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US 10,095,345 B2Granted
Low power scan for device wake up and unlock
AssigneeApple Inc.
InventorsLouis W. Bokma, Sean Erik O'Connor
Life of this patent
Estimating the term…
Abstract
A low power can for device wake up and unlock is disclosed. The low power scan can include one or more algorithms used to detect a sequence and/or one or more gestures to wake up a processor and unlock the device for user interaction. A sequence and/or one or more gestures can be determined by a microcontroller and/or by a separate hardware component. The microcontroller can send a notification or a wake signal to the processor and/or switch the device from an idle to an active state. By detecting a sequence and one or more gestures in the microcontroller before powering on or waking up the processor, the amount of power consumed can be reduced and the battery life extended.
Claims29
A method for switching a device from an idle state to an active state, the device including a touch panel, a microcontroller, and a processor, the method comprising:
- in the idle state:
- powering on the microcontroller;
- determining if a first set of changes in capacitance associated with one or more sensing nodes, included in a plurality of sensing nodes, match a first pre-determined criteria over a sequence of measurements using the microcontroller;
- determining if the first set of changes in capacitance match a second pre-determined criteria over the sequence of measurements using the microcontroller;
- and
- after determining if the first set of changes in capacitance match the first pre-determined criteria over the sequence of measurements and determining if the first set of changes in capacitance match the second pre-determined criteria over the sequence of measurements:
- in accordance with a determination that the first set of changes in capacitance match both the first pre-determined criteria over the sequence of measurements and the second pre-determined criteria over the sequence of measurements, discarding the first set of changes in capacitance;
- in accordance with a determination that the first set of changes in capacitance match the first pre-determined criteria over the sequence of measurements and do not match the second pre-determined criteria over the sequence of measurements, generating and transmitting a signal from the microcontroller to the processor;
- in accordance with a determination that the first set of changes in capacitance do not match the first pre-determined criteria, discarding the first set of changes in capacitance;
- wherein:
- the processor is a hardware component separate from the microcontroller,
- the first pre-determined criteria are between first and second threshold values, the first and second threshold values being different from each other, and
- the second pre-determined criteria are between third and fourth threshold values, the third and fourth threshold values being different from each other and different from the first and second threshold values.
10 more elements
A device configured to switch from an idle state to an active state, the device comprising:
- a touch panel;
- a processor configured to sense a touch during the active state;
- and
- a microcontroller configured to:
- power on in the idle state,
- sense a touch during the idle state by determining if a first set of changes in capacitance associated with one or more sensing nodes, included in a plurality of sensing nodes, match a first pre-determined criteria over a sequence of measurements,
- determine if the first set of changes in capacitance match a second pre-determined criteria over the sequence of measurements, and
- after determining if the first set of changes in capacitance match the first pre-determined criteria over the sequence of measurements and determining if the first set of changes in capacitance match the second pre-determined criteria over the sequence of measurements:
- in accordance with a determination that the first set of changes in capacitance match both the first pre-determined criteria over the sequence of measurements and the second pre-determined criteria over the sequence of measurements, discard the first set of changes in capacitance;
- in accordance with a determination that the first set of changes in capacitance match the first pre-determined criteria over the sequence of measurements and do not match the second pre-determined criteria over the sequence of measurements, generate and transmit a signal from the microcontroller to the processor;
- in accordance with a determination that the first set of changes in capacitance do not match the first pre-determined criteria, discard the first set of changes in capacitance;
- wherein:
- the processor is a hardware component separate from the microcontroller, the first pre-determined criteria are between first and second threshold values, the first and second threshold values being different from each other, and
- the second pre-determined criteria are between third and fourth threshold values, the third and fourth threshold values being different from each other and different from the first and second threshold values.
11 more elements
A non-transitory computer-readable storage medium storing instructions which, when executed by a computing device causes the computing device to process user input, wherein the computing device includes a touch panel, a microcontroller, and a processor, the instructions comprising:
- in the idle state:
- powering on the microcontroller;
- determining if a first set of changes in capacitance associated with one or more sensing nodes, included in a plurality of sensing nodes, match a first pre-determined criteria over a sequence of measurements using the microcontroller;
- determining if the first set of changes in capacitance match a second pre-determined criteria over the sequence of measurements using the microcontroller;
- and
- after determining if the first set of changes in capacitance match the first pre-determined criteria over the sequence of measurements and determining if the first set of changes in capacitance match the second pre-determined criteria over the sequence of measurements:
- in accordance with a determination that the first set of changes in capacitance match both the first pre-determined criteria over the sequence of measurements and the second pre-determined criteria over the sequence of measurements, discarding the first set of changes in capacitance;
- in accordance with a determination that the first set of changes in capacitance match the first pre-determined criteria over the sequence of measurements and do not match the second pre-determined criteria over the sequence of measurements, generating and transmitting a signal from the microcontroller to the processor;
- in accordance with a determination that the first set of changes in capacitance do not match the first pre-determined criteria, discarding the first set of changes in capacitance;
- wherein:
- the processor is a hardware component separate from the microcontroller,
- the first pre-determined criteria are between first and second threshold values, the first and second threshold values being different from each other, and
- the second pre-determined criteria are between third and fourth threshold values, the third and fourth threshold values being different from each other and different from the first and second threshold values.
10 more elements
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.