JP2012038337A - Method and apparatus for operating portable device based on accelerometer - Google Patents

Abstract

PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To provide an application using an accelerometer in cooperation with software executable in a computer.SOLUTION: A method and an apparatus for operating a portable device based on an accelerometer are described. According to one embodiment of the present invention, an accelerometer attached to a portable device detects a movement of the portable device. In response, a machine executable code is executed within the portable device to perform one or more predetermined user configurable operations.

Description

Related applications

  This application is a continuation-in-part of co-pending US patent application Ser. No. 10/890856, filed Jul. 13, 2004, and US patent application Ser. No. 10/890856 is co-pending application of Jan. 21, 2003. US patent application Ser. No. 10/348465, currently a continuation of US Pat. No. 6,768,666, which is co-pending US patent application Ser. No. 09 / 678,541 filed Oct. 2, 200, Currently, it is a divisional application of US Pat.

  This application is also a continuation-in-part of co-pending US patent application Ser. No. 10 / 791,495, filed Mar. 1, 2004. The above identified US patent applications are hereby incorporated by reference.

  The present invention relates generally to portable devices. In particular, the present invention relates to the operation of a portable device using a portable device accelerometer.

  Accelerometers are devices that are widely used in a variety of applications such as vibration monitoring, instrument control, joysticks, industrial process control, launch into space, satellite control, and many other purposes. For example, accelerometers have been used in vehicles as sensors for detecting various operating conditions while the vehicle is moving.

  As computers have become commonplace, accelerometers have been used in computers to sense sudden movements of the computer, such as free fall. A common application of accelerometers in computers is to protect the read / write head of a hard drive. However, there has been no application where an accelerometer is used in cooperation with software that can be executed in a computer.

  A method and apparatus for operating a portable device based on an accelerometer is described. According to one embodiment of the present invention, an accelerometer attached to the portable device detects movement of the portable device. In response, machine executable code is executed to perform a predetermined user configurable operation.

  According to one embodiment of the present invention, a portable device accelerometer constantly or periodically monitors the movement of the portable device. As a result, the orientation of the portable device before and after movement is determined based on movement data provided by an accelerometer attached to the portable device.

  In accordance with another embodiment of the present invention, an accelerometer is used to detect movement of the portable device as a trigger that triggers whether a document page or image can be displayed.

  According to another embodiment of the invention, an accelerometer can be used in navigation applications. In order to navigate relatively large objects or documents that cannot normally be displayed entirely in a portable device display, for example, a portable device with an accelerometer mounted therein is used as a navigation tool.

  According to another embodiment of the present invention, an accelerometer can be used in a game application, where the accelerometer detects a scene change during a video game running on a portable device. Used for.

  According to another embodiment of the present invention, an accelerometer is used to detect movement of the portable device and determine the orientation of the portable device based on movement data provided by the accelerometer. . Thereafter, one or more interfaces of the portable device are activated or deactivated based on the determined orientation after movement.

  In accordance with another embodiment of the present invention, an accelerometer is used to detect and determine user activity (eg, light shaking) for a portable device with an accelerometer mounted therein.

  According to another embodiment of the present invention, an accelerometer is used to move a portable device (eg, carried by a user) and place the portable device in the correct operating state (eg, sleep mode). Or hibernation mode).

  According to another embodiment of the invention, an accelerometer is used to detect whether the portable device is moved according to a direction to determine whether the password has been entered correctly. Yes.

  According to another embodiment of the present invention, an accelerometer is used to detect and record the movement sequence of the portable device, where the recorded movement data is used to post the movement history. (For example, off-line).

1 is a block diagram illustrating an exemplary architecture of a portable device according to one embodiment of the invention. FIG. 3 is a flow diagram illustrating an exemplary process for operating a portable device in response to an event generated by an accelerometer, according to one embodiment of the invention. FIG. 6 illustrates an exemplary application in which an accelerometer can be utilized in accordance with an embodiment of the present invention. 4 is a flow diagram illustrating an example processor for reorienting a displayed document based on an accelerometer, according to one embodiment of the invention. FIG. 6 illustrates an exemplary movement of a portable device that can be used to trigger the display of a page of a document, according to some embodiments of the present invention. FIG. 6 illustrates an exemplary movement of a portable device that can be used to trigger the display of a page of a document, according to some embodiments of the present invention. 4 is a flow diagram illustrating an exemplary process for presenting a document based on an accelerometer, according to one embodiment of the invention. FIG. 6 illustrates an exemplary navigation application based on an accelerometer, according to one embodiment of the invention. 5 is a flow diagram illustrating an exemplary process for navigating an image based on an accelerometer, according to one embodiment of the invention. FIG. 4 illustrates an example game application based on an accelerometer, according to one embodiment of the invention. FIG. 6 illustrates an example game application based on an accelerometer, according to another embodiment of the invention. FIG. 6 illustrates an example game application based on an accelerometer, according to another embodiment of the invention. 3 is a flow diagram illustrating an exemplary process for an application of an accelerometer based game, according to one embodiment of the invention. FIG. 6 illustrates an exemplary mechanism for activating / deactivating an interface of a portable device based on an accelerometer, according to one embodiment of the present invention. 5 is a flow diagram illustrating an exemplary process for operating a portable device interface based on an accelerometer, according to one embodiment of the invention. FIG. 4 illustrates an exemplary mechanism for activating / deactivating a multimedia interface of a portable device that uses an accelerometer, according to one embodiment of the invention. 3 is a flow diagram illustrating an exemplary process for reconfiguring a multimedia interface based on an accelerometer, according to one embodiment of the invention. 5 is a flow diagram illustrating an exemplary process for playing multimedia content based on an accelerometer, according to one embodiment of the invention. 3 is a flow diagram illustrating an exemplary process for portable device power management, according to one embodiment of the invention. 4 is a flow diagram illustrating an exemplary process for processing a password, according to one embodiment of the invention. 4 is a flow diagram illustrating an exemplary process for recreating a trace of movement using an accelerometer, according to one embodiment of the invention. 1 is a block diagram illustrating an exemplary portable device having an accelerometer, according to one embodiment of the invention. FIG. 1 is a block diagram illustrating a digital processing system that can be used with an embodiment of the present invention. 5 is a flow diagram illustrating an exemplary process for motion compensation using an accelerometer, according to one embodiment of the invention. 3 is a flow diagram illustrating an exemplary process for detecting an impact using an accelerometer, according to one embodiment of the invention. 3 is a flow diagram illustrating an exemplary process for operating a component of a portable device using an accelerometer, according to one embodiment of the invention.

  Other features of the present invention will be apparent from the accompanying drawings and from the detailed description below.

  The present invention is illustrated by way of example and not limitation in the figures of the accompanying drawings, in which like numerals indicate similar elements.

  A method and apparatus for operating a portable device based on an accelerometer is described. According to certain embodiments, accelerometers have been used in portable devices such as laptop computers, tablet PCs, personal digital assistants (PDAs), cell phones, digital multimedia players, and the like. When the accelerometer detects movement of the portable device, a direction of movement, also referred to as a movement vector or acceleration vector, is determined based on movement data provided by the accelerometer. The travel direction and / or travel data can be provided to a software component (eg, application software) that is executed within the portable device. In response to detecting the movement of the portable device, the corresponding software component can determine one or more predetermined, eg, advance a document page, based on the direction of movement and / or movement data provided by the accelerometer. Perform user configurable actions.

  In the following description, numerous details are set forth to provide a more thorough explanation of the present invention. However, it will be apparent to those skilled in the art that the present invention may be practiced without these specific details. In other instances, well-known structures and devices are shown in block diagram form, rather than in detail, in order to avoid obscuring the present invention.

  Some of the following detailed description is presented in terms of algorithmic and symbolic representations of operations on data bits within a computer memory. These algorithmic descriptions and representations are the means used by those skilled in the data processing arts to most effectively convey the substance of their work to others skilled in the art. An algorithm is considered here and generally as a self-consistent sequence of steps leading to a desired result. These steps are those requiring physical manipulation of physical quantities. Usually, though not necessarily, these quantities take the form of electrical or magnetic signals stored, transferred, combined, compared, and otherwise manipulated. It has proven convenient at times, principally for reasons of common usage, to refer to these signals as bits, values, elements, symbols, characters, terms, numbers, or the like.

