Free-fall and impact detection system for electronic devices

1. A handheld imaging detector, comprising:

detector circuitry configured to convert incident x-ray radiation into an x-ray image;

a processor coupled to the detector circuits; and

an accelerometer coupled to the processor;

a power supply configured to supply power to the detector circuitry;

wherein the processor is configured to:

activate from a low power state in response to a first acceleration event detected by the accelerometer; and

record a time of the first acceleration event; and

disconnect or disable the power supplied to the detector circuitry while maintaining power supplied to other circuitry in response to the first acceleration event.

2. The handheld x-ray imaging detector of claim 1 , wherein the processor is configured to:

record a time of a second acceleration event after the first acceleration event; and

generate a free-fall time based on the time of the first acceleration event and the time of the second acceleration event.

3. The handheld x-ray imaging detector of claim 1 , wherein the first acceleration event is an event when an acceleration sensed by the accelerometer changes by a threshold.

4. The handheld x-ray imaging detector of claim 1 , wherein the accelerometer is referred to as a first accelerometer, the handheld detector further comprising:

a second accelerometer having a greater measurement range than the first accelerometer;

wherein the processor is configured to activate the second accelerometer in response to the first acceleration event.

5. The handheld x-ray imaging detector of claim 4 , wherein a thickness of the handheld detector is less than 16 mm.

6. The handheld x-ray imaging detector of claim 1 , further comprising at least one of a temperature sensor, a humidity sensor, gyroscope, a touch sensor, and a rangefinder coupled to the processor.

7. The handheld x-ray imaging detector of claim 1 , further comprising:

a rangefinder coupled to the processor;

wherein the processor is configured to activate the rangefinder from a low power state in response to the first acceleration event and measure a distance using the rangefinder.

8. A method, comprising:

sensing a first acceleration event by a first accelerometer of a handheld x-ray detector while a processor of the handheld x-ray detector is in a low power state;

activating the processor in response to the first acceleration event;

recording a time of the first acceleration event; and

disconnecting or disabling the power supplied to detector circuitry of the handheld x-ray detector while maintaining power supplied to other circuitry of the handheld x-ray detector in response to the first acceleration event.

9. The method of claim 8 , further comprising:

sensing a second acceleration event by the first accelerometer;

measuring a time between the first acceleration event and the second acceleration event; and

determining a status of the handheld x-ray detector in response to the free-fall time between the first acceleration event and the second acceleration event.

10. The method of claim 9 , wherein determining the status of the handheld x-ray detector comprises:

characterizing the second acceleration event as an impact if the time between the first acceleration event and the second acceleration event exceeds a threshold.

11. The method of claim 8 , further comprising:

activating a second accelerometer in response to the first acceleration event; and

sensing a second acceleration event by the second accelerometer;

wherein the second accelerometer has a greater measurement range than the first accelerometer.

12. The method of claim 11 , further comprising:

characterizing the second acceleration event as an impact if a magnitude of the second acceleration event exceeds a threshold.

13. The method of claim 12 , wherein the threshold is a maximum of a measurement range of the second accelerometer.

14. The method of claim 12 , further comprising:

characterizing the second acceleration event as not an impact if a magnitude of the second acceleration event is less than a threshold.

15. The method of claim 8 , further comprising:

activating at least one sensor including at least one of temperature sensor, a humidity sensor, gyroscope, a touch sensor, and a rangefinder in response to the first acceleration event; and

recording data from the at least one sensor after the first acceleration event.

16. A handheld detector, comprising:

means for processing;

means for detecting acceleration events of a handheld x-ray detector while the means for processing is in a low power state;

means for activating the means for processing in response to a first acceleration event of the acceleration events;

means for recording a time of the first acceleration event: and

means for disconnecting or disabling the power supplied to detector circuitry of the handheld x-ray detector while maintaining power supplied to other circuitry of the handheld x-ray detector in response to the first acceleration event.

17. The handheld detector of claim 16 , further comprising:

means for measuring a time between the first acceleration event and a second acceleration event of the acceleration events; and

means for determining a status of the handheld x-ray detector in response to the time between the first acceleration event and the second acceleration event.