Methods and apparatuses for operating a portable device based on an accelerometer

Abstract

Methods and apparatuses for operating a portable device based on an accelerometer are described. According to one embodiment of the invention, an accelerometer attached to a portable device detects a movement of the portable device. In response, a machine executable code is executed within the portable device to perform one or more predetermined user configurable operations. Other methods and apparatuses are also described.

1 . A machine readable storage medium storing executable instructions which when executed cause a data processing system to perform a method comprising:
 displaying on a display of a portable device a sequence of images transitioning towards a direction from a first scene to a second scene from a viewpoint of a user;   detecting movement of the portable device using an accelerometer attached to the portable device; and   executing machine-executable code to perform one or more actions in response to the detection of the movement of the portable device, including
 detecting whether the movement of the portable device is in accordance with a direction associated with the direction of the transition from the viewpoint of the user, and 
 performing a first operation if the movement is not detected in accordance with a direction associated with the direction of the transition. 
   
     
     
         2 . The method of  claim 1 , further comprising:
 determining a direction of the movement based on movement data provided by the accelerometer; and   comparing the determined direction of the movement with a predetermined direction to determine whether the determined direction relatively matches the predetermined direction in order to execute the machine-executable code.   
     
     
         3 . The method of  claim 2 , further comprising determining an orientation of the portable device after the movement based on movement data collected by the accelerometer, wherein the one or more predetermined user configurable actions are performed based on the determined orientation. 
     
     
         4 . The method of  claim 3 , wherein the one or more predetermined user configurable actions include displaying an image on a display of the portable device according to an orientation that is relatively identical to an orientation of the image prior to the movement. 
     
     
         5 . A method, comprising:
 displaying a first portion of a document page on a display of the portable device;   detecting movement of the portable device using an accelerometer attached to the portable device; and   displaying a second portion of the document page different than the first portion on the display of the portable device in response to the detection.   
     
     
         6 . The method of  claim 5 , further comprising determining a direction of the movement based on movement data provided by the accelerometer, wherein the second portion of the document page is displayed if the determined direction relatively matches a predetermined direction. 
     
     
         7 . The method of  claim 6 , wherein the second portion is displayed transitioned from the first portion as if the portable device is moving while the document page is steady. 
     
     
         8 . The method of  claim 6 , wherein the transition from the first portion to the second portion is performed in accordance with the determined direction of the movement from a viewpoint of a user. 
     
     
         9 . The method of  claim 5 , wherein the document page cannot entirely be displayed on one page within the display of the portable device. 
     
     
         10 . The method of  claim 5 , wherein the document page is one of a map, a newspaper, and a video game scene. 
     
     
         11 . A method, comprising:
 displaying on a display of a portable device a sequence of images transitioning towards a direction from a first scene to a second scene from a viewpoint of a user;   detecting a movement of the portable device using an accelerometer attached to the portable device; and   performing a predetermined operation if the detected movement is not in accordance with a direction associated with the direction of the transition from the viewpoint of the user.   
     
     
         12 . The method of  claim 11 , wherein the predetermined operation includes one of causing a vibration of the portable device, generating an audio alert, and a combination of a vibration and an audio alert. 
     
     
         13 . The method of  claim 11 , further comprising:
 determining an acceleration of the movement of the portable device based on the movement data provided by the accelerometer; and   adjusting displaying the sequence of images with an acceleration relatively related to the acceleration of the movement.   
     
     
         14 . The method of  claim 11 , wherein the sequence of images represents a moving scene of a video game and wherein the portable device represents a moving object facing the moving scene from a viewpoint of a user holding the portable device. 
     
     
         15 . A method, comprising:
 detecting a movement of a portable device using an accelerometer attached to the portable device;   determining an orientation of the portable device after the movement based on movement data provided by the accelerometer; and   activating at least one interface of the portable device that is best suitable for given the determined orientation.   
     
     
         16 . The method of  claim 15 , further comprising optionally deactivating at least one interface of the portable device that is less suitable for the given determined orientation. 
     
     
         17 . The method of  claim 16 , further comprising:
 determining whether the portable device is held by a user after the movement based on the movement data provided by the accelerometer; and   predicting locations of the hands of the user for holding the portable device, wherein the at least one interface is activated or deactivated based the predicted locations of the hands.   
     
     
         18 . The method of  claim 17 , further comprising:
 activating at least one interface that is not within the predicted locations; and   deactivating at least one interface that is within the predicted locations.   
     
     
         19 . The method of  claim 16 , wherein the at least one interface includes one or more wireless transceiver. 
     
     
         20 . The method of  claim 19 , further comprising:
 activating at least one wireless transceiver that communicates with relative strong signals; and   deactivating at least one wireless transceiver that communicates with relative weak signals.   
     
     
         21 . The method of  claim 16 , wherein the at least one interface includes one or more speakers. 
     
     
         22 . The method of  claim 21 , further comprising driving at least one speaker to have a best sound effect given the determined orientation of the portable device after the movement. 
     
     
         23 . The method of  claim 16 , wherein the at least one interface includes one or more cameras. 
     
     
         24 . The method of  claim 16 , wherein the at least one interface includes one or more microphones. 
     
     
         25 . The method of  claim 16 , wherein the at least one interface includes one or more video output interfaces. 
     
     
         26 . A method, comprising:
 determining whether movement of a portable device is a repetitive movement using an accelerometer;   determining a repetitive rate of the movement based on movement data provided by the accelerometer; and   playing a multimedia content via the portable device based on the determined repetitive rate of the movement.   
     
     
         27 . The method of  claim 26 , further comprising adjusting a rhythm of the multimedia content to relatively match the determined repetitive rate of the movement. 
     
     
         28 . The method of  claim 26 , further comprising selecting and playing a multimedia content that has a tempo relatively matched with the determined repetitive rate of the movement. 
     
     
         29 . The method of  claim 26 , wherein the portable device is a digital audio player.