  However, keep in mind that all of these and similar terms must be associated with the appropriate physical quantities and are simply convenient labels applied to these quantities. As will be apparent from the following discussion, unless otherwise specified, terms such as “processing”, “computing”, “calculation”, “decision”, “display”, or similar terms are used throughout this description. Using a computer system memory or register or other such information storage device, which manipulates data represented as a physical (electronic) quantity in a computer system register or memory It should be understood that it refers to the operation and processing of a computer system or similar electronic computing device that translates into other data that is also represented as a physical quantity in an information transmission device or information display device.

  The invention also relates to an apparatus for performing the operations described herein. This apparatus can be specially configured for the required purposes, or includes a general purpose computer that is selectively activated or reconfigured by a computer program stored on the computer. Such computer programs include floppy disks, optical disks, CD-ROMs, all types of disks including magneto-optical disks, read only memory (ROM), random access memory (RAM), erasable programmable ROM ( EPROM), electrically erasable programmable ROM (EEPROM), magnetic card, optical card, or any type of media suitable for storing electronic instructions, each coupled to a computer system bus, etc. (But not limited to) computer readable storage media.

  The algorithms and displays described herein are not inherently related to any particular computer or other apparatus. It will be appreciated that various general purpose systems can be used with programs in accordance with the teachings herein, or it may be convenient to construct a more specialized apparatus to perform the necessary method steps. The required structure for a variety of these systems will appear from the description below. In addition, the present invention is not described with reference to any particular programming language. It should be appreciated that various programming languages can be used to implement the teachings of the invention described herein.

  A machine-readable medium includes any mechanism for storing or transmitting information in a form readable by a machine (eg, a computer). For example, a machine readable medium such as read only memory (“ROM”), random access memory (“RAM”), magnetic disk storage medium, optical storage medium, flash memory device, electrical, optical, acoustic, or others And propagated signals (eg, carrier waves, infrared signals, digital signals, etc.).

Overview FIG. 1 is a block diagram illustrating an exemplary architecture of a portable device according to an embodiment of the present invention. In one embodiment, exemplary system 100 includes a processor, a memory coupled to the processor and having instructions stored therein, and an accelerometer coupled to the processor and memory to detect movement of the portable device. Are included, but are not limited to these. The processor executes instructions from the memory to perform one or more predetermined user-configurable actions in response to detecting movement of the portable device. In an alternative embodiment, exemplary system 100 further determines a direction of movement based on movement data provided by the accelerometer to execute the instructions, and the determined direction is relative to the predetermined direction. A controller coupled to the accelerometer is included to compare the determined direction of movement to determine if they match, with a predetermined direction.

  Referring to FIG. 1, according to one embodiment, an exemplary system 100 includes one or more accelerometers 101, one or more controllers 102 coupled to the accelerometers 101, and motion-related firmware 103. , Motion software component 104 and one or more application software 105-107. The accelerometer 101 can be attached to a portable device, such as a portable device motherboard. Instead, the accelerometer 101 can be integrated with another component of the portable device. For example, the accelerometer 101 can be integrated with a portable device chipset.

  According to one embodiment, the accelerometer 101 can detect movement including acceleration and / or deceleration of the portable device. The accelerometer 101 can generate multi-dimensional movement data that can be used to determine the direction of movement of the portable device. For example, the accelerometer 101 can generate X-axis, Y-axis, and Z-axis acceleration information when the accelerometer 101 detects that the portable device is moved. In one embodiment, the accelerometer 101 can be implemented as an accelerometer described in US Pat. No. 6,521,003, assigned to the same assignee as the present application. Instead, the accelerometer 101 can be implemented using a variety of commercially available accelerometers. For example, the accelerometer 101 can be a Kionix KGF01 accelerometer or an Analog Devices ADXL311 accelerometer.

  Further, exemplary system 100 includes one or more controllers 102 coupled to accelerometer 101. The controller 102 can be used to calculate the direction of movement of the portable device, also referred to as a movement vector. The movement vector can be determined according to one or more predetermined formulas based on movement data (for example, movement information of the X axis, Y axis, and Z axis) supplied by the accelerometer 101. Some embodiments of motion vector calculation are described in further detail below.

  According to one embodiment, the controller 102 monitors one or more outputs of the accelerometer 101, and other components of the portable device, such as a chipset (eg, memory controller or north bridge) and / or Or responsible for communicating with a microprocessor (eg, CPU). The controller 102 can be implemented using various commercially available microcontrollers. For example, the controller 102 can be a Microchip PIC 16F818 microcontroller. The controller 102 can be integrated with the accelerometer 101. Instead, the controller 102 can be integrated with other components of the portable device, such as a chipset or microprocessor.

  In one embodiment, the controller 102 can communicate with other components via a bus, such as an I2C (inter-IC) bus, and an interrupt signal line. In response to the movement data, the controller 102 generates an interrupt, such as a hardware interrupt, a software interrupt, or a combination of both, via an interrupt signal line to other components such as the firmware 103, and transfers them for that movement. Notify the component. Furthermore, the controller 102 can calculate a movement vector based on movement data supplied by the accelerometer 101. Further details regarding communication between the controller 102 and other components of the portable device are described in further detail below.

  Returning to FIG. 1, the motion firmware 103 includes one or more machine-executable code, which is stored in one or more hardware components of the portable device, such as a controller 102 or chipset. (For example, a part of BIOS which is also called a basic input / output system). In one embodiment, the motion firmware 103 can be stored in a read only memory (ROM) (eg, flash memory) of the controller 102. However, the machine executable code of the motion firmware 103 can be upgraded by uploading a newer version to memory, for example using flash memory. Firmware 103 is responsible for detecting all events generated in response to movement detection. According to one embodiment, firmware 103 provides the primary communication mechanism between controller 102 and other components of the portable device, such as an operating system (OS).

  The motion software 104 is responsible for communication between the motion firmware 103 and software components such as application software 105-107, as well as between the operating system. In one embodiment, motion software 104 may be implemented as part of an operating system, such as a kernel component or device driver. The operating system can be implemented using various commercially available operating systems. For example, the operating system can be Mac OS from Apple Computer. Alternatively, the operating system can be a Microsoft Windows operating system. Other operating systems can also be implemented, such as Unix®, Linux, embedded operating systems (eg, Palm OS), or real-time operating systems.

  According to one embodiment, in response to a motion detection event that can be notified by motion firmware 103, motion software component 104 can communicate the event to one or more application software 105-107. In response to the detection, the application software 105-107 can perform certain operations. Applications 105-107 can be a variety of different applications, such as browsers, word processors, slide presentations, and the like. Some embodiments of operations performed by applications 105-107 are described in further detail below.

  FIG. 2 is a flow diagram illustrating an exemplary process for operating a portable device in response to an event generated by an accelerometer, according to one embodiment of the invention. The example process 200 may be performed by processing logic that may include hardware (circuitry, dedicated logic, etc.), software (such as is run on a dedicated machine), or a combination of both. In one embodiment, the exemplary process 200 includes detecting one or more portable device movements using an accelerometer attached to the portable device or one or more in response to detecting movement of the portable device. Including, but not limited to, executing machine executable code to perform certain user configurable actions.

  Referring to FIG. 2, at block 201, the movement of a portable device such as a laptop computer or tablet PC uses an accelerometer (eg, accelerometer 101 of FIG. 1) attached to the portable device. Detected. In one embodiment, in response to this detection, the accelerometer can generate multi-dimensional (eg, X-axis, Y-axis, Z-axis) movement data. In response to this detection, at block 202, the direction of movement is determined based on movement data supplied by the accelerometer. In one embodiment, the direction of movement is determined by a controller (eg, controller 102 of FIG. 1). In response to the determined direction, at block 203 one or more predetermined users, such as executing one or more machine executable code (eg, application software) to advance a web page, for example. Configurable actions can be performed. Other operations can also be performed.

Determining Orientation Based on Accelerometer According to one embodiment of the present invention, the accelerometer of a portable device can constantly or periodically monitor the movement of the portable device. As a result, the orientation of the portable device before and after movement can be determined based on movement data provided by an accelerometer attached to the portable device.

