Sensor managed apparatus, method and computer program product

• US 9,535,552 B2
• Filed: 01/29/2015
• Issued: 01/03/2017
• Est. Priority Date: 01/27/2012
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Sony Corporation (Sony Group Corp.)
• Original Assignee: Sony Corporation (Sony Group Corp.), Sony Mobile Communications Incorporated (Sony Group Corp.)
• Inventors: Ward, Anatol, Takashima, Kouichiro
• Primary Examiner(s): Lee, Jr., Kenneth B
• Application Number:
  US14/608,987
• Publication Number:
  US 20150138156A1
• Time in Patent Office: 705 Days
• Field of Search: None
• US Class Current: 1/1
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 1/3206 Monitoring of events, devices or parameters that trigger a change in power modality
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 1/3262 Power saving in digitizer or tablet
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 1/3296 by lowering the supply or operating voltage
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 21/32 using biometric data, e.g. fingerprints, iris scans or voiceprints
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 21/36 by graphic or iconic representation
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 2203/04108 Touchless 2D- digitiser, i.e. digitiser detecting the X/Y position of the input means, finger or stylus, also when it does not touch, but is proximate to the digitiser's interaction surface without distance measurement in the Z direction
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 3/016 Input arrangements with force or tactile feedback as computer generated output to the user
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 3/044 by capacitive means
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 3/04886 by partitioning the display area of the touch-screen or the surface of the digitising tablet into independently controllable areas, e.g. virtual keyboards or menus

Abstract

An apparatus, method and computer program product provide a simplified method for unlocking an electronic device that uses soft keys, such as capacitive touch keys, or proximity detection areas and patterns. The keys may be implemented in the form of areas of a sensor, and a processing circuit observes a touch pattern (or proximity pattern, or characteristic pattern such as a capacitance pattern of a user'"'"'s finger) and compares the same with the registered pattern to determine if there is a likeness. In doing so, the electronic device is operated at a low power state, and in that low power state observes whether a predetermined pattern is observed and when it is, unlocks the electronic device for interaction with a user at a fully operational state. By operating in the low power state while waiting to observe a predetermined pattern before unlocking the user interface, the device does not waste power on false positive detections, and allows for convenient wakeup and accessibility by a user.

Claims

1. An electronic device comprising:

an interactive display having a sensor that detects user interaction with a sub-portion of the interactive display; and

a processing circuit configured to change a state of the interactive display from a low power state to an operational state in response to detected user interaction with the electronic device, wherein

the processing circuit is configured to perform the state change after determining that a detected capacitance pattern, caused by an object used to generate the user interaction, matches a preregistered capacitance pattern within a predetermined amount,

the user interaction is a touch event against a surface of the sub-portion of a touch panel display,

the sub-portion being arranged in an adjacent area of a main portion of the interactive display and including a plurality of soft key regions that include at least a first soft key and a second soft key, and

the touch event includes a movement across the soft key regions that include the first soft key region and the second soft key region.

2. The electronic device of claim 1, wherein the sub-portion is disposed at an end portion of the interactive display, and is visually separated from a main display portion of said interactive display by a material that optically covers at least a portion of said sub-portion but not said main display portion.

3. The electronic device of claim 1, further comprising:

a front planar material having an external surface that separates the sensor from the object used to generate the user interaction,

wherein the interactive display being the touch panel, and the sensor being a capacitance sensor that is reactive to the touch event.

4. The electronic device of claim 3, wherein the user interaction is the touch event that includes a movement of said object over said front planar material while remaining in contact with said front planar material.

5. The electronic device of claim 1, wherein the processing circuit determines that the first soft key region is included in the touch event before determining that the second soft key region is included in the touch event.

6. The electronic device of claim 5, wherein the processing circuit determines that the first soft key region is included in the touch event by receiving a signal from the sensor indicating that a change in detected capacitance amount exceeded a predetermined level for a portion of the sensor that corresponds with the first soft key region.

7. The electronic device of claim 3, further comprising:

a storage medium that has data stored therein describing the preregistered capacitance pattern.

8. The electronic device of claim 3, wherein the user interaction is a proximity detection that includes a movement of said object over said front planar material without contacting said front planar material.

9. The electronic device of claim 8, further comprising:

a storage medium that has data stored therein describing a preregistered proximity pattern,

wherein the processing circuit performs the state change after determining that a detected proximity pattern caused by the object matches the preregistered proximity pattern within a predetermined amount.

10. The electronic device of claim 9, wherein the processing circuit performs a cross-correlation operation to determine that the detected proximity pattern caused by the object matches the preregistered proximity pattern within the predetermined amount.

11. The electronic device of claim 3, wherein the user interaction is a multi-point gesture that includes a movement of said object over said front planar material.

12. The electronic device of claim 1, further comprising:

a feedback mechanism that provides a haptic response when the detected user interaction is recognized by the processing circuit as being a user interaction that is associated with a wake up and an unlock instruction.

13. The electronic device of claim 12, wherein said feedback mechanism includes at least one of an illumination device, and a tactile sensation device.

14. A method for managing operation of a user interface in an electronic device comprising:

detecting, with a sensor, user interaction with a sub-portion of an interactive display; and

executing, with a processing circuit, a state change of the interactive display from a low power state to an operational state in response to detected user interaction with the electronic device, wherein

the processing circuit is configured to perform the state change after determining that a detected capacitance pattern, caused by an object used to generate the user interaction, matches a preregistered capacitance pattern within a predetermined amount,

the user interaction is a touch event against a surface of the sub-portion of a touch panel display,

the sub-portion being arranged in an adjacent area of a main portion of the interactive display and including a plurality of soft key regions that include at least a first soft key and a second soft key, and

the touch event includes a movement across the soft key regions that include the first soft key region and the second soft key region.

15. The method of claim 14, wherein the user interaction is a touch event that includes a movement of said object over a front planar material while remaining in contact with said front planar material, said front planar material separating said sensor from the object that generates the user interaction.

16. The method of claim 15, wherein said executing includes determining that a change in detected capacitance exceeds a predetermined level for a portion of the sensor that corresponds with a first soft key region.

17. The method of claim 14, wherein the user interaction is a touch event that includes a movement of said object over a front planar material but does not contact said front planar material, said front planar material separating said sensor from the object that generates the user interaction.

18. The method of claim 17, wherein said executing includes determining that a detected proximity pattern caused by the object matches a preregistered proximity pattern within a predetermine amount.

19. A non-transitory computer readable storage medium having computer readable instructions that when executed by a processing circuit implement a method of managing a user interface in an electronic device, said method comprising:

detecting, with a sensor, user interaction with a sub-portion of an interactive display; and

executing, with a processing circuit, a state change of the interactive display from a low power state to an operational state in response to detected user interaction with the electronic device, wherein

the processing circuit is configured to perform the state change after determining that a detected capacitance pattern, caused by an object used to generate the user interaction, matches a preregistered capacitance pattern within a predetermined amount,

the user interaction is a touch event against a surface of the sub-portion of a touch panel display,

the sub-portion being arranged in an adjacent area of a main portion of the interactive display and including a plurality of soft key regions that include at least a first soft key and a second soft key, and

the touch event includes a movement across the soft key regions that include the first soft key region and the second soft key region.