Magnetic battery saver

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-2016100274-A1
Application number	US-201314360753-A
Country	US
Kind code	A1
Filing date	Jun 24, 2013
Priority date	Jun 24, 2013
Publication date	Apr 7, 2016
Grant date	—

Abstract

The invention is directed to systems, methods and computer program products for activating a mobile device application. An exemplary method comprises: storing a threshold change; determining a change in magnetic field using a compass located in a mobile device; comparing the change in magnetic field to the threshold change; determining whether the change in magnetic field is greater than or equal to the threshold change; and in response to determining the change in magnetic field is greater than or equal to the threshold change, activating a mobile device application.

First claim

What is claimed is:

1 . A method for activating a mobile device application, the method comprising:
storing a threshold change; determining a change in magnetic field using a compass located in a mobile device; comparing the change in magnetic field to the threshold change; determining whether the change in magnetic field is greater than or equal to the threshold change; and in response to determining the change in magnetic field is greater than or equal to the threshold change, activating a mobile device application.

2 . The method of claim 1 , wherein the mobile device application comprises a near-field communication (NFC) application.

3 . The method of claim 1 , wherein the compass is located in a NFC tag or chip.

4 . The method of claim 1 , wherein the compass is located in the mobile device but not in an NFC tag or chip.

5 . The method of claim 1 , wherein the compass comprises at least two compasses.

6 . The method of claim 1 , wherein activating the mobile device application reduces a charge associated with a power source located in the mobile device.

7 . The method of claim 1 , wherein the mobile device comprises a portable mobile communication device.

8 . The method of claim 1 , wherein the mobile device application comprises a display application or an image-capturing application.

9 . The method of claim 1 , wherein the compass comprises at least two compasses, and wherein the change in magnetic field comprises an average change in magnetic field detected by the at least two compasses.

10 . The method of claim 1 , wherein the change in magnetic field is triggered by bringing the mobile device in close proximity to an external magnet.

11 . The method of claim 10 , wherein the external magnet is associated with a point-of-sale terminal.

12 . The method of claim 10 , wherein the external magnet is associated with a readable indicia terminal.

13 . The method of claim 1 , wherein activating the mobile device application comprises activating the mobile device application for a predetermined period.

14 . The method of claim 13 , further comprises deactivating the mobile device application after the predetermined period.

15 . The method of claim 13 , further comprising deactivating the mobile device application after the predetermined period based on the magnetic field detected by the compass at the end of the predetermined period.

16 . The method of claim 13 , further comprising continuing to activate the mobile device application after the predetermined period based on the magnetic field detected by the compass at the end of the predetermined period.

17 . The method of claim 1 , wherein determining the change in magnetic field comprises determining an amount of displacement of a magnetic pointer associated with the compass.

18 . The method of claim 1 , further comprising initiating presentation of a graphical user interface on a display of the mobile device upon activation of the mobile device application.

19 . An apparatus for activating a mobile device application, the apparatus comprising:
a memory; a processor; and a module stored in the memory, executable by the processor, and configured to: determine a change in magnetic field using a compass located in a mobile device; compare the change in magnetic field to the threshold change; determine whether the change in magnetic field is greater than or equal to the threshold change; and in response to determining the change in magnetic field is greater than or equal to the threshold change, activate a mobile device application.

20 . A computer program product for activating a mobile device application, the computer program product comprising:
a non-transitory computer-readable medium comprising a set of codes for causing a computer to: determine a change in magnetic field using a compass located in a mobile device; compare the change in magnetic field to the threshold change; determine whether the change in magnetic field is greater than or equal to the threshold change; and in response to determining the change in magnetic field is greater than or equal to the threshold change, activate a mobile device application.

Assignees

• Sony Corp

Inventors

• Bergh Jonas

Classifications

• H04W4/008 Primary

  Electricity · mapped topic

• G01V3/00 Primary

  Electric or magnetic prospecting or detecting; Measuring magnetic field characteristics of the earth, e.g. declination, deviation · CPC title

• G01C17/02

  Magnetic compasses · CPC title

• H04W52/0251 Primary

  using monitoring of local events, e.g. events related to user activity · CPC title

• H04M1/72412

  using two-way short-range wireless interfaces · CPC title