Hinge Angle Detection

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-2022350373-A1
Application number	US-201917763953-A
Country	US
Kind code	A1
Filing date	Dec 27, 2019
Priority date	Dec 27, 2019
Publication date	Nov 3, 2022
Grant date	—

Abstract

Particular embodiments described herein provide for an electronic device that includes a first housing, where the first housing includes at least one first housing accelerometer and at least one first housing gyroscope, a second housing, where the second housing includes at least one second housing accelerometer and at least one second housing gyroscope, and a hinge. The hinge rotatably couples the first housing to the second housing, where a hinge angle is determined using data from the first housing accelerometer, the second housing accelerometer, the first housing gyroscope, and the second housing gyroscope if the electronic device is not in a portrait orientation where the hinge is vertical to a ground or not in motion and is determined using data from the first housing gyroscope and the second housing gyroscope if the electronic device is in portrait orientation or is in motion.

First claim

1 . An electronic device comprising:
a first housing, wherein the first housing includes at least one first housing accelerometer and at least one first housing gyroscope; a second housing, wherein the second housing includes at least one second housing accelerometer and at least one second housing gyroscope; and a hinge, wherein the hinge rotatably couples the first housing to the second housing, wherein a hinge angle is determined using data from the first housing accelerometer, the second housing accelerometer, the first housing gyroscope, and the second housing gyroscope if the electronic device is not in a portrait orientation where the hinge is vertical to a ground or is not in motion.

2 . The electronic device of claim 1 , wherein the hinge angle is determined using data from the first housing gyroscope and the second housing gyroscope, but not from the first housing accelerometer or the second housing accelerometer if the electronic device is in the portrait orientation or is in motion.

3 . The electronic device of claim 1 , wherein the hinge angle is determined using state transition data.

4 . The electronic device of claim 3 , further comprising:
a state transition engine, wherein the state transition engine is used to determine the state transition data based on angular velocity data from the first housing gyroscope and the second housing gyroscope.

5 . The electronic device of claim 3 , further comprising:
a state transition engine, wherein the state transition engine is used to determine the state transition data based on angular velocity data from the first housing gyroscope and the second housing gyroscope, wherein the hinge angle determined using the state transition data is corrected using the data from the first housing accelerometer and the second housing accelerometer.

6 . The electronic device of claim 1 , wherein a Kalman filter to determine the hinge angle.

7 . The electronic device of claim 1 , wherein the first housing can rotate about three hundred and sixty degrees relative to the second housing.

8 . The electronic device of claim 1 , wherein an image on a display is changed based on the determined hinge angle.

9 . A method comprising:
determining that a first housing of an electronic device is rotated relative to a second housing of the electronic device about a hinge that rotatably couples the first housing to the second housing; determining acceleration data from a plurality of accelerometers; determining angular velocity data from a plurality of gyroscopes; determining a hinge angle based on the angular velocity data from the plurality of gyroscopes if the electronic device is in a portrait orientation where the hinge is vertical to a ground or is in motion; and determining the hinge angle based on the acceleration data from the plurality of accelerometers and the angular velocity data from the plurality of gyroscopes if the electronic device is not in the portrait orientation where the hinge is vertical to a ground or is not in motion.

10 . The method of claim 9 , wherein the first housing includes at least one first housing accelerometer and at least one first housing gyroscope and the second housing includes at least one second housing accelerometer and at least one second housing gyroscope.

11 . The method of claim 9 , further comprising:
determining the hinge angle using state transition data.

12 . The method of claim 11 , further comprising:
determining the state transition data based on angular velocity data from a first housing gyroscope and a second housing gyroscope and a previously determined hinge angle.

13 . The method of claim 9 , wherein a Kalman filter is used to determine the hinge angle.

14 . The method of claim 9 , wherein the first housing can rotate about three hundred and sixty degrees relative to the second housing.

15 . The method of claim 14 , further comprising:
changing an image on a display in the first housing based on the determined hinge angle.

16 . A system for determining a hinge angle, the system comprising:
a first housing, wherein the first housing includes at least one first housing accelerometer and at least one first housing gyroscope; a second housing, wherein the second housing includes at least one second housing accelerometer and at least one second housing gyroscope; a state transition engine, wherein the state transition engine is configured to determine state transition data; and a hinge, wherein the hinge rotatably couples the first housing to the second housing, wherein a hinge angle is determined using data from the first housing accelerometer, the second housing accelerometer, and the state transition data if the system is not in a portrait orientation where the hinge is vertical to a ground or is not in motion and is determined using data from the state transition data if the system is in the portrait orientation where the hinge is vertical to a ground or is in motion.

17 . The system of claim 16 , wherein the state transition engine determines the state transition data based on angular velocity data from the first housing gyroscope and the second housing gyroscope and a previously determined hinge angle.

18 . The system of claim 16 , wherein a Kalman filter is used to determine the hinge angle.

19 . The system of claim 16 , wherein the first housing can rotate about three hundred and sixty degrees relative to the second housing.

20 . The system of claim 16 , wherein the first housing includes a first display and the second housing includes a second display.

Assignees

• Intel Corp

Inventors

• Cui Renjie
• Han Ke
• Han Hemin
• Ma Lili

Classifications

• G06F1/1681

  Details related solely to hinges (hinge details related to the transmission of signals or power are classified in G06F1/1683) · 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

• G06F1/1677 Primary

  for detecting open or closed state or particular intermediate positions assumed by movable parts of the enclosure, e.g. detection of display lid position with respect to main body in a laptop, detection of opening of the cover of battery compartment · CPC title

• G06F1/1618 Primary

  the display being foldable up to the back of the other housing with a single degree of freedom, e.g. by 360° rotation over the axis defined by the rear edge of the base enclosure · CPC title

• G01B7/30

  for measuring angles or tapers; for testing the alignment of axes · CPC title