Electronic apparatus, angular velocity acquisition method and storage medium for the same

Abstract

An electronic apparatus includes a magnetic sensor which acquires a status of a magnetic field around the electronic apparatus, an angular velocity sensor, and a processor. The processor controls whether the detection of an angular velocity of a spatial movement of the electronic apparatus is performed by the angular velocity sensor or a magnetic gyro sensor composed of the magnetic sensor, based on the status of the magnetic field acquired by the magnetic sensor.

What is claimed is: 
     
       1. An electronic apparatus comprising:
 a magnetic gyro sensor comprising a magnetic sensor; 
 an angular velocity sensor, wherein power consumption by the angular velocity sensor is larger than power consumption by the magnetic gyro sensor; and 
 a processor configured to:
 control the magnetic sensor to detect a magnetic field around the electronic apparatus; 
 judge whether there is disturbance in the magnetic field around the electronic apparatus based on the magnetic field detected by the magnetic sensor; 
 in response to judging that there is no disturbance in the magnetic field around the electronic apparatus, control use the magnetic gyro sensor to detect an angular velocity of a spatial movement of the electronic apparatus; and 
 in response to judging that there is disturbance in the magnetic field around the electronic apparatus, control use the angular velocity sensor to detect the angular velocity of the spatial movement of the electronic apparatus. 
 
 
     
     
       2. The electronic apparatus according to  claim 1 ,
 wherein the processor is configured to:
 determine whether a difference between a first angular velocity detected in a first period by the angular velocity sensor with a second angular velocity detected in the first period by the magnetic gyro sensor, based on the magnetic field detected by the magnetic sensor, is within a threshold range; 
 in response to determining that the difference is within the threshold, judge that there is no disturbance in the magnetic field around the electronic apparatus; 
 in response to judging that there is no disturbance in the magnetic field around the electronic apparatus:
 stop operation of the angular velocity sensor; and 
 control the magnetic gyro sensor to detect the angular velocity of the spatial movement of the electronic apparatus after stopping operation of the angular velocity sensor; and 
 
 in response to determining that the difference is not within the threshold, judge that there is disturbance in the magnetic field around the electronic apparatus. 
 
 
     
     
       3. The electronic apparatus according to  claim 1 ,
 wherein the processor is configured to:
 determine whether the magnetic field detected by the magnetic sensor exceeds a threshold value; 
 in response to determining that the magnetic field detected by the magnetic sensor does not exceed the threshold value, judge that there is no disturbance in the magnetic field around the electronic apparatus; and 
 in response to determining that the magnetic field detected by the magnetic sensor does exceed the threshold value, judge that there is disturbance in the magnetic filed around the electronic apparatus. 
 
 
     
     
       4. The electronic apparatus according to  claim 1 ,
 wherein the magnetic gyro sensor further comprises an acceleration sensor, and 
 wherein the processor is configured to:
 control the acceleration sensor to detect an acceleration of the electronic apparatus; 
 determine whether a change occurs in the magnetic field detected by the magnetic sensor and whether a change occurs in the acceleration detected by the acceleration sensor; 
 in response to determining that a change occurs in the magnetic field detected by the magnetic sensor and a change does not occur in the acceleration detected by the acceleration sensor, judge that there is disturbance in the magnetic field around the electronic apparatus; and 
 in response to determining that a change does not occur in the magnetic field detected by the magnetic sensor and a change does not occur in the acceleration detected by the acceleration sensor, judge that there is no disturbance in the magnetic field around the electronic apparatus. 
 
 
     
     
       5. The electronic apparatus according to  claim 1 ,
 wherein the processor is configured to:
 determine whether a strength, a direction or both of the magnetic field detected by the magnetic sensor is different from known values of a strength and direction of a magnetic field attributed to geomagnetism at a geographical location of the electronic apparatus; 
 in response to determining that the strength, the direction or both of the magnetic field detected by the magnetic sensor is different from the known values of the strength and direction of the magnetic field attributed to geomagnetism at the geographical location of the electronic apparatus, judge that there is disturbance in the magnetic field around the electronic apparatus; and 
 in response to determining that the strength, the direction or both of the magnetic field detected by the magnetic sensor is not different from the known values of the strength and direction of the magnetic field attributed to geomagnetism at the geographical location of the electronic apparatus, judge that there is no disturbance in the magnetic field around the electronic apparatus. 
 
 
     
     
       6. The electronic apparatus according to  claim 1 ,
 wherein the processor is configured to:
 judge whether there is an anomaly in an offset value of the magnetic sensor or the angular velocity sensor; and 
 control to execute calibration processing for correcting the offset value of the magnetic sensor or the angular velocity sensor, based on a result of judgment of whether there is the anomaly in the offset value. 
 
 
     
     
       7. The electronic apparatus according to  claim 6 ,
 wherein the processor is configured to:
 determine whether a difference between a first angular velocity detected in a first period by the angular velocity sensor and a second angular velocity detected in the first period by the magnetic gyro sensor is out of a threshold range; and 
 in response to determining that the difference is out of the threshold range, judge that there is an anomaly in the offset value of the magnetic sensor or the angular velocity sensors, and control to execute calibration processing for correcting the offset value of the magnetic sensor or the angular velocity sensor. 
 
 
     
     
       8. The electronic apparatus according to  claim 6 ,
 wherein the processor is configured to:
 determine whether time elapsed from preceding calibration processing for the magnetic sensor or the angular velocity sensor exceeds a threshold value; and 
 in response to determining that the time elapsed exceeds the threshold value, control to execute calibration processing for the magnetic sensor or the angular velocity sensor. 
 
