Wireless Motion Processing Sensor Systems Suitable for Mobile and Battery Operation

• US 20110254760A1
• Filed: 08/27/2010
• Published: 10/20/2011
• Est. Priority Date: 04/20/2010
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Invensense Incorporated (TDK Corporation)
• Original Assignee: Invensense Incorporated (TDK Corporation)
• Inventors: Royer, Nathan, Vargha, Doug, Devries, David, Lloyd, Stephen, Keal, Kerry, Shaeffer, Derek, Sachs, David, Anderson, Erik
• Granted Patent: US 8,760,392 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 345/156
• CPC Class Codes: A63F 13/211 using inertial sensors, e.g. accelerometers or gyroscopes
• CPC Class Codes: A63F 13/213 comprising photodetecting means, e.g. cameras, photodiodes or infrared cells A63F13/219, A63F13/655 take precedence
• CPC Class Codes: A63F 13/235 using a wireless connection, e.g. infrared or piconet
• CPC Class Codes: A63F 13/428 involving motion or position input signals, e.g. signals representing the rotation of an input controller or a player's arm motions sensed by accelerometers or gyroscopes
• CPC Class Codes: A63F 13/843 involving concurrently two or more players on the same game device, e.g. requiring the use of a plurality of controllers or of a specific view of game data for each player
• CPC Class Codes: A63F 2300/1006 having additional degrees of freedom
• CPC Class Codes: A63F 2300/1031 using a wireless connection, e.g. Bluetooth, infrared connections
• CPC Class Codes: A63F 2300/105 using inertial sensors, e.g. accelerometers, gyroscopes
• CPC Class Codes: G01P 15/00 Measuring acceleration; Measuring deceleration; Measuring shock, i.e. sudden change of acceleration
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 3/011 Arrangements for interaction with the human body, e.g. for user immersion in virtual reality blind teaching G09B21/00
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 3/0346 with detection of the device orientation or free movement in a 3D space, e.g. 3D mice, 6-DOF [six degrees of freedom] pointers using gyroscopes, accelerometers or tilt-sensors
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 3/038 Control and interface arrangements therefor, e.g. drivers or device-embedded control circuitry

Abstract

The present invention relates to a combination of a 6-axis motion sensor having a 3-axis gyroscope and a 3-axis linear accelerometer, a motion processor and a radio integrated circuit chip (IC), wherein the intelligence in the motion processor enables the communication between the motion sensor, the radio IC and the external network. The motion processor also enables power savings by adaptively controlling the data rate of the motion sensor, depending on the amount or speed of the motion activity.

Claims

1. A handheld device, comprising:

a sensor component for generating data related to a movement of the handheld device;

a processor for processing the data generated by the sensor component;

a radio transmitter-receiver integrated circuit chip (IC) for communicating with the sensor component and a network;

wherein,

the sensor component including a 3-axis angular rate sensor and a 3-axis linear acceleration sensor; and

the processor for automatically adjusting the rate of the data generated by the sensor component;

wherein,

the sensor component and the processor are situated on an integrated circuit chip (IC).

2. The handheld device of claim 1, wherein the handheld device includes a remote controller for a video gaming system.

3. The Handheld device of claim 2, wherein the radio IC for communicating with another remote controller for the video gaming system.

4. The handheld device of claim 1, wherein the rate is adjustable depending on the amount of an actual or expected movement.

5. The handheld device of claim 1, wherein the processor is included in the radio IC.

6. The handheld device of claim 1, wherein the processor and the sensor component are located on a common substrate.

7. The handheld device of claim 1, further comprising:

a memory located on the handheld device for storing data generated by the sensor component;

the handheld device for transmitting the stored data to the network if the handheld device is within the wireless range of the network; and

the handheld device for maintaining the data in the memory if the handheld device is outside the wireless range of the network.

8. The handheld device of claim 1, wherein the processor for generating a sensor fusion data matrix by fusing the data generated by the sensors of the sensor component.

9. The handheld device of claim 7, further comprising:

the handheld device including a first clock; and

the base station including a second clock;

wherein,

the first clock for controlling the rate of the data generated by the sensor component; and

the second clock for calibrating the first clock.

10. The handheld device of claim 1, further comprising:

the data generated by the sensor component including a single digital word information corresponding to a predefined gesture; and

the sensor component for generating an interrupt signal for the radio IC; and

the radio IC for retrieving the single digital word information from the sensor component in response to receiving the interrupt signal.

11. The handheld device of claim 1, further comprising:

the network for automatically recognizing the model, the network address, a parameter setting and the power state of the sensor component; and

the network for registering the sensor component in the network database.

12. The handheld device of claim 1, further comprising:

the processor for compressing the data using a linear or a non-linear digital bandwidth compression algorithm.

13. The handheld device of claim 1, further comprising:

the processor for performing sensor data fusion by combining six or more axis sensor data into a single matrix.

14. The handheld device of claim 2, further comprising:

the processor for processing motion sensing data generated by another remote controller for the video gaming system;

the processor for transmitting the processed data to the radio IC;

the radio IC for transmitting the processed data to a base station for the video gaming system; and

the radio IC for transmitting information received from the base station to the another remote controller;

wherein,

the two remote controllers communicate by way of a wired or wireless network.

15. The handheld device of claim 1, further comprising:

the radio IC for automatically switched from a low power state to an active state in response to a sensor of the sensor component detecting a movement of the handheld device.

16. A handheld device comprising:

an inertial sensor component; and

the inertial sensor component for controlling the handheld device;

wherein,

the inertial sensor component includes an accelerometer.

17. The handheld device of claim 17, wherein the handheld device does not include any pushbuttons or switches, and wherein the device is programmed to operate in an active or sleep mode based on a detected movement.

18. The handheld device of claim 17, further comprising:

the inertial sensor component for detecting a hand movement or gesture;

a programmable controller for controlling the handheld device; and

the programmable controller for associating the detected hand movement or gesture with a command or function for the handheld device.

19. The handheld device of claim 17, wherein the handheld device can include a watch, a remote controller or a music player.

20. A method for a handheld device, comprising:

generating data related to a movement of the handheld device by using a sensor component including a 3-axis gyroscope and a 3-axis accelerometer;

processing the data;

transmitting the processed data to a base station over a wireless network using a radio transmitter-receiver integrated circuit chip (IC);

wherein,

causing the handheld device to automatically switch from a sleep mode to an active mode in response to detecting a movement; and

automatically adjusting the rate of data generation by the sensor component based on the expected movement to be measured;

wherein,

the rate is directly proportional to the speed of the expected movement.