Gesturing to Select and Configure Device Communication

• US 20090265470A1
• Filed: 06/02/2008
• Published: 10/22/2009
• Est. Priority Date: 04/21/2008
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Microsoft Technology Licensing LLC (Microsoft Corporation)
• Original Assignee: Microsoft Corporation
• Inventors: Zhang, Yongguang, Peng, Chunyi, Shen, Guobin
• Granted Patent: US 7,991,896 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 709/227
• 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 1/1698 the I/O peripheral being a sending/receiving arrangement to establish a cordless communication link, e.g. radio or infrared link, integrated cellular phone details of antennas disposed inside a computer H01Q1/2266
• 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: H04L 63/0869 for achieving mutual authentication cryptographic mechanisms or cryptographic arrangements for mutual authentication H04L9/3273
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 67/14 Session management for real-time applications in data packet communications networks H04L65/1066
• CPC Class Codes: H04M 1/72412 using two-way short-range wireless interfaces
• CPC Class Codes: H04M 1/72427 for supporting games or graphical animations
• CPC Class Codes: H04M 2250/02 including a Bluetooth interface
• CPC Class Codes: H04M 2250/06 including a wireless LAN interface
• CPC Class Codes: H04M 2250/12 including a sensor for measuring a physical value, e.g. temperature or motion telephones including GPS signal receivers H04M2250/10
• CPC Class Codes: H04M 2250/64 file transfer between terminals download of applications H04M1/72406; transfer of messages, e.g. SMS, e-mail or MMS H04M1/7243
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 12/06 Authentication
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 12/50 Secure pairing of devices
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 12/65 Environment-dependent, e.g. using captured environmental data
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 12/68 Gesture-dependent or behaviour-dependent
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 4/02 Services making use of location information
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 4/023 using mutual or relative location information between multiple location based services [LBS] targets or of distance thresholds
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 4/026 using orientation information, e.g. compass
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 4/029 Location-based management or tracking services
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 4/21 for social networking applications
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 4/50 : Service provisioning or reconfiguring
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 76/10 : Connection setup
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 76/14 : Direct-mode setup

Abstract

Described is a technology by which a gesture made with a source device (e.g., a cellular telephone), such as a throwing or pointing motion, is used to automatically set up a connection with another device to which the gesture is directed. Audio signals output during the gesture, e.g., such as at the start and end of the gesture, are detected by candidate (listening) devices. The device having the least time difference between detection of the start and end signals is the device that is generally best aligned with the throwing or pointing motion, and thus may be selected as the target device. Once selected, a connection such as a network connection may be set up between the source device and the target device for further communication, such as for application data exchange.

Claims

1. In a computing environment, a method comprising:

receiving signals at a candidate device output from a source device, the signals corresponding to a physical movement of that source device directed towards setting up a connection with a target device;

using the signals to report data corresponding to a physical location of the candidate device to the source device;

receiving data from the source device indicating that the source device has selected the candidate device as the target device; and

communicating to set up a network connection with the source device.

2. The method of claim 1 wherein receiving the signals comprises detecting audio output from the source device including an audio signal corresponding to a start of the physical movement and another audio signal corresponding to an end of the physical movement.

3. The method of claim 2 wherein using the signals to report data corresponding to the physical location comprises computing a time difference between the first signal and the second signal.

4. The method of claim 3 further comprising, providing the time difference to the source device.

5. The method of claim 3 further comprising, providing the time difference to at least one other device.

6. The method of claim 2 wherein using the signals to report data corresponding to the physical location comprises providing received signal strength information to the source device.

7. The method of claim 1 further comprising, providing at least one visible, audible or tactile notification, or any combination of at least one visible, audible or tactile notification, to indicate that the source device is intending to select the candidate device as the target device.

8. The method of claim 7 further comprising, receiving a user confirmation that a connection is to be set up.

9. The method of claim 7 further comprising, communicating to receive application-related data from the source device via the network connection.

10. The method of claim 1 further comprising, at the source device, using the data reported by the candidate device to select the candidate device as the target device.

11. The method of claim 1 wherein the physical movement of the source device comprises a pointing or throwing gesture, and wherein receiving the signals comprises detecting audio output from the source device including a first audio signal corresponding to the pointing or throwing gesture and a second, later audio signal corresponding to the pointing or throwing gesture.

12. The method of claim 1 wherein communicating with the target device includes outputting beep interval coding signals from the target device.

13. In a computing environment, a system comprising, a source device including logic that outputs signals corresponding to physical movement to candidate devices, determines which particular candidate device the physical movement was directed towards based on information that corresponds to the signals as received by the candidate devices, and selects that particular candidate device as a target device for further data communication.

14. The system of claim 13 wherein the source device initially selects the target device and secondarily selects another device, and wherein the source device communicates with the target device and the other device to have the target device and the other device establish a connection with one another.

15. The system of claim 13 wherein the target device comprises a printer, a mobile telephone, a personal digital assistant, a computer system, a projector, a monitor, an electric appliance, a music player, a video player or a television.

16. The system of claim 13 wherein the source device and target device communicate data via a Wi-Fi or Bluetooth®

connection.

17. The system of claim 13 wherein the source device includes an application layer, a logic manager layer, a middleware layer and a network layer.

18. One or more computer-readable media having computer-executable instructions, which when executed perform steps, comprising:

outputting a first signal associated with a physical movement of a source device, in which the physical movement is directed towards selecting a target device;

outputting a second signal associated with the physical movement of the source device that is later than the outputting of the first signal;

receiving data from a plurality of candidate devices in response to outputting of the first and second signals;

determining from the data which of the plurality of candidate devices to select as the target device; and

communicating with the target device to set up a communications connection.

19. The one or more computer-readable media of claim 18 wherein determining from the data which of the plurality of candidate devices to select as the target device comprises attempting to select a candidate device having a least time difference computed from that device'"'"'s receiving of the first and second signals.

20. The one or more computer-readable media of claim 19 wherein if the least time difference is not determinable, the step of determining comprises selecting a candidate device using signal strength data.