Systems and methods for distinguishing gestures

• US 10,156,906 B2
• Filed: 10/02/2015
• Issued: 12/18/2018
• Est. Priority Date: 10/13/2014
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Edge 3 Technologies, LLC, Honda Motor Co., Ltd. (Honda Motor Company)
• Original Assignee: Edge Technologies, Inc, Honda Motor Co., Ltd. (Honda Motor Company)
• Inventors: Yamamoto, Stuart, El Dokor, Tarek, Asher, Graeme, Cluster, Jordan, Conway, Matt, King, Josh, Holmes, James E., McElvogue, Matt, Yun, Churu
• Primary Examiner(s): Edwards, Mark
• Application Number:
  US14/874,178
• Publication Number:
  US 20160103499A1
• Time in Patent Office: 1,173 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 3/04883 for inputting data by handwriting, e.g. gesture or text
• CPC Class Codes: G06V 20/59 inside of a vehicle, e.g. relating to seat occupancy, driver state or inner lighting conditions
• CPC Class Codes: G06V 40/20 Movements or behaviour, e.g. gesture recognition recognition of facial expressions G06V40/16

Abstract

A gesture control system includes a processor, the processor in communication with a plurality of sensors. The processor is configured to perform the steps of detecting, using the plurality of sensors, a gesture in a volume occupied by a plurality of occupants, analyzing a prior knowledge to associate the gesture with one of the plurality of occupants, and generating an output, the output being determined by the gesture and the one of the plurality of occupants.

Claims

1. A gesture control system, comprising:

a processor, the processor in communication with a plurality of sensors;

the processor being configured to perform the steps of;

detecting, using the plurality of sensors, a gesture in a volume occupied by a plurality of occupants;

analyzing a prior knowledge to associate the gesture with one of the plurality of occupants;

associating a permission level with at least one of the plurality of occupants, wherein the permission level for the gesture is assigned based on whether the at least one of the plurality of occupants is identified using facial recognition as a recognized occupant; and

generating an output, the output being determined by the gesture, the associated permission level, and the one of the plurality of occupants,

wherein the output is an alternate operation provided to the one of the plurality of occupants when the permission level associated with the at least one of the plurality of occupants is not sufficient to perform an action associated with the gesture,

the alternate operation including an access to at least one of a message received via a mobile device, an infotainment control, a climate control, and a navigation control.

2. The system of claim 1, wherein the plurality of sensors include visual sensors.

3. The system of claim 1, wherein the plurality of sensors include audio sensors.

4. The system of claim 1, wherein the processor is further configured to perform the step of extracting a plurality of features associated with each of the plurality of occupants before detecting the gesture.

5. The system of claim 4, wherein one of the plurality of features is a limb of one of the plurality of occupants.

6. The system of claim 5, wherein the prior knowledge is a known trajectory of one of the plurality of features associated with the gesture.

7. The system of claim 1, wherein the permission level is determined based on whether a vehicle is in motion.

8. The system of claim 1, wherein the output is at least partially determined by the permission level associated with the one of the plurality of occupants.

9. A method of transferring control in a gesture control system, comprising:

determining a presence of a first occupant within a space using a plurality of sensors;

detecting a gesture performed by the first occupant, the gesture corresponding to a request to transfer control of an operation to at least a second occupant;

determining the presence of the at least second occupant;

transferring the control of the operation to the at least second occupant when the presence of the at least second occupant has been determined and based on the at least second occupant being associated with one or more properties meeting one or more predefined rules; and

returning the control of the operation to the first occupant upon detecting a second gesture performed by the second occupant without detecting a gesture corresponding to a request to return the control of the operation, wherein the second gesture is an action required to respond to an event.

10. The method of claim 9, wherein the event includes a message or a prompt for an input.

11. The method of claim 9, further comprising alerting the first occupant when the presence of the at least second occupant is not determined.

12. The method of claim 9, further comprising determining the position of the at least second occupant.

20. The method of claim 9, wherein transferring the control of the operation to the at least second occupant is further determined by the location of the at least second occupant.

13. A method, comprising:

determining a location of a plurality of occupants within a space using a plurality of sensors;

defining one or more gesture control zones associated with each of the plurality of occupants, each of the one or more gesture control zones having an associated zone permission level;

adjusting the one or more gesture control zones based on a number of occupants within the space;

detecting a gesture command within one of the one or more gesture control zones;

determining a required permission associated with the detected gesture command and the one of the one or more gesture control zones;

associating a permission level with at least one of the plurality of occupants associated with the detected gesture command, wherein the permission level is assigned based on whether the at least one of the plurality of occupants is identified using facial recognition as a recognized occupant; and

initiating an output associated with the detected gesture command when the zone permission level and the permission level permits execution of the detected gesture command.

14. The method of claim 13, wherein the one or more gesture control zones are three-dimensional.

15. The method of claim 13, wherein the plurality of sensors includes a visual sensor.

16. The method of claim 13, wherein the one or more gesture control zones are defined based on the location of the plurality of occupants within the space.

17. The method of claim 13, wherein the one or more gesture control zones are pre-defined.

18. The method of claim 13, wherein the one or more gesture control zones are adjusted based upon the location of the plurality of occupants within the space.

19. The method of claim 13, wherein at least a portion of the one or more gesture control zones overlap.