Mobile Device Having a Motion Detector

• US 20080140338A1
• Filed: 05/16/2007
• Published: 06/12/2008
• Est. Priority Date: 12/12/2006
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Samsung Electronics Co. Ltd.
• Original Assignee: Samsung Electronics Co. Ltd.
• Inventors: No, Hyung Moon, Tang, Zhikai
• Granted Patent: US 8,082,122 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 702/141
• CPC Class Codes: G01C 22/006 Pedometers
• 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 1/3206 Monitoring of events, devices or parameters that trigger a change in power modality
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 1/3237 by disabling clock generation or distribution
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 1/3287 by switching off individual functional units in the computer system
• CPC Class Codes: H04M 1/72403 with means for local support of applications that increase the functionality
• 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: Y02D 10/00 Energy efficient computing, e.g. low power processors, power management or thermal management

Abstract

A system and method for detecting motion by a mobile device is provided. The mobile device determines whether motion is detected by a motion detector. The motion detection is sampled at a first sampling rate when no motion is detected for a specified time. The motion detection is sampled at a second sampling rate when motion is detected, wherein the second sampling rate is more frequent than the first sampling rate.

Claims

1. A mobile device for detecting motion, comprising:

a motion detector; and

a pedometer application on the mobile device to sample for motion at a first sampling rate when no motion is detected for a specified time and to sample for motion at a second sampling rate when motion is detected, wherein the second sampling rate is more frequent than the first sampling rate.

2. The mobile device of claim 1, further comprising power consuming components on the mobile device that occasionally deactivate when the pedometer application is not sampling for motion.

3. The mobile device of claim 2, wherein the power consuming components comprise at least one of a processor and a main clock.

4. The mobile device of claim 1, wherein the pedometer application on the mobile device is activated based on at least one of a current user input and a stored pedometer status.

5. The mobile device of claim 1, wherein the mobile device is one of a mobile telecommunication device, a mobile handset, a personal digital assistant, a mobile computer, a handheld gaming device, a wireless mobile device, a pager, a portable computer, a tablet computer, a laptop computer, a digital camera, a digital music player, a digital calculator, and an electronic key fob for keyless entry.

6. The mobile device of claim 1, further comprising a processor to occasionally process data sampled from a motion detector.

7. The mobile device of claim 1, wherein the second sampling rate is determined by a timer based on a sleep clock.

8. The mobile device of claim 6, wherein the processed data includes data related to at least one of steps, miles, kilometers, calories.

9. The mobile device of claim 6, further comprising storing the processed data for a period of time that includes at least one of hours, days, weeks, months, and years

10. A method for detecting motion by a mobile device, comprising:

determining whether motion is detected by a motion detector;

sampling for motion at a first sampling rate when no motion is detected for a specified time; and

sampling for motion at a second sampling rate when motion is detected, wherein the second sampling rate is more frequent than the first sampling rate.

11. The method of claim 10, further comprising occasionally deactivating specific power consuming components on the mobile device when motion data is not being sampled.

12. The system of claim 11, wherein the specific power consuming components comprise at least one of a processor and a main clock.

13. The system of claim 10, further comprising processing data sampled from the motion detector to update a user interface.

14. The system of claim 10, further comprising occasionally processing data sampled from the motion detector.

15. A mobile device for detecting motion, comprising:

a processor;

a motion detector on the mobile device to detect motion; and

an application having instructions that, when executed by the processor, promote sampling the motion detector at a first sampling rate when no motion is detected for a specified time and further promote sampling the motion detector at a second sampling rate when motion is detected, wherein the second sampling rate is more frequent than the first sampling rate.

16. The mobile device of claim 15, wherein the application is further defined as a gaming application.

17. The mobile device of claim 15, wherein the mobile device is one of a mobile telecommunication device, a mobile handset, a personal digital assistant, a mobile computer, a handheld gaming device, a wireless mobile device, a pager, a portable computer, a tablet computer, a laptop computer, a digital camera, a digital music player, a digital calculator, and an electronic key fob for keyless entry.

18. The mobile device of claim 15, wherein sampling motion detector is further defined as sampling data output by the motion detector.

19. The mobile device of claim 15, wherein the processor occasionally processes data sampled from the motion detector absent user interaction with a user interface related to the application, when the user interacts with the user interface, processing the motion data to the user interface in substantially real time.

20. The mobile device of claim 15, wherein the second sampling rate is determined by a timer based on a sleep clock.