  3A and 3B are diagrams illustrating exemplary applications in which an accelerometer can be utilized in accordance with one embodiment of the present invention. In this embodiment, and throughout the application, a tablet device is used as an example of a portable device. However, the present application is not limited to this. Utilizes other portable devices such as laptop computers, personal digital assistants (PDAs), personal computers (eg, Research In Motion's blackberry), cell phones, or multimedia players (eg, MP3 players) I want you to understand that you can also.

  Referring to FIGS. 3A and 3B, first, according to one embodiment, the portable device is in an orientation 301 with a page of document 303 displayed on the portable device display. In orientation 301, document page 303 is displayed correctly from the perspective of the user facing the display given orientation 301, and orientation 301 is detected and determined periodically or constantly by accelerometers and controllers associated with this display. can do.

  The accelerometer (accelerometer 101 in FIG. 1) detects the movement when the portable display is moved, for example, according to a moving direction 304 ending in orientation 302. In response to this detection, the controller (controller 102 in FIG. 1) determines the direction of movement based on the movement data supplied by the accelerometer, and firmware 103, movement software 104, and / or applications 105-105 in FIG. Notify the appropriate component of the portable device, such as 107. Such notification can be performed via an interrupt or by polling one or more registers of the controller and / or accelerometer. In addition, the controller can further determine the orientation of the portable device after movement.

  In response to this notification, according to one embodiment, the orientation of the document page 303 can be adjusted according to the determined orientation after movement, as shown in FIG. 3B. In one embodiment, the orientation of the displayed document page is adjusted to be the same relative to the orientation before the movement after the movement. As a result, even if the orientation of the portable device is changed, the orientation of the displayed document page remains relatively the same, particularly from the user's perspective facing the portable device display.

  In this embodiment, the orientation of document page 303 is adjusted by a display driver (eg, a video driver) that sends display data (eg, a document page) to the display of the portable device. Instead, the orientation adjustment is made to the original application software (eg, applications 105-107 of FIG. 1) that provides document page 303 (eg, a browser that supplies a web page or a word that supplies one page of the document It can also be executed by a processor. Note that the direction of travel 304 shown in FIGS. 3A and 3B is for illustration only. Other travel directions can also be implemented, such as those shown in FIG. 5A or combinations thereof. Further, as shown in FIGS. 3A and 3B, the portable device has been rotated 90 ° to the left for illustration only. The portable device can be rotated, moved in parallel, or a combination of both, or moved in multiple dimensions and arbitrary movement steps.

  FIG. 4 is a flow diagram illustrating an exemplary process for reorienting a displayed document based on an accelerometer, according to one embodiment of the invention. The example process 400 may be performed by processing logic that may include hardware (circuitry, dedicated logic, etc.), software (such as is run on a dedicated machine), or a combination of both. In one embodiment, the exemplary process 400 may use an accelerometer attached to the portable device to detect movement of the portable device, or after movement based on movement data provided by the accelerometer. Determining the orientation of the portable device includes, but is not limited to, displaying the image on the display of the portable device according to an orientation that is relatively identical to the orientation of the image prior to movement.

  Referring to FIG. 4, at block 401, the movement of the portable device from the first orientation is detected using an accelerometer attached to the portable device. In response, at block 402, the direction of movement is determined based on movement data such as X, Y, Z axis information supplied by the accelerometer. In one embodiment, this determination can be performed by a controller (controller 102 in FIG. 1) coupled to the accelerometer. The direction of movement can be determined according to one or more predetermined equations. At block 403, after the movement, a second orientation of the portable device is determined based on movement data provided by the accelerometer. At block 404, the orientation of the displayed document page can be adjusted based on the determined second orientation. In one embodiment, the orientation of the displayed document page is adjusted so that the adjusted orientation of the document page is relatively the same as the orientation before the movement, particularly from the user's perspective. Other operations can also be performed.

Displaying Different Pages of Document Based on Accelerometer According to another embodiment of the present invention, an accelerometer is used to detect movement of a portable device as a form that triggers whether a page or image of the document can be displayed. Is used. For example, when a portable device is moved in a predetermined direction (eg, sudden movement), the accelerometer detects the movement and the application software displays a specific page in response to detecting the movement To do.

  FIG. 5A is a diagram illustrating an exemplary movement of a portable device that can be used to trigger the display of a page of a document, according to one embodiment of the invention. For example, referring to FIG. 5A, a first page of a document is displayed on the display 507 of the portable device 500. When the portable device 500 is moved in a certain direction, an accelerometer attached to the portable device 500 (eg, the accelerometer 101 of FIG. 1) detects the movement. In response to this detection, the accelerometer notifies other components, such as application software, in particular the component supplying the first page of the document to be displayed, via the associated controller, firmware, and / or OS. .

  In certain embodiments, the accelerometer notifies the controller (eg, controller 102 of FIG. 1), including the supply of movement data (eg, X axis, Y axis, Z axis). The controller and / or firmware calculates a movement vector for movement based on movement data supplied by the accelerometer. The controller then sends a signal to the motion software component (eg, motion software 104) and / or other components such as the operating system. The motion software and / or operating system compares the motion vector with a predetermined direction to determine whether the motion vector relatively matches the predetermined direction, for example based on a predetermined threshold.

  In one embodiment, the predetermined direction and the threshold value (eg, sensitivity) associated with the predetermined direction are user configurable via a user interface. Such sensitivity can be configured based on different profiles associated with the portable device at a given time and location. For example, the sensitivity of a portable device can be different when it is at home / office and when it is on a moving platform (eg, car, train, ship, airplane, etc.). In another embodiment, the portable device can include a mechanism that intelligently filters out some “noisy” moving background.

  When the movement vector relatively matches the predetermined direction, the related application software can be notified. In response, the associated application software can perform certain operations including displaying a second page different from the first page on the display.

  In one embodiment, the second page of the document may be the next or previous page of the document. The document may be a word document created by a word processor, such as a Microsoft Office word processor. Alternatively, the document may be a web page presented by a browser such as Microsoft's Internet Explorer or Netscape Communications' Netscape communicator. In addition, the document can be a slide presentation made by, for example, Microsoft PowerPoint or Apple Computer Keynote.

  Referring to FIG. 5A, the direction of movement includes a direction of movement, shown as directions 501, 502, parallel to the surface of the portable device (eg, portable device display surface 507). In addition, the direction of movement can also include rotation of the portable device about an axis parallel to the edges of the portable device (eg, edges 505, 506), shown as directions 503,504. Furthermore, the moving direction of the portable device may be a combination of the above directions. For example, the movement can be a multi-dimensional rotation about the corner of portable device 500. Other types of movement can also be used.

  FIG. 5B is a diagram illustrating an exemplary movement of a portable device that can be used to trigger the display of a page of a document, according to an alternative embodiment of the present invention. In this embodiment, portable device 551 is placed on support surface 552. Further, application software running within the portable device 551 can be configured to run in a “default” mode. When a sudden force is applied to the support surface 552, the sudden force causes the support surface 552 to vibrate. This sudden force can be applied by the user hitting the support surface.

  In response to vibration of the support surface 552, an accelerometer attached to the portable device 551 can detect the vibration. In response to this detection, the accelerometer notifies the relevant application software, such as via firmware and / or controller. In response, the application software can display the next page, previous page, or specific page of the document, which can be user configurable via the user interface. . This is particularly useful when the portable device is placed on a desk and connected to a presentation projector. A user giving a presentation can simply tap the desk to go to the next page of the presentation without having to press a key on the keyboard of the portable device (eg, “Enter” key or space bar) or mouse. it can.

  FIG. 6 is a flow diagram illustrating an exemplary process for presenting a document based on an accelerometer, according to one embodiment of the invention. The example process 600 may be performed by processing logic that may include hardware (circuitry, dedicated logic, etc.), software (such as is run on a dedicated machine), or a combination of both. In one embodiment, the exemplary process 600 displays a first page of a document on the display of the portable device and detects movement of the portable device using an accelerometer attached to the portable device. And displaying a second page of a document different from the first page in response to detection of movement, but is not limited thereto.

  Referring to FIG. 6, at block 601, an accelerometer attached to the portable device is used to detect movement of the portable device. In response to this detection, at block 602, the direction of movement is determined based on movement data supplied by the accelerometer, eg, X, Y, Z axis information. In one embodiment, the direction of travel can be determined by an associated controller and / or associated firmware. At block 603, it is determined whether the moving direction is relatively coincident with a predetermined direction. If so, block 604 notifies the associated application software running in the portable device that displayed the first page of the document. In response, at block 605, the application software displays a second page of the document that is different from the first page. Other operations can also be performed.

