1. Field of the Disclosure
The present disclosure relates generally to an electronic device, and more particularly, to a method of recognizing a surrounding environment, and an electronic device for the same.
2. Description of the Prior Art
According to an improvement in the performance of an electronic device (for example, a smart phone or a wearable electronic device), the electronic device may provide a user with applications that have various functions. The electronic device may also provide a user with various kinds of information related to an application according to a characteristic of a function provided by the application.
In order to perform various functions of the electronic device, an auxiliary device for recognizing a surrounding environment or for recognizing a motion of the electronic device and the like may be required. The auxiliary device may include, for example, various sensors. The sensors may include a proximity sensor for recognizing proximity of an external object in relation to the electronic device, a gyro sensor and a geomagnetic sensor for detecting a motion of the electronic device, a temperature sensor for measuring a temperature of a surrounding area, a heartbeat sensor for measuring a heartbeat of a human body, a luminance sensor for detecting luminance of a surrounding area and controlling brightness of a display and the like, a fingerprint recognizing sensor used as an authentication tool for exclusively using the electronic device, an infrared sensor for transmitting a signal for controlling an external device, and an ultrasonic sensor for recognizing a gesture of an external object or detecting proximity of an object.
The electronic device may include an ultrasonic transducer, which may include an ultrasonic transmitter, which is mounted on an external surface of the electronic device to be exposed to radiate ultrasonic waves, and a receiver, which receives reflected waves of the transmitted ultrasonic waves reflected from a surrounding medium (for example, an object, such as air, a liquid, a human body, etc.). A function of the ultrasonic transducer may be defined in relation to a reflection coefficient with respect to the waves reflected from the surrounding medium. The ultrasonic transducer may also be utilized as a proximity sensor for recognizing an object and for controlling a function of the electronic device.
However, the ultrasonic transducer can only recognize a proximity of the object, regardless of the kind of object, thus the ultrasonic transducer may incorrectly recognize that an object (for example, a human body) approaches in a flooding situation of the electronic device, and a separate function is not provided in the flooding situation of the electronic device. The flooding situation indicates that water drop or water is contact with touch screen display of the electronic device or located on the touch screen display.