an execution of terminating the application,

an execution of partially or fully covering the screen, and

an execution of providing an alarm notice sound.

18. The apparatus of claim 11, wherein the first service is at least one of:

an execution of outputting metaphors including at least one of a text, a symbol, and an icon for notifying a dangerous state in a screen, image contents corresponding to the dangerous object, a silhouette corresponding to the dangerous object, and at least one of an image and a moving image contents corresponding to the dangerous object while operating an application in the portable terminal,

an execution of reducing a brightness of the screen,

an execution of outputting a separate warning sound through at least one of a speaker, an earphone, and a headset,

an execution of vibrating an additional accessory,

an execution of turning on a light provided in the portable terminal, and

an execution of transmitting a danger signal to a wearable device connected with the portable terminal through at least one of a wireless communication unit and a wired communication unit.

19. The apparatus of claim 11,

wherein the first service is a notice service comprising displaying an object corresponding to the dangerous object together with a screen of an application being extracted;

and

wherein the second service is a control service comprising turning off a display unit.