Accelerometer-based navigation applications According to another embodiment of the present invention, an accelerometer can be used for navigation applications. For example, using a portable device with an accelerometer inside as a navigation tool to navigate a relatively large object or document that cannot normally be displayed entirely at the same time in the portable device's display Can do.

  7A and 7B are diagrams illustrating an exemplary navigation application based on an accelerometer, according to one embodiment of the present invention. In this embodiment, a portion of the map is initially displayed as shown in FIG. 7A. Typically, at some level of detail, this map cannot be fully displayed on the portable device 700 display in its entirety. For example, when the user “zooms in” on a map, only a portion of the map can be displayed on the display. As the user navigates the entire first portion of the map, the user may wish to gradually navigate from the first portion of the map to the second portion.

  According to one embodiment, a user holding portable device 700 moves portable device 700 in a direction that the user wants to navigate, eg, according to direction 703 (eg, northeast as an example). In response to this movement, an accelerometer attached to portable device 700 detects the movement. The accelerometer provides movement data (eg, X, Y, Z axis information) to the controller and / or firmware of the portable device. The associated controller and / or firmware can use one or more predetermined formulas to calculate the direction and / or distance of movement based on the movement data provided by the accelerometer. The controller and / or firmware then communicates the direction of travel to the relevant application software that is currently providing the map.

  In response, the application software determines a second portion of the map based on the travel direction, travel distance, and / or travel acceleration data provided by the controller and / or firmware. The application software then displays the second part accordingly. As a result, the user does not have to press and / or click buttons to navigate other parts of the map. Note that the direction of travel 703 is shown for illustration only. It can be applied in any other direction.

  In one embodiment, the second part of the map can be displayed by a transition from the first part. That is, a plurality of intermediate portions between the first portion and the second portion can be sequentially displayed to form a transition from the first portion to the second portion. As a result, the second part gradually “enters” the display of the portable device. According to one embodiment, the transition from the first part to the second part is displayed as if the user moved the portable device over a relatively large map while the map remained stationary. . In this embodiment, the transition is displayed as if the user had a portable device as a magnifying glass for a large map, large newspaper, web page, or the like.

  According to another embodiment, a move can be used to “zoom in” or “zoom out” to the displayed page. For example, using a movement parallel to the surface of the portable device (eg, display surface) to navigate to different parts of the displayed page, while using the rotation of the portable device to the displayed page You can zoom in or out, which can change the resolution of the displayed page. For example, the user can tilt the portable device up as a way to zoom out and tilt the portable device down as a way to zoom in. Other directions of movement can also be utilized, such as that shown in FIG. 5A or a combination thereof.

  According to another embodiment, the techniques described above can be used in a virtual reality environment. In one embodiment, this technique allows a user to use a portable display device with an accelerometer as a portable and controllable window to a virtual reality image database. For example, a user with a tablet looks around as if the user is walking in a virtual reality game space, looking back from a 2D or 3D image or position in an object database. Can do. According to another embodiment, a user can perform an image panorama examination provided by multiple cameras with different directional views facing away from one location in different directions. .

  FIG. 8 is a flow diagram illustrating an exemplary process for navigating an image based on an accelerometer, according to one embodiment of the invention. The example process 800 may be performed by processing logic that may include hardware (circuitry, dedicated logic, etc.), software (such as is run on a dedicated machine), or a combination of both. In one embodiment, the example process 800 displays the first portion of the document page on the display of the portable device prior to movement and the determined direction of movement is relatively consistent with the predetermined direction. Displaying a second portion of the document page that is different from the first portion on a display of the portable device, but is not limited thereto.

  Referring to FIG. 8, at block 801, a first portion of the image (eg, a portion of the map shown in FIG. 7A) is displayed on the display of the portable device. The image can be part of an environment formed by a panoramic image, a virtual reality image database, a 3D image database, or multiple camera inputs. At block 802, the movement of the portable device is detected using an accelerometer attached to the portable device. In response to this detection, at block 803, the direction of movement is calculated based on movement data (eg, X, Y, Z axis information) supplied by the accelerometer. In one embodiment, in response to this detection, the accelerometer sends a signal of movement data to the associated controller and / or firmware. The controller and / or firmware calculates the movement direction based on the movement data. Alternatively, the direction of travel calculation may be performed by other components of the portable device, such as, for example, the motion software component 104 of FIG. 1 and / or the operating system of the portable device. At block 804, a second portion of the image is displayed based on the determined direction of movement. In one embodiment, a plurality of intermediate portions of the image forming a transition from the first portion to the second portion can be displayed. The second part is displayed as if the portable device was moved while the displayed image remained stationary. Other operations can also be performed.

Accelerometer-Based Game Application Example According to another embodiment of the present invention, an accelerometer can be used in gaming applications, where scene changes during a video game run on a portable device. An accelerometer is used to detect.

  9A and 9B are diagrams illustrating an example game application based on an accelerometer, according to one embodiment of the present invention. In this embodiment, as an example, the user holds the portable device 900 like a steering wheel as if he is driving the vehicle toward the first scene 901. When the user moves (eg, rotates) the portable device in a direction, such as direction 903, the displayed scene is changed to a second scene 902, as shown in FIG. 9B.

  According to one embodiment, when a user with portable device 900 moves in direction 903, an accelerometer attached to the portable device detects the movement. The accelerometer provides movement data (eg, X, Y, Z axis information) to the controller and / or firmware of the portable device. The associated controller and / or firmware calculates the direction of movement based on movement data supplied by the accelerometer using one or more predetermined equations. The controller and / or firmware then communicates the direction and / or distance or acceleration to the associated game application software that is currently providing the game.

  In response, the game application software determines a second scene of the game based on the moving direction, moving distance, and / or moving acceleration supplied by the controller and / or firmware. The game application software then displays the second scene accordingly. As a result, the user does not need to press and / or click a button to change the game scene. Note that the direction of travel 903 is shown for illustration only. It can be applied in any other direction.

  In one embodiment, the second scene of the game can be displayed by a transition from the first scene. That is, a plurality of intermediate scenes between the first scene and the second scene can be sequentially displayed to form a transition from the first scene to the second scene. As a result, the second scene gradually “enters” the display of the portable device.

  According to another embodiment, certain movements can be detected as a form of accelerating and / or decelerating the driving vehicle. For example, when a portable device is tilted up, the displayed scene can be changed to indicate vehicle acceleration (eg, similar to stepping on an accelerator). Similarly, when the portable device is tilted down, the displayed scene can be changed to indicate vehicle deceleration (eg, similar to stepping on a brake).

  In addition, an accelerometer can be used to detect whether movement of the portable device exceeds a certain threshold. If so, one or more predetermined user-configurable actions can be performed. For example, during a driving game, when the user drives off the road and drives the vehicle, a warning message regarding such display can be transmitted to the user.

  10A and 10B are diagrams illustrating an example game application based on accelerometers according to another embodiment of the present invention. In this embodiment, a user has a portable device with an accelerometer incorporated therein as a vehicle handle. As shown in FIG. 10A, when the scene includes a road that turns to the left, the user is required to turn the steering wheel accordingly to stay on the road. To detect an accelerometer attached to a portable device to detect whether the portable device (eg, handle) has been cut accordingly and whether the rotation angle or distance is appropriate, Can be used.

  When it is detected that the rotation of the portable device has not been rotated or is insufficiently rotated, the associated game application software performs some predetermined action. For example, a game application may generate an alarm to a user, such as a portable device vibration or an audio alarm. Furthermore, an off-road scene can be displayed. If it is detected that the user does not react to changes in road conditions for a certain period of time, the collision scene can be displayed accordingly.

  According to certain embodiments, other travel directions can be used to “look up” and “look down” from the perspective of a user with a portable device. For example, in a flying game, a user can have a portable device as if he is maneuvering a flying object (eg, an airplane), where acceleration is used to determine where the flying object is heading. A meter can be used to detect movement of the portable device. For example, an object that flies when the portable device is tilted up is facing up and an object that flies when the portable device is tilted down. For example, other directions, such as those shown in FIG. 5A or combinations thereof, can be used to cause the flying object to fly in any direction.

