Patent ID: 9507967
Filing Date: 2016-11-29
CPC Classification: G06F

Claim Text:
1. A portable electronic device, comprising: a processor; a hardware sensor integrated in the portable electronic device, the hardware sensor operable to produce hardware sensor output indicative of orientation or motion or both of the portable electronic device within an environment; a hardware user-input component integrated in the portable electronic device, the hardware user-input component having multiple elements operable to accept user input through touch; a memory coupled to the processor, the memory storing: wherein the software application is executable by the processor as a process that runs in foreground during times when the operating system is operable to notify the process of any detected touch events involving the elements and that runs in background during times when the operating system is operable not to notify the process of any detected touch events involving the elements, and wherein, while the software application is executed by the processor as the process, the sensor driver or the operating system or both are configured to control what hardware sensor output produced by the hardware sensor, if any, is available to the process as follows: any of the hardware sensor output sampled using the sensor driver during time periods throughout which the process is running in the foreground and produced by the hardware sensor is available to the process, and any of the hardware sensor output sampled using the sensor driver during time periods throughout which the process is running in the background and produced by the hardware sensor is not available to the process.