Method and apparatus for controlling application using motion of image pickup unit

• US 20080117168A1
• Filed: 08/22/2007
• Published: 05/22/2008
• Est. Priority Date: 11/17/2006
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Samsung Electronics Co. Ltd.
• Original Assignee: Samsung Electronics Co. Ltd.
• Inventors: Kim, Yoon-Kyung, Liu, Qifeng, Moon, Young-su
• Granted Patent: US 7,952,561 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 345/158
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 1/1616 with folding flat displays, e.g. laptop computers or notebooks having a clamshell configuration, with body parts pivoting to an open position around an axis parallel to the plane they define in closed position
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 1/1686 the I/O peripheral being an integrated camera
• 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 3/017 Gesture based interaction, e.g. based on a set of recognized hand gestures interaction based on gestures traced on a digitiser G06F3/04883

Abstract

A method of controlling an application using a motion of an image pickup unit, the method includes storing gestures corresponding to a command to control an application, tracing a motion parameter corresponding to an image that is continuously input, detecting a gesture corresponding to the traced motion parameter from the stored gestures, and outputting a control signal of a command corresponding to the detected gesture.

Claims

1. A method of controlling an application using a motion of an image pickup unit, the method comprising:

storing gestures corresponding to a command in order to control an application;

tracing a motion parameter corresponding to an image that is continuously input;

detecting a gesture corresponding to the traced motion parameter from the stored gestures; and

outputting a control signal of a command corresponding to the detected gesture.

2. The method of claim 1, further comprising continuously obtaining an image through the movement of an apparatus having the image pickup unit, and during the tracing of a motion parameter corresponding to an image that is continuously input, the obtained image is continuously received and a motion parameter corresponding to the received image is traced.

3. The method of claim 1, wherein the storing of the gestures corresponding to a command to control an application further comprises classifying the gestures into gestures controlling the same application and defining the classified gestures as a predetermined set, and the gestures are stored in defined sets.

4. The method of claim 3, wherein the storing of gestures corresponding to a command to control an application further comprises defining gestures corresponding to all commands controlling the application corresponding to a set of the defined gestures, and the defined gestures are stored in defined sets.

5. The method of claim 4, wherein the detecting of a gesture corresponding to the traced motion parameter from the stored gestures comprises:

selecting a set of gestures corresponding to an application receiving the control signal from the sets of gestures; and

detecting a gesture corresponding to the traced motion parameter from the selected set of gestures.

6. The method of claim 1, wherein the tracing of a motion parameter corresponding to an image that is continuously input comprises:

detecting a characteristic point of the input image;

tracking a trace in time and space of the detected characteristic point from the continuously input image; and

tracing a motion parameter corresponding to the trace in time and space of the tracked characteristic point.

7. The method of claim 1, wherein the motion parameter is formed of three rotation motions and three translation motions.

8. A computer readable recording medium having embodied thereon a program for executing the method of claim 1.

9. An apparatus for controlling an application using a motion of an image pickup unit, the apparatus comprising:

a motion tracing unit tracing a motion parameter corresponding to an image that is constantly input;

a gesture model storing unit storing gestures corresponding to commands to control the application; and

a motion analysis unit detecting a gesture corresponding to a motion parameter by the motion tracing unit from the gesture model storing unit and outputting a control signal of a command corresponding to the detected gesture.

10. The apparatus of claim 9, further comprising an image pickup unit continuously obtaining an image, wherein the motion tracing unit continuously receives the obtained image and traces a motion parameter corresponding to the received image.

11. The apparatus of claim 9, wherein the gesture model storing unit further comprises a gesture set defining unit which classifies the gestures into gestures controlling the same application and defines the classified gestures as a predetermined set, and the gestures are stored in defined sets.

12. The apparatus of claim 11, wherein the gesture model storing unit further comprises a gesture defining unit which defines gestures corresponding to all commands controlling the application corresponding to a set of the defined gestures, and the defined gestures are stored in defined sets.

13. The apparatus of claim 12, wherein the motion analysis unit comprises:

a gesture set selection unit selecting a set of gestures corresponding to an application receiving the control signal from the sets of gestures stored in the gesture model storing unit; and

a gesture selection unit detecting a gesture corresponding to the traced motion parameter from the selected set of gestures.

14. The method of claim 9, wherein the tracing of a motion parameter corresponding to an image that is continuously input comprises:

detecting a characteristic point of the input image;

tracking a trace in time and space of the detected characteristic point from the continuously input image; and

tracing a motion parameter corresponding to the trace in time and space of the tracked characteristic point.

15. The method of claim 9, wherein the motion parameter is formed of three rotation motions and three translation motions.