COMPUTATION DEVICE INCORPORATING MOTION DETECTION AND METHOD THEREOF

• US 20090303205A1
• Filed: 06/05/2008
• Published: 12/10/2009
• Est. Priority Date: 06/05/2008
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Dell Products LP (Dell Technologies Inc.)
• Original Assignee: Dell Products LP (Dell Technologies Inc.)
• Inventors: Seibert, Philip M., Ramirez, Ernesto
• Granted Patent: US 8,345,025 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 345/204
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 1/1616 with folding flat displays, e.g. laptop computers or notebooks having a clamshell configuration, with body parts pivoting to an open position around an axis parallel to the plane they define in closed position
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 1/1654 the display being detachable, e.g. for remote use
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 1/1677 for detecting open or closed state or particular intermediate positions assumed by movable parts of the enclosure, e.g. detection of display lid position with respect to main body in a laptop, detection of opening of the cover of battery compartment
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 1/1684 Constructional details or arrangements related to integrated I/O peripherals not covered by groups G06F1/1635 - G06F1/1675
• 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 1/3203 Power management, i.e. event-based initiation of a power-saving mode
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 2200/1614 Image rotation following screen orientation, e.g. switching from landscape to portrait mode
• CPC Class Codes: G09G 2320/068 for control of viewing angle adjustment
• CPC Class Codes: G09G 2340/0492 Change of orientation of the displayed image, e.g. upside-down, mirrored

Abstract

Information from an accelerometer integrated at a computation device is received. An orientation of a display of the computation device, or other attribute, can be determined based upon the received information based upon an assumed reference, such as a desktop surface that is perpendicular to a gravitational vector, or based upon information from another accelerometer, such as an accelerometer within a base portion of a laptop computer. An operation is performed based upon the information.

Claims

1. A method comprising:

receiving first information from a first acceleration detector incorporated at a first portion of a computation device, the first portion comprising a display to provide video/graphic images, and being coupled to a second portion of the computation device;

determining an orientation of the first portion based upon the first information; and

performing a first operation at the computational device based upon the orientation.

2. The method of claim 1, wherein first portion is coupled to the second portion by a flexible attachment mechanism that allows the orientation of the first portion to the second portion to be varied.

3. The method of claim 2, wherein the flexible attachment mechanism allows detaching of the first portion from the second portion, and wherein the first portion can communicate with the second portion via an electronic wireless interface.

4. The method of claim 2, further comprising

receiving second information from a second acceleration detector incorporated at the second portion of the computational device;

and

determining the orientation further comprises determining the orientation based upon the second motion information.

5. The method of claim 4, wherein at least one of the first and the second accelerometers is a three-axis accelerometer.

6. The method of claim 4, wherein performing the first operation includes placing the display in a low power mode.

7. The method of claim 4, further comprising

receiving third information from the second acceleration detector;

determining an attribute of the computation device based upon the third motion information, the attribute being other than the orientation; and

performing a second operation based upon the attribute.

8. The method of claim 7, wherein the second operation includes protecting a hard drive.

9. The method of claim 8, wherein at least one of the first and second accelerometers is a three-axis accelerometer.

10. The method of claim 4, wherein performing the first operation includes adjusting a display image characteristic.

11. The method of claim 2, wherein performing the first operation includes adjusting a display image characteristic of an image displayed at the display.

12. The method of claim 11, further comprising

receiving second motion information from the first acceleration detector;

determining an attribute of the computation device based on the second motion information, the attribute being other than the orientation; and

performing a second operation based upon the attribute.

13. The method of claim 11, wherein adjusting the display image characteristic includes adjusting a brightness of the display.

14. The method of claim 11, wherein adjusting the display image characteristic includes adjusting an image orientation of the display.

15. The method of claim 2, further comprising configuring the first operation by a software program.

16. A computation device comprising:

a first portion including a display to provide video/graphic images, a second portion, flexibly attached to the first portion, and

a first acceleration detector incorporated at the first portion to provide a first information for determining an orientation of the first portion.

17. The computation device of claim 16, further comprising

utilizing the first information for adjusting a display image characteristic.

18. The computation device of claim 17, further comprising a second acceleration detector incorporated at the second portion for providing a second information.

19. The computation device of claim 18, wherein the second information is utilized for adjusting an attribute other than the display image characteristic.

20. A method comprising:

receiving first information from a first acceleration detector incorporated at a computation device;

determining an orientation of a display of the computation device based upon the first information; and

performing a first operation at the computational device based upon the orientation.