  Similarly, in a shooting game, according to one embodiment, in addition to the movements described above that can be used to look up, look down and / or look around, a portable parallel to the display surface of the portable device The vertical movement of the device can be used to detect whether the user is in a standing shooting position or a hidden position. For example, when the portable device is moved down, a protective barrier that blocks the enemy can be displayed to indicate that a user with the portable device as a shooting weapon is hiding behind the protective barrier. Moving the portable device up can remove the protective barrier and expose the enemy to indicate that the user is in an unprotected shooting position. Other game configurations can be used.

  FIG. 11 is a flow diagram illustrating an exemplary process for an accelerometer-based game application, according to one embodiment of the invention. The example process 1100 may be performed by processing logic that may include hardware (circuitry, dedicated logic, etc.), software (such as is run on a dedicated machine), or a combination of both. In one embodiment, the exemplary process 1100 displays a sequence of images that transition from the user's perspective toward the first scene to the second scene, and the movement of the portable device is a transition from the user's perspective. Including, but not limited to, detecting whether to follow a direction according to direction and performing a predetermined operation if movement is not detected according to the direction associated with the direction of transition.

  Referring to FIG. 11, at block 1101, a sequence of images (eg, a driving game) transitioning from a first scene to a second scene is displayed on the display of the portable device. At block 1102, the movement of the portable device is detected using an accelerometer attached to the portable device. At block 1103, the direction of movement of the portable device is determined based on the movement data provided by the accelerometer. In one embodiment, the direction of travel is determined by a controller and / or firmware coupled to the accelerometer, similar to the configuration shown in FIG. In response to the determined direction of movement, at block 1104, one or more predetermined operations are performed, such as, for example, vibrating the portable device, generating an audio alert, or a combination of both. Other operations can also be performed.

Activating / Deactivating Devices Based on Accelerometers According to another embodiment of the invention, an accelerometer is used to detect movement of a portable device and based on movement data supplied by the accelerometer. To determine the orientation of the portable device. Thereafter, one or more interfaces of the portable device can be activated or deactivated based on the determined orientation after movement.

  12A and 12B are diagrams illustrating an exemplary mechanism for activating / deactivating an interface of a portable device based on an accelerometer, according to one embodiment of the present invention. In this embodiment, multiple interfaces 1204-1207 are located at multiple locations on the portable device, as shown in configuration 1201 of FIG. 12A. By way of example, interfaces 1204-1207 are described herein as wireless interfaces such as antennas or wireless transceivers, for example. It should be appreciated that other interfaces can be applied.

  Referring to FIG. 12A, first, a document 1203 is displayed in a given orientation 1201. According to one embodiment, when a user lifts the portable device in orientation 1201, an accelerometer attached to the portable device detects the movement, and orientation 1201 is similar to that shown in FIG. Also, determined by an associated controller and / or firmware coupled to the accelerometer. Considering the determined orientation, the wireless interface 1204, 1205 is in an optimal position for transmitting and / or receiving wireless signals in a predetermined orientation 1201 (eg, transmitting the strongest signal and / or Or the wireless interface 1206 to 1207 is determined to be in a relatively weak position. As a result, the wireless interfaces 1204 to 1205 are activated and the wireless interfaces 1206 to 1207 are optionally deactivated.

  If the portable device is moved, eg, rotated 90 ° according to direction 1208, the portable device is in a different orientation 1202 shown in FIG. 12B. As explained above, an accelerometer attached to the portable device detects the movement and communicates the movement data to other components of the portable device. As described above with respect to FIGS. 3A and 3B, in addition to maintaining the orientation of the displayed document page relatively the same as the orientation prior to movement, the wireless interfaces 1204-1207 have an existing configuration. Re-evaluate if it is the best configuration for the orientation after movement.

  In this embodiment, it is assumed that the top and bottom wireless interfaces of the portable device are in the best position. After movement (eg, 90 ° rotation to the left), the wireless interface 1204-1205 that was initially in the best position will no longer be in the best position. The wireless interfaces 1206-1207 that were not in the best location may be currently in the best location. As a result, the wireless interfaces 1206 and 1207 can be activated as indicated by the bold lines in response to movement detection and determination of the orientation after movement. This is because they are in the best position. Similarly, the wireless interfaces 1204-1205 are no longer in the best location and can be deactivated.

  In addition to detecting whether the portable device has been moved, it is also determined based on the movement data provided by the accelerometer whether the portable device is lifted or held by the user. In one embodiment, such a determination can be performed by a controller and / or firmware coupled to the accelerometer, similar to the configuration shown in FIG. If it is determined that the portable device is held by the user, the location of the user's hand 1208-1209 holding the portable device can further be determined or predicted.

  For example, one or more wireless interfaces that may be covered by the user's hands 1208-1209, such as wireless interfaces 1206, 1207, after predicting the position of the user's hand in the orientation 1201 shown in FIG. 12A Can be deactivated. Similarly, in the post-movement orientation 1202 shown in FIG. 12B, the wireless interfaces 1204, 1205 are expected to be covered by the user's hand, so they can be deactivated.

  FIG. 13 is a flow diagram illustrating an exemplary process for operating a portable device interface based on an accelerometer, according to one embodiment of the invention. The example process 1300 may be performed by processing logic that may include hardware (circuitry, dedicated logic, etc.), software (such as is run on a dedicated machine), or a combination of both. In one embodiment, the example process 1300 detects the movement of the portable device using an accelerometer attached to the portable device, and the portable device after movement based on the movement data provided by the accelerometer. Including, but not limited to, activating the at least one interface of the most suitable portable device given the determined orientation and given the determined orientation.

  Referring to FIG. 13, at block 1301, it is determined to move the portable device using an accelerometer attached to the portable device. Here, the portable device includes a plurality of interfaces (for example, wireless interfaces) arranged at a plurality of positions. At block 1302, the orientation of the portable device after movement is determined based on movement data provided by the accelerometer. At block 1303, it is optionally determined whether the portable device has been lifted or held by the user based on the movement data provided by the accelerometer. If so, predict the position of the hand of the user with the portable device. At block 1304, one or more interfaces are activated or deactivated based on the determined orientation. Optionally, deactivate those that are covered by the predicted user's hand and activate those that are not covered. Other operations can also be performed.

  According to one embodiment, the techniques described above can also be applied to a multimedia interface of a portable device. 14A and 14B are diagrams illustrating an exemplary mechanism for activating / deactivating a multimedia interface of a portable device that uses an accelerometer, according to one embodiment of the present invention. In this embodiment, by way of example, one or more speakers are used as the multimedia interface of the portable device. Referring to FIG. 14A, the portable device includes a plurality of speakers 1405-1408 located at different locations on the portable device and optionally displays a document page 1403 on the display of the portable device. In an orientation 1401 before movement, the audio driver is configured to generate the correct 3D surround sound considering the left speakers 1405-1406 and the right speakers 1407-1408. As shown in FIG. 14B, the second orientation 1402 is detected and determined by the accelerometer and its associated controller and / or firmware, for example, when the portable device is moved 90 ° according to the direction of travel 1404. .

  In response to the detection, as described above with respect to FIGS. 3A and 3B, in addition to maintaining the orientation of the displayed document page 1403 relatively the same as the orientation prior to movement, the positions of the speakers 1405-1408 Is re-evaluated as to whether the existing configuration is the best configuration for the orientation after movement. In this example, the first left speakers 1405, 1406 are at the bottom and the first right speakers 1407, 1408 are at the top, as shown in FIG. 14B. Thus, the existing audio conditions have changed and the sound effects are no longer the best. As a result, the audio driver is reconfigured to produce an audio quality that is relatively equivalent to the audio quality before the portable device is moved. For example, in order to create a correct sound effect, the speakers 1405 and 1407 are used as the left speaker, and the speakers 1406 and 1408 are used as the right speaker. Other configurations can also exist.

  FIG. 15 is a flow diagram illustrating an exemplary process for reconfiguring a multimedia interface based on an accelerometer, according to one embodiment of the invention. The example process 1500 may be performed by processing logic that may include hardware (circuitry, dedicated logic, etc.), software (such as is run on a dedicated machine), or a combination of both. Referring to FIG. 15, at block 1501, the movement of the portable device is detected using an accelerometer attached to the portable device. Here, the portable device includes a plurality of multimedia interfaces or devices arranged at different locations. At block 1502, the orientation of the portable device after movement is determined based on movement data provided by the accelerometer. At block 1503, one or more multimedia interfaces are optionally activated or deactivated based on the determined orientation. At block 1504, one or more multimedia devices are driven to produce the best results given the determined orientation after movement. Other operations can also be performed.

