INFORMATION PROCESSING APPARATUS AND METHOD, AND PROGRAM

• US 20110216075A1
• Filed: 01/27/2011
• Published: 09/08/2011
• Est. Priority Date: 03/08/2010
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Sony Corporation (Sony Group Corp.)
• Original Assignee: Sony Corporation (Sony Group Corp.)
• Inventors: SHIGETA, Osamu, Noda, Takuro
• Granted Patent: US 9,229,533 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 345/473
• 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 3/048 Interaction techniques based on graphical user interfaces [GUI]

Abstract

An information processing apparatus includes a detection unit configured to detect a gesture made by a user, a recognition unit configured to recognize a type of the gesture detected by the detection unit, a control unit configured to control operation of a first application and a second application, and an output unit configured to output information of the first application or the second application. If the gesture is recognized by the recognition unit while the control unit is controlling the operation of the first application in the foreground, the control unit controls the operation of the second application operating in the background of the first application on the basis of the type of the gesture recognized by the recognition unit.

Claims

1. An information processing apparatus comprising:

detection for detecting a gesture made by a user;

recognition means for recognizing a type of the gesture detected by the detection means;

control means for controlling operation of a first application and a second application; and

output means for outputting information of the first application or the second application,

wherein, if the gesture is recognized by the recognition means while the control means is controlling the operation of the first application in the foreground, the control means controls the operation of the second application operating in the background of the first application on the basis of the type of the gesture recognized by the recognition means.

2. The information processing apparatus according to claim 1, further comprising:

determination means for determining whether or not the recognized gesture exists,

wherein, in a normal mode in which the information of the first application is output, when it is determined by the determination means that the recognized gesture does not exist, the control means switches the normal mode to a feedback mode, where operation information regarding the gesture is fed back to the user.

3. The information processing apparatus according to claim 2, further comprising:

inference means for inferring the type of the gesture by analogy when it is determined by the determination means that the recognized gesture does not exist,

wherein the control means causes the output means to output feedback information for learning the gesture corresponding to the type of the gesture inferred by the inference means.

4. The information processing apparatus according to claim 3, wherein the feedback information is a moving image or an animation of the inferred gesture.

5. The information processing apparatus according to claim 4, wherein the control means controls switching between the normal mode and the feedback mode when the user has performed an operation corresponding to a certain gesture.

6. The information processing apparatus according to claim 5, wherein, in the feedback mode, the output means outputs a mirror image of the user captured upon the detection by the detection means and a list of gestures as the operation information.

7. The information processing apparatus according to claim 6, wherein, in the normal mode, when the operation of the second application is controlled on the basis of the gesture, the output means outputs information corresponding to a control result based on the gesture for a certain period of time.

8. The information processing apparatus according to claim 7, wherein the output means outputs audio information as the information corresponding to the control result based on the gesture.

9. The information processing apparatus according to claim 8, wherein, when switching to the feedback mode has been performed, the output means displays an image of the feedback mode superimposed on an image of the first application in a semitransparent manner.

10. The information processing apparatus according to claim 8, wherein, when switching to the feedback mode has been performed, the output means displays an image of the feedback mode in a region that is part of an image of the first application.

11. An information processing method comprising the steps of:

detecting a gesture made by a user;

recognizing a type of the gesture detected in the step of detecting;

controlling operation of a first application and a second application; and

outputting information of the first application or the second application,

wherein, if the gesture is recognized in the step of recognizing while the operation of the first application is being controlled in the foreground in the step of controlling, the step of controlling controls the operation of the second application operating in the background of the first application on the basis of the type of the gesture recognized in the step of recognizing.

12. A program for causing a computer to execute the steps of:

detecting a gesture made by a user;

recognizing a type of the gesture detected in the step of detecting;

controlling operation of a first application and a second application; and

outputting information of the first application or the second application,

wherein, if the gesture is recognized in the step of recognizing while the operation of the first application is being controlled in the foreground in the step of controlling, the step of controlling controls the operation of the second application operating in the background of the first application on the basis of the type of the gesture recognized in the step of recognizing.

13. An information processing apparatus comprising:

a detection unit configured to detect a gesture made by a user;

a recognition unit configured to recognize a type of the gesture detected by the detection unit;

a control unit configured to control operation of a first application and a second application; and

an output unit configured to output information of the first application or the second application,

wherein, if the gesture is recognized by the recognition unit while the control unit is controlling the operation of the first application in the foreground, the control unit controls the operation of the second application operating in the background of the first application on the basis of the type of the gesture recognized by the recognition unit.