Patent Publication Number: US-2012026080-A1

Title: Electronic device and unlocking method thereof

Description:
BACKGROUND 
     1. Technical Field 
     Embodiments of the present disclosure relate to an electronic device operation, and more particularly to an electronic device and an unlocking method for the electronic device. 
     2. Description of Related Art 
     Unlocking an electronic device for use may require entry of alphanumeric passcode on a physical keypad or a virtual keypad on a touch screen of the electronic device. However, recall of such various alphanumeric pass codes may be difficult to remember sometimes. 
    
    
     
       BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS 
         FIG. 1  is a block diagram of one embodiment of an electronic device comprising an unlocking system. 
         FIG. 2  is a block diagram of the unlocking system of  FIG. 1 . 
         FIG. 3  is a schematic diagram of the electronic device of  FIG. 1  located along three coordinate axes. 
         FIG. 4  shows exemplary movement of the electronic device of  FIG. 1 . 
         FIG. 5  shows a schematic diagram of three component vectors of the movement along the three coordinate axes of the electronic device of  FIG. 4 . 
         FIG. 6  is a flowchart illustrating one embodiment of a method of unlocking a electronic device. 
     
    
    
     DETAILED DESCRIPTION 
     The disclosure is illustrated by way of example and not by way of limitation in the figures of the accompanying drawings in which like references indicate similar elements. It should be noted that references to “an” or “one” embodiment in this disclosure are not necessarily to the same embodiment, and such references mean at least one. 
     In general, the word “module” as used herein, refers to logic embodied in hardware or firmware, or to a collection of software instructions, written in a programming language, such as, for example, Java, C, or Assembly. One or more software instructions in the module may be embedded in firmware, such as an EPROM. It will be appreciated that module may comprise connected logic units, such as gates and flip-flops, and may comprise programmable units, such as programmable gate arrays or processors. The module described herein may be implemented as either software and/or hardware module and may be stored in any type of computer-readable medium or other computer storage device. 
       FIG. 1  is a block diagram of one embodiment of an electronic device  1  comprising an unlocking system  10 . The electronic device  1  further comprises an accelerometer  11 , a display unit  12 , a storage unit  13  and at least one processor  14 . When the electronic device  1  is in a lock state, the display unit  12  is turned off and a plurality of hard keys of the electronic device  1  are disabled. Otherwise, when the electronic device  1  is in an unlock state, the display unit  12  is turned on and the electronic device  1  can be operated by the plurality of hard keys of the electronic device  1 . The electronic device  1  in the lock state can be changed to an unlock state by moving the electronic device  1  in a predetermined movement of unlocking. For example, the electronic device  1  is preset the predetermined movement of unlocking. If a detected movement of the electronic device  1  by the accelerometer  11  is same to the predetermined movement, the electronic device  1  in the lock state can be changed to the unlock state and the display unit  12  is turned on and the plurality of hard keys of the electronic device  1  are enabled. Depending on the embodiment, the electronic device  1  may be a mobile phone or personal digital assistants (PDAs), for example. 
     The electronic device  1  is generally controlled and coordinated by operating system software, such as UNIX, Linux, Windows 95, 98, NT, 2000, XP, Vista, Mac OS X, an embedded operating system, or any other compatible operating systems. In other embodiments, the electronic device  1  may be controlled by a proprietary operating system. Conventional operating systems control and schedule computer processes for execution, perform memory management, provide file system, networking, and I/O services, and provide a user interface, such as a graphical user interface (GUI), among other things. 
     The accelerometer  11  is operable to detect movement of the electronic device  1  and discern magnitude and direction of the movement as a vector quantity to generate a three-axis acceleration vector. For example, as shown in  FIG. 4 , as the electronic device  1  moves from the first position P 1  to the second position P 2  in a direction P 1 P 2 , the accelerometer  11  detects the movement of electronic device  1  and generates a three-axis acceleration vector d. 
     The display unit  12  is operable to display information of the electronic device  1 . In one embodiment, the display unit  12  can display direction information of the electronic device  1 , such as a direction along the three coordinate axes. In other embodiments, the display unit  12  can also display a notification message indicating the unlock state of the electronic device. In addition, the display unit  12  can be a display screen, a resistive touch screen or a capacitive touch screen. Furthermore, if the electronic device  1  is in a lock state, the display unit  12  can be turned off. 
     The storage unit  13  is electronically connected to the unlocking system  10 , the accelerometer  11 , the display unit  12  and the processor  14 . The storage unit  13  is operable to store many kinds of data, such as module codes, computerized codes of the unlocking system  10 , programs of an operating system, other applications of the electronic device  1  and the movement information of the electronic device  1 , such as a detected three-axis acceleration vector of the electronic device  1  from the accelerometer  11 . The storage unit  13  may include a hard disk drive, flash memory, RAM, ROM, cache, or external storage mediums. 
     The processor  14  is operable to execute one or more computerized codes of the unlocking system  10  and the electronic device  1 . The one or more computerized codes of the unlocking system  10  and the electronic device  1  may be stored in the storage unit  13  and executed by the processor  14 . The processor  14 , as an example, may include a CPU, math coprocessor, or shift register. 
       FIG. 2  is a block diagram of the unlocking system  10 . The unlocking system  10  includes a setup module  101 , a receiving module  102 , an analysis module  103 , a determination module  104  and an unlocking module  105 . 