  A wireless interface and an audio interface are used herein as examples, but the invention is not limited thereto. For example, other types of interfaces such as video interfaces, microphones, cameras, etc. can be applied.

  According to certain embodiments of the invention, some devices can only be used correctly when the machine is in one orientation or in a different orientation than is normally used. For example, when inserting media, it may be necessary to turn the device sideways or upside down for access. During media ejection, it may be necessary to turn the device sideways or upside down to block the media or prevent the media from falling to the floor.

  For example, according to one embodiment, a user initiates ejection of media from a media device or component (eg, a CD from a CD ROM device) by pressing a button or other control. The device prepares for media ejection or disk unmounting. Meanwhile, a control module or application software that controls the device uses an accelerometer attached to the device to detect that the portable device is not in a suitable position for ejecting the media. As a result, the device waits for the unit to be placed in the correct position or orientation by periodically or constantly reading acceleration data from the accelerometer. The application software associated with this device further informs the device user that the device needs to be in a position to complete the user's request (eg, pop up a message or audio・ Alarm etc.). If the device is in the correct orientation, perform the requested operation (eg, eject the media).

  Similarly, according to another embodiment, an accelerometer can be used to abort the operation if the user does not reorient the unit. If the device is not repositioned to the correct or predetermined position within a certain time, the device cancels the requested operation or gives further instructions to the user. According to another embodiment, an accelerometer is used to detect orientation or enable and / or disable input devices attached to the side or bottom of the device. For example, the bottom of the device may be provided with an eject button that is disabled when the device is facing up. This button is then deactivated by the user placing the device on a desk or knee.

  FIG. 24 is a flow diagram illustrating an exemplary process for device activation or deactivation, according to another embodiment of the invention. An exemplary process may be performed by processing logic that may include hardware (circuitry, dedicated logic, etc.), software (such as is run on a dedicated machine), or a combination of both. Referring to FIG. 24, at block 2401, a request is received to transition a component of the portable device from a first operational state to a second operational state (eg, ejecting a portable storage device). At block 2402, an accelerometer attached to the portable device is used to determine whether the portable device is placed according to a predetermined orientation suitable for the second operating state.

  If at block 2403, based on the acceleration information provided by the accelerometer, it is determined that the portable device is placed according to a predetermined orientation or position, the components of the portable device are moved from the first operational state to the second operational state. The state is changed (for example, the CD ROM tray is opened). However, if the portable device is not in the predetermined position or orientation, block 2404 rejects or postpones the requested transition and causes the components of the portable device to enter a first operational state or other state (e.g., try State). Meanwhile, if the position or orientation of the portable device is monitored periodically or constantly using an accelerometer and it is detected that the position or orientation of the portable device is the correct position or orientation, it is required. Operation can be resumed. The requested action can be aborted if the portable device is not placed in the correct position or orientation for a predetermined time. Optionally, at block 2405, a notification is generated to notify the portable device user to position the portable device in order to complete the requested operation. Other operations can also be performed.

Other Applications Based on Accelerometers According to another embodiment of the present invention, an accelerometer is used to detect and determine user activity using a portable device with an accelerometer mounted therein. . According to one embodiment, for example, an accelerometer attached to a portable device held by the user can detect that the user is shaking lightly while holding the portable device. In this example, the portable device can be a digital multimedia player (eg, an MP3 player). An accelerometer attached to the portable device can detect that the movement of the portable device caused by user activity is repetitive.

  In response to this detection, the repetition rate of movement of the portable device can be determined, for example, by a controller and / or firmware coupled to the accelerometer, similar to the configuration of FIG. Once the repetition rate of movement is determined, application software (eg Microsoft Windows media player or Real Networks real player) adjusts the rhythm of multimedia content currently being played by the portable device. And can be adjusted to relatively match the determined repetition rate of movement. As a result, for example, the tempo of the music currently being played by the MP3 player can be adjusted so as to relatively match the light shaking rate of the user having the MP3 player.

  In addition, according to another embodiment, the application software can further select and play multimedia content that is best suited to the determined user activity (eg, light shaking rate). In one embodiment, a user can configure a multimedia player via a user interface under certain circumstances, and can select and play certain types of multimedia content. As a result, when the accelerometer and associated controller and / or firmware detect that the user is performing a certain type of activity, the associated type of multimedia content is selected and played accordingly. be able to.

  FIG. 16 is a flow diagram illustrating an exemplary process for playing multimedia content based on an accelerometer, according to one embodiment of the invention. The example process 1600 may be performed by processing logic that may include hardware (circuitry, dedicated logic, etc.), software (such as is run on a dedicated machine), or a combination of both. Referring to FIG. 16, at block 1601, movement of the portable device is detected using an accelerometer attached to the portable device. The movement of the portable device is repeated every certain period. At block 1602, a repetition rate of movement of the portable device is determined based on the movement data provided by the accelerometer. At block 1603, optionally, digital multimedia content having a rhythm that relatively matches the determined repetition rate is selected and played. At block 1604, the rhythm of the currently playing multimedia content is adjusted to relatively match the determined repetition rate of movement. Other operations can also be performed.

  According to another embodiment of the present invention, to determine whether the portable device is moving (eg, carried by a user) and whether the portable device must be in the correct operating state. An accelerometer is used. According to one embodiment, when a portable device is in an inactive state and the portable device is moving (detected via an accelerometer attached to the portable device), the portable device is For example, a relatively low power mode such as a sleep mode is set. For example, a laptop computer with the lid closed can be considered inactive. Since the lid of the laptop computer is closed, the user cannot actively operate the laptop computer. A laptop computer is considered inactive when its desktop is locked. Other situations can also be considered inactive states, which can be user configurable. As a result, the laptop computer can be put into a low power mode. Furthermore, once the laptop is determined to be moving (via an accelerometer), it is not safe to write data to a permanent storage device (eg, a hard drive). Thus, the read / write head of the permanent storage device is parked in a safe place without writing data to the permanent storage device.

  According to one embodiment, if a portable device is determined to be inactive and the portable device is not moving based on data provided by an accelerometer attached to the portable device, the portable device The device can be put into hibernation mode, where the contents of the system memory can be swapped to a permanent storage device (eg a hard drive). Because portable devices are not moving, it is relatively safe to write data to a permanent storage device.

  FIG. 17 is a flow diagram illustrating an exemplary process for power management of a portable device, according to one embodiment of the invention. The example process 1700 may be performed by processing logic that may include hardware (circuitry, dedicated logic, etc.), software (such as is run on a dedicated machine), or a combination of both. Referring to FIG. 17, at block 1701, it is determined whether the portable device is in an inactive state. For example, a portable device is considered inactive when the lid of the portable device is closed or the desktop is locked. At block 1702, an accelerometer attached to the portable device is used to detect whether the portable device is moving (eg, whether the portable device is being carried by the user). At block 1703, if the portable device is moving, the portable device is put into a relatively low power mode without swapping the contents of the system memory to a permanent storage device. If the portable device has not moved, block 1704 puts the portable device in hibernation mode by swapping the contents of the system memory to a permanent storage device. Other operations can also be performed.

  According to another embodiment of the invention, an accelerometer is used to detect whether the portable device has been moved in a direction to determine if the password has been entered correctly. In one embodiment, when a user of a portable device is prompted to enter a password, the user must move the portable device in one or more directions as part of password entry. An accelerometer attached to the portable device detects the movement and determines the direction of movement, for example by an associated controller and / or firmware. It is considered that the password has been correctly “input” when the moving direction relatively matches the predetermined direction.

  According to an alternative embodiment, the user is prompted to enter the first part of the password on the portable device. The user is then requested to move the portable device according to a certain direction. The user is then requested to enter a second portion of the password (eg, the remainder of the password). Thus, the combination of the entered password and certain movements of the portable device constitutes a complete password. Other configurations can exist.

