KR20130104682A - Apparatus and method for automatically locking display and touch in mobile phone - Google Patents

Abstract

PURPOSE: An automatic lock apparatus for a display screen and a touch function of a mobile terminal and a method thereof are provided to lock and unlock a touch function based on face recognition data which is obtained through a camera lens by using a face recognition program. CONSTITUTION: An illuminance sensor (200) detects the intensity of ambient light. An InfraRed Emitting Diode (IRED) emits infrared radiation. A camera unit (500) photographs an outside image. A face recognition unit (600) detects a face image of a user and identifies the user. A main control unit (300) detects motions of a mobile terminal using a 3G sensor. The main control unit recognizes the intensity of ambient light using an illumination sensor. If the intensity of the ambient light is low, the main control unit turns on the IrED. Also, the main control unit outputs an operation control signal which turns on or off the camera unit to photograph. The main control unit outputs a lock or unlock control signal which turns on or off a display screen and a touch sensor based on the result of face recognition processed by the face recognition unit using an image photographed by the camera unit. [Reference numerals] (100) 3G sensor; (200) Illuminance sensor; (300) Main control unit; (400) IrED control unit; (500) Camera unit; (600) Face recognition unit; (610) Face detection unit; (620) Distance calculation unit; (630) Identity authentication unit; (700) LCD screen control unit; (800) Touch control unit

Description

Apparatus and method for automatically locking display and touch in mobile phone}

The present invention relates to a method of automatically turning on / off a screen of a mobile terminal having a display screen, and to turn on / off a display screen using a conventional button by using user face recognition data recognized through a camera lens. In addition to turning on / off correctly, the present invention relates to a security function that is only allowed for registered users, and a method of locking and unlocking a touch screen.

Recently, as mobile communication terminals become more common, the era of one-time terminal is coming. In addition, the number of smartphone users has increased significantly, making it an indispensable mobile computer using e-commerce, internet surfing, and social networks.

The mobile communication terminal is equipped with an LCD or AMOLED for displaying a variety of information, and in the case of a smart phone by using a touch screen to touch the button displayed on the display with a finger or a touch pen to control the function of the terminal It is configured to allow users to enter information more easily and simply.

In addition, as mobile computers become more personalized, all personal information is contained in the terminal, which is required to enhance security.

As described above, it causes various inconveniences due to the structure and characteristics of the mobile communication terminal. First, the button must be pressed to turn on / off the screen. In particular, when a mobile terminal equipped with a touch screen is stored in contact with a bag or a user's body, the mobile terminal may directly or indirectly contact a specific object or a human body. Due to such unnecessary touch, the mobile terminal has a touch input. Judgment often occurs when the terminal malfunctions or is difficult to connect to another person. In addition, the security function is weak, it is easy to expose to the spouse or neighbors invade the privacy of individuals.

A mobile communication terminal with a touch function has added a proximity sensor to prevent a malfunction caused by waiting for the terminal to face during a call. The operation of the proximity sensor controls the touch function to be forcibly locked when the face is close to the mobile communication terminal and to release the touch function when the face is far from the mobile communication terminal. Therefore, to make a call, when the terminal is close to the face, the touch is converted into a lock, and when it is separated from the face, the touch is released. However, the proximity sensor is recognized as a brightness so that the hand or case holding the hair or the mobile terminal If a malfunction occurs occasionally and the touch sensor is activated by wrongly pressing the on / off button in the pocket or bag as described above, the proximity sensor is often not operated.

Accordingly, the present invention has been made to solve the above problems, the face recognition data recognized through the camera lens using the face recognition program to automatically turn on / off the screen of the mobile communication terminal and lock and unlock the touch function By controlling it through, to eliminate the inconvenience of using the button and to prevent the activation of the unintentional touch screen by the user can safely store and carry the mobile terminal, the automatic locking device of the touch function and The purpose is to provide a method.

Another object of the present invention is to automatically lock the screen and the touch function in the mobile communication terminal to prevent the leakage of information in the terminal when lost through the face recognition data of the face image taken through the camera lens attached to the mobile communication terminal An apparatus and a method thereof are provided.

Another object of the present invention is basically set to turn off the LCD screen after a certain time to save power of the mobile communication terminal to take the inconvenience of having to touch the screen from time to time in order to prevent the screen off when using have. In the case of applying the present invention, when a face is recognized, the screen can be maintained without turning off the screen, which can be conveniently used.

A feature of the automatic locking device of the touch function in the mobile communication terminal according to the present invention for achieving the above object is a camera unit attached to the front of the mobile communication terminal to take an external image, and from the image taken by the camera unit A face recognition unit which detects a face image of the user and generates face recognition data including a distance between the mobile communication terminal and the user's face, and a recognition unit which checks whether the recognized face is the user to enhance security. Infrared light emitting unit for face recognition in a dark environment, sensor recognition unit for recognizing movement from the 3G sensor for detecting the use or non-use of the mobile communication terminal and the illumination state from the illumination sensor, on for the camera unit to shoot Outputs an operation control signal indicating on / off and is output from the face recognition unit; And a controller for outputting a release or lock control signal for turning on / off the LCD screen and the touch sensor according to whether a face is recognized.

