Device for interacting with real-time streams of content

• US 20040166912A1
• Filed: 11/12/2003
• Published: 08/26/2004
• Est. Priority Date: 05/14/2001
• Status: Abandoned Application

• Current Assignee: Koninklijke Philips Electronics N.V. (Koninklijke Philips N.V.)
• Original Assignee: Koninklijke Philips Electronics N.V. (Koninklijke Philips N.V.)
• Inventors: Stienstra, Marcelle Andrea
• Application Number:
  US10/477,495
• Publication Number:
  US 20040166912A1
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 463/1
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 2203/0384 Wireless input, i.e. hardware and software details of wireless interface arrangements for pointing devices
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 3/033 Pointing devices displaced or positioned by the user , e.g. mice, trackballs, pens or joysticks; Accessories therefor digitisers characterised by the transducing means G06F3/041
• 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 3/0362 with detection of 1D translations or rotations of an operating part of the device, e.g. scroll wheels, sliders, knobs, rollers or belts
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 3/038 Control and interface arrangements therefor, e.g. drivers or device-embedded control circuitry
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/422 Input-only peripherals , i.e. input devices connected to specially adapted client devices, e.g. global positioning system [GPS] input devices also receiving signals from specially adapted client devices H04N21/4104
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/47205 for manipulating displayed content, e.g. interacting with MPEG-4 objects, editing locally
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 7/17318 Direct or substantially direct transmission and handling of requests

Abstract

An end-user system (10) for transforming real-time streams of content into an output presentation includes an input device (30) that allows a user to interact with the streams. The input device (30) includes sensors (330) for detecting manipulations of the input device (30) by the user, and a microprocessor (310) for determining how the user manipulated the input device (30). The microprocessor (310) indicates the detected manipulations to the end-user system (10). The end-user system (10) accordingly activates or deactivates certain streams of content in the output presentation. The input device (30) can have a simple form and the manipulations required can be quite simple, such as rolling, rotating, or bouncing the input device (30). The present invention allows a user to adapt the output presentation according to his/her own preferences, instead of merely being a spectator.

Claims

1. An input device for an interactive system that receives and transforms streams of content into a presentation to be output according to a manipulation of said input device, comprising:

at least one sensor which generates at least one detection signal corresponding to a detected manipulation of said input device;

a microprocessor that maps the at least one detection signal to a coded signal representative of the detected manipulation, and transmits said coded signal to said interactive system.

2. The input device according to claim 1, wherein the at least one sensor includes at least one of a light sensor, a rotation sensor, and a touch sensor.

3. The input device according to claim 1, wherein said coded signal indicates a type of manipulation corresponding to said detected manipulation.

4. The input device according to claim 3, wherein said indicated type of manipulation is chosen from a set of manipulation types including at least one of:

rotation, rolling, bouncing, throwing, shaking, and covering with a cloth.

5. The input device according to claim 1, having a spherical shape and being divided into a first and second hemisphere, wherein said indicated type of manipulation is chosen from a set including rotation of the first hemisphere with respect to the second hemisphere.

6. The input device according to claim 1, wherein said coded signal is transmitted to said interactive system via radio signals.

7. The input device according to claim 1, wherein said presentation includes a narrative.

8. The input device according to claim 1, wherein one or more streams of content are activated or deactivated in said presentation based on said coded signal.

9. A process in a system for transforming streams of content into a presentation to be output, comprising:

sensing a manipulation at an input device;

mapping said sensed manipulation to a manipulation code;

associating said manipulation code to one or more of said streams of content;

activating or deactivating said one or more associated streams of content in said presentation.

10. A system comprising:

an end-user device for receiving and transforming streams of content into a presentation;

an input device including one or more sensors and a microprocessor, said microprocessor mapping detection signals from said one or more sensors to one or more manipulation codes, and

an output device for outputting the presentation,

wherein said end-user device activates or deactivates streams of content in said presentation based on said one or more mapped manipulation codes.