Method of controlling power supply for fingerprint sensor, fingerprint processing device, and electronic device performing the same

• US 9,967,100 B2
• Filed: 11/05/2014
• Issued: 05/08/2018
• Est. Priority Date: 11/05/2013
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Samsung Electronics Co. Ltd.
• Original Assignee: Samsung Electronics Co. Ltd.
• Inventors: Hong, Hyun Ju, Choi, Seung Ki, Yoon, Su Ha, Park, Su Young, Jung, Eui Chang, Shin, Sung Hyuk
• Primary Examiner(s): Johnson, Terrell S
• Application Number:
  US14/533,799
• Publication Number:
  US 20150127965A1
• Time in Patent Office: 1,280 Days
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 1/1694 the I/O peripheral being a single or a set of motion sensors for pointer control or gesture input obtained by sensing movements of the portable computer
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 1/325 Power saving in peripheral device
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 2200/1637 Sensing arrangement for detection of housing movement or orientation, e.g. for controlling scrolling or cursor movement on the display of an handheld computer
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 3/017 Gesture based interaction, e.g. based on a set of recognized hand gestures interaction based on gestures traced on a digitiser G06F3/04883
• CPC Class Codes: G06V 40/13 Sensors therefor
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 9/3231 Biological data, e.g. fingerprint, voice or retina network architectures or network communication protocols for supporting authentication of entities using biometrical features in a packet data network H04L63/0861

Abstract

A method of controlling power supply for a fingerprint sensor is provided. The method includes receiving sensor data obtained from the fingerprint sensor; determining whether the received sensor data is a fingerprint form of data; if the received sensor data is the fingerprint form of data, determining an amount of change in sensor data received over a predetermined time is greater than or equal to a predetermined value; and if the received sensor data is not the fingerprint form of data or if the received sensor data is the fingerprint form of data but an amount of change in the received sensor data is less than the predetermined value, allowing the fingerprint sensor to enter a power saving mode.

Claims

1. A method of controlling power supply for a fingerprint sensor, the method comprising:

receiving, by at least one processor of an electronic device, sensor data obtained from the fingerprint sensor;

obtaining, by the at least one processor, information indicating whether the sensor data is a fingerprint form of data;

if the sensor data is the fingerprint form of data, obtaining, by the at least one processor, information indicating whether a use mode of the electronic device equipped with the fingerprint sensor is a horizontal mode by using one of an acceleration sensor and a magnetic sensor; and

if the use mode is the horizontal mode, decreasing, by the at least one processor, a power of the fingerprint sensor.

2. The method of claim 1, further comprising, if the sensor data is the fingerprint form of data, obtaining information indicating whether a fingerprint direction of the sensor data corresponds to a direction set for fingerprint authentication, and

if the sensor data is the fingerprint form of data but the fingerprint direction of the sensor data does not correspond to the direction set for fingerprint authentication, decreasing the power of the fingerprint sensor.

3. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

if the sensor data is the fingerprint form of data, obtaining information indicating whether there is an application being executed;

if the application is being executed, obtaining information indicating whether the fingerprint sensor is used for executing the application, and

if the sensor data is the fingerprint form of data but no application is being executed or if the fingerprint is not used for executing the application, decreasing the power of the fingerprint sensor.

4. The method of claim 3, wherein obtaining information indicating whether the fingerprint sensor is used for executing the application includes, if the use mode of the electronic device is the horizontal mode, obtaining information indicating that there is the application being executed.

5. The method of claim 1, further comprising obtaining information indicating whether a recognized gesture corresponds to a predetermined gesture by using at least one sensor equipped in the electronic device including the fingerprint sensor,

wherein, if the recognized gesture corresponds to the predetermined gesture, obtaining information indicating that a function not requiring a driving of the fingerprint sensor is being executed, and decreasing the power of the fingerprint sensor.

6. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

if the use mode is not the horizontal mode, obtaining information indicating whether a call/message/notification signal occurs in the electronic device including the fingerprint sensor; and

if the call/message/notification signal occurs in the electronic device, decreasing the power of the fingerprint sensor.

