Use proximity sensor not to lock the screen while reading

asked 2014-01-04 03:33:23 +0200

vilvo
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updated 2014-12-12 16:10:55 +0200

eric

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https://twitter.com/erkki...

While focusing to reading something on the screen inactivity timeout hits easily with 2-3 seconds dimming followed by display off and locked. Dimming is difficult to notice when the display brightness is set to the lowest value (e.g. reading in the dark).

Proposing usage of sensors to identify user near the screen (e.g. 30 cms) or alternatively longer, more visible dimming of display (e.g. 10s) before display is turned off and locked for power saving. This would indicate the user to touch the screen should she wish to continue reading. Longer timeout would allow more time to react. Sensor usage is preferred approach because it removes the need to tap the screen which can lead to unwanted activation of an UI element, e.g. link.

Edit: edited proposal based on the comments. Thanks a lot!

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Comments

sailfsih should use or optimize/debug primary use the Presense sensor (p-sensor) and Light sensor (L-sensor) detect user presence and light of reader at max 30 centimer is it accceptable ?

redge73 ( 2014-01-04 03:58:19 +0200 )edit

It does dim for a couple of seconds, maybe 5 or something like that.

Tanghus ( 2014-01-04 04:02:16 +0200 )edit

It dims for 2 to 3 seconds, then stays dimmed for a second and turns off. I think it could start dimming a couple of seconds earlier. Tested with display turn off set to 15 and 30 seconds.

hana ( 2014-01-04 07:09:38 +0200 )edit

Thanks, @regde73 - I like that idea - user presence detection would be preferred approach. @Tanghus and @hana - True, I've set display brightness to the lowest value and now that I tried and look for it, it dims. Unfortunately so little I didn't notice it while focusing to reading.

vilvo ( 2014-01-04 08:45:28 +0200 )edit

It may be sensible, to use the acceleration, gyros and compass sensors also to recognize that the device is handheld and should not be locked. However, when by mistake the device is unlocked while being in the pocket: It would never auto-lock again! (continued)

jgr ( 2014-01-04 23:57:09 +0200 )edit

answered 2014-09-18 08:16:42 +0200

spiiroin
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moderator

There are hw (sensor range) and sw (would need to poll) problems with using the proximity sensor in the suggested way, but ...

In the next update dimming should be faster and thus hopefully easier to detect than before.

In low light conditions (when the display backlight is already about as low brightness as it can be), the "dimmed" state is indicated also via the led (pale blue colour). In the future this might not be needed - there are plans to do further dimming by fading the graphics drawn by the ui side towards black.

Also the dim timeout is not constant. Every time when the display is tapped after ON->DIM transition, it moves to the next longer timeout (as listed in the settings ui). Resets back to the configured value if display gets turned off.

You can use mcetool to make the "dimmed" state last longer (as an example 15 secs)

mcetool --set-dim-timeout=15

And/or adjust the dimming timeouts so that display will stay on 5 minutes already after the 1st ON->DIM->ON tapping

mcetool --set-dim-timeouts=30,300,360,420,480 --set-dim-timeout=30

Note that the settings ui does not adapt to changed timeouts and might not work as expected after the above. To get back to defaults apply

mcetool --set-dim-timeouts=15,30,60,120,600 --set-dim-timeout=30

(to install mcetool run: pkcon install mce-tools)

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