Selection system for an interactive display

• US 10,409,455 B2
• Filed: 12/17/2012
• Issued: 09/10/2019
• Est. Priority Date: 12/17/2012
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Telecom Italia S.p.A.
• Original Assignee: Telecom Italia S.p.A.
• Inventors: Antonelli, Fabrizio, Pasolli, Mattia, Zancanaro, Massimo
• Primary Examiner(s): Xiao, Di
• Application Number:
  US14/653,219
• Publication Number:
  US 20150331559A1
• Time in Patent Office: 2,458 Days
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 1/1626 with a single-body enclosure integrating a flat display, e.g. Personal Digital Assistants [PDAs]
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 1/1694 the I/O peripheral being a single or a set of motion sensors for pointer control or gesture input obtained by sensing movements of the portable computer
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 2200/1637 Sensing arrangement for detection of housing movement or orientation, e.g. for controlling scrolling or cursor movement on the display of an handheld computer
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 3/0346 with detection of the device orientation or free movement in a 3D space, e.g. 3D mice, 6-DOF [six degrees of freedom] pointers using gyroscopes, accelerometers or tilt-sensors
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 3/0482 Interaction with lists of selectable items, e.g. menus
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 3/04842 Selection of displayed objects or displayed text elements G06F3/0482 takes precedence
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 3/0485 Scrolling or panning
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 3/0488 using a touch-screen or digitiser, e.g. input of commands through traced gestures
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 4/80 Services using short range communication, e.g. near-field communication [NFC], radio-frequency identification [RFID] or low energy communication

Abstract

A system for selecting, through a mobile device provided with accelerometer sensors, items of lists that can be displayed on a visual display of an interactive display system, is provided. The system includes a receiver located at a surface of a user interaction station distinct from the visual display and adapted to wirelessly receive data from the mobile device when in short range communication with the mobile device. The system further comprises a processor adapted to collect acceleration data received through the receiver and generated by the accelerometer sensors in response to movements of the mobile device carried out when the mobile device is in short range communication with the receiver. The processor is further adapted to associate the collected acceleration data with corresponding selection values over a selection scale. The processor is also adapted to control the interactive display system to select items based on the selection values.

Claims

1. A system for selecting, through a mobile device provided with accelerometer sensors, items of a list that can be displayed on a visual display of an interactive display system, the system including:

a receiver located at a surface of a user interaction station and adapted to wirelessly receive data from the mobile device when in short range communication with the mobile device, the user interaction station being distinct from the visual display, wherein the surface is adapted to allow the mobile device to lean against the surface of the user interaction station, and wherein the receiver is adapted to wirelessly receive data from the mobile device when the mobile device leans against the surface of the user interaction station; and

a processor configured to;

collect acceleration data received through the receiver and generated by the accelerometer sensors in response to movements of the mobile device along the surface of the user interaction station and carried out when the mobile device is in short range communication with the receiver,

associate the collected acceleration data with corresponding selection values over a selection scale by determining, based on the collected acceleration data, a rotation angle assumed by the mobile device with respect to a mobile starting position,

control the interactive display system to select items based on the selection values, and

adapt a gesture recognition capability, by determining, for each user, corresponding maximum rotation angle intervals to adapt the selection scale.

2. The system of claim 1, wherein:

the acceleration data reflect how the acceleration experienced by the mobile device distributes among three orthogonal axes of a coordinate system integral with the mobile device, the processor being configured to collect a triplet of acceleration values including an acceleration value for each of the three orthogonal axis at every one of predetermined time instants; and

the processor configured to calculate for each triplet of acceleration values a corresponding selection value over the selection scale.

3. The system of claim 2, wherein the selection values assume any possible value between a higher endpoint of the selection scale and a lower endpoint of the selection scale.

4. The system of claim 2, wherein the selection values assumes only predetermined values between a higher endpoint of the selection scale and a lower endpoint of the selection scale.

