EP-4742697-A1 - ELECTRONIC DEVICE AND METHOD FOR CONTROLLING AUDIO OUTPUT AND HAPTIC MOTOR IN ELECTRONIC DEVICE

EP4742697A1EP 4742697 A1EP4742697 A1EP 4742697A1EP-4742697-A1

Abstract

An electronic device according to an embodiment may be configured to: output audio signals corresponding to audio data through a speaker by using an audio circuit; identify audio signals to be output and haptic signals to be output, on the basis of haptic signals output simultaneously with the output of the audio signals through the speaker; estimate a discharge current value of a battery associated with the audio signals to be output simultaneously with the output of the haptic signals; and on the basis that the estimated discharge current value exceeds a predefined discharge current value, adjust the volume associated with the audio signals to be output and/or a driving voltage for driving a haptic motor in association with the haptic signals to be output such that the discharge current value of the battery by the output of the audio signals and the output of the haptic signals does not exceed a specified discharge current value.

Inventors

Choi, Jaejoon
KIM, KYEONGMIN
SHIN, Shonguk
LEE, JUNE

Assignees

Samsung Electronics Co., Ltd.

Dates

Publication Date: 20260513
Application Date: 20240930

Claims (15)

An electronic device comprising: a battery; a haptic motor; a speaker; haptic motor driving circuitry; audio circuitry; at least one processor, comprising processing circuitry; and memory storing instructions, wherein at least one processor, individually and/or collectively, is configured to execute the instructions and to cause the electronic device to: output, through the speaker, audio signals corresponding to audio data using the audio circuitry, based on haptic signals to be output concurrently with output of audio signals through the speaker, identify the audio signals to be output and the haptic signals to be output, estimate a discharge current value of the battery associated with the audio signals to be output concurrently with output of the haptic signals, and based on the estimated discharge current value exceeding a specified discharge current value, adjust a volume associated with the audio signals to be output and/or a driving voltage for driving the haptic motor in association with the haptic signals to be output such that a discharge current value of the battery due to the output of the audio signals and the output of the haptic signals does not exceed the specified discharge current value.
The electronic device of claim 1, wherein at least one processor, individually and/or collectively, is configured to cause the electronic device to: based on the estimated discharge current value exceeding the specified discharge current value, identify whether to adjust the volume, whether to adjust the driving voltage, or whether to adjust the volume and the driving voltage.
The electronic device of claim 1, wherein at least one processor, individually and/or collectively, is configured to cause the electronic device to: adjust the volume using a specified volume control ratio.
The electronic device of claim 1, wherein at least one processor, individually and/or collectively, is configured to cause the electronic device to: obtain the specified volume control ratio by dividing a value obtained by subtracting the maximum peak current value of a current to be provided to the haptic motor from the specified discharge current value of the battery by the maximum peak current value of the current to be provided to the speaker.
The electronic device of claim 1, wherein at least one processor, individually and/or collectively, is configured to cause the electronic device to: adjust the volume using an inverted value of the current value to be provided to the haptic motor.
The electronic device of claim 1, wherein at least one processor, individually and/or collectively, is configured to cause the electronic device to: adjust the volume using a specified volume limit value based on a current value to be provided to the haptic motor.
The electronic device of claim 1, wherein at least one processor, individually and/or collectively, is configured to cause the electronic device to: adjust the driving voltage using a specified haptic motor driving voltage ratio.
The electronic device of claim 1, wherein at least one processor, individually and/or collectively, is configured to cause the electronic device to: adjust the driving voltage using a specified haptic motor driving voltage limit value.
The electronic device of claim 1, wherein at least one processor, individually and/or collectively, is configured to cause the electronic device to: adjust the driving voltage using an inverted volume of the volume associated with the audio signals to be output through the speaker.
The electronic device of claim 1, wherein at least one processor, individually and/or collectively, is configured to cause the electronic device to: lower the specified discharge current of the battery by a specified value based on a specified condition.
A method of controlling audio output and a haptic motor in an electronic device, the method comprising: outputting, through a speaker, audio signals corresponding to audio data using audio circuitry; identifying, based on haptic signals being output concurrently with the output of the audio signals through the speaker, the audio signals to be output and the haptic signals to be output; estimating a discharge current value of a battery associated with the audio signals to be output concurrently with the output of the haptic signals to be output; and based on the estimated discharge current value exceeding a specified discharge current value, adjusting volume associated with the audio signals to be output and/or a driving voltage for driving the haptic motor in association with the haptic signals to be output such that the discharge current value of the battery due to the output of the audio signals and haptic signals does not exceed the specified discharge current value.
The method of claim 11, further comprising: based on the estimated discharge current value exceeding the specified discharge current value, selecting whether to adjust the volume, the driving voltage, or the volume and the driving voltage.
The method of claim 11, further comprising: obtaining a specified volume control ratio by dividing a value, obtained by subtracting the maximum peak current value of a current to be provided to the haptic motor from the specified discharge current value, by the maximum peak current value of a current to be provided to the speaker; and adjusting the volume using a specified volume control ratio.
The method of claim 11, further comprising: adjusting the volume using an inverted value of a current value to be provided to the haptic motor; adjusting the volume using a specified volume limit value, based on a current value to be provided to the haptic motor; adjusting the driving voltage using a specified haptic motor driving voltage ratio; adjusting the driving voltage using a specified haptic motor driving voltage limit value; or adjusting the driving voltage using an inverted volume of the volume associated with the audio signals to be output.
A non-transitory computer-readable storage medium storing instructions that, when executed by at least one processor, individually and/or collectively, of an electronic device, cause the electronic device to perform at least one operation, wherein the at least one operation comprises: outputting, through a speaker, audio signals corresponding to audio data using audio circuitry; identifying, based on haptic signals being output concurrently with the output of the audio signals through the speaker, the audio signals to be output and the haptic signals to be output; estimating a discharge current value of a battery associated with the audio signals to be output concurrently with the output of the haptic signals to be output; and based on the estimated discharge current value exceeding a specified discharge current value, adjusting volume associated with the audio signals to be output and/or a driving voltage for driving the haptic motor in association with the haptic signals to be output such that the discharge current value of the battery due to the output of the audio signals and haptic signals does not exceed the specified discharge current value.

