Prevention of accidental device activation
AssigneeMicrosoft Corporation
InventorsShamik Bandyopadhyay, G. Eric Engstrom, Vikram Kapoor, Kathryn C. Lemson
Life of this patent
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Abstract
The present application allows wake-up and unlock operations to occur using a single event, such as a single keystroke. Additionally, a check is made to ensure that activation was caused by human touch, not an object. In one embodiment, an area of a mobile device is designated as a wake-up area, which is separate from the touch screen. A user can touch the wake-up area to both activate the mobile device from a sleep mode and unlock the mobile device. In another embodiment, the wake-up area can be integrated into the touch screen, so that there is not an appearance of a separate button. Fingerprint checking and/or proximity sensors can also be integrated into the mobile device.
Claims18
A method of activating a device from a low-power mode, comprising:
- entering a low-power mode on the device, wherein a majority of a touch screen on the device is substantially disabled;
- receiving an input to activate the device;
- determining whether the input is from human touch;
- if the input is from human touch, activating the device and simultaneously unlocking the device, wherein the input to activate the device is received on a push button that closes a switch through physical depression and wherein the push button further includes a capacitive sensor for the determining whether the input is from human touch.
A device, comprising:
- a touch screen display;
- a touch-sensitive wakeup area;
- a controller coupled to the wakeup area for determining whether a human touched the wakeup area;
- an application processor coupled to the controller for recovering from sleep mode and simultaneously unlocking the touch screen display in response to a human touch of the wakeup area, wherein the wakeup area is a separate push button including a capacitive sensor.
A method of activating and unlocking a mobile phone, comprising:
- disabling a touch screen area of the mobile phone when the mobile phone is in a sleep mode of operation;
- monitoring a wakeup area of the mobile phone;
- detecting input received from a touching of the wakeup area, the input including a voltage received from a capacitor and a push button depression;
- determining if the input received is from a human touch by checking whether the voltage exceeds a predetermined voltage;
- if the input received is not from a human touch, ignoring the input;
- and
- if the input received is from a human touch, simultaneously enabling the touch screen area and unlocking the mobile phone.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.