Device that manages power provided to an object sensor

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-10747342-B2
Application number	US-201615349668-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Nov 11, 2016
Priority date	Oct 8, 2003
Publication date	Aug 18, 2020
Grant date	Aug 18, 2020

Abstract

A hand-held device with a sensor for providing a signal indicative of a position of the hand-held device relative to an object surface enables power to the sensor at a first time interval when the hand-held device is indicated to be in a position that is stationary and adjacent relative to the object surface, enables power to the sensor at a second time interval shorter than the first time interval when the hand-held device is indicated to be in a position that is moving and adjacent relative to the object surface, and enables power to the sensor at a third time interval when the hand-held device is determined to be in a position that is removed relative to the object surface.

First claim

What is claimed is:

1. A non-transitory, computer readable media having stored thereon instructions for managing a hand-held device having a plurality of input receiving elements, a first command transmission device, a second command transmission device, and a sensor, the instructions, when executed by a processing unit of the hand-held device, performing steps comprising:
using signals received from the sensor to determine when the hand-held portable device is positioned proximate to an object surface and to determine when the hand-held portable device is removed from the object surface; and
causing the hand-held device to automatically transition from a first operational mode to a second operational mode when it is determined from a signal received from the sensor that the hand-held portable device has been moved proximate to the object surface and to automatically transition from the second operational mode back to the first operational mode when it is determined from a signal received from the sensor that the hand-held portable device has been subsequently moved away from the object surface;
wherein, in the first operational mode, the hand-held device is configured to use the first command transmission device when transmitting one or more command communications in response to an activation of one or more of the plurality of input receiving elements and, in the second operational mode, the hand-held device is configured to use the second command transmission device when transmitting one or more command communications in response to an activation of one or more of the plurality of input receiving elements and wherein the first transmission device is different from the second command transmission device.

2. The non-transitory, computer readable media as recited in claim 1 , wherein the first transmission device comprises a radio frequency transmission device and wherein the second transmission device comprises an infrared transmission device.

3. The non-transitory, computer readable media as recited in claim 1 , wherein, in the first operational mode, the hand-held device is configured to use a first command code set when transmitting one or more command communications in response to an activation of one or more of the plurality of input receiving elements and, in the second operational mode, the hand-held device is configured to use a second command code set when transmitting one or more command communications in response to an activation of one or more of the plurality of input receiving elements and wherein the first command code set is different than the second command code set.

4. The non-transitory, computer readable media as recited in claim 3 , wherein the first transmission device comprises a radio frequency transmission device and wherein the second transmission device comprises an infrared transmission device.

5. The non-transitory, computer readable media as recited in claim 3 , wherein the plurality of input receiving elements comprise a plurality of soft input elements caused to be displayed in a touch sensitive surface of the hand-held device.

6. The non-transitory, computer readable media as recited in claim 5 , wherein, in the first operational mode, the hand-held device is configured to display a first set of the plurality of soft input elements in the touch sensitive surface of the hand-held device and, in the second operational mode, the hand-held device is configured to display a second set of the plurality of soft input elements in the touch sensitive surface of the hand-held device and wherein the first set of the plurality of soft input elements is different than the second set of the plurality of input elements.

7. The non-transitory, computer readable media as recited in claim 3 , wherein the instructions use input received into the hand-held device to select the first command code set and the second command code set from a library of command code sets stored in a memory of the hand-held device.

8. The non-transitory, computer readable media as recited in claim 7 , wherein the input used to select the first command code set and the second command code set is received via activations of one or more of the plurality of input receiving elements.

9. The non-transitory, computer readable media as recited in claim 3 , wherein the first command code set and the second command code set are received into the hand-held device from a device located remotely from the hand-held device.

10. The non-transitory, computer readable media as recited in claim 1 , wherein the instructions use a distance between the hand-held device and the object surface as sensed by the sensor to determine when the hand-held device has been moved proximate to and away from the object surface.

11. The non-transitory, computer readable media as recited in claim 1 , wherein the sensor comprises an optical sensing system.

Assignees

• Universal Electronics Inc

Inventors

• Gates Stephen Brian
• Black Jeremy K

Classifications

• G06F1/3259

  Power saving in cursor control device, e.g. mouse, joystick, trackball · CPC title

• G06F1/3206

  Monitoring of events, devices or parameters that trigger a change in power modality · CPC title

• G06F3/03547

  Touch pads, in which fingers can move on a surface · CPC title

• G06F3/038

  Control and interface arrangements therefor, e.g. drivers or device-embedded control circuitry · CPC title

• G06F3/0227

  Cooperation and interconnection of the input arrangement with other functional units of a computer (G06F3/023 - G06F3/037 take precedence) · CPC title