US-12628308-B2 - Electronic device and method for controlling temperature thereof

US12628308B2US 12628308 B2US12628308 B2US 12628308B2US-12628308-B2

Abstract

An electronic device may include a temperature sensor, a display, and a processor operatively connected to the temperature sensor, wherein the processor may be configured to: in response to identifying, by using the temperature sensor that the ambient temperature of the electronic device is changed beyond a preconfigured level within a predetermined time, measure the internal temperature of the electronic device; and in response to identifying, through comparison, that the measured internal temperature of the electronic device is lower than the ambient temperature of the electronic device by more than a predetermined level, control at least one component inside the electronic device to perform control to raise the internal temperature of the electronic device to a preconfigured first level.

Inventors

Hongji Lee
Hyoujoo KWON
Hyuncheol Park
Sunok Jung
Seongmin Je

Assignees

SAMSUNG ELECTRONICS CO., LTD.

Dates

Publication Date: 20260512
Application Date: 20221026
Priority Date: 20220118

Claims (19)

1 . An electronic device comprising: a first temperature sensor configured to measure an internal temperature of the electronic device; a second temperature sensor configured to measure an ambient temperature of the electronic device; a third temperature sensor configured to obtain biometric information of a person wearing the electronic device; a display; and at least one processor comprising processor circuitry operatively connected to the first temperature sensor, the second temperature sensor, the third temperature sensor and the display; wherein the at least one processor is configured individually and/or collectively, to: compare the internal temperature of the electronic device and the ambient temperature of the electronic device, when the measured internal temperature of the electronic device is lower than the ambient temperature of the electronic device by at least a predetermined level, control at least one electronic component inside the electronic device to raise the internal temperature of the electronic device to a preconfigured target level, and obtain biometric information using the third temperature sensor when the internal temperature of the electronic device is equal to or greater than the preconfigured target level.
2 . The electronic device of claim 1 , wherein the at least one processor is configured individually and/or collectively to increase a driving frequency of the at least one processor to raise the internal temperature of the electronic device to at least the preconfigured target level.
3 . The electronic device of claim 1 , wherein the at least one processor is configured individually and/or collectively to increase an intensity of a current applied to the display of the electronic device to raise the internal temperature of the electronic device to the preconfigured target level.
4 . The electronic device of claim 1 , wherein the at least one processor is configured individually and/or collectively to increase a scan rate of the display of the electronic device to raise the internal temperature of the electronic device to at least the preconfigured target level.
5 . The electronic device of claim 1 , wherein the at least one processor is configured individually and/or collectively to determine that the electronic device is currently located indoors, based on a state of the electronic device corresponding to at least one among states in which a number of GPS satellites detected using a communication module, comprising communication circuitry, is less than a predetermined level, the strength of a GPS signal detected is less than a predetermined level, and/or a number of user's steps are not measured.
6 . The electronic device of claim 5 , wherein the at least one processor is configured individually and/or collectively to: based on the determination that the electronic device is currently located indoors, execute at least one application having been executed indoors a predetermined number of times or more and perform control such that a version of the at least one executed application is identified and updated to a latest version.
7 . The electronic device of claim 1 , wherein the at least one processor is configured individually and/or collectively to: in response to a determination to raise the internal temperature of the electronic device to the preconfigured target level, execute at least one application preconfigured to raise the temperature of the processor; and in response to a determination that the temperature of the electronic device has risen to the preconfigured target level, control to stop driving of the at least one application.
8 . The electronic device of claim 1 , wherein the biometric information comprises a skin temperature of the user.
9 . The electronic device of claim 1 , wherein the at least one processor is configured individually and/or collectively to: in response to a determination that the temperature of the electronic device has not risen to the first level, calculate a waiting time for the temperature of the electronic device to reach the preconfigured target level and control to output the waiting time via the display; and control to output, via the display, information indicating that body temperature measurement is unallowable until the temperature of the electronic device equal to or greater than the preconfigured target level.
10 . An electronic device comprising: a first temperature sensor configured to measure an internal temperature of the electronic device; a second temperature sensor configured to measure an ambient temperature of the electronic device; a third temperature sensor configured to obtain biometric information of a person wearing the electronic device; a display; and at least one processor comprising processor circuitry operatively connected to the first temperature sensor the second temperature sensor, the third temperature sensor and the display; wherein the at least one processor is configured individually and/or collectively to: compare the internal temperature of the electronic device and the ambient temperature of the electronic device; when the measured internal temperature of the electronic device is higher than the ambient temperature of the electronic device by at least a predetermined level, control at least one electronic component inside the electronic device to lower the internal temperature of the electronic device to a preconfigured target level for measuring a user's biometric information; and obtain biometric information using the third temperature sensor when the internal temperature of the electronic device is equal to or lower than the preconfigured target level.
11 . The electronic device of claim 10 , wherein the at least one processor is configured individually and/or collectively to decrease a driving frequency of the processor to lower the internal temperature of the electronic device to at least the preconfigured target level.
12 . The electronic device of claim 10 , wherein the at least one processor is configured individually and/or collectively to decrease the intensity of a current applied to the display of the electronic device to lower the internal temperature of the electronic device to at least the preconfigured target level.
13 . The electronic device of claim 10 , wherein the at least one processor is configured individually and/or collectively to decrease a scan rate of the display of the electronic device to lower the internal temperature of the electronic device to at least the preconfigured target level.
14 . The electronic device of claim 10 , wherein the at least one processor is configured individually and/or collectively to: determine that the electronic device is currently located indoors, based on a state of the electronic device corresponding to at least one among states in which a number of GPS satellites detected is less than a predetermined level, the strength of a GPS signal detected is less than a predetermined level, and/or a number of user's steps are not measured; and stop the driving of at least one application having been executed indoors by less than a predetermined number of times, based on the determination that the electronic device is currently located indoors.
15 . The electronic device of claim 10 , wherein the at least one processor is configured individually and/or collectively to output, via the display, information indicating that user's skin temperature measurement preparation is completed, based on a determination that the temperature of the electronic device has dropped to the second level.
16 . The electronic device of claim 10 , wherein the at least one processor is configured individually and/or collectively to: in response to a determination that the temperature of the electronic device has not risen to the first level, calculate a waiting time for the temperature of the electronic device to reach the preconfigured target level and control to output the waiting time via the display; and control to output, via the display, information indicating that body temperature measurement is unallowable until the temperature of the electronic device equal to or greater than the preconfigured target level.
17 . A method for controlling a temperature of an electronic device, the method comprising: comparing an internal temperature of the electronic device and an ambient temperature of the electronic device, when the measured internal temperature of the electronic device is lower than the ambient temperature of the electronic device by at least a predetermined level, controlling at least one electronic component inside the electronic device to raise the internal temperature of the electronic device to a preconfigured target level, and obtaining biometric information using a temperature sensor when the internal temperature of the electronic device is equal to or greater than the preconfigured target level.
18 . The method of claim 17 , further comprising using at least one processor comprising processor circuitry to execute at least one application inside the electronic device to perform control to raise the internal temperature of the electronic device to at least the preconfigured target level, said executing the at least one application comprises at least one of: executing at least one application having been executed indoors by a predetermined number of times or more; performing control to execute at least one application configured to monitor user's biometric information; or performing control to execute at least one application preconfigured to raise the temperature of the processor.
19 . The method of claim 17 , further comprising: outputting, on a display of the electronic device, information indicating that body temperature measurement is unallowable until the temperature of the electronic device equal to or greater than the preconfigured target level; outputting, on the display, information indicating that user's skin temperature measurement preparation is completed, in response to at least identifying that the temperature of the electronic device has risen to the preconfigured target level; and in response to at least identifying that the temperature of the electronic device has not risen to the preconfigured target level, calculating a waiting time for the temperature of the electronic device equal to or greater than the preconfigured target level and outputting the waiting time on the display.

