Apparatus and method for detecting device drop

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-12487250-B2
Application number	US-202318202796-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	May 26, 2023
Priority date	Dec 7, 2022
Publication date	Dec 2, 2025
Grant date	Dec 2, 2025

Abstract

A method for detecting a drop event of an electronic device, may include: obtaining an angular velocity and a proper acceleration of the electronic device based on sensor data received from an inertial measurement unit (IMU) sensor of the electronic device; obtaining centripetal acceleration of the electronic device based on the angular velocity, principal moments of inertia of the electronic device, and position of the IMU sensor within the electronic device; based on an acceleration difference between the centripetal acceleration and the proper acceleration, determining whether the electronic device is in a fall state; and based on the electronic device being determined to be in the fall state, providing an analysis result of the drop event.

First claim

What is claimed is:

1 . A method for detecting a drop event of an electronic device, the method comprising:
obtaining an angular velocity and a proper acceleration of the electronic device based on sensor data received from an inertial measurement unit (IMU) sensor of the electronic device; obtaining a centripetal acceleration of the electronic device by computing a transition matrix having respective vectors of the angular velocity, principal moments of inertia of the electronic device, and a position of the IMU sensor within the electronic device, as inputs to the transition matrix; based on an acceleration difference between the centripetal acceleration and the proper acceleration, determining whether the electronic device is in a fall state; and based on the electronic device being determined to be in the fall state, providing an analysis result of the drop event.

2 . The method of claim 1 , further comprising:
determining that the electronic device is in the fall state when the acceleration difference between the centripetal acceleration and the proper acceleration is less than a first predetermined threshold.

3 . The method of claim 1 , further comprising:
determining that the electronic device is in the fall state when the angular velocity is not within a measurement range of the IMU sensor and truncation of the sensor data has occurred.

4 . The method of claim 1 , wherein a first trigger condition is satisfied when the acceleration difference between the centripetal acceleration and the proper acceleration is less than a first predetermined threshold, and a second trigger condition is satisfied when the angular velocity is not within a measurement range of the IMU sensor and truncation of the sensor data has occurred,
wherein the method further comprises: determining that the electronic device is in the fall state when at least one of the first trigger condition and the second trigger condition is satisfied and a magnitude of the proper acceleration in a z-axis direction of the electronic device is less than a second predetermined threshold, wherein the z-axis direction of the electronic device is a direction in which a shortest side of the electronic device extends.

5 . The method of claim 1 , further comprising:
based on the electronic device being determined to be in the fall state, increasing a sampling rate for collecting the sensor data from the IMU sensor.

6 . The method of claim 1 , further comprising:
detecting an impact on the electronic device based on a magnitude of the proper acceleration; based on the impact being detected, determining a fall duration during which the electronic device maintains the fall state until the impact is detected; and verifying the drop event of the electronic device based on the fall duration.

7 . The method of claim 6 , wherein the detecting of the impact on the electronic device comprises:
determining that the impact has occurred based on the magnitude of the proper acceleration, and at least one of a change of the angular velocity over time, a change of the proper acceleration over time, and a magnitude of the proper acceleration in a z-axis direction of the electronic device, wherein the z-axis direction of the electronic device is a direction in which a shortest side of the electronic device extends.

8 . The method of claim 1 , further comprising:
determining the principal moments of inertia of the electronic device based on predetermined principal moments of inertia of a device type corresponding to the electronic device, and angular velocity data and proper acceleration data collected during previous drops of the electronic device.

9 . The method of claim 8 , wherein the determining of the principal moments of inertia of the electronic device further comprises:
applying an objective function to the predetermined principal moments of inertia, and a variance of the angular velocity data and the proper acceleration data collected during the previous drops of the electronic device, to minimize a variance of rotational kinetic energy while minimizing a difference between the principal moments of inertia of the electronic device and the predetermined principal moments of inertia.

10 . An electronic device for detecting a drop event, the electronic device comprising:
an inertial measurement unit (IMU) sensor configured to collect sensor data that indicates an angular velocity and a proper acceleration of the electronic device; at least memory storing instructions; and at least one processor configured to execute the instructions to:
obtain the angular velocity and the proper acceleration of the electronic device based on the sensor data;
obtain a centripetal acceleration of the electronic device by computing a transition matrix having respective vectors of the angular velocity, principal moments of inertia of the electronic device, and a position of the IMU sensor within the electronic device, as inputs to the transition matrix;
based on an acceleration difference between the centripetal acceleration and the proper acceleration, determine whether the electronic device is in a fall state; and
based on the electronic device being determined to be in the fall state, provide an analysis result of the drop event.

11 . The electronic device of claim 10 , wherein the at least one processor is further configured to execute the instructions to:
determine that the electronic device is in the fall state when the acceleration difference between the centripetal acceleration and the proper acceleration is less than a first predetermined threshold.

12 . The electronic device of claim 10 , wherein the at least one processor is further configured to execute the instructions to:
determine that the electronic device is in the fall state when the angular velocity is not within a measurement range of the IMU sensor and truncation of the sensor data has occurred.

13 . The electronic device of claim 10 , wherein a first trigger condition is satisfied when the acceleration difference between the centripetal acceleration and the proper acceleration is less than a first predetermined threshold, and a second trigger condition is satisfied when the angular velocity is not within a measurement range of the IMU sensor and truncation of the sensor data has occurred,
wherein the at least one processor is further configured to execute the instructions to: determine that the electronic device is in the fall state when at least one of the first trigger condition and the second trigger condition is satisfied and a magnitude of the proper acceleration in a z-axis direction of the electronic device is less than a second predetermined threshold, wherein the z-axis direction of the electronic device is a direction in which a shortest side of the electronic device extends.

14 . The electronic device of claim 10 , wherein the at least one processor is further configured to execute the instructions to:
based on the electronic device being determined to be in the fall state, increase a sampling rate for collecting the sensor data from the IMU sensor.

15 . The electronic device of claim 10 , wherein the at least one processor is further configured to execute the instructions to:
detect an impact on the electronic device based on a magnitude of the proper acceleration; based on the impact being detected, determine a fall duration during which the electronic device maintains the fall state until the impact is detected; and verify the drop event of the electronic device based on the fall duration.

16 . The electronic d

Assignees

• Samsung Electronics Co Ltd

Inventors

• Jiang Wenjun
• Xing Tianwei
• Chen Xun

Classifications

• G01P15/0891 Primary

  with indication of predetermined acceleration values (G01P15/135 takes precedence) · CPC title

• G01P3/44

  for measuring angular speed (G01P3/56 takes precedence) · CPC title

• G01P15/18 Primary

  in two or more dimensions · CPC title