     The receiving module  102  is operable to receive the three-axis acceleration vector of the electronic device  1  from the accelerometer  11  for transmission to the analysis module  103 . As shown in  FIG. 4 , the accelerometer  11  detects a movement of the electronic device  1  and generates the three-axis acceleration vector d. The receiving module  102  receives the three-axis acceleration vector d of the electronic device  1  from the accelerometer  11 . 
     The analysis module  103  is operable to analyze three movement directions of the electronic device  1  along the three coordinate axes. In one embodiment, as shown in  FIG. 3 , the electronic device  1  is located in a space of the three coordinate axes. The analysis module  103  separates the received three-axis acceleration vector from the receiving module  102  into three component vectors along the three coordinate axes. The analysis module  103  continually analyzes three directions of the three component vectors. 
     As shown in  FIG. 4 , the electronic device  1  moves from the position P 1  to the position P 2  and the accelerometer  11  generates a three-axis acceleration vector d. As shown in  FIG. 5  is a schematic diagram analyzed by the analysis module  103  illustrating three component vectors along the three coordinate axes of a electronic device  1  of  FIG. 4 . The analysis module  103  separates the three-axis acceleration vector d into three component vectors dx, dy, dz along the three coordinate axes X, Y, and Z axis. Finally, the analysis module  103  analyzes three movement directions of the three component vectors dx, dy, dz. For example, if the three component vectors dx, dy, dz are all plus values, the analysis module  103  analyzes the three movement directions of the electronic device  1  along the three coordinate axes are positive direction to the zero point of the three coordinate axes. 
     Accordingly, the setup module  101  is operable to set predetermined movement directions of the electronic device  1  along the three coordinate axes such as for an unlocking operation. In one embodiment, the electronic device  1  is moved in one direction to set the unlocking operation, and accelerometer  11  detects the movement and generates a three-axis acceleration vector. The analysis module  103  separates the three-axis acceleration vector into three component vectors along the three coordinate axes. The analysis module  103  analyzes the three directions of the three component vectors along the three coordinate axes and the setup module  101  sets the analyzed three directions as the three predetermined movement directions for unlocking the electronic device  1 . The setup module  101  then saves the analyzed three direction three predetermined movement directions in the storage unit  13 . 
     The determination module  104  is operable to determine whether the analyzed three movement directions of the electronic device  1  are the same as the three predetermined movement directions along the three coordinate axes for unlocking the electronic device  1 . If the analyzed three movement directions of the electronic device  1  are the same as the three predetermined movement directions along the three coordinate axe, the determination module  104  initiates the unlocking module  105 . In one embodiment, the determination module  104  determines whether each movement direction of vectors of the electronic device  1  is the same as each predetermined direction of the three vectors for unlocking the electronic device  1 . 
     The unlocking module  105  is operable to unlock the electronic device  1 . In one embodiment, the unlocking module  105  unlocks the electronic device  1  from the lock state by turning on the display unit  12 . In other embodiments, the unlocking module  105  unlocks a locked keypad or keyboard of the electronic device  1 . 
       FIG. 6  is a flowchart illustrating one embodiment of a method of unlocking a electronic device  1 . Depending on the embodiment, additional blocks may be added, others deleted, and the ordering of the blocks may be changed. 
     In block S 90 , the setup module  101  sets three directions along the three coordinate axes for unlocking the electronic device  1 . In one embodiment, the electronic device  1  is moved in one direction to set the unlocking operation, and the accelerometer  11  detects the movement of the electronic device  1  and generates a three-axis acceleration vector. The setup module  101  sends the generated three-axis acceleration vector in the storage unit  13 . 
     In block S 100 , the accelerometer  11  detects a movement of the electronic device  1  and generates a three-axis acceleration vector. 
     In block S 102 , the receiving module  102  receives the three-axis acceleration vector of the electronic device  1  from the accelerometer  11 . 
     In block S 104 , the analysis module  103  analyzes the three movement directions of the electronic device along the three coordinate axes. 
     In block S 106 , the determination module  104  determines whether the analyzed three movement directions along the three coordinate axes are the same as three predetermined movement directions along the three coordinate axes for unlocking the electronic device  1 . If the analyzed three directions are the same as the predetermined three directions, block S 108  is implemented. If the analyzed three directions are not the same as the predetermined three directions, block S 100  is repeated. For example, the determination module  104  determines whether each analyzed three movement direction is the same as each predetermined movement direction along the x coordinate axe, the y coordinate and the z coordinate in sequence. 
     In block S 108 , the unlocking module  105  unlocks the electronic device  1  from the lock state. In one embodiment, the unlocking module  105  unlocks the electronic device  1  from the lock state by turning on the display unit  12  and outputting a message to the display unit  12 . In other embodiments, the unlocking module  105  unlocks a locked keypad or keyboard of the electronic device  1 . 
     Although certain inventive embodiments of the present disclosure have been specifically described, the present disclosure is not to be construed as being limited thereto. Various changes or modifications may be made to the present disclosure without departing from the scope and spirit of the present disclosure.