Electronic Device with Sensing Assembly and Method for Detecting Basic Gestures

• US 20100299642A1
• Filed: 12/17/2009
• Published: 11/25/2010
• Est. Priority Date: 05/22/2009
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Google Technology Holdings LLC (Alphabet Inc.)
• Original Assignee: Motorola Mobility LLC (Lenovo Group Ltd.)
• Inventors: Merrell, Thomas, Alameh, Rachid
• Granted Patent: US 8,344,325 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 715/863
• 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 3/0325 using a plurality of light emitters or reflectors or a plurality of detectors forming a reference frame from which to derive the orientation of the object, e.g. by triangulation or on the basis of reference deformation in the picked up image

Abstract

An electronic device and method are described for detecting a predefined gesture that is a specified pattern of movement of an external object relative to the electronic device. The method includes providing as part of the electronic device a sensing assembly including at least one photoreceiver and a plurality of phototransmitters, wherein each phototransmitter is positioned to emit infrared light away from the electronic device about a corresponding central transmission axis, wherein each central transmission axis is oriented in a different direction with respect to the others. The emission of infrared light by each of the phototransmitters is controlled during each of a plurality of sequential time periods, and wherein the external, object moves in the specified pattern of movement during the plurality of sequential time periods. For each of the plurality of phototransmitters and for each of the plurality of sequential time periods, a corresponding measured signal indicative of a respective amount of infrared light which originated from that phototransmitter during that time period and was reflected by the external object prior to being received by the photoreceiver is generated, and the measured signals are evaluated to detect the predefined gesture.

Claims

1. A method for detecting a specified pattern of movement of an external object relative to an electronic device, the method comprising:

providing as part of the electronic device a sensing assembly including at least one photoreceiver and a plurality of phototransmitters, wherein each phototransmitter is positioned to emit infrared light away from the electronic device about a corresponding central transmission axis, wherein each central transmission axis is oriented in a different direction with respect to the others;

controlling emission of infrared light by each of the phototransmitters during each of a plurality of sequential time periods during which the external object moves in the specified pattern of movement;

for each of the plurality of phototransmitters and for each of the plurality of sequential time periods, generating a corresponding measured signal indicative of a respective amount of infrared light which originated from that phototransmitter during that time period and was reflected by the external object prior to being received by a photoreceiver; and

evaluating the measured signals to detect the specified pattern of movement.

2. The method of claim 1, further including:

receiving an initiation command prior to the controlling emission of infrared light.

3. The method of claim 1, further including:

controlling the electronic device based on the detected specified pattern of movement.

4. The method of claim 1, wherein the evaluating comprises, for at least one of the plurality of phototransmitters, analyzing a corresponding measured signal set to identify a predetermined feature and detect the specified pattern of movement based on the predetermined feature.

5. The method of claim 1, wherein the evaluating for a push or pull gesture comprises, for at least one of the plurality of phototransmitters, analyzing a respective measured signal set to determine whether corresponding intensity values sequentially increase or decrease over at least a subset of the plurality of sequential time periods.

6. The method of claim 1, wherein the evaluating for a slide gesture comprises, for at least two of the plurality of phototransmitters, analyzing a respective difference measured signal set corresponding to the two phototransmitters to identify if a positive peak is followed by a negative peak or vice versa.

7. The method of claim 1, wherein the evaluating comprises, for at least two of the plurality of phototransmitters, analyzing respective measured signal sets corresponding to the two phototransmitters to identify a predetermined feature in each and to compare the timing of the predetermined features with respect to each other.

8. The method of claim 1, wherein the specified pattern of movement is one selected from the group including:

a push gesture, a pull gesture, a slide gesture, a hover gesture, and a tilt gesture.

9. The method of claim 1, wherein the evaluating further includes detecting a predetermined hand configuration.

10. The method of claim 1, wherein the controlling emission of infrared light by each phototransmitter includes controlling the intensity of emitted light to avoid saturating the photoreceiver.

