DATA SERVICES BASED ON GESTURE AND LOCATION INFORMATION OF DEVICE

• US 20090319181A1
• Filed: 05/08/2009
• Published: 12/24/2009
• Est. Priority Date: 06/20/2008
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Microsoft Technology Licensing LLC (Microsoft Corporation)
• Original Assignee: Microsoft Corporation
• Inventors: Novik, Lev, Khosravy, Moe, Woodcock, Katrika Marie
• Granted Patent: US 8,467,991 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 701/208
• CPC Class Codes: G01C 21/20 Instruments for performing navigational calculations G01C21/24, G01C21/26 take precedence
• CPC Class Codes: G01C 21/3664 Details of the user input interface, e.g. buttons, knobs or sliders, including those provided on a touch screen; remote controllers; input using gestures
• CPC Class Codes: G01C 21/3811 Point data, e.g. Point of Interest [POI]
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 1/1626 with a single-body enclosure integrating a flat display, e.g. Personal Digital Assistants [PDAs]
• 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
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 3/04883 for inputting data by handwriting, e.g. gesture or text
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 30/02 Marketing; Price estimation or determination; Fundraising
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 4/021 Services related to particular areas, e.g. point of interest [POI] services, venue services or geofences
• 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 4/21 for social networking applications

Abstract

With the addition of directional information and gesture based input in a location based services environment, a variety of service(s) can be provided on top of user identification or interaction with specific object(s) of interest. For instance, when a user gestures at or points at a particular item, or gestures at a particular location or place, this creates an opportunity, e.g., an advertising opportunity, for anyone having an interest in that particular item or place to communicate with the user regarding that item or related items at a point in time when the user'"'"'s focus is on the particular item. User context for the interaction can also be taken into account to supplement the provision of one or more interactive direction based services.

Claims

1. A portable electronic device, comprising:

a positional component that outputs position information as a function of a location of the portable electronic device;

a motion component that outputs motion information as a function of at least one movement of the portable device;

a directional component that outputs direction information as a function of an orientation of the portable electronic device; and

at least one processor configured to process at least the position information to determine at least one point of interest relating to the position information and configured to process at least the motion information and the direction information to determine at least one pre-defined gesture undergone by the portable electronic device with respect to the at least one point of interest,

wherein the portable electronic device automatically makes a request based on the at least one pre-defined gesture and the at least one point of interest.

2. The device of claim 1, wherein the at least one processor is configured to process the position information and the direction information to determine the at least one point of interest.

3. The device of claim 1, wherein the at least one processor is configured to process the position information, the motion information and the direction information to determine the at least one pre-defined gesture.

4. The device of claim 1, wherein the portable electronic device automatically makes a request based on the at least one pre-defined gesture and at least one identifier associated with the at least one point of interest.

5. The device of claim 1, wherein at least one processor is configured to process the motion information and the direction information to determine the at least one pre-defined gesture based on at least one of a pre-defined gesture definition or a user-defined gesture definition.

6. The device of claim 1, wherein the positional component includes a global positioning satellite (GPS) component for receiving and processing GPS signals.

7. The device of claim 1, wherein the positional component includes a component for receiving position information based on triangulation to wireless base stations.

8. The device of claim 1, wherein the positional component includes an image recognition system for recognizing at least one object in image data and determining a position of the device relative to the at least one object in the image data.

9. The device of claim 1, wherein the directional component includes a digital compass.

10. The device of claim 1, wherein the directional component includes an image recognition system for recognizing at least one side of an object in image data and determining a direction of the device relative to the at least one side.

11. The device of claim 1, wherein the motion component includes at least one accelerometer for measuring an acceleration of at least part of the device.

12. The device of claim 1, wherein the motion component includes at least two accelerometers for measuring a tilt or rotation of at least part of the device.

13. A method, comprising:

determining a location of a portable device based on location information determined for the device, the location information representing a global position of the device;

analyzing direction information representing an orientation of the portable device and the location information to determine at least one point of interest towards which the portable device is substantially oriented;

analyzing path information representing a path traversed by the portable device, based on at least the direction information, to determine at least one gesture made by the portable device; and

transmitting a request to a network service based on the at least one gesture and the point of interest.

14. The method of claim 13, wherein the analyzing of path information includes processing acceleration information measuring at least one acceleration of the device.

15. The method of claim 13, wherein the analyzing of path information includes processing velocity information measuring at least one velocity of the device.

16. The method of claim 13, wherein the analyzing of path information includes analyzing the path information for a given time span.

17. The method of claim 13, wherein the analyzing of path information includes analyzing a set of vectors representing the path traversed by the device from a start time to a stop time.

18. The method of claim 13, wherein the analyzing of path information includes analyzing three dimensional (3-D) path information representing three degrees of freedom of movement for the device.

19. The method of claim 18, wherein the analyzing of path information includes analyzing three dimensional (3-D) path information as 2-D path information by collapsing a degree of freedom.

20. A method, comprising:

determining whether a viewing plane of a portable device is aligned with a substantially horizontal plane that is substantially parallel to a ground plane or aligned with a substantially vertical plane that is substantially orthogonal to the ground plane; and

if the portable device is aligned with the substantially horizontal plane, displaying a topographical map view of a geographical area map determined based on location and direction information measured by the portable device and displaying at least one indication of a point of interest on the geographical area map.

21. The method of claim 20, further comprising:

if the portable device is aligned with the substantially vertical plane, displaying an image based view of three-dimensional (3-D) space extending at least one pre-defined direction from the portable device and displaying at least one indication of a point of interest pertaining to the 3-D space represented by the image based view.