Description

CROSS-REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATIONS This application claims priority to International Patent Application PCT/KR2022/015620, filed Oct. 14, 2022, which designates the United States and claims priority to KR Patent Application No. 10-2022-0007234, filed Jan. 18, 2022, and to KR Patent Application No. 10-2022-0024567, filed Feb. 24, 2022, the disclosures of which are all hereby incorporated by reference herein in their entireties. BACKGROUND Field An electronic device may provide, for example, for measuring and providing a user's biometric information and/or a method for reducing a standby time for measuring the user's biometric information. Description of Related Art In line with development of digital technologies, there has been widespread use of various types of electronic devices such as a personal digital assistant (PDA), a smartphone, a tablet personal computer, an artificial intelligent (AI) speaker, a wearable device, a digital camera, and/or an Internet of things (IoT) device. The hardware part and/or software part of such electronic devices have been continuously developed to support and enhance the functionality of the electronic devices. For example, an electronic device may include a sensor configured to sense (or measure) various pieces of information (or data), and may provide various pieces of relevant information (or function) based on sensing data acquired from the sensor. For example, the electronic device may measure a biometric signal by using the sensor, and may provide various pieces of information (for example, health information) related to the user's health based on the measured biometric signal. Recently, an electronic device may include a sensor (for example, temperature sensor) capable of measuring the user's body temperature, so as to measure the temperature of at least a part of the user's body with the sensor and to provide the same to the user through the electronic device. For example, the electronic device may measure the user's skin temperature and provide temperature information to the user. SUMMARY A wearable device (e.g., a smart watch) is worn by a user in daily life regardless of whether the user is indoors or outdoors, and the influence of external environment temperature cannot be ignored when measuring the user's body temperature with the smart watch. For example, when the user has entered indoors after staying outdoors at a cold place in winter, the internal temperature of the smart watch has dropped due to the outdoor temperature, or when the user has entered indoors after staying outdoors at a hot place in summer, the internal temperature of the smart watch has risen due to the outdoor temperature, making it necessary to maintain the smart watch at room temperature for a period of time and to use the same when the internal temperature of the smart watch matches with the indoor temperature to some extent, in order to measure a substantially accurate body temperature. The user may find it inconvenient to measure body temperature with the smart watch because it is not until the smart watch is kept at room temperature for at least a period of time or is worn by the user for at least a period of time that a substantially accurate body temperature can be measured. In addition, it may be difficult to measure a substantially accurate body temperature in a situation in which there is a large difference between the internal temperature of the smart watch and the indoor temperature because the user has measured his/her body temperature without waiting for at least a period of time. Problems to be solved are not limited to the above-mentioned problems, and may be variously expanded without deviating from the idea and scope. An electronic device according to various example embodiments may include: a temperature sensor; a display; and a processor operatively connected to the temperature sensor, wherein the processor may be configured to: in response to a determination, at least by using the temperature sensor, that the ambient temperature of the electronic device is changed beyond a preconfigured level within a predetermined time, measure the internal temperature of the electronic device; and in response to a determination, at least through comparison, that the measured internal temperature of the electronic device is lower than the ambient temperature of the electronic device by more than a predetermined level, control at least one electronic component inside the electronic device to raise the internal temperature of the electronic device to at least a preconfigured first level. An electronic device according to various example embodiments may include: a temperature sensor; a display; and a processor operatively connected, directly or indirectly, to the temperature sensor, wherein the processor may be configured to: in response to identifying, at least by using the temperature sensor, that the ambient temperature of the electronic device is changed beyond a preconfigured