Patent Application
20140002391
1. Technical Field
Embodiments of the present disclosure relate to locking and unlocking technology, and particularly to an electronic device and method for unlocking the electronic device.
2. Description of Related Art
Electronic devices may be locked or unlocked using display devices (e.g., touch panels) of the electronic devices. For portability, electronic devices are becoming smaller. However, when a portable electronic device is inserted into a pocket, function icons of the electronic device may be inadvertently activated. For example, a dialing function of a cell phone may be invoked and a phone call is mistakenly made.
In addition, an electronic device may be unlocked by dragging an icon to a predetermined location. If a user does not drag the icon to the predetermined location, the electronic device cannot be unlocked. This is tedious. Therefore, an improved method for unlocking the electronic device is desired.
The disclosure, including the accompanying drawings, is illustrated by way of examples and not by way of limitation. 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.”
All of the processes described below may be embodied in, and fully automated via, functional code modules executed by one or more general purpose electronic devices or processors. The code modules may be stored in any type of non-transitory computer-readable medium or other storage device. Some or all of the methods may alternatively be embodied in specialized hardware. Depending on the embodiment, the non-transitory computer-readable medium may be a hard disk drive, a compact disc, a digital video disc, a tape drive or other suitable storage medium.
In some embodiments, the display device 11 may be a touch panel (e.g., a capacitive touch panel), which supports multi-touch operations. The electronic device 1 may be a mobile phone, a tablet computer, a personal digital assistant, a notebook computer, or similar device.
In some embodiments, the electronic device 1 may be unlocked when a user does not need to operate the electronic device 1, to reduce power consumption. The unlocking system 10 may display an unlocking icon on the display device 11 when the electronic device 1 is locked, display different indication icons to indicate that the electronic device 1 is in different states (e.g., a locked state and an unlocked state), and unlock the electronic device 1 when an unlocking signal for a predetermined duration is received.
In one embodiment, the unlocking system 10 may include computerized instructions in the form of one or more programs that are executed by the at least one processor 12 and stored in the storage device 13. The storage device 13 stores one or more programs, such as operating systems, applications of the electronic device 1, and various kinds of data, such as function icons. In some embodiments, the storage device 13 may be an external storage card, such as a memory stick, a smart media card, a compact flash card, a secure digital card, or any other type of memory storage device.
In one embodiment, the unlocking system 10 may include one or more modules, for example, a display module 101, a detection module 102, a timing module 103, and a control module 104. 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, Java, C, or assembly. One or more software instructions in the modules may be embedded in firmware, such as in an EPROM. The modules described herein may be implemented as either software and/or hardware modules and may be stored in any type of non-transitory computer-readable medium or other storage device. Some non-limiting examples of non-transitory computer-readable medium include CDs, DVDs, BLU-RAY, flash memory, and hard disk drives.
In step S1, the display module 101 displays an unlocking icon 100 and a first indication icon 201 on the display device 11 when the electronic device 1 is locked. The unlocking icon 100 may be touched by the user to unlock the electronic device 1. In some embodiments, an indication block 200 may be preset by the display module 101 to enclose a plurality of indication icons, which are used to represent different states of the electronic device 1. The plurality of indication icons may be circles, rectangles, or other graphics. In other embodiments, the indication icons may be not enclosed by any block.
As shown in
In some embodiments, the plurality of indication icons may show different colors according to changes of the states of the electronic device 1. For example, the first indication icon 201 is displayed with a first color (e.g., red), the second indication icon 202 is displayed with a second color (e.g., yellow), and the third indication icon 203 is displayed with a third color (e.g., green). When one of the plurality of indication icons is highlighted, the other indication icons are not highlighted.
In other embodiments, the indication block 200 may include a virtual lamp for displaying with different colors when the electronic device 1 is in different predetermined states. For example, the virtual lamp may display with the first color when the electronic device 1 is in the locked state and no unlocking signal is received, and display with the second color when electronic device 1 is in the locked state and one unlocking signal is received.
In other embodiments, the plurality of indication icons may use different graphics. When one of the plurality of indication icons is shown, the other indication icons are hidden, that is, the other indication icons are not shown.
The display module 101 may display the unlocking icon 100 at a predetermined position of the display device 11, or at a random position of the display device 11 each time the electronic device 1 is locked.
In step S2, the detection module 102 detects a touch signal on the display device 11, and determines whether the touch signal is an unlocking signal in relation to the unlocking icon 100 on the display device 11. When the touch signal is the unlocking signal in relation to the unlocking icon 100, step S3 is implemented. When the touch signal is not the unlocking signal, step S2 is repeated.
In some embodiments, the detection module 102 determines a coordinate range of the unlocking icon 100 on the display device 11 according to a location of the unlocking icon 100, and determines coordinates of the touch signal. As shown in
The coordinate range may include an X coordinate range (e.g., [X1, X2]), and a Y coordinate range (e.g., [Y1, Y2]). The coordinates of the touch signal may be (Xn, Yn). When the coordinates of the touch signal are within the coordinate range of the unlocking icon 100, such as, X1≦X≦X2 and Y1≦Yn≦Y2, the detection module 102 determines that the touch signal is the unlocking signal, that is, the unlocking icon 100 has been touched. When the coordinates of the touch signal are not within the coordinate range of the unlocking icon 100, the detection module 102 determines that the touch signal is not the unlocking signal, that is, the unlocking icon 100 has not been touched.
When the touch signal is determined to be the unlocking signal in relation to the unlocking icon 100, in step S3, the timing module 103 times a touch duration, and the display module 101 displays the second indication icon 202 on the display device 11. As mentioned above, the second indication icon 202 represents that the electronic device 1 is in the locked state, and the detection module 102 has detected the unlocking signal.
In step S4 the control module 104 unlocks the electronic device 1 when the touch duration exceeds a predetermined time (e.g., 4 seconds), and the display module 101 displays the third indication icon when the electronic device 1 is in the unlocked state.
According to the plurality of indication icons displayed on the display device 11, the user may view different states of the electronic device 1, and follow an unlocking procedure visually, and may further determine to continue touching the unlocking icon 100 until the electronic device 1 is unlocked, or stop the unlocking procedure by releasing the unlocking icon 100.
It should be emphasized that the above-described embodiments of the present disclosure, particularly, any embodiments, are merely possible examples of implementations, set forth for a clear understanding of the principles of the disclosure. Many variations and modifications may be made to the above-described embodiment(s) of the disclosure without departing substantially from the spirit and principles of the disclosure. All such modifications and variations are intended to be included herein within the scope of this disclosure and the present disclosure is protected by the following claims.
| Number | Date | Country | Kind |
|---|---|---|---|
| 101123159 | Jun 2012 | TW | national |