11. A method for detecting a specified pattern of movement of an external object relative to an electronic device, the method comprising:

providing as part of the electronic device a sensing assembly including at least one phototransmitter and a plurality of photoreceivers, wherein the phototransmitter is positioned to emit infrared light away from the electronic device about a central transmission axis, and each photoreceiver is positioned to receive infrared light about a corresponding central receiving axis, wherein each central receiving axis is oriented in a different direction with respect to the others;

controlling emission of infrared light by the phototransmitter during each of a plurality of sequential time periods, wherein the external object moves in the specified pattern of movement during the plurality of sequential time periods;

for each of the plurality of photoreceivers and for each of the plurality of sequential time periods, generating a corresponding measured signal indicative of a respective amount of infrared light which originated from the phototransmitter during the corresponding time period and was reflected by the external object prior to being received by the corresponding photoreceiver; and

evaluating the measured signals to detect the specified pattern of movement.

12. The method of claim 11, further including:

receiving an initiation command prior to the controlling the emission of infrared light.

13. The method of claim 11, further including:

controlling the electronic device based on the specified pattern of movement.

14. The method of claim 11, wherein the evaluating comprises, for at least one of the plurality of photoreceivers, analyzing a corresponding measured signal set to identify a predetermined feature and detect the specified pattern of movement based on the predetermined feature.

15. The method of claim 11, wherein the evaluating for a push or pull gesture comprises, for at least one of the plurality of photoreceivers, analyzing a respective measured signal set to determine whether corresponding intensity values sequentially increase or decrease over time.

16. The method of claim 11, wherein the evaluating for a slide gesture comprises, for at least two of the plurality of photoreceivers, analyzing a respective difference measured signal set corresponding to the two photoreceivers to identify if a positive peak is followed by a negative peak or vice versa.

17. The method of claim 11, wherein the evaluating comprises, for at least two of the plurality of photoreceivers, analyzing respective measured signal sets corresponding to the two photoreceivers to identify a predetermined feature in each and to compare the timing of the predetermined features with respect to each other.

18. The method of claim 11, wherein the specified pattern of movement is one selected from the group including:

a push gesture, a pull gesture, a slide gesture, a hover gesture, and a tilt gesture.

19. The method of claim 11, wherein the evaluating further includes detecting a predetermined hand configuration.

20. The method of claim 11, wherein controlling emission of infrared light includes controlling the intensity of emitted light to avoid saturating the photoreceiver.

21. An electronic device for detecting a specified pattern of movement of an external object relative to an electronic device, the electronic device comprising:

a sensing assembly including a photoreceiver and a plurality of phototransmitters, wherein each phototransmitter is positioned so as to emit light such that transmitted infrared light from each phototransmitter is directed outward away from the electronic device in a plurality of directions about a respective central axis, and the central axes are in different directions;

a processor in communication with the sensing assembly for actuating the respective phototransmitters to emit light during each of a plurality of sequential time periods;

wherein for each of the plurality of phototransmitters and for each of the plurality of sequential time periods, the photoreceiver generates a corresponding measured signal indicative of a respective amount of light received by the photoreceiver, where the respective amount of received light includes light which originated from that phototransmitter during that corresponding sequential time period and was reflected by the external object prior to being received by the photoreceiver; and

wherein the processor evaluates the measured signals to detect the specified pattern of movement.

22. The electronic device of claim 21, wherein the sensing assembly includes a pyramid-type structure having a central surface supporting the photoreceiver and a plurality of outer surfaces extending away from the central surface and being inclined relative to the central surface, wherein each outer surface corresponds to a respective one of the plurality of phototransmitters, and (i) the plurality of phototransmitters are respectively oriented so that the respective center transmission axes are normal to the respective orientations of the respective outer surfaces;

or (ii) the pyramid-type structure forms at least one lens that refracts the infrared light emitted from the phototransmitters;

or (iii) the plurality of phototransmitters are respectively located proximate respective outer edges of the electronic device, and are respectively oriented to direct the infrared light toward the respective outer surfaces of the pyramid-type structure by way of respective waveguides, the directed infrared light in turn being reflected off of the outer surfaces outward away from the electronic device.