Method and apparatus for activating a hardware feature of an electronic device

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-9560254-B2
Application number	US-201314143818-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Dec 30, 2013
Priority date	Dec 30, 2013
Publication date	Jan 31, 2017
Grant date	Jan 31, 2017

Abstract

A method and apparatus for activating a hardware feature of an electronic device includes the electronic device detecting 302 a predetermined motion of the electronic device and measuring 304 , in response to detecting the predetermined motion, an orientation of the electronic device. The method further includes the electronic device activating 306 , based on the orientation, a hardware feature from a plurality of selectable hardware features of the electronic device, wherein each selectable hardware feature can be activated based on different orientations of the electronic device.

First claim

We claim:

1. An electronic device comprising:
a first camera located on a first side of the electronic device at a first height above a bottom of the electronic device the bottom being a short edge of the electronic device;
a second camera located on a second side of the electronic device at a second height above the bottom of the electronic device, wherein the second height is different than the first height;
a first sensor configured to detect a motion of the electronic device;
a second sensor configured to measure an orientation of the electronic device; and
a processing element operationally coupled to the first and second sensors and the first and second cameras, wherein the processing element is configured to:
detect a predetermined pattern of directional movement of the electronic device;
measure, in response to detecting the predetermined pattern, the orientation of the device relative to a gravitational direction, wherein the orientation is quantified by an orientation angle between the gravitational direction and a reference line pointing from a first location of the first camera to a second location of the second camera and
electronically select and activate one of the first camera or the second camera based on the orientation angle of the electronic device measured relative to the gravitational direction and relative height between the first camera and the second camera with respect to the gravitational direction in response to detecting the predetermined pattern.

2. The electronic device of claim 1 , wherein the first sensor comprises:
a gyroscope, and
wherein the predetermined pattern is rotational motion resulting from twisting the electronic device, and comprising a reversal of direction and an angular jerk above a threshold value.

3. The electronic device of claim 1 , wherein:
the second sensor comprises an accelerometer that measures the orientation of the electronic device relative to the gravitational direction, and
wherein the processing element is configured to:
select the first camera instead of the second camera when the orientation angle is less than a threshold angle; and
select the second camera instead of the first camera when the orientation angle is greater than the threshold angle.

4. A method performed by an electronic device for activating hardware features of the electronic device, the method comprising:
detecting a predetermined pattern of directional movement of the electronic device, the electronic device comprising a plurality of selectable hardware features;
measuring, in response to detecting the predetermined pattern, an orientation of the electronic device relative to a gravitational direction, wherein the orientation is quantified by an orientation angle between the gravitational direction and a reference line pointing from a first location of a first selectable hardware feature of the plurality of selectable hardware features to a second location of a second selectable hardware feature of the plurality of selectable hardware features, wherein the first location is at a different height than the second location from a short edge of the electronic device; and
activating one of the first selectable hardware feature or the second selectable hardware feature based on the measured orientation angle of the electronic device with respect to the gravitational direction and relative height between the first selectable hardware feature and the second selectable hardware feature with respect to the gravitational direction in response to detecting the predetermined pattern.

5. The method of claim 4 , wherein the predetermined pattern of the electronic device is a twisting motion of the electronic device about a rotation axis passing through the electronic device, wherein the twisting motion comprises at least one of:
a forward rotation and a backward rotation about the rotation axis; or
an angular jerk about the rotation axis greater than a predetermined threshold.

6. The method of claim 4 , wherein
the orientation of the electronic device is measured relative to a gravitational direction using an accelerometer of the electronic device, and
the first selectable hardware feature is activated if the orientation angle is less than a threshold angle; and
the second selectable hardware feature is activated if the orientation angle is greater than the threshold angle.

7. The method of claim 6 , wherein the first selectable hardware feature is a first camera on a first side of the electronic device and the second selectable hardware feature is a second camera on a second side of the electronic device opposite the first side.

Assignees

• Google Technology Holdings LLC

Inventors

• Lombardi Michael J
• Pierce Amber M

Classifications

• H04N23/61

  based on recognised objects · CPC title

• H04N23/63

  by using electronic viewfinders · CPC title

• H04N23/6812

  based on additional sensors, e.g. acceleration sensors · CPC title

• H04N23/45

  for generating image signals from two or more image sensors being of different type or operating in different modes, e.g. with a CMOS sensor for moving images in combination with a charge-coupled device [CCD] for still images · CPC title

• H04N23/611

  where the recognised objects include parts of the human body · CPC title