ORIENTATION BASED CONTROL OF MOBILE DEVICE

• US 20100069115A1
• Filed: 09/16/2008
• Published: 03/18/2010
• Est. Priority Date: 09/16/2008
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Qualcomm, Inc.
• Original Assignee: Palm, Inc. (TCL Technology Group Corp.)
• Inventors: Liu, Eric
• Granted Patent: US 8,433,244 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 455/556.100
• CPC Class Codes: H04M 1/72412 using two-way short-range wireless interfaces
• CPC Class Codes: H04M 1/72451 according to schedules, e.g. using calendar applications
• CPC Class Codes: H04M 1/72454 according to context-related or environment-related conditions
• CPC Class Codes: H04M 1/72457 according to geographic location
• CPC Class Codes: H04M 1/72466 with selection means, e.g. keys, having functions defined by the mode or the status of the device
• CPC Class Codes: H04M 2250/10 including a GPS signal receiver
• 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

Abstract

A mobile device (e.g. a smartphone) controls a feature of a non-navigation related application (e.g. arrangement of menu items, function controlled by a quick launch key, etc.) based on the orientation of the device. These controls may be context-specific such that the orientation is only used to control the feature in particular contexts. Context may be implied from various factors such as time and date information, the location of the device, other devices in proximity to the device, etc. The particular commands to be controlled based on the orientation can be set using the device, or can be loaded from a data file provided from a third party.

Claims

1. A mobile electronic device, comprising:

an orientation circuit configured to provide orientation data indicative of an orientation of the mobile device;

a location circuit configured to provide location data indicative of a location of the mobile device;

a processing circuit configured to receive orientation information based on the orientation data and location information based on the location data, and configured to control at least one action taken by the application in response to a user input based on the orientation information and the location information.

2. The mobile device of claim 1, wherein the orientation circuit comprises a compass circuit and the location circuit comprises a global positioning system circuit.

3. The mobile device of claim 1, wherein the processing circuit is configured to be configured to perform a first action in response to a user input at a first location when the device is in a first orientation and configured to perform a second action, different than the first action, in response to the user input at the first location when the device is in a second orientation, different than the first orientation.

4. The mobile device of claim 3, wherein the user input comprises a user input on at least one of a hard key and a soft key user input device.

5. The mobile device of claim 1, wherein the processing circuit is configured to control at least one action taken by the application in response to a user input at least by controlling a display to display different control options to a user at different orientations of the device.

6. A mobile electronic device comprising a processing circuit configured to receive information indicative of an orientation of the mobile device and control a feature of an application based on the information indicative of the orientation, the feature not being related to navigation.

7. The mobile device of claim 6, further comprising an orientation circuit configured to provide orientation data, wherein the information indicative of an orientation of the mobile device is based on the orientation data.

8. The mobile device of claim 7, wherein the orientation circuit comprises a compass circuit.

9. The mobile device of claim 6, wherein the processing circuit is further configured to receive context information and is configured to control an application based on the information indicative of the orientation and the context information.

10. The mobile device of claim 9, wherein the context information comprises location information indicative of a location of the mobile device.

11. The mobile device of claim 10, further comprising a location circuit configured to provide location data, wherein the location information is based on the location data.

12. The mobile device of claim 11, wherein the location circuit comprises a receiver configured to receive location signals, wherein the device is configured to calculate a location based on the location signals received.

13. The mobile device of claim 6, wherein the processing circuit is configured to control an application based on the information indicative of the orientation by controlling at least one action taken by the application in response to a user input based on the information indicative of the orientation.

14. The mobile device of claim 6, wherein the processing circuit is configured to control an application based on the information indicative of the orientation by controlling a mode of the application based on the information indicative of the orientation.

15. The mobile device of claim 6, wherein the processing circuit is configured to control the application to control a display to display information relating to objects located in a direction in which the mobile device is directed based on the information indicative of the orientation of the mobile device.

16. The mobile device of claim 6, wherein the processing circuit is configured to control an application based on the information indicative of the orientation by controlling a menu system of the application based on the information indicative of the orientation.

17. The mobile device of claim 6, wherein the processing circuit is configured to allow a user to customize actions taken by the application based on the information indicative of the orientation.

18. The mobile device of claim 6, wherein the processing circuit is configured to have a first mode of operation in which the processing circuit controls the application based on the information indicative of the orientation and a second mode in which the processing circuit does not control actions based on information indicative of an orientation of the mobile device.

19. The mobile device of claim 6, wherein the processing circuit is configured to control the application to launch different short-cuts based on different orientations of the device.

20. The mobile device of claim 6, wherein the processing circuit is further configured to have a programming mode in which the processing circuit is configured to receive programming orientation information indicative of an orientation of the device in a programming mode, a user input indicative of a command to execute at the programming orientation of the device, to save command information based on the programming orientation and the user input indicative of the command to execute, wherein the processing circuit is configured to control the application based on the information indicative of the orientation based on the command information.

21. The mobile device of claim 6, wherein the processing circuit is configured to control an application based on an orientation of the mobile device, the device is configured to subsequently receive a data file comprising data indicative of actions to take in response to orientations of the mobile device, and the processing circuit is configured to control the application based on the information indicative of the orientation and data from the data file.

22. The mobile device of claim 6, wherein

the processing circuit is further configured to receive data indicative of user programming inputs, the data indicative of user programming inputs representing user inputs of at least one feature to control in at least one context at at least one orientation, and to receive data indicative of a context of the mobile device, and

the processing circuit is configured to control the feature of the application based on the information indicative of the orientation by controlling the feature of the application based on the information indicative of the orientation and the data indicative of the context in relation to data based on the data indicative of user programming inputs.

23. The mobile device of claim 6, wherein the processing circuit is configured to control the feature of the application based on data indicative of the orientation and data indicative of context while being blind to the context.

24. The mobile device of claim 6, wherein the processing circuit is configured to control the feature of the application based on data indicative of the orientation and data indicative of context where the context is unrelated to map data.

25. The mobile device of claim 6, wherein the processing circuit is configured to control the feature of the application based on data indicative of the orientation and data indicative of context where the context does not include data that the processing circuit can use to define the coordinate location of the mobile device.

26. The mobile device of claim 6, wherein the processing circuit is configured to control the feature of the application based on data indicative of the orientation and data indicative of context where the data indicative context is provided from at least one source unrelated to a coordinate location of the mobile device.