Method and apparatus for characterizing context of a mobile device

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-9398396-B2
Application number	US-201113269178-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Oct 7, 2011
Priority date	Jan 18, 2011
Publication date	Jul 19, 2016
Grant date	Jul 19, 2016

Abstract

Information about a context of a mobile device is inferred using measurements from light detectors of the mobile device. The light detectors may be located on multiple different sides of the mobile device. In some embodiments, measurements from one or more cameras may be used to infer context.

First claim

What is claimed is:

1. A machine implemented method comprising:
receiving an image from a camera disposed to capture light impinging on a first surface of a mobile device;
receiving one or more signals from an ambient light sensor responsive to light impinging on a second surface of said mobile device, the second surface being different from the first surface;
performing an analysis comparing the image from the camera to at least a signal of the one or more signals from the ambient light sensor;
determining a position status of the mobile device with respect to the environment of the mobile device, the determining the position status based, at least in part, on the analysis; and
adjusting a parameter of the mobile device based on the determining of the position status of the mobile device.

2. The method of claim 1 , wherein:
the camera comprises a multi-color imaging device.

3. The method of claim 1 , wherein:
the characterizing the environment of the mobile device includes calculating an average light intensity using the image.

4. The method of claim 3 , wherein:
the calculating the average light intensity using the image includes calculating an average light intensity for only a portion of the image.

5. The method of claim 1 , wherein:
the characterizing the environment of the mobile device includes calculating average light intensities for colors of a color space using the image.

6. The method of claim 1 , wherein:
the characterizing the environment of said mobile device includes calculating discrete cosine transform (DCT) coefficients for image color intensities of the image.

7. The method of claim 1 , further comprising:
discarding said image and the one or more signals after characterizing the environment.

8. The method of claim 1 , wherein the parameter of the mobile device is associated with a function of the mobile device unrelated to capturing an image using the camera.

9. The method of claim 1 , wherein the position status is chosen from a plurality of statuses, the plurality of statuses comprising:
on table top; and
in hand.

10. A mobile device, comprising:
a camera disposed on a first side of the mobile device;
an ambient light sensor disposed on a second side of the mobile device, the second side being different from the first side; and
a processor configured to:
perform an analysis to compare an image captured by the camera to a signal from the ambient light sensor responsive to light detected by the ambient light sensor;
determine a position status of the mobile device with respect to the environment of the mobile device, the determining the position status based, at least in part, on the analysis; and
adjust a parameter of the mobile device based on the determining the position status of the mobile device.

11. The mobile device of claim 10 , wherein:
the first side is an opposite side from the second side.

12. The mobile device of claim 10 , wherein:
the first side is adjacent to the second side.

13. The mobile device of claim 10 , wherein:
the processor is further configured to calculate an average light intensity using the image captured by the camera.

14. The mobile device of claim 10 , wherein:
the processor is further configured to calculate average light intensities for colors of a color space using the image captured by the camera.

15. The mobile device of claim 10 , wherein:
the processor is further configured to calculate discrete cosine transform (DCT) coefficients for image color intensities for the image captured by the camera.

16. The mobile device of claim 10 , further comprising:
a third light detector disposed on a third side of said mobile device, the third side being different from the first and second sides;
wherein the processor is further configured to process signals from the third light detector to determine the position status.

17. The mobile device of claim 10 , wherein:
the processor is further configured to discard the image the camera and the signal from the ambient light sensor after characterizing the said environment of the mobile device.

18. The mobile device of claim 10 , wherein the parameter of the mobile device is associated with a function of the mobile device unrelated to capturing an image using the camera.

19. The mobile device of claim 10 , wherein the position status is chosen from a plurality of statuses, the plurality of statuses comprising:
on table top; and
in hand.

20. An apparatus comprising: a non-transitory machine-readable storage medium having stored thereon instructions executable by a computer system to:
acquire one or more first signals from a camera responsive to light impinging a first surface of a mobile device;
acquire one or more signals from an ambient light sensor responsive to light impinging on a second surface of said mobile device, said second surface being different from said first surface;
perform an analysis including comparing at least a signal of the one or more first signals from the camera to the at least a signal of the one or more signals from the ambient light sensor;
determine a position status of the mobile device with respect to the environment of the mobile device, the determining the position status based, at least in part, on the analysis.

21. The apparatus of claim 20 , wherein:
the characterizing the environment of the mobile device includes calculating an average light intensity using the image first signals.

22. The apparatus of claim 21 , wherein:
calculating the average light intensity using the image includes calculating an average light intensity for only a portion of the image.

23. The apparatus of claim 20 , wherein:
the characterizing the environment of the mobile device includes calculating average light intensities for colors of a color space using the image.

24. The apparatus of claim 20 , wherein:
the characterizing the environment of the mobile device includes calculating discrete cosine transform (DCT) coefficients for image color intensities of the image.

25. The apparatus of claim 20 , wherein the parameter of the mobile device is associated with a function of the mobile device unrelated to capturing an image using the camera.

26. The apparatus of claim 20 , wherein the position status is chosen from a plurality of statuses, the plurality of statuses comprising:
on table top; and
in hand.

27. An apparatus comprising:
means for receiving an image from a camera disposed to capture light impinging on a first surface of a mobile device;
means for receiving one or more signals from an ambient light sensor responsive to light impinging on a second surface of the mobile device, the second surface being different from the first surface; and
means for performing an analysis comparing the image from the camera to at least a sign of the one or more signals from the ambient light sensor;
means for determining a position status of the mobile device with respect to the environment of the mobile device, the determining the position status based, at least in part, on the analysis; and
means for adjusting a parameter of the mobile device based on the determining the position status of the mobile device.

28. The apparatus of claim 27 , wherein:
the camera comprises a multi-color imaging device.

29. The apparatus of claim 27 , wherein:
the means for

Assignees

• Grokop Leonard Henry
• Sarah Anthony
• Narayanan Vidya
• Qualcomm Inc

Inventors

• Grokop Leonard Henry
• Sarah Anthony
• Narayanan Vidya

Classifications

• H04W4/001 Primary

  Electricity · mapped topic

• H04W4/50 Primary

  Service provisioning or reconfiguring · CPC title