ENHANCED DETECTION OF WAVING ENGAGEMENT GESTURE

• US 20100040292A1
• Filed: 07/24/2009
• Published: 02/18/2010
• Est. Priority Date: 07/25/2008
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Qualcomm, Inc.
• Original Assignee: GestureTek Incorporated (Winning Brands Corp.)
• Inventors: CLARKSON, IAN
• Granted Patent: US 8,605,941 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 382/201
• 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: G06V 40/28 Recognition of hand or arm movements, e.g. recognition of deaf sign language static hand signs G06V40/113

Abstract

The enhanced detection of a waving engagement gesture, in which a shape is defined within motion data, the motion data is sampled at points that are aligned with the defined shape, and, based on the sampled motion data, positions of a moving object along the defined shape are determined over time. It is determined whether the moving object is performing a gesture based on a pattern exhibited by the determined positions, and an application is controlled if determining that the moving object is performing the gesture.

Claims

1. A computer-readable medium encoded with a computer program comprising instructions that, when executed, operate to cause a computer to perform operations comprising:

defining a shape within motion data;

sampling the motion data at points that are aligned with the defined shape;

determining, based on the sampled motion data, positions of a moving object along the defined shape, over time;

determining whether the moving object is performing a gesture based on a pattern exhibited by the determined positions; and

controlling an application if determining that the moving object is performing the gesture.

2. The computer-readable medium of claim 1, wherein:

the motion data comprises a motion history map further comprising motion history data values that provide, for each point of an image, an indication of time since the moving object was detected at the point.

3. The computer-readable medium of claim 2, wherein determining the positions of the moving object along the defined shape, over time, further comprises:

at first and second times;

selecting points that are aligned with the defined shape and that comprise sampled motion history data values which satisfy a predetermined threshold, and

selecting one of the selected points; and

outputting, as first and second positions of the moving object, the one points respectively selected at the first and second times.

4. The computer-readable medium of claim 3, wherein the one point comprises a median, mean, or random point of the selected points.

5. The computer-readable medium of claim 2, further comprising instructions that, when executed, operate to cause the computer to perform operations comprising:

accessing the image; and

generating the motion history data values included in the motion history map based on the accessed image.

6. The computer-readable medium of claim 4, wherein the motion history map is generated using optical flow.

7. The computer-readable medium of claim 2, wherein the pattern comprises a shape of one period of a sinusoid on a graph of the determined positions over time, the determined positions expressed as a proportion of a single dimension of the shape.

8. The computer-readable medium of claim 2, wherein the pattern comprises a shape of one period of a stepped sinusoid on a graph of the determined positions over time, the determined positions expressed as a proportion of a single dimension of the shape.

9. The computer-readable medium of claim 2, further comprising instructions that, when executed, operate to cause the computer to perform operations comprising:

determining, for each point, whether the moving object has been detected within a predetermined threshold; and

grouping adjacent points determined to have detected motion of the moving object within the predetermined threshold,

wherein the motion data is sampled at a subset of the grouped points that are aligned with the defined shape.

10. The computer-readable medium of claim 9, further comprising instructions that, when executed, operate to cause the computer to perform operations comprising:

defining a bounding box around the grouped points,

wherein a size and a location of the shape within the motion data are defined with respect to the bounding box.

11. The computer-readable medium of claim 10, wherein:

the shape comprises a line segment or a chord.

12. The computer-readable medium of claim 10, wherein the shape comprises a longest line segment capable of fitting within the grouped points.

13. The computer-readable medium of claim 1, further comprising instructions that, when executed, operate to cause the computer to perform operations comprising:

detecting groups of points within the motion data; and

selecting one of the groups of points,

wherein the shape is defined within the one selected group.

14. The computer-readable medium of claim 13, wherein the one group is selected based on relative size.

15. The computer-readable medium of claim 1, wherein:

the motion data is sampled at a sampled quantity of points that are aligned with the defined shape, and

the sampled quantity comprises a fixed quantity or is based on a size of the defined shape or an aligned quantity of points that are aligned with the defined shape within the motion data.

16. The computer-readable medium of claim 1, wherein determining whether the moving object is performing the gesture based on the pattern exhibited by the determined positions further comprises comparing the pattern to upper and lower threshold criteria and to timing criteria.

17. The computer-readable medium of claim 1, wherein the gesture comprises a swiping or waving, hand or finger gesture.

18. The computer-readable medium of claim 1, further comprising instructions that, when executed, operate to cause the computer to perform operations comprising:

adding the determined positions to a motion history, and

detecting whether the pattern exists within the motion history.

19. The computer-readable medium of claim 1, further comprising instructions that, when executed, operate to cause the computer to perform operations comprising:

counting a quantity of performances of the gesture.

20. A computer-implemented method comprising:

defining a shape within motion data;

sampling the motion data at points that are aligned with the defined shape;

determining, based on the sampled motion data, positions of a moving object along the defined shape, over time;

determining, using at least one processor, whether the moving object is performing a gesture based on a pattern exhibited by the determined positions; and

controlling an application if determining that the moving object is performing the gesture.

21. A device comprising a processor configured to:

define a shape within motion data;

sample the motion data at points that are aligned with the defined shape;

determine, based on the sampled motion data, positions of a moving object along the defined shape, over time;

determine whether the moving object is performing a gesture based on a pattern exhibited by the determined positions; and

control an application if determining that the moving object is performing the gesture.