Velocity field interaction for free space gesture interface and control

• US 10,152,136 B2
• Filed: 10/16/2014
• Issued: 12/11/2018
• Est. Priority Date: 10/16/2013
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Lmi Liquidating Co., LLC
• Original Assignee: Leap Motion Incorporated (Ultraleap Limited)
• Inventors: Cohen, Isaac, Holz, David S, Sills, Maxwell
• Primary Examiner(s): Ketema, Benyam
• Application Number:
  US14/516,493
• Publication Number:
  US 20150103004A1
• Time in Patent Office: 1,517 Days
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 3/017 Gesture based interaction, e.g. based on a set of recognized hand gestures interaction based on gestures traced on a digitiser G06F3/04883
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 3/04815 Interaction with a metaphor-based environment or interaction object displayed as three-dimensional, e.g. changing the user viewpoint with respect to the environment or object
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 3/0483 Interaction with page-structured environments, e.g. book metaphor
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 3/04842 Selection of displayed objects or displayed text elements G06F3/0482 takes precedence
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 3/04847 Interaction techniques to control parameter settings, e.g. interaction with sliders or dials
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 3/0485 Scrolling or panning
• CPC Class Codes: G06V 40/28 Recognition of hand or arm movements, e.g. recognition of deaf sign language static hand signs G06V40/113

Abstract

The technology disclosed relates to automatically interpreting a gesture of a control object in a three dimensional sensor space by sensing a movement of the control object in the three dimensional sensor space, sensing orientation of the control object, defining a control plane tangential to a surface of the control object and interpreting the gesture based on whether the movement of the control object is more normal to the control plane or more parallel to the control plane.

Claims

1. A method of automatically interpreting a gesture of a control object, in a three-dimensional (3D) sensor space using a 3D sensor, as a first gesture or a second gesture, the method including:

processing an output of a video camera of the 3D sensor thereby sensing a trajectory of movement of the control object in any direction in the 3D sensor space;

further processing the output of the video camera of the 3D sensor thereby sensing an orientation of the control object;

determining by processing the output of the video camera of the 3D sensor a surface of the control object;

defining a control plane that remains tangent to the surface of the control object throughout the movement of the control object in any direction in the 3D sensor space, the control plane being defined by processing the output of the video camera of the 3D sensor and the sensed orientation of the control object;

interpreting the gesture of the control object as the first gesture or the second gesture by comparing a direction of the trajectory of the movement of the control object to (i) a normal vector that is normal to the defined control plane and (ii) a surface of the defined control plane, wherein;

the gesture is the first gesture when the direction of the trajectory of the movement of the control object is within a pre-determined range of the normal vector of the control plane; and

the gesture is the second gesture when the direction of the trajectory of the movement of the control object is parallel to the surface of the control plane, within a pre-determined range,

such that the gesture is the first gesture when the direction of the movement of the trajectory of the control object is more normal to the surface of the control plane than parallel to the surface of the control plane and the gesture is the second gesture when the direction of the movement of the trajectory of the control object is more parallel to the surface of the control plane than normal to the surface of the control plane.

2. The method of claim 1, wherein:

the control object is a hand; and

the control plane is tangent to a palm or back of the hand.

3. The method of claim 1, wherein the interpreting of the gesture includes:

calculating an angular trajectory of the movement of the control object; and

determining whether the gesture engages a virtual control based on whether the trajectory is normal or parallel to the control plane.

20. The method of claim 1, further including determining the control plane is normal to the trajectory when the normal vector of the control plane is within +/−

10 degrees from a tangent vector of the trajectory.

26. The method of claim 1, wherein the first gesture is an interaction gesture for interacting with an object and the second gesture in a non-interaction gesture.

