REST DETECTION USING ACCELEROMETER

• US 20120259578A1
• Filed: 04/07/2011
• Published: 10/11/2012
• Est. Priority Date: 04/07/2011
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Qualcomm, Inc.
• Original Assignee: Qualcomm, Inc.
• Inventors: Bevilacqua, Mathew W., Sridharan, Kaushik, Kochinski, Yehonatan
• Granted Patent: US 9,436,231 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 702/141
• 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 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: G06F 3/0346 with detection of the device orientation or free movement in a 3D space, e.g. 3D mice, 6-DOF [six degrees of freedom] pointers using gyroscopes, accelerometers or tilt-sensors

Abstract

Example methods, apparatuses, or articles of manufacture are disclosed herein that may be utilized, in whole or in part, to facilitate or support one or more operations or techniques for detecting a state of rest of a mobile communication device using, at least in part, output signals from an accelerometer.

Claims

1. A method comprising, at a mobile device:

measuring a level of acceleration vibration of said mobile device based, at least in part, on at least one signal received from at least one inertial sensor;

detecting a change in an angle of a measured gravity vector applied to said mobile device contemporaneously with said acceleration vibration; and

determining whether said mobile device is at rest based, at least in part, on said measured level and said detected change.

2. The method of claim 1, wherein said detecting said change in said angle of said measured gravity vector further comprises:

obtaining measurements of said angle at multiple instances; and

comparing said measurements to determine said change.

3. The method of claim 2, and further comprising:

correlating in time said measurements of said angle with said acceleration vibration.

4. The method of claim 2, wherein said measurements of said angle are obtained based, at least in part, on an application of a low-pass filtering model.

5. The method of claim 1, wherein said detecting said change in said angle of said measured gravity vector further comprises:

processing signals representing two sequential measurements of said measured gravity vector; and

computing said angle based, at least in part, on said two processed sequential measurements.

6. The method of claim 1, wherein said determining whether said mobile device is at rest further comprises:

varying an acceleration vibration threshold based, at least in part, on said detected change in said angle of said measured gravity vector; and

determining whether said measured level of acceleration vibration exceeds said acceleration vibration threshold.

7. The method of claim 6, wherein said varying said acceleration vibration threshold further comprises increasing said acceleration vibration threshold to detect motion of said mobile device using, at least in part, said detected change in said angle of said measured gravity vector.

8. The method of claim 6, wherein said acceleration vibration threshold is user-configurable.

9. The method of claim 7, wherein said detecting said motion of said mobile device using said detected change in said angle further comprises comparing said detected change in said angle to a rotation threshold.

10. The method of claim 9, wherein said rotation threshold is user-configurable.

11. The method of claim 1, and further comprising:

interpreting, if determined that said mobile device is at rest, a subsequent measured acceleration motion as a user gesture input.

12. An apparatus comprising:

at least one inertial sensor coupled to at least one processor having instructions to;

measure a level of acceleration vibration of a mobile device based, at least in part, on at least one signal received from said at least one inertial sensor;

detect a change in an angle of a measured gravity vector applied to said mobile device contemporaneously with said acceleration vibration; and

determine whether said mobile device is at rest based, at least in part, on said measured level and said detected change.

13. The apparatus of claim 12, wherein said instructions to detect said change in said angle of said measured gravity vector further comprise instructions to:

obtain measurements of said angle at multiple instances; and

compare said measurements to determine said change.

14. The apparatus of claim 13, wherein said instructions to detect said change in said angle of said measured gravity vector further comprise instructions to:

correlate in time said measurements of said angle with said acceleration vibration.

15. The apparatus of claim 13, wherein said measurements of said angle are obtained based, at least in part, on an application of a low-pass filtering model.

16. The apparatus of claim 12, wherein said instructions to detect said change in said angle of said measured gravity vector further comprise instructions to:

process signals representing two sequential measurements of said measured gravity vector; and

compute said angle based, at least in part, on said two processed sequential measurements.

17. The apparatus of claim 12, wherein said instructions to determine whether said mobile device is at rest further comprise instructions to:

vary an acceleration vibration threshold based, at least in part, on said detected change in said angle of said measured gravity vector; and

determine whether said measured level of acceleration vibration exceeds said acceleration vibration threshold.

