PORTABLE ELECTRONIC APPARATUS AND SOUND OUTPUT-CONTROLLING PROGRAM

• US 20080240461A1
• Filed: 09/05/2007
• Published: 10/02/2008
• Est. Priority Date: 03/30/2007
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Kabushiki Kaisha Toshiba (Toshiba Corporation)
• Original Assignee: Kabushiki Kaisha Toshiba (Toshiba Corporation)
• Inventors: NAKAMURA, Atsushi, MORIMOTO, Shigeo
• Granted Patent: US 8,509,458 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 381/81
• CPC Class Codes: H04R 5/023 in a chair, pillow

Abstract

Information on a use situation of a portable electronic apparatus possessed by a user is acquired from an illuminance sensor, a contact sensor, and a GPS portion as use situation-acquiring portions, and a volume of a sound outputted either to a speaker provided as an internal sound-outputting unit in the portable electronic apparatus or to an external sound-outputting unit such as a headphone is controlled in accordance with the acquired information. Thus, even when a plug of the headphone falls off from the portable electronic apparatus despite an intention of the user, an unpleasant sound is prevented from being outputted from the speaker to a circumference.

Claims

1. A portable electronic apparatus, comprising:

a sound outputting portion for outputting a sound either to an external sound-outputting unit connected to an apparatus main body or to an internal sound-outputting unit provided in the apparatus main body;

a use situation-acquiring portion for acquiring information in accordance with which an output of the sound is controlled in correspondence to a use situation of the apparatus main body; and

a control portion for detecting connection between the external sound-outputting unit and the apparatus main body, and separation of the external sound-outputting unit from the apparatus main body;

wherein when detecting one of the connection between the external sound-outputting unit and the apparatus main body, and the separation of the external sound-outputting unit from the apparatus main body, the control portion controls a volume of the sound in accordance with the information acquired by the use situation-acquiring portion.

2. A portable electronic apparatus according to claim 1, wherein when detecting the connection between the external sound-outputting unit and the apparatus main body, the control portion switches an output destination of the sound from the internal sound-outputting unit over to the external sound-outputting unit, and sets the volume of the sound outputted from the external sound-outputting unit to a predetermined volume in accordance with the information acquired by the use situation acquiring portion.

3. A portable electronic apparatus according to claim 1, wherein when detecting the separation of the external sound-outputting unit from the apparatus main body, the control portion switches an output destination of the sound from the external sound-outputting unit over to the internal sound-outputting unit, and sets the volume of the sound outputted from the internal sound-outputting unit to a volume smaller than a reference volume in accordance with the information acquired by the use situation acquiring portion.

4. A portable electronic apparatus according to claim 1, wherein when detecting the separation of the external sound-outputting unit from the apparatus main body, the control portion switches an output destination of the sound from the external sound-outputting unit over to the internal sound-outputting unit, and sets the volume of the sound outputted from the internal sound-outputting unit to a mute state in accordance with the information acquired by the use situation acquiring portion.

5. A portable electronic apparatus according to claim 1, wherein when detecting the separation of the external sound-outputting unit from the apparatus main body, the control portion switches an output destination of the sound from the external sound-outputting unit over to the internal sound-outputting unit, and increases the volume of the sound outputted from the internal sound-outputting unit at a given rate from a mute state in accordance with the information acquired by the use situation acquiring portion.

6. A portable electronic apparatus according to claim 1, wherein there is a predetermined volume set value in connection with the information acquired by the use situation-acquiring portion, the control portion sets the volume of the sound to the volume set value irrespective of the separation of the external sound-outputting unit from the apparatus main body.

7. A portable electronic apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the use situation-acquiring portion is an illuminance sensor for detecting an illuminance of an environment in which the apparatus main body is located.

8. A portable electronic apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the use situation-acquiring portion is a global positioning system (GPS) portion for detecting a position of the apparatus main body.

9. A portable electronic apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the use situation-acquiring portion is a contact sensor for detecting contact of a user with the apparatus main body.