  FIG. 18 is a flow diagram illustrating an exemplary process for processing a password, according to one embodiment of the invention. The example process 1800 may be performed by processing logic that may include hardware (circuitry, dedicated logic, etc.), software (such as is run on a dedicated machine), or a combination of both. Referring to FIG. 18, at block 1801, the user is prompted to enter a password on the portable device. At block 1802, an accelerometer attached to the portable device is used to detect whether the portable device has been moved. At block 1803, the direction of movement is determined based on movement data provided by the accelerometer. At block 1804, it is determined whether the portable device has been moved according to a predetermined direction. At block 1805, a display is issued indicating whether the password has been correctly “entered” based on whether the direction of movement is relatively consistent with the predetermined direction. Other operations can also be performed.

  According to another embodiment of the present invention, an accelerometer is used to detect and record the sequence of movements of the portable device, where the recorded movement data is stored later in the movement history (eg, Used to recreate (offline). In one embodiment, when the portable device is moved over a period of time, an accelerometer attached to the portable device detects and records the movement. The movement data recorded by the accelerometer is stored on a portable device storage device (eg, hard drive) during movement. Alternatively, mobile data can be transmitted to a remote facility over a network (eg, a wireless network) while moving. Thereafter, after the movement, a trace representing movement over that period can be recreated using the movement data provided by the accelerometer.

  This is typically useful when the user wishes to later replot the trail of the roller coaster ride. For example, a user goes to a roller coaster ride with a portable device with an accelerometer installed inside. During the ride, the accelerometer detects the movement data and stores it in a storage device, or alternatively transmits the movement data over the network to a remote facility. After the ride, the travel data can be used to recreate the roller coaster ride plot. The roller coaster ride is used only as an example, and the techniques described above can be applied to other situations. For example, a user with an accelerometer attached to a portable device or attached to a vehicle can drive a vehicle to these locations to perform a survey to create maps of different locations. The map can then be created using movement data collected by the accelerometer while driving.

  FIG. 19 is a flow diagram illustrating an exemplary process for recreating a trace of movement using an accelerometer, according to one embodiment of the invention. The example process 1900 may be performed by processing logic that may include hardware (circuitry, dedicated logic, etc.), software (such as is run on a dedicated machine), or a combination of both. Referring to FIG. 19, at block 1901, the sequence of movement of the portable device is detected using an accelerometer attached to the portable device. In the above example, the vehicle can be considered a portable device here. At block 1902, the direction of each movement and the time between each movement is determined. At block 1903, the information is stored on a storage device of the portable device. Instead, this information can be dynamically transmitted to a remote facility via a network (eg, a wireless network). Thereafter, at block 1904, a trace representing the travel history can be recreated using the stored travel data. Other operations can also be performed.

Motion Compensation Using Accelerometer According to another embodiment of the present invention, an accelerometer can be used to detect movement of a portable device and to apply motion compensation in response to the detection. it can. For example, an accelerometer attached to a portable device must be in a bouncing vehicle when a user using the portable device (eg, reading an electronic document displayed on the portable device's display) Is detected. In response to this detection, motion compensation can be performed on the displayed document so that the electronic document remains in the same position relative to the user's eyes.

  In one embodiment, the position of the display platform as a function of time in the plane of the display can be calculated by appropriately integrating the signal received from the accelerometer. The image is then translated vertically and horizontally on the display as a function of time, keeping the image position substantially fixed in space independent of display movement in the plane of the display. That movement (e.g., sudden movement such as splashing) can be represented via a relatively high frequency component of the movement data provided by the accelerometer. Low frequency components of display movement, such as those caused by the vehicle's forward speed, should not be compensated to prevent the image from flowing off the screen when the vehicle climbs up and down hills or turns a curve be able to. Similarly, such techniques can be applied to electronic games played by portable devices while on a splashing platform.

  FIG. 22 is a flow diagram illustrating an exemplary process for motion compensation using an accelerometer, according to one embodiment of the invention. An exemplary process may be performed by processing logic that may include hardware (circuitry, dedicated logic, etc.), software (such as is run on a dedicated machine), or a combination of both. In one embodiment, the exemplary process includes detecting the movement of the portable device using an accelerometer attached to the portable device and determining the portable device's movement based on the movement data provided by the accelerometer. Determine the direction of movement and display on the portable device display to compensate for the movement of the portable device so that the adjusted displayed object stays in the same position relative to the portable device user Adjusting the position of the object to be played, but this is not a limitation.

  Referring to FIG. 22, at block 2201, movement of the portable device is detected using an accelerometer attached to the portable device. In one embodiment, this movement is detected as a function of time from a location as part of the movement data provided by the accelerometer. This movement data includes a relatively high frequency component representing a sudden movement and a relatively low frequency component representing a slow movement. At block 2202, a relatively high frequency component of the movement data is extracted in the plane of the display (eg, motion compensation that degrades human visual acuity with respect to reading the displayed document or viewing a still image, etc.). . At block 2203, the position of the displayed document or image is shifted based on the extracted high frequency component to compensate for high frequency movement (eg, sudden movement) of the portable device. As a result, the displayed document or image can be maintained in a relatively stable state in space for the user. Other operations can also be performed.

Impact Detection and Application Using an Accelerometer According to another embodiment of the present invention, an accelerometer is used to detect an impact provided by a user of a portable device. In one embodiment, this technique can be impacted by the user in the physical sense of providing controlled momentum movement as input to a portable or fixed device for use by an application program. For example, these impacts initiate or offset the movement of objects on the display in proportion to the magnitude and direction of the impact. This facilitates games (eg, billiards and other ball games) and educational / engineering exploration (eg, structural response to tapping).

  For example, the user can “toss” the cursor on the display of the portable device by tapping the side of the portable device. An accelerometer attached to the portable device detects such forces that cause movement of the portable device. The direction and magnitude of the force is determined based on movement data supplied by the accelerometer. When you give this functionality to an application, you can tap the side of the device to move the cursor in a manner similar to tapping a small object and sliding it a distance along the surface. Similarly, such techniques can be utilized in various other applications of, for example, video games (eg, golf, bowling, tennis, etc.).

  FIG. 23 is a flow diagram illustrating an exemplary process for impact detection, according to one embodiment of the invention. An exemplary process may be performed by processing logic that may include hardware (circuitry, dedicated logic, etc.), software (such as is run on a dedicated machine), or a combination of both. In one embodiment, the exemplary process includes detecting the movement of the portable device using an accelerometer attached to the portable device, in response to a force applied to the portable device, by the accelerometer. Calculating the magnitude and direction of the force based on the supplied acceleration information, and moving the displayed object from a first position to a second position on the display of the portable device, the first position and The direction and distance between the second positions is determined based on the calculated magnitude and direction of the force, including but not limited to moving.

  Referring to FIG. 23, at block 2301, an accelerometer attached to a portable device responds to a tap on the portable device (eg, a user taps the edge of the portable device with a hand) for a time. Detect triaxial acceleration as a function of At block 2302, a value proportional to the magnitude of the impact applied to the device is calculated by performing time integration of the components of the triaxial acceleration. In one embodiment, this value is determined based on the integral of the absolute value of the resulting acceleration vector determined, for example, by vector addition of three components of acceleration (eg, X, Y, Z axis acceleration information).

  At block 2303, the direction of impact applied to the portable device as a result of tapping the portable device is determined. In one embodiment, the direction is calculated by a microcontroller and / or firmware coupled to the accelerometer based on movement data provided by the accelerometer. In response to the determined direction and magnitude of the impact, the application software moves the displayed object in a direction at a distance and direction that is relatively related to the determined direction and magnitude of the impact. The displayed object can be a cursor. Alternatively, the displayed object may be a billiard or pinball ball, a bowling game bowling ball, a tennis racket or paddle, a structure for observing deformation and / or dynamic motion, and the like. The above technique can also be applied to other similar types of applications that will be apparent to those skilled in the art.

Exemplary Portable Device with Accelerometer FIG. 20 is a block diagram illustrating an exemplary portable device having an accelerometer, according to one embodiment of the invention. For example, exemplary system 2000 represents at least a portion (eg, a subsystem) of exemplary system 100 of FIG. 1 or exemplary system 2100 of FIG. Referring to FIG. 20, an exemplary system 2000 includes a host chipset 2003, 1 coupled to one or more accelerometers 2001, one or more microcontrollers 2002, a video adapter 2004 and an audio device 2005. One or more peripheral devices 2006 are included.