7. The method of claim 1, wherein decreasing the power of the fingerprint sensor includes decreasing a power of a fingerprint processing device processing sensor data of the fingerprint sensor in addition to the fingerprint sensor.

8. The method of claim 1, wherein determining whether the sensor data is a fingerprint form of data includes:

reconfiguring the sensor data as an image; and

obtaining information indicating whether the sensor data is the fingerprint form of data by using the reconfigured image.

9. The method of claim 1, wherein obtaining information indicating whether the sensor data is a fingerprint form of data includes:

reconfiguring the sensor data as an image;

extracting a feature from the reconfigured image; and

obtaining information indicating whether the sensor data is the fingerprint form of data by using the extracted feature.

10. The method of claim 1, wherein decreasing the power of the fingerprint sensor includes:

obtaining information indicating whether a specific application is executed, wherein the specific application is set to be executed on the horizontal mode; and

decreasing the power of the fingerprint sensor while the specific application is executed and the use mode is the horizontal mode.

11. An electronic device comprising:

a fingerprint sensor configured to obtain sensor data by performing a sensing operation on the target and transmit the obtained sensor data to a fingerprint processing device, when a target having a predetermined permittivity is detected;

a power control unit configured to control power supply for the fingerprint sensor; and

the fingerprint processing device configured to;

receive sensor data from the fingerprint sensor,

obtain information indicating whether the received sensor data is a fingerprint form of data,

obtain information indicating whether a use mode of the electronic device equipped with the fingerprint sensor is a horizontal mode by using one of an acceleration sensor and a magnetic sensor if the received sensor data is the fingerprint form of data, and

decrease a power of the fingerprint sensor if the use mode is the horizontal mode.

12. The electronic device of claim 11, further comprising;

a communication processing unit configured to process a call/message/notification signal; and

an application management unit configured to manage an execution of an application and information relating to the application,

wherein the fingerprint processing device obtains information indicating whether the sensor data is a pseudo input on the basis of whether the fingerprint sensor is used for executing an application being executed or whether a call/message/notification signal occurs.

13. The electronic device of claim 11, further comprising:

a gesture determination unit configured to obtain information indicating whether a gesture recognized by using at least one of an acceleration sensor and a magnetic sensor corresponds to a predetermined gesture,

wherein the fingerprint processing device obtains information indicating whether the sensor data is a pseudo input on the basis of a determination result of the recognized gesture from the gesture determination unit.

14. An electronic device comprising:

a first processor;

a second processor;

a sensor module configured to detect a specified operation; and

a fingerprint sensor configured to;

detect fingerprint input if the specified operation is detected by the sensor module; and

transmit fingerprint data associated with the fingerprint input to the second processor,

wherein the second processor is configured to;

receive sensor data from the fingerprint sensor,

obtain information indicating whether the received sensor data is a fingerprint form of data, and

obtain information indicating whether a use mode of the electronic device is a horizontal mode by using one of an acceleration sensor and a magnetic sensor; and

wherein the first processor is configured to decrease a power of the fingerprint sensor if the use mode is the horizontal mode.

15. The electronic device of claim 14, wherein the second processor is configured to transmit the fingerprint data to the first processor if the use mode is not the horizontal mode, and

wherein the first processor is configured to obtain a validity of the fingerprint data.

16. The electronic device of claim 15, wherein the first processor is further configured to obtain information indicating that the fingerprint does not match to a registered fingerprint if validity of the fingerprint data is under a first reference value, and obtain a next ranking validity if the fingerprint data does not match to the registered fingerprint data.

17. The electronic device of claim 15, wherein the first processor is further configured to convert validity of the fingerprint data to a set value if the validity is under a first reference value, and execute at least one application whose security is set to low if the converted value is equal to or greater than a second reference value.

18. The electronic device of claim 14, wherein the second processor is further configured to wake up the first processor if the use mode is not the horizontal mode.

19. The electronic device of claim 18, wherein the first processor is further configured to switch the electronic device from a sleep state to a wake up state if the use mode of the electronic device is not the horizontal mode.