Preferably, the face recognizing unit is an image processing unit for outputting an image file by processing a signal to display the digitally converted RAW data photographed and input by the camera unit, and input from the image processing unit through an optical zoom function or a digital zoom function. A zoom detection unit for enlarging an image file, a face detection unit for detecting a face area by performing face recognition using a face recognition program from the image file enlarged by the zoom area conversion unit, and generating face information through the face detection unit; And a distance calculator configured to calculate a distance between the camera unit and the user's face based on the face information generated by the face detector.

Preferably, the face information includes any one of a size of a face, a direction of a face, a position of a face, and a position of an eye.

Preferably, when the distance between the camera unit and the user's face is a specific distance section based on face recognition data, the touch function control unit releases the LCD screen on control signal and outputs an LCD screen on control signal. It is characterized by outputting a lock, LCD screen off control signal to the mall touch sensor.

Preferably, the mobile communication terminal further includes an infrared light emitting diode (IRED) that emits infrared light so as to enable the photographing of an external image through the camera unit in low light. In order to turn on / off the infrared light emitting diode, an illuminance value is received from the illuminance sensor, and the infrared light emitting diode is turned on under a certain illuminance.

Preferably, in order to perform face recognition, the camera and the recognition device must be continuously driven, which causes excessive power consumption. To solve this problem, when the screen is turned off, the camera and the recognition device are put into sleep mode and the data of the 3G sensor generated when the mobile communication terminal is moved is received to turn on the camera and the recognition device.

Preferably, the face recognition can be divided into a simple face recognition step and a face recognition step as well as a person authentication step. Regardless of whether or not the user recognizes the face, the user can turn on the screen, authenticate the user only when accessing a menu requiring security, and authenticate the user from the initial screen on.

A feature of the automatic locking method of the screen and the touch function in the mobile communication terminal according to the present invention for achieving the above object is (A) an image by processing the signal to display the digital converted RAW data photographed and input from the camera unit Generating a file, enlarging an image file, and (B) performing face recognition using a face recognition program from the enlarged image file to detect a face region, thereby making a face size, a face direction, a face Generating face information including at least one of a position and an eye position; and (C) calculating a distance between the camera unit and the user face based on the generated face information, and calculating the calculated camera unit and the user face. Generating face recognition data including a distance of (D) the camera unit and the user face included in the face recognition data; Outputting a release control signal to the touch sensor to release the touch function of the mobile communication terminal when the distance is a predetermined distance section; and (E) the distance between the camera unit and the user face included in the face recognition data is a predetermined distance. If it is out of the step includes outputting a lock control signal to the touch sensor to lock the touch function of the mobile communication terminal.

Preferably, the face information generation in step (B) comprises detecting a face region based on the color and the edge of the image file, and using a distance between the face center of the detected face region and a preset reference center. Calculating a face position, and detecting a face direction by using a triangular shape consisting of eyes and mouth from the detected face region and face position.

Preferably, the step (C) comprises: (C1) calculating the size of the face before the enlargement of the photographed user based on the enlarged ratio of the image file and the size of the detected face area; and (C2) the calculated face And calculating a distance between the camera unit and the user's face by comparing the size with a preset reference face size for each distance.

Preferably, the reference face size for each distance preset in the step (C2) is the distance corresponding to the face size by comparing the calculated face size with the reference face size in the database by database the face size for each distance. The distance may be calculated by detecting or by setting a change amount of the face size for each distance by applying the calculated face size to the set change amount.

In the mobile communication terminal according to the present invention as described above, the automatic locking device and the method of the screen and the touch function has the following effects.

First, it is convenient to automatically turn on / off the screen without pressing the power button of the mobile communication terminal.

Secondly, there is no screen off due to power saving mode during use, so there is no need to touch to keep the screen on. If the screen is on continuously, you can reduce the battery consumption by turning off the screen when you are not looking at the screen for a while.

Third, the terminal may be restricted to close family members as well as to the case where the terminal is lost. In the case of the existing pattern or numeric password, the contents of the terminal can be easily exposed to the family. However, since the present invention authenticates the face of the person, it cannot be exposed except the person.

Fourth, to prevent touch malfunction. In the case of a conventional touch phone, a terminal placed in a pocket or a bag is frequently malfunctioned, but when the present invention is applied, a malfunction does not occur unless a face is recognized.