  In one embodiment, the accelerometer 2001 is a three-axis accelerometer and can provide X-axis, Y-axis, and Z-axis acceleration data. An accelerometer is an electromechanical micro machine encapsulated in a chip package. The accelerometer presents three analog outputs (eg, X, Y, and Z axes) whose values are directly proportional to the acceleration measured along the corresponding axis in 3D space. In one embodiment, the accelerometer 2001 may be a Kionix KGF01 accelerometer or an Analog Devices ADXL311 accelerometer.

  The microcontroller 2002 is responsible for monitoring the analog output of the accelerometer 2001 and communicating with the host via the chipset 2003. In one embodiment, the microcontroller 2002 is coupled to the host chipset 2003 via an I2C bus 2007 and an interrupt signal line 2008. The microcontroller 2002 can also be integrated with the host chipset 2003. In one embodiment, the microcontroller 2002 may be a Microchip PCI 16F818 microcontroller.

According to one embodiment, when the accelerometer 2001 detects that the portable device is moving, the microcontroller 2002 receives triaxial acceleration information from the accelerometer 2001 and communicates to the host via the interrupt signal line 2008. Notice. In response, movement data can be read from the microcontroller 2002 via the I2C bus 2007. In one embodiment, the microcontroller 2002 determines the direction of movement based on the triaxial acceleration information received from the accelerometer 2001. Alternatively, the host chipset performs such operations. In one embodiment, the magnitude of the resulting acceleration vector for all three axes is determined according to the following equation:
Mag (Acceleration _resultant ) = Sqrt (X _accel ² + Y _accel ² + Z _accel ² )

  In response to the determined magnitude of the acceleration vector, one or more software components (eg, application software, firmware, operating system, etc.) that are executed within the example system 2000 may perform certain operations, such as , What has been described above can be implemented throughout this application. For example, the orientation of the displayed image can be adjusted via a video adapter, the sound effects can be adjusted via an audio device 2005, and so on. Furthermore, one or more peripheral devices 2006, eg hard drives, can be configured accordingly. Other configurations can exist.

Exemplary Data Processing System FIG. 21 is a block diagram of a digital processing system that can be used with one embodiment of the present invention. For example, the system 2100 shown in FIG. 21 can be used as the exemplary system of FIGS.

  Note that although various components of a computer system are illustrated in FIG. 21, they are not intended to represent a particular architecture or form that interconnects these components. This is because such details are not closely related to the present invention. It should also be appreciated that network computers, handheld computers, cell phones, multimedia players, other data processing systems having fewer components or perhaps more components can also be used with the present invention. The computer system of FIG. 21 can be, for example, an Apple Macintosh computer or an IBM compatible PC.

  As shown in FIG. 21, the computer system 2100 is in the form of a data processing system, but includes a bus 2102, which includes a microprocessor 2103, ROM 2107, volatile RAM 2105, and non-volatile memory 2106. Is bound to. The microprocessor 2103 is, for example, Motorola, Inc. Or a PowerPC G4 microprocessor from IBM or IBM, but coupled to cache memory 2104 as shown in the embodiment of FIG. Bus 2102 interconnects these various components together and interconnects these components 2103, 2107, 2105, 2106 to a display controller and display device 2108 and input / output (I / O) device 2110. . The input / output device 2110 can be a mouse, keyboard, modem, network interface, printer, or other device known in the art. Typically, input / output device 2110 is coupled to the system via input / output controller 2109. Volatile RAM 2105 is typically implemented as dynamic RAM (DRAM) that requires continuous power to refresh or maintain data in memory. Non-volatile memory 2106 is typically a magnetic hard drive, magneto-optical drive, optical drive, DVD RAM, or other type of memory system that maintains data even after power is removed from the system. Usually, non-volatile memory is also random access memory, but this is not essential. Although FIG. 21 shows that the non-volatile memory is a local device that is directly coupled to the remaining components in the data processing system, the present invention is not limited to a modem or Ethernet interface, etc. It should be appreciated that non-volatile memory that is remote from the system can be utilized, such as a network storage device coupled to the data processing system via any network interface. Bus 2102 may include one or more buses connected to each other through various bridges, controllers, and / or adapters, as is well known in the art. In one embodiment, the I / O controller 2109 includes a USB (Universal Serial Bus) adapter that controls USB peripheral devices. Alternatively, the I / O controller 2109 can include an IEEE-1394 adapter, also referred to as a FireWire adapter, that controls a FireWire device. Other components can be included.

  Thus, a method and apparatus for operating a portable device using an accelerometer has been described. In the foregoing specification, the invention has been described with reference to specific exemplary embodiments thereof. It will be apparent that various modifications can be made without departing from the broader spirit and scope of the invention as set forth in the appended claims. The specification and drawings are, accordingly, to be regarded in an illustrative sense rather than a restrictive sense.

  100, 2000 ... exemplary system, 101, 2001 ... accelerometer, 102 ... controller, 103 ... motion firmware, 104 ... motion software, 105-107 ... application software, 500, 551, 700 ... portable device, 507 ... display 1204 to 1207 ... wireless interface, 1405 to 1408 ... speaker, 2002 ... microcontroller, 2003 ... host chipset, 2004 ... video adapter, 2005 ... audio device, 2006 ... peripheral device.

Claims (4)

Displaying on the portable device display a sequence of images that transition from the user's point of view in a direction from the first scene to the second scene;
Detecting movement of the portable device using an accelerometer attached to the portable device;
Executing machine executable code to perform one or more predetermined actions in response to detecting the movement of the portable device;
Executing the machine executable code comprises:
Detecting whether the movement of the portable device follows a direction associated with the direction of the transition from the viewpoint of the user;
Performing a predetermined operation if the movement is not detected according to a direction associated with the direction of the transition; and
Further comprising determining an operating state of the portable device including one of an active operating state and an inactive operating state, wherein the machine executable code is executed based on the determined operating state; Configuring the portable device in a predetermined power mode when the portable device whose operating state is determined to be inactive is moving, comprising: a portable device based on an accelerometer How to operate. A processor;
A memory coupled to the processor and having instructions stored therein;
An accelerometer coupled to the processor and the memory for detecting movement of a portable device;
Using the accelerometer, the processor executes instructions from the memory and displays on the portable device display a sequence of images that transitions from the user's point of view in the direction from the first scene to the second scene. Performing one or more predetermined actions in response to detecting the movement of the portable device;
Detecting whether the movement of the portable device follows a direction related to the direction of the transition from the viewpoint of the user, and if the movement is not detected according to a direction related to the direction of the transition; Configure to perform certain operations,
And determining an operating state of the portable device that includes one of an active operating state and an inactive operating state, and the portable device having the operating state determined to be inactive is moving. A portable device configured to configure the portable device in a predetermined power mode. Displaying on the portable device display a sequence of images that transition from the user's point of view in a direction from the first scene to the second scene;
Detecting movement of the portable device using an accelerometer attached to the portable device;
Executing machine executable code to perform one or more predetermined actions in response to detecting the movement of the portable device;
Executing the machine executable code comprises:
Detecting whether the movement of the portable device follows a direction associated with the direction of the transition from the viewpoint of the user;
Performing a predetermined operation if the movement is not detected according to a direction associated with the direction of the transition; and
Further comprising determining an operating state of the portable device including one of an active operating state and an inactive operating state, wherein the machine executable code is executed based on the determined operating state; A machine storing executable code that causes a machine to perform a method comprising: configuring the portable device to a predetermined power mode when the portable device whose operating state is determined to be inactive is moving A readable medium. Means for displaying on the display of the portable device a sequence of images that transitions from the user's point of view in a direction from the first scene to the second scene;
Means for detecting movement of the portable device using an accelerometer attached to the portable device;
Means for executing machine-executable code to perform one or more predetermined actions in response to detecting the movement of the portable device;
The means for executing the machine executable code comprises:
Means for detecting whether the movement of the portable device follows a direction associated with the direction of the transition from the viewpoint of the user;
Means for performing a predetermined operation if the movement is not detected according to a direction associated with the direction of the transition; and
Means for determining an operating state of the portable device including one of an active operating state and an inactive operating state, wherein the machine executable code is executed based on the determined operating state; An apparatus comprising: means for configuring the portable device to a predetermined power mode when the portable device whose operating state is determined to be inactive is moving.

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