Method, apparatus and computer program product for user detection and operation control
View Patent ↗A method, apparatus and computer program product are disclosed. The method includes detecting ambient light around an electronic device, determining whether a user is present based on the ambient light, and controlling an operation of the electronic device. The apparatus includes a component that consumes electric power, a light sensor that detects ambient light, a frequency analyzing unit that specifies a frequency component, and a control unit that determines whether a user is present and controls an operation of the component. The computer program product includes code to perform detecting ambient light around an electronic device, determining whether a user is present based on the ambient light, and controlling an operation of the electronic device.
1. A method, comprising:
detecting ambient light around an electronic device;
determining whether a user is present based on a frequency component produced by a change of an intensity of ambient light; and
controlling an operation of the electronic device in accordance with a result of the determination whether the user is present, comprising
enabling temperature monitoring control as a result of determining that the user is present, and
disabling temperature monitoring control as a result of determining that the user is not present.
2. The method of claim 1 , wherein determining whether a user is present comprises:
generating a frequency spectrum of the ambient light.
3. The method of claim 1 , wherein determining whether a user is present comprises:
determining whether a user is present based on a frequency band that includes a representative spectrum selected from frequency spectra of the ambient light that are continuous in a predetermined time period.
4. The method of claim 3 , wherein the representative spectrum comprises a frequency spectrum with a maximum power.
5. The method of claim 3 , wherein the representative spectrum is a group of continuous frequency spectra.
6. The method of claim 3 , wherein:
it is determined that the user is absent if the representative spectrum is in a first frequency band around 0 Hz.
7. The method of claim 3 , wherein:
it is determined that the user is present if the representative spectrum exceeds a first frequency band, and
is located in a second frequency band less than a predetermined frequency.
8. The method of claim 7 , wherein:
it is determined that a determination whether a user is present can be performed if the representative spectrum is in a range greater than or equal to the second frequency band.
9. The method of claim 1 , further comprising:
estimating a distance from the electronic device to the user based on power of a frequency spectrum of the ambient light;
wherein it is determined that a user is present if the distance to the user is less than a predetermined value.
10. The method of claim 1 , wherein controlling the operation of the device comprises:
controlling operation of a central processing unit.
11. The method of claim 1 , wherein controlling the operation of the device comprises:
controlling execution of a schedule task by a central processing unit.
12. The method of claim 11 , wherein controlling the operation of the device further comprises:
preventing a shift of the central processing unit to an idle state if it is determined that the user is present.
13. An apparatus comprising:
a component that consumes electric power;
a light sensor that detects ambient light around the apparatus and outputs an illumination signal;
a frequency analyzing unit that specifies a frequency component produced by a change of an intensity of the illumination signal;
a control unit that
determines whether a user is present based on the frequency component of the illumination signal,
controls an operation of the component,
enables a temperature monitoring control as a result of the control unit determining that a user is present, and
disables the temperature monitoring control as a result of the control unit determining that a user is not present.
14. The apparatus of claim 13 , wherein:
the control unit determines whether a user is present based on a pattern of a frequency spectrum generated by the frequency analyzing unit.
15. The apparatus of claim 13 , further comprising:
a power management unit that
begins a timer operation after a system enters an idle state, and
stops the component after the timer operation reaches a predetermined amount of time;
wherein the control unit restarts the timer operation of the power management unit if the control unit determines that a user is present.
16. The apparatus of claim 13 , wherein the component comprises a display.
17. The apparatus of claim 13 , wherein the component comprises a central processing unit.
18. The apparatus of claim 13 , wherein the control unit:
controls schedule task execution based on a result of the determination whether the user is present.
19. The apparatus of claim 18 , wherein the control unit:
controls schedule task execution by causing a central processing unit to execute a dummy process.
20. A computer program product comprising a non-transitory computer readable storage medium that stores code executable by a processor, the executable code comprising code to perform:
detecting ambient light around an electronic device;
determining whether a user is present based on a frequency component caused by a change of an intensity of ambient light; and
controlling an operation of the electronic device in accordance with a result of the determination whether the user is present, comprising
enabling a temperature monitoring control as a result of determining that the user is present, and
disabling the temperature monitoring control as a result of determining that the user is not present.