 
     
     
       9. The electronic apparatus according to  claim 6 ,
 wherein the processor is configured to:
 determine, by reference to a history of angular velocities detected in a predetermined period by the magnetic gyro sensor or the angular velocity sensor, whether number of times a disturbance in the magnetic field around the electronic apparatus is detected is larger than a threshold value; and 
 in response to determining that the number of times a disturbance in the magnetic field around the electronic apparatus is detected is larger than the threshold value, judge that there is an anomaly in the offset value of the magnetic sensor or the angular velocity sensor, and control to perform calibration processing for the magnetic sensor or the angular velocity sensor. 
 
 
     
     
       10. A method for controlling an electronic apparatus comprising:
 a magnetic gyro sensor comprising a magnetic sensor; and 
 an angular velocity sensor, wherein power consumption by the angular velocity sensor is larger than power consumption by the magnetic gyro sensor, 
 wherein the method comprises:
 controlling the magnetic sensor to detect a magnetic field around the electronic apparatus; 
 determining whether there is disturbance in the magnetic field around the electronic apparatus based on the magnetic field detected by the magnetic sensor; 
 in response to determining that there is no disturbance in the magnetic field around the electronic apparatus, controlling using the magnetic gyro sensor to detect an angular velocity of a spatial movement of the electronic apparatus; and 
 in response to determining that there is disturbance in the magnetic field around the electronic apparatus, controlling using the angular velocity sensor to detect the angular velocity of the spatial movement of the electronic apparatus. 
 
 
     
     
       11. The method according to  claim 10 , comprising:
 determining whether a difference between a first angular velocity detected in a first period by the angular velocity sensor with a second angular velocity detected in the first period by the magnetic gyro sensor, based on the magnetic field detected by the magnetic sensor, is within a threshold range; 
 in response to determining that the difference is within the threshold, judging that there is no disturbance in the magnetic field around the electronic apparatus; 
 in response to judging that there is no disturbance in the magnetic field around the electronic apparatus:
 stopping operation of the angular velocity sensor; and 
 controlling the magnetic gyro sensor to detect the angular velocity of the spatial movement of the electronic apparatus after stopping operation of the angular velocity sensor; and 
 
 in response to determining that the difference is not within the threshold, judging that there is disturbance in the magnetic field around the electronic apparatus. 
 
     
     
       12. The method according to  claim 10 , comprising:
 determining whether the magnetic field detected by the magnetic sensor exceeds a threshold value; 
 in response to determining that the magnetic field detected by the magnetic sensor does not exceed the threshold value, judging that there is no disturbance in the magnetic field around the electronic apparatus; and 
 in response to determining that the magnetic field detected by the magnetic sensor does not exceed the threshold value, judging that there is disturbance in the magnetic field around the electronic apparatus. 
 
     
     
       13. The method according to  claim 10 ,
 wherein the magnetic gyro sensor further comprises an acceleration sensor, and 
 wherein the method comprises:
 controlling the acceleration sensor to detect an acceleration of the electronic apparatus; 
 determining whether a change occurs in the magnetic field detected by the magnetic sensor and whether a change occurs in the acceleration detected by the acceleration sensor; 
 in response to determining that a change occurs in the magnetic field detected by the magnetic sensor and a change does not occur in the acceleration detected by the acceleration sensor, judging that there is disturbance in the magnetic field around the electronic apparatus; and 
 in response to determining that a change does not occur in the magnetic field detected by the magnetic sensor and a change does not occur in the acceleration detected by the acceleration sensor, judging that there is no disturbance in the magnetic field around the electronic apparatus. 
 
 
     
     
       14. The method according to  claim 10 , comprising:
 determining whether a strength, a direction or both of the magnetic field detected by the magnetic sensor is different from known values of a strength and direction of a magnetic field attributed to geomagnetism at a geographical location of the electronic apparatus; 
 in response to determining that the strength, the direction or both of the magnetic field detected by the magnetic sensor is different from the known values of the strength and direction of the magnetic field attributed to geomagnetism at the geographical location of the electronic apparatus, judging that there is disturbance in the magnetic field around the electronic apparatus; and 
 in response to determining that the strength, the direction or both of the magnetic field detected by the magnetic sensor is not different from the known values of the strength and direction of the magnetic field attributed to geomagnetism at the geographical location of the electronic apparatus, judging that there is no disturbance in the magnetic field around the electronic apparatus. 
 
     
     
       15. A non-transitory computer-readable storage medium having stored thereon a program that is executable by a computer of an electronic apparatus, wherein the electronic apparatus comprises:
 a magnetic gyro sensor comprising a magnetic sensor; and 
 an angular velocity sensor, wherein power consumption by the angular velocity sensor is larger than power consumption by the magnetic gyro sensor; 
 wherein the program is executable by the computer to at least perform:
 controlling the magnetic sensor to detect a magnetic field around the electronic apparatus; 
 determining whether there is disturbance in the magnetic field around the electronic apparatus based on the magnetic field detected by the magnetic sensor; 
 in response to determining that there is no disturbance in the magnetic field around the electronic apparatus, controlling using the magnetic gyro sensor to detect an angular velocity of a spatial movement of the electronic apparatus; and 
 in response to determining that there is disturbance in the magnetic field around the electronic apparatus, controlling using the angular velocity sensor to detect the angular velocity of the spatial movement of the electronic apparatus.