10. A portable electronic apparatus, comprising:

a sound outputting portion for outputting a sound either to an external sound-outputting unit connected to an apparatus main body or to an internal sound-outputting unit provided in the apparatus main body;

a plurality of use situation-acquiring portions for acquiring information in accordance with which an output of the sound is controlled in correspondence to a use situation of the apparatus main body;

a storage portion for storing therein set values for volumes of the sound outputted either from the external sound-outputting unit or from the internal sound-outputting unit; and

a control portion for detecting connection between the external sound-outputting unit and the apparatus main body, and separation of the external sound-outputting unit from the apparatus main body;

wherein when detecting one of the connection between the external sound-outputting unit and the apparatus main body, and separation of the external sound-outputting unit from the apparatus main body, the control portion controls the volume of the sound in accordance with the information acquired by at least one of the plurality of use situation acquiring portions by referring to the set values stored in the storage portion.

11. A portable electronic apparatus according to claim 10, wherein when detecting the connection between the external sound-outputting unit and the apparatus main body, the control portion switches an output destination of the sound from the internal sound-outputting unit over to the external sound-outputting unit, and sets the volume of the sound outputted from the external sound-outputting unit to a volume predetermined based on the set value in accordance with the information acquired by at least one of the plurality of use situation-acquiring portions.

12. A portable electronic apparatus according to claim 10, wherein when detecting the separation of the external sound-outputting unit from the apparatus main body, the control portion switches an output destination of the sound from the external sound-outputting unit over to the internal sound-outputting unit, and sets the volume of the sound outputted from the internal sound-outputting unit to a volume smaller than a reference volume by referring to the set values in accordance with the information acquired by at least one of the plurality of use situation-acquiring portions.

13. A portable electronic apparatus according to claim 10, wherein when detecting the separation of the external sound-outputting unit from the apparatus main body, the control portion switches an output destination of the sound from the external sound-outputting unit over to the internal sound-outputting unit, and sets the volume of the sound outputted from the internal sound-outputting unit to a mute state by referring to the set values in accordance with the information acquired by at least one of the plurality of use situation-acquiring portions.

14. A portable electronic apparatus according to claim 10, wherein when detecting the separation of the external sound-outputting unit from the apparatus main body, the control portion switches an output destination of the sound from the external sound-outputting unit over to the internal sound-outputting unit, and increases the volume of the sound outputted from the internal sound-outputting unit at a given rate from a mute state by referring to the set values in accordance with the information acquired by at least one of the plurality of use situation-acquiring portions.

15. A portable electronic apparatus according to claim 10, wherein there is the predetermined set value in connection with the information acquired by at least one of the plurality of use situation-acquiring portions, the control portion sets the volume of the sound to the predetermined set value irrespective of the separation of the external sound-outputting unit from the apparatus main body.

16. A portable electronic apparatus according to claim 10, wherein one of the plurality of use situation-acquiring portions is an illuminance sensor for detecting an illuminance of an environment in which the apparatus main body is located.

17. A portable electronic apparatus according to claim 10, wherein one of the plurality of use situation-acquiring portions is a global positioning system (GPS) portion for detecting a position of the apparatus main body.

18. A portable electronic apparatus according to claim 10, wherein one of the plurality of use situation-acquiring portions is a contact sensor for detecting contact of a user with the apparatus main body.

19. A portable electronic apparatus according to claim 10, wherein the storage portion includes a table in which a degree of priority is described in accordance with which the information is acquired by the plurality of use situation-acquiring portions, and the control portion determines the use situation-acquiring portion for acquiring the information from the plurality of use situation-acquiring portions by referring to the table.

20. A sound output-controlling program for, in order to control an output of a sound, causing a computer to function in a form of an apparatus, the apparatus comprising:

a sound outputting portion for outputting a sound either to an external sound-outputting unit connected to an apparatus main body or to an internal sound-outputting unit provided in the apparatus main body;

a use situation-acquiring portion for acquiring information in accordance with which an output of the sound is controlled in correspondence to a use situation of the apparatus main body; and

a control portion for detecting connection between the external sound-outputting unit and the apparatus main body, and separation of the external sound-outputting unit from the apparatus main body, and when detecting one of the connection between the external sound-outputting unit and the apparatus main body, and the separation of the external sound-outputting unit from the apparatus main body, controlling a volume of the sound in accordance with the information acquired by the use situation-acquiring portion