5. The system of claim 2, wherein the processor is configured in such a way that at any time instant there is a selected item among the items of the list, the processor being further configured to carry out the selection of a new item among the items of the list based on a new selection value calculated in response to movements of the mobile device.

6. The system of claim 5, wherein the processor is configured to select the new item through a sequential scrolling of the list, the new item selection being carried out by sequentially moving along the items of the list with a scrolling speed based on the new selection value.

7. The system of claim 5, wherein the processor is configured to select the new item through a direct access of the list, the new item selection being carried out by moving along the items of the list by a number of item positions in the list based on the new selection value.

8. The system of claim 5, wherein the processor is configured to select the new item by selecting the item in the list:

which is located at an item position preceding the one of the previously selected item, or

which is located at an item position following the one of the previously selected item, based on the new selection value.

9. The system of claim 1, wherein the receiver is configured to wirelessly interface with the mobile device through a short range communication protocol including one among:

an IrDA communication protocol,

a RFID communication protocol, and

a NFC communication protocol.

10. The system of claim 1, wherein the movements of the mobile device along the surface of the user interaction station comprise rotations of the mobile device along the surface of the user interaction station.

11. The system of claim 1, wherein the movements of the mobile device along the surface of the user interaction station comprise sliding movements of the mobile device along the surface of the user interaction station.

12. A method for selecting, through a mobile device provided with accelerometer sensors, items of a list that can be displayed on a visual display of an interactive display system, the method including:

operating the mobile device near a surface of a user interaction station for getting the mobile device into short range communication with a receiver located at the surface of the user interaction station, the user interaction station being distinct from the visual display, wherein the surface is adapted to allow the mobile device to lean against the surface of the user interaction station, and wherein the receiver is adapted to wirelessly receive data from the mobile device when the mobile device leans against the surface of the user interaction station;

wirelessly receiving data from the mobile device;

collecting acceleration data wirelessly received from the mobile device and generated by the accelerometer sensors in response to movements of the mobile device along the surface of the user interaction station and carried out when the mobile device is in short range communication with the receiver;

associating the collected acceleration data with corresponding selection values over a selection scale by determining, based on the collected acceleration data, a rotation angle assumed by the mobile device with respect to a mobile starting position;

controlling the interactive display system to select items based on said selection values; and

adapting a gesture recognition capability by determining, for each user, corresponding maximum rotation angle intervals to adapt the selection scale.

13. The method of claim 12, wherein:

the acceleration data reflect how the acceleration experienced by the mobile device distributes among three orthogonal axes of a coordinate system integral with the mobile device, the method comprising collecting a triplet of acceleration values including an acceleration value for each of the three orthogonal axis at every one of predetermined time instants; and

the method comprising calculating for each triplet of acceleration values a corresponding selection value over the selection scale.

14. The method of claim 13, wherein the selection values assume any possible value between a higher endpoint of the selection scale and a lower endpoint of the selection scale.

15. The method of claim 13, wherein at any time instant there is a selected item among the items of the list, the method comprising selecting a new item among the items of the list based on a new selection value calculated in response to movements of the mobile device.

16. The method of claim 15, wherein the selecting the new item comprises selecting the new item through a sequential scrolling of the list, the new item selection being carried out by sequentially moving along the items of the list with a scrolling speed based on the new selection value.

17. The method of claim 15, wherein the selecting the new item comprises selecting the new item through a direct access of the list, the new item selection being carried out by moving along the items of the list by a number of item positions in the list based on the new selection value.

18. The method of claim 15, wherein the selecting the new item comprises selecting the new item by selecting the item in the list:

which is located at an item position preceding the one of the previously selected item, or

which is located at an item position following the one of the previously selected item, based on the new selection value.

19. The method of claim 12, wherein the receiver is configured to wirelessly interface with the mobile device through a short range communication protocol including one among:

an IrDA communication protocol,

a RFID communication protocol, and

a NFC communication protocol.