4. A method of automatically interpreting a gesture of a control object, in a three-dimensional (3D) sensor space relative to a flow depicted in a display, as a first gesture or a second gesture, the method including:

processing an output of a video camera of a 3D sensor thereby sensing a movement of the control object in any direction in the 3D sensor space using the 3D sensor;

further processing the output of the video camera of the 3D sensor thereby sensing an orientation of the control object and determining a surface of the control object;

defining a control plane that remains tangent to the surface of the control object throughout the movement of the control object in any direction in the 3D sensor space, the control plan being defined by processing the output of the video camera of the 3D sensor and the sensed orientation of the control object; and

interpreting the gesture of the control object as the first gesture or the second gesture by comparing a direction of the flow to (i) a normal vector that is normal to the defined control plane and (ii) a surface of the defined control plane, wherein;

the gesture is the first gesture when the direction of the flow is within a pre-determined range of the normal vector of the control plane; and

the gesture is the second gesture when the direction of the flow is parallel to the surface of the control plane, within a pre-determined range,

such that the gesture is the first gesture when the direction of the flow is more normal to the surface of the control plane than parallel to the surface of the control plane, and the gesture is the second gesture when the direction of the flow is more parallel to the surface of the control plane than normal to the surface of the control plane.

5. The method of claim 4, wherein:

the control object is a hand; and

the control plane is tangent to a palm or back of the hand.

6. The method of claim 4, wherein the interpreting of the gesture includes:

calculating a velocity and weighted velocity of the movement of the control object, the weighted velocity being weighted by a projection of the velocity onto a direction parallel to the flow depicted in the display and by a projection of a normal vector of the control plane onto the direction parallel to the flow depicted in the display; and

determining an amount the gesture engages a virtual control of the flow depicted in the display based on the calculated velocity.

21. The method of claim 4, further including determining an amount that a hand gesture engages vectors describing the flow using the normal vector based on whether the control plane and the hand'"'"'s movement are determined to be normal or parallel to the vectors of the flow.

7. A method of navigating a multi-layer presentation tree using gestures of a control object in a three-dimensional (3D) sensor space, using a 3D sensor, by distinguishing between the control object and a sub-object of the control object, the method including:

processing an output of a video camera of the 3D sensor thereby sensing a movement of the control object in any direction in the 3D sensor space using a control plane that remains tangent to a surface of the control object throughout the movement of the control object in any direction in the 3D sensor space, the control plane being defined by processing the output of the video camera of the 3D sensor and a sensed orientation of the control object;

interpreting by a computing device a direction of the movement of the control object as scrolling through a particular level of the multi-layer presentation tree when the direction of the movement of the control object is more normal with respect to the surface of the tangent control plane than parallel with respect to the surface of the control plane; and

further processing the output of the video camera of the 3D sensor thereby sensing a movement of the sub-object in the 3D sensor space, and interpreting the movement of the sub-object as selecting a different level in the multi-layer presentation tree, the different level being either a deeper or higher level from the particular level, and subsequently interpreting by the computing device the movement of the control object as scrolling through the different level of the multi-layer presentation tree.

8. The method of claim 7, wherein the sub-object is a portion of the control object.

9. The method of claim 7, wherein the control object is a hand and the sub-object is a finger of the hand.

22. The method of claim 7, further including:

(i) traversing menus responsive to movement of a first sub-object including a first hand and (ii) traversing menu paths responsive to movement of a second sub-object including a second hand.

10. A method of navigating a multi-layer presentation tree using gestures of a control object in a three-dimensional (3D) sensor space, using a 3D sensor, by distinguishing between the control object and one or more sub-objects of the control object, the method including:

processing an output of a video camera of the 3D sensor thereby sensing a movement of the control object in any direction in the 3D sensor space using a control plane that remains tangent to a surface of the control object throughout the movement of the control object in any direction in the 3D sensor space, the control plane being defined by processing the output of the video camera of the 3D sensor and a sensed orientation of the control object determined by processing the output of the video camera of the 3D sensor;

interpreting a direction of the movement of the control object as traversing through a particular level of the presentation tree when the direction of the movement of the control object is one of (i) more normal with respect to the surface of the tangent control plane than parallel with respect to the surface of the control plane and (ii) more parallel with respect to the surface of the tangent control plane than normal with respect to the surface of the control plane;

further processing the output of the video camera of the 3D sensor thereby sensing a movement of a first sub-object of the control object in the 3D sensor space and interpreting the movement of the first sub-object as selecting a different level in the presentation tree, the different level being either deeper or higher level from the particular level, and subsequently interpreting the movement of the control object as traversing through the different level of the presentation tree; and

further processing the output of the video camera of the 3D sensor thereby sensing a movement of a second sub-object of the control object in the 3D sensor space and interpreting the movement of the second sub-object as selecting a different presentation layout from a current presentation layout of the presentation tree, and subsequently presenting the presentation tree in the different presentation layout.

