3D pointing device with up-down-left-right mode switching and integrated swipe detector

• US 10,545,577 B2
• Filed: 01/05/2017
• Issued: 01/28/2020
• Est. Priority Date: 11/22/2010
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: DRNC Holdings, Inc. (InterDigital, Inc.)
• Original Assignee: IDHL Holdings, Inc. (InterDigital, Inc.)
• Inventors: Simpkins, Daniel S., Tanen, Joseph
• Primary Examiner(s): Dinh, Duc Q
• Application Number:
  US15/399,182
• Publication Number:
  US 20170139486A1
• Time in Patent Office: 1,118 Days
• Field of Search: 345156-169, 345173, 341 21- 23, 348 1401- 1405
• 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 3/0304 Detection arrangements using opto-electronic means constructional details of pointing devices not related to the detection arrangement using opto-electronic means G06F3/033; optical digitisers G06F3/042
• 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 3/03547 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 3/04842 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 3/04883 for inputting data by handwriting, e.g. gesture or text
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/42204 User interfaces specially adapted for controlling a client device through a remote control device; Remote control devices therefor constructive details of casings for the remote control device H01H9/0235; user interfaces for controlling a tuning device of a television receiver through a remote control H03J9/00; remote control of peripheral devices connected to a television receiver through the remote control device of the television receiver H04B1/205
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/42206 characterized by hardware details
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/42222 Additional components integrated in the remote control device, e.g. timer, speaker, sensors for detecting position, direction or movement of the remote control, microphone or battery charging device
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/42224 Touch pad or touch panel provided on the remote control

Abstract

A 3D pointing device for use with a content delivery system is provided. The pointing device can operate in one of at least one of two modes: a first 3D or scrolling mode, and a second non-3D mode that can also be referred to as an up-down-left-right (UDLR) mode. The pointing device can include one or more directional sensors, to provide orientation and movement information. For either of the at least two modes, an optical finger navigation module is provided that can detect movement of a user'"'"'s finger or object across its screen, and provides a predetermined threshold that must be exceeded before movement information is generated from the OFN module. The pointing device can generate scroll and UDLR commands based on the information from the orientation and movement sensors, as well as the OFN module, or can provide the information from the orientation and movement sensors to a user interface that can generate the appropriate scrolling or UDLR commands for use by the content delivery system.

Claims

1. A method for generating either a scroll command or an up-down-left-right (UDLR) command using a single control element of a remote control device, the method comprising:

determining a set of information associated with a detected motion of an object across a surface of the single control element of the remote control device, the set of information including information indicating a direction, a distance, and a rate of the detected motion across the surface of the single control element;

selecting, based on the set of information associated with the detected motion of the object across the surface of the single control element, one of a scroll mode and an UDLR mode for generating any of a scroll command or an UDLR command associated with the detected motion;

generating the scroll command on condition that the scroll mode is selected; and

generating an UDLR command on condition that the UDLR mode is selected.

2. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

transmitting any of the scroll command and the UDLR command to another device.

3. The method of claim 1, wherein the single control element is one of:

an optical finger navigation (OFN) device, an optical touchpad, and a non-optical device.

4. The method of claim 1, wherein said UDLR command is any of:

an up command, a down command, a left command, or a right command.

5. The method of claim 4, wherein the UDLR command is generated according to a direction of the detected motion, wherein the left command is a left swipe, and wherein the right command is a right swipe.

6. The method of claim 5, wherein the UDLR command is generated on condition that a distance of the detected motion exceeds a threshold in a direction of the UDLR command.

7. A remote control device comprising:

a control element configured to;

detect motion of an object across a surface of the control element; and

generate a set of motion data according to the detected motion; and

a processor configured to;

select, based on the set of motion data, an operating mode of the remote control device to be one of a random access mode and a non-random access mode, for generating any of a scroll command or an up-down-left-right (UDLR) command associated with the detected motion, the set of motion data including data indicating a direction, a distance, and a rate of the detected motion across the surface of the control element;

receive the set of motion data from the control element; and

generate a command associated with the set motion data to be any of;

(1) a scroll command on condition that the operating mode of the remote control device is the random access mode, or (2) an up-down-left-right (UDLR) command on condition that the operating mode of the remote control device is the non-random access mode.

8. The remote control device of claim 7, further comprising a transmitter configured to transmit the command to another device.

9. The remote control device of claim 7, wherein the processor is configured to operate in any of:

(1) a scroll mode on condition that the operating mode is a random access mode or (2) an up-down-left-right (UDLR) mode on condition that the operating mode is a non-random access mode.

10. The remote control device of claim 9, wherein the processor is further configured to:

generate a scroll command according to the motion data, on condition that the operating mode is a random access mode; and

generate a UDLR command according to the motion data, on condition that the operating mode is the UDLR mode.

11. The remote control device of claim 9, wherein the control element is any of:

an optical finger navigation (OFN) element, an optical touchpad, and a non-optical device.

12. The remote control device of claim 9, wherein only one UDLR command is generated per detected motion across the surface of the module.

13. The remote control device of claim 9, wherein more than one UDLR commands are generated per detected motion across the surface of the control element.

14. The remote control device of claim 9, wherein at least one of the control element and the processor is further configured to accumulate the detected motion of the object across the surface until the accumulated detected motion exceeds a threshold.

15. The remote control device of claim 14, wherein the threshold is any of:

a virtual box defined on the surface, variable, settable by a user of the remote control device, and settable in response to a detected size of a user'"'"'s finger.

16. The remote control device of claim 9, wherein the remote control device includes at least one motion sensor for detecting motion of the remote control device.

17. A method for controlling a user interface using a remote control device having a control element, the method comprising:

based on a set of information associated with detected motion of an object across a surface of a control element, the set of information including information indicating a direction, a distance, and a rate of the detected motion, selecting an operating mode of the remote control device to be one of a random access mode and a non-random access mode; and

determining the set of information to be any of;

a scroll command on condition that the operating mode of the remote control device is the random access mode; and

an up-down-left-right (UDLR) command on condition that the operating mode of the remote control device is the non-random access mode.

18. The method of claim 17, wherein the random access mode is a pointing mode and the non-random access mode is an up-down-left-right (UDLR) mode, wherein the pointing mode includes a command pointing to any location on a display, and wherein the non-random access mode includes commands for only accessing predetermined display locations.

19. The method of claim 17, wherein the control element is any of:

an optical finger navigation (OFN) element, an optical touchpad, and a non-optical device.

20. The method of claim 17, wherein the selecting the operating mode is performed by any of:

the remote control device and a system controller in communication with said remote control device.