Patent application number | Description | Published |
20120096921 | System and Method for Calibrating a Magnetometer According to a Quality Threshold - A method and system are provided for calibrating a magnetometer. The method comprises determining a current quality level associated with magnetometer readings obtained using an active set of calibration parameters; and lowering a quality threshold for a background calibration of the magnetometer when the current quality level exceeds a threshold quality level needed by an application utilizing the magnetometer readings. | 04-26-2012 |
20120098525 | System and Method for Calibrating a Magnetometer According to Device States - A method and system are provided for calibrating a magnetometer. The method comprises detecting a change in a physical configuration of the mobile device; applying at least one stored calibration parameter as a respective active calibration parameter when one or more stored calibration parameters corresponding to the detected physical configuration change are accessible by the mobile device; and performing a calibration to obtain at least one additional calibration parameter when the at least one additional calibration parameter is needed and applying the at least one additional calibration parameter as a respective active calibration parameter. | 04-26-2012 |
20120169327 | SYSTEM AND METHOD FOR USING MAGNETOMETER READINGS TO CONTROL ELECTRONIC DEVICES - A method and system are provided for controlling an electronic device, such as a mobile device. The method comprises using a magnetometer of the electronic device to obtain a reading; determining whether one or more properties of the reading matches at least one magnetic signature from a set of magnetic signatures, each magnetic signature being indicative of an expected magnetic influence from another object; if the one or more properties match a particular magnetic signature from the set of magnetic signatures, determining one or more actions associated with the particular magnetic signature; and enabling the one or more actions to be performed using the electronic device. | 07-05-2012 |
20130018628 | METHODS AND DEVICES TO DETERMINE A MOBILE DEVICE HOUSING POSITIONAANM Parco; Adam LouisAACI KitchenerAACO CAAAGP Parco; Adam Louis Kitchener CAAANM Holbein; Marc E.AACI KitchenerAACO CAAAGP Holbein; Marc E. Kitchener CAAANM Almalki; NazihAACI WaterlooAACO CAAAGP Almalki; Nazih Waterloo CAAANM Snow; Christopher HarrisAACI KitchenerAACO CAAAGP Snow; Christopher Harris Kitchener CA - Methods and devices to determine a mobile device housing position are described. An example device disclosed herein includes a housing having a first portion movably coupled to a second portion, the second portion to have a first position, a second position, and at least one intermediate position relative to the first portion, wherein the intermediate position is between the first and second positions; a position detector in the first portion, the position detector to measure a transitional magnetic field when the second portion is in the intermediate position and to measure a second magnetic field; and a processor to determine that the second portion is in the first position or the second position based on the transitional magnetic field and the second magnetic field. | 01-17-2013 |
20140058704 | METHOD AND DEVICES FOR DETERMINING NOISE VARIANCE FOR GYROSCOPE - Methods and devices for determining a noise variance of an axis of a gyroscope are described. In one aspect, the method includes: representing a plurality of gyroscope readings for the axis in a histogram, the histogram including a plurality of bins associated with respective ranges; determining a bias for the axis of the gyroscope by identifying a concentration of the gyroscope readings within the histogram; and determining a noise variance for the axis of the gyroscope based on the histogram and based on the identified concentration of gyroscope readings. | 02-27-2014 |
20140067305 | STABILIZING ORIENTATION VALUES OF AN ELECTRONIC DEVICE - Disclosed are methods and systems for stabilizing orientation values of an electronic device, the orientation values representing an orientation of the electronic device, the method comprising: obtaining first sensor readings from a first sensor; obtaining second sensor readings from a second sensor; evaluating the first sensor readings and the second sensor readings to determine whether the electronic device is stationary; locking the orientation values when the electronic device is stationary; collecting at least one of further first sensor readings and further second sensor readings while the orientation values are locked; determining whether the orientation of the electronic device is changing by more than a threshold amount based on one or more of the further first sensor readings and the further second sensor readings; and unlocking the orientation values for updating based on the further sensor readings when the orientation of the electronic device is changing by more than the threshold amount. | 03-06-2014 |
20140067306 | CONTROLLING SENSOR USE ON AN ELECTRONIC DEVICE - Described are methods and systems for controlling sensor use on an electronic device, the electronic device having a first sensor defining at least one first sensor axis, the method comprising: detecting a first sensor reading; determining an orientation of the electronic device; and, disabling the detection of the first sensor reading in respect an identified first sensor axis when the first sensor reading in respect of the identified first sensor axis is substantially not expected to change for at least a predetermined amount of time. | 03-06-2014 |
20140114567 | GENERATING AN ELEVATION MODEL USING MOBILE DEVICES - A computer-implemented method comprises collecting three-dimensional location data for a plurality of locations using one or more mobile devices, wherein the location data includes coordinates of latitude and longitude and further includes corresponding altitude data and generating an elevation model based on the three-dimensional location data. Once the elevation model is generated, it is possible to identify which floor of a building the device is located on. This enables delivery of floor-specific location-based services to mobile devices inside multi-storey buildings. | 04-24-2014 |
20140114624 | GENERATING AN ATMOSPHERIC MODEL USING ONE OR MORE PRESSURE-SENSING MOBILE DEVICES - A mobile device comprising a pressure sensor for collecting pressure data, a position-determining subsystem for generating location data including altitude data, and a processor operatively coupled to a memory to generate an atmospheric model based on the pressure data and the location data. In one implementation, the processor is configured to determine an Above Mean Sea Level (AMSL) altitude using a position-determining subsystem, determine a pressure altitude using the pressure sensor, calculate a difference between the pressure altitude and the AMSL altitude, and calculate a temperature at sea level based on the AMSL altitude and pressure altitude. In one implementation, the processor performs a linear regression on an equation AMSL altitude=offset+ScaleFactor*PressureAltitude to solve for the offset and the ScaleFactor, and then estimates the temperature at sea level as 1-ScaleFactor=(T−15)/3. The model may be used to estimate ambient air temperature or weather conditions. | 04-24-2014 |
20140120990 | SYSTEM AND METHOD OF REJECTING A LOW POWER STATE BASED ON A COVER DETECTION BY A MOBILE WIRELESS COMMUNICATION DEVICE - Apparatus, system and method for rejecting entry to a power saving mode based on a cover detection by an NFC enabled mobile device when an NFC field has been detected, such as from a second NFC enabled device. The apparatus, system and method may include detecting a magnetic field indicating proximity of the mobile device to a cover, determining when a predetermined delay has elapsed, checking the state of a flag that is set when an NFC field is detected, and preventing putting the mobile device into a low power state based on the cover indication if the flag is set. | 05-01-2014 |
20140130361 | ELECTRONIC DEVICE MAGNETIC INTERFERENCE INDICATION METHOD - A method of indicating an interference magnetic field at an electronic device includes: displaying a first arrow indicating a direction of magnetic north on a display of the electronic device, the direction of the first arrow corrected to remove interference caused by an interference magnetic field; and displaying a second arrow indicating a direction of a source of the interference magnetic field on a display of the electronic device. | 05-15-2014 |