11. The method of claim 10, wherein:

the control object is a hand; and

the first and second sub-objects of the control objects are a finger, a palm, or a back of the hand.

12. A method of automatically determining by a computing device a control to a virtual control by a control object in a three-dimensional (3D) sensor space, using a 3D sensor, by distinguishing the control object and a sub-object of the control object, the method including:

processing an output of a video camera of a 3D sensor thereby sensing a location of the control object in a 3D sensor space using a control plane that remains tangent to a surface of the control object throughout a movement of the control object in any direction in the 3D space, the control plane being defined by processing the output of the video camera of the 3D sensor and a sensed orientation of the control object determined by processing the output of the video camera of the 3D sensor;

determining by a computing device whether the control object engages the virtual control based on the location of the control object;

further processing the output of the video camera of the 3D sensor thereby sensing a direction of a movement of the sub-object of the control object in any direction in the 3D sensor space; and

interpreting by a computing device the direction of the movement of the sub-object as a gesture controlling the virtual control if the control object engages the virtual control and when the direction of the movement of the control object is one of (i) more normal with respect to the surface of the tangent control plane than parallel with respect to the surface of the control plane and (ii) more parallel with respect to the surface of the tangent control plane than normal with respect to the surface of the control plane.

13. The method of claim 12, wherein:

the control object is a hand; and

the sub-object is a finger of the hand.

14. The method of claim 12, wherein the interpreting the movement of the sub-object as a gesture controlling the virtual control includes:

identifying a controllable parameter of the virtual control; and

selecting or adjusting the controllable parameter based on the movement of the sub-object.

23. The method of claim 12, further including interpreting a user moving the user'"'"'s hand in front of a mute control icon as engaging a mute control function;

and

interpreting a movement of a finger sub-object of the hand as changing a state of the mute control from on to off or from off to on.

15. A method of automatically determining, by a computer device, a control to a virtual control by a control object in a three-dimensional (3D) sensory space, the method including:

processing an output of a video camera of the 3D sensor thereby sensing a location of the control object in the 3D sensor space using a 3D sensor;

determining by a computing device whether the control object engages the virtual control based on the location of the control object;

further processing the output of the video camera of the 3D sensor thereby sensing an orientation of the control object and determining a surface of the control object;

defining a control plane that remains tangent to the surface of the control object throughout a movement of the control object in any direction in the 3D sensor space, the control plane being determined by processing the output of the video camera of the 3D sensor and the sensed orientation of the control object; and

interpreting by a computing device a direction of a normal vector that is normal to a surface of the control plane that is tangent to the determined surface of the control object, the direction of the normal vector being interpreted with respect to a direction of a trajectory of a movement of the control object that creates a gesture controlling the virtual control, if the control object engages the virtual control.

16. The method of claim 15, wherein:

the control object is a hand; and

the control surface is tangent to a palm or a back of the hand.

17. The method of claim 15, wherein the interpreting of the direction includes:

identifying a controllable parameter of the virtual control; and

selecting or adjusting the controllable parameter based on the direction of the normal vector of the control plane with respect to the direction of the trajectory of the movement of the control object.

24. The method of claim 15, further including interpreting a hand gesture engages a visual sphere if the normal vector of the control plane is perpendicular, within a range of +/−

10 degrees, to an axial vector defined for the visual sphere.

18. A method of automatically interpreting by a computing device a gesture of a control object in a 3D sensor space relative to one or more objects depicted in a display, the method including:

processing an output of a video camera of a 3D sensor thereby sensing a speed of a movement of the control object moving in any direction through the 3D sensor space using the 3D sensor;

interpreting by a computing device the movement as a path on the display if the speed of the movement exceeds a pre-determined threshold; and

duplicating one or more of the objects in the display that intersect the interpreted path.

19. The method of claim 18, wherein the objects are pre-selected.

25. The method of claim 18, further including the movement as a path on the display if the speed of the movement exceeds a pre-determined threshold of 20 cm per second.