Description

[Technical Field] The disclosure relates to a method for controlling audio output and a haptic motor in electronic devices. [Background Art] Recently, portable electronic devices powered by batteries have been widely used. Batteries may have various capacities, so small batteries with lower capacity may be used in small electronic devices and large batteries with higher capacity may be used in large electronic devices. The battery capacity of portable electronic devices may be measured in units of mAh (or Ah), and the battery fully charged to 1Ah may provide current of 1A for 1 hour. The supply of current from the battery may be called discharge, and a discharge rate of the battery may be defined as a C-rate. 1C may indicate 1 hour of discharge, and 0.5C may indicate 2 hours of discharge. For example, 1C of a battery with 100mAh capacity may indicate discharging total current of 100mA for 1 hour, and the C value may be obtained by dividing the discharge current by the battery's rated capacity (the amount of current that may be used in 1 hour). Since the instantaneous current consumption may differ between electronic devices, batteries with different C values may be used for the respective electronic devices. [Detailed Description of the Invention] [Technical Problem] The higher the discharge rate, the more current the battery may provide at once, but portable electronic devices (e.g., small electronic devices, wearable electronic devices, or smart watches) may use a small battery with a small capacity, in which the maximum allowable discharge current value is relatively low, for the convenience of carrying. When the current consumed instantaneously in an electronic device is more than a predefined (or configured) discharge current (e.g., the maximum allowable discharge current), the lifespan of the battery may be shortened or heat generation may increase, so the current consumed in the electronic device may need to be lowered than the maximum allowable discharge current. For example, the amount of current consumed at one time when a haptic motor driving operation and an audio output operation are performed simultaneously (or together) in a small electronic device (e.g., a smart watch), which includes a motor (e.g., a haptic motor) and a speaker, may be greater than that when the haptic motor driving operation and the audio output operation are separately performed, and may exceed the maximum allowable discharge current. Technology to lower the amount of current consumed may be necessary for the case where the amount of current consumed at once is greater than the maximum allowable discharge current when the haptic motor driving operation and the audio output operations are to be performed simultaneously (or together) in small electronic devices. When the haptic motor driving operation and the audio output operation are required to be performed simultaneously, the haptic motor driving operation and the audio output operation may be alternately performed in time division to reduce the amount of current consumed at once, but it may not be possible to adjust the sum of the current consumed due to the instantaneous haptic motor driving operation and the current consumed due to the audio output operation to be less than the maximum allowable discharge current. [Technical Solution] According to an example embodiment, an electronic device may include: a battery, a haptic motor, a speaker, haptic motor driving circuitry, audio circuitry, at least one processor, comprising processing circuitry, and memory storing instructions. At least one processor, individually and/or collectively, may be configured to execute the instructions and to cause the electronic device to: output, through the speaker, audio signals corresponding to audio data using the audio circuitry; identify, based on haptic signals being output concurrently with the output of the audio signals through the speaker, the audio signals to be output and the haptic signals to be output; estimate a discharge current value of the battery associated with the audio signals to be output concurrently with output of the haptic signals; adjust, based on the estimated discharge current value exceeding a specified discharge current value, a volume associated with the audio signals to be output and/or a driving voltage for driving the haptic motor in association with the haptic signals to be output such that the discharge current value of the battery due to the output of the audio signals and haptic signals does not exceed the specified discharge current value. A method of controlling audio output and a haptic motor in an electronic device according to an example embodiment may include: outputting, through a speaker, audio signals corresponding to audio data using audio circuitry; identifying, based on haptic signals being output concurrently with the output of the audio signals through the speaker, the audio signals to be output and the haptic signals to be output; es