User command determination based on a vibration pattern

• US 10,241,583 B2
• Filed: 08/30/2016
• Issued: 03/26/2019
• Est. Priority Date: 08/30/2016
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Intel Corporation
• Original Assignee: Intel Corporation
• Inventors: Lopez Meyer, Paulo, Cordourier Maruri, Hector Alfonso, Zamora Esquivel, Julio Cesar, Ibarra Von Borstel, Alejandro, Camacho Perez, Jose Rodrigo, Romero Aragon, Jorge Carlos
• Primary Examiner(s): Lee, Nicholas J
• Application Number:
  US15/252,175
• Publication Number:
  US 20180059797A1
• Time in Patent Office: 938 Days
• Field of Search: None
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 2203/04809 Textured surface identifying touch areas, e.g. overlay structure for a virtual keyboard
• 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 3/0354 with detection of 2D relative movements between the device, or an operating part thereof, and a plane or surface, e.g. 2D mice, trackballs, pens or pucks
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 3/03547 Touch pads, in which fingers can move on a surface
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 3/038 Control and interface arrangements therefor, e.g. drivers or device-embedded control circuitry
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 3/043 using propagating acoustic waves
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 3/0487 using specific features provided by the input device, e.g. functions controlled by the rotation of a mouse with dual sensing arrangements, or of the nature of the input device, e.g. tap gestures based on pressure sensed by a digitiser
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 3/0488 using a touch-screen or digitiser, e.g. input of commands through traced gestures

Abstract

Embodiments of the present disclosure provide techniques and configurations for an apparatus to determine a command to the apparatus, based on vibration patterns. In one instance, the apparatus may include a body with at least one surface to receive one or more user inputs; at least one sensor disposed to be in contact with the body to detect vibration manifested by the surface in response to the user input, and generate a signal indicative of vibration detected; and a controller coupled with the sensor, to process the vibration-indicative signal, to identify a vibration pattern, and determine a command based at least in part on the vibration pattern, based at least in part on a result of the process of the signal. The command may be provided to interact, operate, or control the apparatus. Other embodiments may be described and/or claimed.

Claims

1. An eyewear apparatus, comprising:

a body that includes a frame, and at least one surface to receive one or more user inputs to convey a command to the apparatus through interaction with the at least one surface, wherein the at least one surface includes a surface pattern, wherein the user input includes one or more finger drags along the surface pattern, wherein the surface pattern includes an array of surface elements that are disposed on the surface at increasing distances between each other, wherein a distance between a first surface element and a second surface element that is adjacent to the first surface element is smaller than a distance between the second surface element and a third surface element that is adjacent to the second surface element;

at least one sensor that comprises a piezoelectric transducer responsive to vibration, wherein the at least one sensor is disposed to be in contact with the body of the apparatus to detect vibration manifested by the surface in response to interaction with the at least one surface to provide the one or more user inputs, and generate a signal indicative of the detected vibration; and

a controller coupled with the at least one sensor, to process the vibration-indicative signal, to identify a pattern of vibration, and determine the command based at least in part on the vibration pattern, wherein the command is to interact, operate or control the apparatus.

2. The apparatus of claim 1, wherein the controller is further to generate the command to interact, operate or control the apparatus, based at least in part on the vibration pattern.

3. The apparatus of claim 1, wherein the controller to identify a vibration pattern includes to:

determine that a portion of the signal provided by the at least one sensor is indicative of the user input;

extract features indicative of the vibration pattern from the portion of the signal; and

identify the vibration pattern, based at least in part on the features.

4. The apparatus of claim 3, wherein the features comprise mel-frequency cepstral coefficients (MFCC), wherein to extract features includes to calculate multiple MFCC for the portion of the signal.

5. The apparatus of claim 3, wherein to determine the command includes to input the features into a neural network that is trained to recognize the one or more user inputs to the at least one surface, based on the inputted features, wherein the recognized one or more user inputs to the at least one surface indicates the command to interact, operate, or control the apparatus.

6. The apparatus of claim 1, further comprising an amplifier coupled with the at least one sensor, to amplify and condition the signal indicative of vibration, and to provide the amplified and conditioned signal to the controller for processing.

7. The apparatus of claim 1, wherein the apparatus includes one of:

a portable or a wearable device.

8. A method, comprising:

providing at least one surface on a body of an eyewear apparatus, wherein the at least one surface is to receive one or more user inputs to convey a command to the apparatus, wherein providing the at least one surface includes forming a surface pattern, wherein the user input includes one or more finger drags along the surface pattern, wherein the surface pattern includes an array of surface elements, wherein forming the surface pattern includes disposing the surface elements on the surface at increasing distances between each other, wherein a distance between a first surface element and a second surface element that is adjacent to the first surface element is smaller than a distance between the second surface element and a third surface element that is adjacent to the second surface element;

disposing at least one sensor, comprising a piezoelectric transducer responsive to vibration, to be in contact with the body of the apparatus, to detect vibration manifested by the surface in response to the one or more user inputs, and generate a signal indicative of vibration;

disposing a controller on or inside the body of the apparatus; and

electrically coupling the at least one sensor with the controller, to process the signal indicative of vibration, to identify a pattern of vibration, and determine the command that corresponds to the vibration pattern, wherein the command is to interact, operate or control the apparatus.

9. The method of claim 8, wherein disposing at least one sensor to be in contact with the body of an apparatus includes placing the at least one sensor on or inside the body of the apparatus.

10. The method of claim 8, wherein electrically coupling the at least one sensor with a controller includes:

electrically coupling the at least one sensor with an amplifier, and electrically coupling the amplifier with the controller, to amplify and condition the signal indicative of vibration provided by the at least one sensor, and to provide the amplified and conditioned signal to the controller for processing.

11. One or more non-transitory controller-readable media having instructions stored thereon that cause a controller of an eyewear apparatus, in response to execution by the controller, to:

receive, from at least one sensor that comprises a piezoelectric transducer responsive to vibration and disposed to be in contact with a body of the apparatus, a signal indicative of vibration, wherein the signal is generated in response to one or more user inputs to at least one surface of the body of the apparatus, wherein the at least one surface includes a surface pattern, wherein the one or more user inputs includes one or more finger drags along the surface pattern, wherein the surface pattern includes an array of surface elements that are disposed on the surface at increasing distances between each other, wherein a distance between a first surface element and a second surface element that is adjacent to the first surface element is smaller than a distance between the second surface element and a third surface element that is adjacent to the second surface element and

process the vibration-indicative signal, wherein to process includes to identify a pattern of vibration, and determine a command based at least in part on the vibration pattern, wherein the command is to interact, operate or control the apparatus.

12. The non-transitory controller-readable media of claim 11, wherein the instructions that cause the controller to process the vibration-indicative signal further cause the controller to:

determine that a portion of the signal provided by the at least one sensor is indicative of the user input;

extract features indicative of the vibration pattern from the portion of the signal; and

identify the vibration pattern, based at least in part on the features.

13. The non-transitory controller-readable media of claim 12, wherein the instructions that cause the controller to identify the command further cause the controller to input the features into a neural network that is trained to recognize the one or more user inputs to the at least one surface, based on the inputted features, wherein the recognized one or more user inputs to the at least one surface indicates the command to interact, operate, or control the apparatus.

14. The non-transitory controller-readable media of claim 11, wherein the instructions further cause the controller to generate the command that corresponds to the vibration pattern.