Wearable device touch detection

• US 10,191,543 B2
• Filed: 07/29/2016
• Issued: 01/29/2019
• Est. Priority Date: 05/23/2014
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Microsoft Technology Licensing LLC (Microsoft Corporation)
• Original Assignee: Microsoft Technology Licensing LLC (Microsoft Corporation)
• Inventors: Priyantha, Nissanka Arachchige Bodhi, Liu, Jie
• Primary Examiner(s): Sasinowski, Andrew
• Application Number:
  US15/223,887
• Publication Number:
  US 20160334870A1
• Time in Patent Office: 914 Days
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 1/163 Wearable computers, e.g. on a belt
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 1/1698 the I/O peripheral being a sending/receiving arrangement to establish a cordless communication link, e.g. radio or infrared link, integrated cellular phone details of antennas disposed inside a computer H01Q1/2266
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 2203/0331 Finger worn pointing device
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 3/014 Hand-worn input/output arrangements, e.g. data gloves
• 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 3/041 Digitisers, e.g. for touch screens or touch pads, characterised by the transducing means

Abstract

The description relates to smart rings. One example can include a finger band configured to accommodate a user'"'"'s finger. This example can also include a set of pressure sensors positioned on an inner surface of the finger band and configured to sense changes to tendons of the user'"'"'s finger as pressure differentials and to output associated signals. The example can further include a gesture component configured to interpret the signals from the set of pressure sensors to identify individual actions performed by the user'"'"'s finger.

Claims

1. A wearable device comprising:

at least one pressure sensor on an inner surface of the wearable device, the at least one pressure sensor being configured to detect pressure imparted on the inner surface of the wearable device by a user wearing the wearable device;

at least one other sensor configured to detect movement of the wearable device; and

at least one processor or hardware logic circuit configured to;

based at least on the pressure imparted on the inner surface of the wearable device being detected by the at least one pressure sensor, detect that the user is touching a surface other than the inner surface of the wearable device; and

activate the at least one other sensor responsive to detecting that the user is touching the surface other than the inner surface of the wearable device.

2. The wearable device of claim 1, further comprising a band configured to accommodate a body part of a user.

3. The wearable device of claim 2, embodied as a ring, the band being configured to accommodate a finger.

4. The wearable device of claim 1, the at least one processor or hardware logic circuit being configured to output an indication of the detected pressure by sending pressure signals to another device.

5. The wearable device of claim 1, wherein the at least one other sensor comprises an accelerometer.

6. The wearable device of claim 5, wherein the at least one processor or hardware logic circuit is configured to:

obtain accelerometer signals from the accelerometer;

classify the accelerometer signals from the accelerometer to identify different gestures performed by the user; and

transmit indications of the different gestures to a companion device.

7. The wearable device of claim 1, wherein the at least one other sensor comprises an audio sensor.

8. The wearable device of claim 7, wherein the at least one processor or hardware logic circuit is configured to:

obtain audio signals from the audio sensor;

classify the audio signals from the audio sensor to identify different gestures performed by the user; and

transmit indications of the different gestures to a companion device.

9. A system comprising:

a processor; and

a computer-readable storage medium storing instructions which, when executed by the processor, cause the processor to;

obtain, from a wearable device having a pressure sensor that senses pressure applied to a particular surface of the wearable device, a pressure signal conveying pressure applied to the particular surface of the wearable device;

process the pressure signal to determine whether a user wearing the wearable device has touched another surface other than the particular surface of the wearable device sensed by the pressure sensor; and

responsive to a determination that the user of the wearable device has touched the another surface, cause another sensor of the wearable device to activate.

10. The system of claim 9, provided on the wearable device.

11. The system of claim 10, wherein the another sensor is an audio sensor and the instructions, when executed by the processor, cause the processor to:

obtain audio data from the audio sensor; and

detect movement of the wearable device along the another surface using the audio data.

12. The system of claim 9, wherein the another sensor comprises an accelerometer.

13. The system of claim 12, wherein the instructions, when executed by the processor, cause the processor to:

process accelerometer data from the accelerometer to identify a gesture performed by the user wearing the wearable device.

14. The system of claim 13, wherein the instructions, when executed by the processor, cause the processor to:

transmit a wireless signal that conveys the gesture.

15. A method comprising:

obtaining a pressure signal reflecting pressure imparted by a tendon passing through a wearable device, the pressure signal being generated by a pressure sensor that senses a particular surface of the wearable device;

processing the pressure signal to detect that a user of the wearable device has performed an action that involves touching another surface other than the particular surface of the wearable device sensed by the pressure sensor; and

responsive to detecting that the user of the wearable device has performed the action that involves touching the another surface, activating another sensor of the wearable device.

16. The method of claim 15, the another surface being a surface of a companion device.

17. The method of claim 16, further comprising:

processing further pressure signals obtained from the pressure sensor;

based at least on the processing the further pressure signals, detecting that the user is performing a specific gesture by touching the another surface; and

controlling the companion device based at least on the specific gesture.

18. The method of claim 17, further comprising:

identifying the specific gesture based at least on whether the pressure signal indicates a hard landing or a soft landing on the surface.

19. The method of claim 15, further comprising:

obtaining another pressure signal reflecting the pressure imparted by the tendon passing through the wearable device; and

based at least on the another pressure signal, detecting that the user is performing a non-touch gesture.

20. The method of claim 15, performed by the wearable device.