Electronic map augmentation through pointing gestures background

• US 10,452,150 B2
• Filed: 01/25/2017
• Issued: 10/22/2019
• Est. Priority Date: 01/25/2017
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: International Business Machines Corporation
• Original Assignee: International Business Machines Corporation
• Inventors: Bostick, James E., Ganci, Jr., John M., Keen, Martin G., Rakshit, Sarbajit K.
• Primary Examiner(s): Earles, Bryan
• Application Number:
  US15/415,285
• Publication Number:
  US 20180210555A1
• Time in Patent Office: 1,000 Days
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 1/163 Wearable computers, e.g. on a belt
• 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 2203/04806 Zoom, i.e. interaction techniques or interactors for controlling the zooming operation
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 3/011 Arrangements for interaction with the human body, e.g. for user immersion in virtual reality blind teaching G09B21/00
• 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 3/0346 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 3/04817 using icons graphical or visual programming using iconic symbols G06F8/34
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 3/0484 for the control of specific functions or operations, e.g. selecting or manipulating an object, an image or a displayed text element, setting a parameter value or selecting a range

Abstract

A computer-implemented method, system and computer program product for augmenting an electronic map with pointing gestures are provided. The computer-implemented method, system and computer program product display an electronic map of a current location of a user of the electronic map, receive an indication that a person is gesturing, and augment the electronic map by displaying an area toward which the person is gesturing on the electronic map.

Claims

1. A computer-implemented method performed by an electronic device of augmenting an electronic map with pointing gestures, comprising:

sending, by the electronic device, a signal to a smart watch to inform the smart watch to launch a detection application;

displaying, by the electronic device, an electronic map of a current location of a user of the electronic map;

receiving, by the electronic device, an indication (i) that a person nearby to the user is gesturing and (ii) of an area toward which the person is gesturing; and

augmenting, by the electronic device responsive to receiving the indication, the electronic map by displaying an area toward which the person is gesturing on the electronic map, wherein the indication is from the smart watch.

2. The computer-implemented method of claim 1, wherein the indication includes an orientation of the smart watch.

3. The computer-implemented method of claim 2, wherein the indication further includes a relative distance of the area from the user.

4. The computer-implemented method of claim 3, wherein the indication further includes an identity of the person.

5. The computer-implemented method of claim 4, wherein the identity of the person is also displayed on the electronic map.

6. A system for augmenting an electronic map with pointing gestures, comprising:

at least one storage device to store code data; and

at least one processor for processing the code data to;

display an electronic map of a current physical location of a user of the electronic map using the current physical location of the user,

receive an indication that a person nearby to the user is gesturing, and

augment the electronic map by displaying an area toward which the person is gesturing on the electronic map.

7. A system for augmenting an electronic map with pointing gestures, comprising:

at least one storage device to store code data; and

at least one processor for processing the code data to;

display an electronic map of a current location of a user of the electronic map,

receive an indication that a person nearby to the user is gesturing, and

augment the electronic map by displaying an area toward which the person is gesturing on the electronic map, wherein the indication is from a smart watch.

8. The system of claim 7, wherein the indication includes an orientation of the smart watch.

9. The system of claim 8, wherein the indication further includes a relative distance of the area from the user.

10. The system of claim 9, wherein the indication further includes an identity of the person.

11. The system of claim 10, wherein the identity of the person is also displayed on the electronic map.

12. A computer program product for augmenting an electronic map with pointing gestures, the computer program product comprising a computer-readable storage medium having program instructions embodied therewith, the instructions executable by a processor to cause the processor to:

display an electronic map of a current physical location of a user of the electronic map using coordinates indicating the current physical location of the user;

receive an indication that a person nearby to the user is gesturing; and

augment the electronic map by displaying an area toward which the person is gesturing on the electronic map.

13. A computer program product for augmenting an electronic map with pointing gestures, the computer program product comprising a computer-readable storage medium having program instructions embodied therewith, the instructions executable by a processor to cause the processor to:

display an electronic map of a current location of a user of the electronic map;

receive an indication that a person nearby to the user is gesturing; and

augment the electronic map by displaying an area toward which the person is gesturing on the electronic map, wherein the indication is from a smart watch.

14. The computer program product of claim 13, wherein the indication includes an orientation of the smart watch.

15. The computer program product of claim 14, wherein the indication further includes a relative distance of the area from the user.

16. The computer program product of claim 15, wherein the indication further includes an identity of the person.

17. The computer program product of claim 16, wherein the identity of the person is also displayed on the electronic map.

18. A computer-implemented method of augmenting an electronic map with pointing gestures, comprising:

detecting, by a smart watch, that a user initiates a pointing gesture toward an area being pointed at by the user;

in response to detecting that the user initiates the pointing gesture, determining, by the smart watch, a direction of the pointing gesture and a distance from the user to the area being pointed at by the user;

displaying, by a mobile device, an electronic map of a current physical location of the user of the electronic map using coordinates indicating the current physical location of the user;

receiving, by the mobile device, an indication that a person nearby to the user is gesturing; and

augmenting, by the mobile device responsive to receiving the indication, the electronic map by displaying an area toward which the person is gesturing on the electronic map, wherein the detecting, the direction determination and the distance determination are performed by the smart watch, and the displaying, the receiving and the augmenting are performed by the mobile device operatively coupled to the smart watch via a network.

19. The computer-implemented method of claim 18, wherein the network uses a Wi-Fi peer-to-peer connection to directly communicate between the smart watch and the mobile device without use of an intervening device.