1 is a block diagram showing a structure of an automatic on-off device of a screen and a touch function in a mobile communication terminal according to an embodiment of the present invention
2 is a flowchart illustrating an automatic on-off method of a screen and a touch function in a mobile communication terminal according to an embodiment of the present invention.

Other objects, features and advantages of the present invention will become apparent from the detailed description of the embodiments with reference to the accompanying drawings.

A preferred embodiment of the automatic locking device of the touch function and a method thereof in the mobile communication terminal according to the present invention will be described with reference to the accompanying drawings. However, the present invention is not limited to the embodiments disclosed below, but may be implemented in various forms, and only the present embodiments are intended to complete the disclosure of the present invention and to those skilled in the art to fully understand the scope of the invention. It is provided to inform you. Therefore, the embodiments described in the present specification and the configurations shown in the drawings are merely the most preferred embodiments of the present invention and are not intended to represent all of the technical ideas of the present invention. Therefore, various equivalents It should be understood that water and variations may be present.

1 is a block diagram illustrating a structure of an automatic locking device for a screen and a touch function in a mobile communication terminal according to an embodiment of the present invention.

As shown in FIG. 1, the automatic locking device having a screen and a touch function includes a 3G sensor 100, an illuminance sensor 200, a main control unit 300, an IrED control unit 400, a camera unit 500, and a face recognition unit 600. , The LCD screen, and the touch controller 800.

The 3G sensor 100 is a sensor that is recently mounted on a smartphone and outputs movement of the smartphone in x, y z axes as data values. In the present invention, in order to prevent battery consumption of the device including the camera and the face recognition unit to operate only when there is movement.

The illuminance sensor 200 generally outputs an ambient illuminance value and is used to control the brightness of the LCD screen based on this data. In the present invention is used to operate the infrared LED (IrED) 400 for face recognition in a dark environment.

The camera unit 500 is a conventional front camera attached to the front of the mobile communication terminal, and includes a shutter, a lens unit, an aperture and an image sensor, and an analog-to-digital converter (ADC), and photographs an external image. In case of using existing front camera, that is, video call camera, the commonly used IR cut-off filter should be replaced with dual band filter. The IR cut-off filter is designed to achieve the best picture quality by blocking infrared rays. Therefore, it is impossible to accept infrared light at low light. Therefore, it is possible to take images by receiving infrared light at low light by using dual band filter that can receive visible light and infrared light in specific wavelength range. The color reproducibility problem caused by infrared light in daytime environment can be solved by ISP tuning. As for the related technology, a patent has been filed under the title of “Camera module and a portable terminal equipped with the same” and it is currently in mass production of a mobile communication terminal applying the same.

There are other ways to increase the price, but considering the advantages of reducing power consumption, the module is made with a low-pixel black-and-white image sensor to minimize the price of the image sensor and realize it for face recognition without using an IR cut-off filter. It is also possible.

The face recognition unit 600 detects a user's face image from the image photographed by the camera unit 500 and generates face recognition data including the distance between the mobile communication terminal and the user's face calculated through the main control unit. 300).

The main control unit 300 detects the use or non-use of the mobile communication terminal, generates and outputs an operation control signal for instructing on / off for the camera unit 400, and is output from the face recognition unit 500. It generates and outputs a release / lock control signal for turning on / off the LCD screen 700 and the touch function 800 according to the face recognition data, and when the touch sensor is released, the touch screen of the terminal selected by the user It receives the touch input data for controlling the function and executes the corresponding function.

Meanwhile, the face recognizing unit 600 again includes a face detecting unit 610, a distance calculating unit 620, and an identity authentication unit 630 during a security operation.

The face detector 610 detects a face region by performing face recognition using a face recognition program, and generates face information such as a face size, a face direction, a face position, and eyes.

The distance calculator 620 calculates the distance between the mobile communication terminal and the user's face based on the face information generated by the face detector 610. The distance between the camera unit 500 and the user's face is calculated by comparing the distance with the reference face size, which is preset based on the size of the face area detected by the face detector 610.

The user authentication unit 630 may operate when the user is configured to perform a security operation, and checks whether the user is compared with the image obtained by the face detection unit 610 and the pre-stored user image.

The face recognition unit 600 transmits to the main control unit 300 whether the face is recognized including the distance between the mobile communication terminal and the user's face and the identity verification result data calculated by the distance calculator 620.

The main control unit 300 determines that the user has a high possibility of using the touch function while looking at the screen of the mobile communication terminal based on the face recognition data input from the face recognition unit 500, and controls the LCD screen controller 700. Turn on the LCD screen and output the touch lock release control signal to the touch control unit 200, and if it is other distance, the user does not look at the screen of the mobile communication terminal to determine that it is unlikely to use the touch function, LCD Turn off the screen and output the lock control signal to the touch sensor.

When the user uses the touch function, the user always stares at the screen at a certain distance, and then uses the touch function of the mobile communication terminal, and thus determines whether to use the touch function based on the detected distance between the mobile terminal and the user's face. Because you can.