18. The apparatus of claim 17, wherein said instructions to vary said acceleration vibration threshold further comprise instructions to:

increase said acceleration vibration threshold to detect motion of said mobile device using, at least in part, said detected change in said angle of said measured gravity vector.

19. The apparatus of claim 18, wherein said to detect said motion of said mobile device using said detected change in said angle further comprises instructions to compare said detected change in said angle to a rotation threshold.

20. The apparatus of claim 12, wherein said at least one inertial sensor comprises at least one accelerometer disposed on said mobile device.

21. The apparatus of claim 12, wherein said at least one inertial sensor comprises one three-dimensional (3D) accelerometer disposed on said mobile device.

22. An apparatus comprising:

means for measuring a level of acceleration vibration of a mobile device based, at least in part, on at least one signal received from at least one inertial sensor;

means for detecting a change in an angle of a measured gravity vector applied to said mobile device contemporaneously with said acceleration vibration; and

means for determining whether said mobile device is at rest based, at least in part, on said measured level and said detected change.

23. The apparatus of claim 22, wherein said means for detecting said change in said angle of said measured gravity vector further comprises:

means for obtaining measurements of said angle at multiple instances; and

means for comparing said measurements to determine said change.

24. The apparatus of claim 23, and further comprising:

means for correlating in time said measurements of said angle with said acceleration vibration.

25. The apparatus of claim 23, wherein said measurements of said angle are obtained based, at least in part, on an application of a low-pass filtering model.

26. The apparatus of claim 22, wherein said means for detecting said change in said angle of said measured gravity vector further comprises:

means for processing signals representing two sequential measurements of said measured gravity vector; and

means for computing said angle based, at least in part, on said two processed sequential measurements.

27. The apparatus of claim 22, wherein said means for determining whether said mobile device is at rest further comprises:

means for varying an acceleration vibration threshold based, at least in part, on said detected change in said angle of said measured gravity vector; and

means for determining whether said measured level of acceleration vibration exceeds said acceleration vibration threshold.

28. The apparatus of claim 27, wherein said means for varying said acceleration vibration threshold further comprises means for increasing said acceleration vibration threshold to detect motion of said mobile device using, at least in part, said detected change in said angle of said measured gravity vector.

29. The apparatus of claim 28, wherein said means for increasing said acceleration vibration threshold to detect said motion further comprises means for comparing said detected change in said angle to a rotation threshold.

30. The apparatus of claim 22, and further comprising:

means for interpreting, if determined that said mobile device is at rest, a subsequent measured acceleration motion as a user gesture input.

31. The apparatus of claim 22, wherein said at least one inertial sensor comprises at least one accelerometer disposed on said mobile device.

32. The apparatus of claim 22, wherein said at least one inertial sensor comprises one three-dimensional (3D) accelerometer disposed on said mobile device.

33. An article comprising:

a storage medium having instructions stored thereon executable by a special purpose computing platform to;

measure a level of acceleration vibration of a mobile device based, at least in part, on at least one signal received from at least one inertial sensor;

detect a change in an angle of a measured gravity vector applied to said mobile device contemporaneously with said acceleration vibration; and

determine whether said mobile device is at rest based, at least in part, on said measured level and said detected change.

34. The article of claim 33, wherein said storage medium having instructions to detect said change in said angle of said measured gravity vector further comprise instructions to:

obtain measurements of said angle at multiple instances; and

compare said measurements to determine said change.

35. The article of claim 34, wherein said storage medium further comprise instructions to:

correlate in time said measurements of said angle with said acceleration vibration.

36. The article of claim 34, wherein said measurements of said angle are obtained based, at least in part, on an application of a low-pass filtering model.

37. The article of claim 33, wherein said storage medium having instructions to detect said change in said angle of said measured gravity vector further comprise instructions to:

process signals representing two sequential measurements of said measured gravity vector; and

compute said angle based, at least in part, on said two processed sequential measurements.

38. The article of claim 33, wherein said instructions to determine whether said mobile device is at rest further comprise instructions to:

vary an acceleration vibration threshold based, at least in part, on said detected change in said angle of said measured gravity vector; and

determine whether said measured level of acceleration vibration exceeds said acceleration vibration threshold.

39. The article of claim 38, wherein said instructions to vary said acceleration vibration threshold further comprise instructions to:

increase said acceleration vibration threshold to detect motion of said mobile device using, at least in part, said detected change in said angle of said measured gravity vector.