Method and system for device activation

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-11119558-B2
Application number	US-201916522598-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Jul 25, 2019
Priority date	Oct 29, 2018
Publication date	Sep 14, 2021
Grant date	Sep 14, 2021

Abstract

An electronic device is configured to analyze movement data generated by a sensor (e.g., an accelerometer assembly) in the electronic device to determine if the electronic device should be activated from a reduced power state. A control circuit in the electronic device can compare the movement data to a predetermined movement pattern to determine whether the movement should be ignored, or if the movement is consistent with a user shaking the electronic device to activate the electronic device. As a result of this approach, erroneous activation of the electronic device is avoided, thereby preventing the electronic device from needlessly depleting its battery before deployment by the end user.

First claim

What is claimed is:

1. A method of activating an electronic device comprising a sensor and a control circuit, the method comprising:
obtaining, in the sensor, movement data indicative of movement of the electronic device;
comparing, in the sensor, at least a portion of the movement data with a predetermined threshold value;
providing, by the sensor, and responsive to said at least a portion of the movement data exceeding the predetermined threshold value, said movement data to the control circuit from the sensor;
determining, in the control circuit, whether at least a portion of the movement data satisfies a predetermined activation criteria comprising one or more predetermined motion patterns of the electronic device;
activating, by the control circuit, a power state based on determining whether the portion of the movement data satisfies the predetermined activation criteria; and
disabling activation of the control circuit for a period of time in response to one or more consecutive determinations that the portion of the movement data does not satisfy the predetermined activation criteria.

2. The method of claim 1 , wherein activating the power state comprises reverting to a first power state in response to determining that the portion of the movement data does not satisfy the predetermined activation criteria, wherein reverting to the first power state includes deactivating the control circuit.

3. The method of claim 1 , wherein activating the power state comprises activating a third power state in response to determining that the portion of the movement data satisfies the predetermined activation criteria, wherein activating the third power state includes activating a communication interface.

4. The method of claim 3 , further comprising:
transmitting the movement data to a host computing system during the third power state.

5. The method of claim 1 , further comprising:
activating a second power state prior to obtaining the movement data in the control circuit, wherein activating the second power state includes activating the control circuit.

6. The method of claim 1 , wherein obtaining the movement data in the control circuit includes receiving the movement data from a buffer that is part of the sensor that generates the movement data.

7. The method of claim 1 , wherein the activation criteria includes at least one of a magnitude of acceleration, a change in acceleration, a number of changes in acceleration, or a predetermined pattern of acceleration changes.

8. The method of claim 1 , wherein the predetermined motion pattern is representative of a user shaking the electronic device.

9. The method of claim 1 , wherein the activation criteria includes a predetermined pattern of alternating acceleration.

10. The method of claim 1 , wherein determining whether the movement data satisfies the predetermined activation criteria includes applying a statistical model to compare the movement data to the predetermined activation criteria.

11. The method of claim 1 , wherein the predetermined activation criteria is based off of a target waveform developed using a trained model, which includes collecting a plurality of sample movement data and using machine learning to train a system to recognize positive motion patterns and distinguish such positive motion patterns from erroneous negative motion patterns that are to be ignored.

12. The method of claim 1 , wherein the movement data is representative of movement of the electronic device over a fixed period of time.

13. The method of claim 1 , wherein the movement data is acceleration data.

14. An electronic device comprising:
a communications interface;
a sensor configured to:
generate movement data indicative of movement of the electronic device; and
compare at least a portion of the movement data with a predetermined threshold value; and

a control circuit configured to:
obtain the movement data from the sensor, responsive to said at least portion of the movement data exceeding the predetermined threshold value;
determine whether at least a portion of the movement data satisfies a predetermined activation criteria comprising a predetermined motion pattern of the electronic device;
activate a power state based on determining whether the portion of the movement data satisfies the predetermined activation criteria; and
disable activation of the control circuit for a period of time in response to one or more consecutive determinations that the portion of the movement data does not satisfy the predetermined activation criteria.

15. The electronic device of claim 14 , wherein the control circuit is configured to activate a first power state in response to determining that the portion of the movement data does not satisfy the predetermined activation criteria, wherein activating the first power state includes deactivating the control circuit.

16. The electronic device of claim 14 , wherein the control circuit is configured to activate a third power state in response to determining that the portion of the movement data satisfies the predetermined activation criteria, and activating the third power state includes activating the communications interface.

17. The electronic device of claim 16 , wherein the control circuit is further configured to transmit the movement data, using the communication interface, to a host computing system during the third power state.

18. The electronic device of claim 14 , wherein the activation criteria is at least one of a magnitude of acceleration, a change in acceleration, a number of changes in acceleration, or a predetermined pattern of acceleration changes.

19. The electronic device of claim 14 , wherein the predetermined motion pattern is representative of a user shaking the electronic device.

20. The electronic device of claim 14 , wherein the predetermined activation criteria is based off of a target waveform developed using a trained model configured to collect a plurality of sample movement data and use machine learning to train a system to recognize positive motion patterns and distinguish such positive motion patterns from erroneous negative motion patterns that are to be ignored.

Assignees

• Sony Mobile Communications Inc
• Sony Group Corp

Inventors

• Huang Sangxia

Classifications

• G06F1/3287

  by switching off individual functional units in the computer system · CPC title

• G01P15/00

  Measuring acceleration; Measuring deceleration; Measuring shock, i.e. sudden change of acceleration · CPC title

• G06F1/1694

  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 title

• G06F3/017

  Gesture based interaction, e.g. based on a set of recognized hand gestures (interaction based on gestures traced on a digitiser G06F3/04883) · CPC title

• G06F1/3231 Primary

  Monitoring the presence, absence or movement of users · CPC title