In special situations, such as when you place your device on a table and use it from a distance, you can set the display to always be on using the menu.

The operation of the display screen and the touch automatic locking device in the mobile communication terminal constructed as described above will be described in detail with reference to the accompanying drawings.

2 is a flowchart illustrating a display screen and an automatic touch lock method in a mobile communication terminal according to an embodiment of the present invention.

Referring to FIG. 2, first, the 3G sensor 100 and the main control unit 300 recognize the moment of movement to use the terminal while the mobile communication terminal is turned off (S10). In this case, it is necessary to distinguish between the simple movement by moving in a pocket or a bag and the complicated change of the x, y, z axis displacement values to use the terminal. Only then, the battery consumption can be reduced and the 3G sensor 100 and the main control unit 300 must be continuously operated even when the screen is turned off.

If it is determined that the movement for using the terminal to read the ambient brightness value from the ambient light sensor 200 in the main control unit 300 (S20). At this time, if it is determined that the surrounding is dark, the IrED is turned on. (S30) Of course, if it is bright, this operation is excluded and power is supplied to the camera unit 500 and the face recognition unit 600.

Then, it is determined whether the face detected by the face recognizing unit 600 is within a certain distance or is authenticated as a user's face and is at a certain distance. (S50) If the condition is satisfied, the LCD screen is turned on and the touch lock is released. If the condition is not satisfied, the LCD screen is turned off and the touch is kept locked.

Whether the LCD screen is turned off or on in the above process, the process returns to the process of checking the first 3G sensor 100 data. At this time, if there is no movement of the terminal, the current state is maintained as it is. Therefore, the screen does not turn off while looking at the mobile phone, thereby improving the inconvenience of having to touch it from time to time. In addition, in order to reduce this inconvenience, in certain applications, the screen is kept on continuously. In this case, the battery is worried about being used up, and when the user takes a short break, the user turns off the screen. In the present invention, there is no need to bear such inconvenience. This is because the screen stays on while you are viewing the screen and automatically turns off if you do not see it.

Although the technical spirit of the present invention described above has been described in detail in a preferred embodiment, it should be noted that the above-described embodiment is for the purpose of description and not of limitation. It will be apparent to those skilled in the art that various modifications may be made without departing from the scope of the present invention. Accordingly, the true scope of the present invention should be determined by the technical idea of the appended claims.

100: 3G sensor
200: Ambient Light Sensor
300: main fisherman
400: IrED control unit
500: camera unit
600: face recognition unit
610: face detector
620: distance calculation unit
630: Identity verification department
700: LCD screen control
800: touch control unit

Claims (6)

3G sensor for sensing the movement change of the mobile communication terminal,
An illuminance sensor sensing the brightness of the periphery,
IrED which irradiates infrared rays to photograph camera in dark environment,
A camera unit attached to the front of the mobile communication terminal and photographing an external image;
A face recognition unit which detects a user's face image from the image photographed by the camera unit, calculates a distance between the mobile communication terminal and the user's face, and confirms identity verification;
An LCD screen control unit for controlling the display screen on and off;
A touch controller which locks / unlocks the operation of the touch sensor coupled to the display screen;
It detects the movement of the mobile communication terminal from the 3G sensor and recognizes the degree of brightness of the surrounding environment from the illumination sensor, if it is dark, and outputs an operation control signal for instructing the on / off for the camera unit at the same time to turn on the IrED And a main controller configured to output and control a release or lock control signal for turning on / off the display screen and the touch sensor according to whether the face recognition unit recognizes the face of the image photographed by the camera. Display screen and touch auto lock.
The method of claim 1, wherein the face recognition unit
A face detection unit for detecting a face region by performing face recognition using a face recognition program from the image file enlarged by the zoom region converting unit, and generating face information through the face detection unit;
A distance calculator configured to calculate a distance between the camera unit and the user's face based on the face information generated by the face detector;
The display device and the automatic touch lock device in the mobile communication terminal, characterized in that the authentication unit compares the image stored with the user's own image when the security function is activated. 3. The method of claim 2,
The face information may include any one of a face size, a face direction, a face position, and an eye position. The method of claim 1,
The display screen and the touch function in the mobile communication terminal further comprises an infrared light emitting diode (IRED) attached to the front of the mobile communication terminal to emit infrared light so that the external image can be taken through the camera unit in low light. Auto lock. The method of claim 1,
In the mobile communication terminal attached to the front of the mobile communication terminal is configured as a two-band filter so that the video call camera to receive infrared rays or further comprising a dedicated camera module separately from the video call camera Automatic lock of display screen and touch function. The method of claim 1,
The self-locking device of the display screen and the touch function in the mobile communication terminal, characterized in that it further comprises other methods such as iris recognition in addition to the face.

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