HOME APPLIANCE CONTROL DEVICE

• US 20110320013A1
• Filed: 09/04/2011
• Published: 12/29/2011
• Est. Priority Date: 07/01/2009
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Samsung Electronics Co. Ltd.
• Original Assignee: PixArt Imaging Incorporated
• Inventors: CHEN, Hsin Chia, KO, Yi Hsien, CHEN, Fu Chen, KAO, Ming Tsan
• Granted Patent: US 8,417,385 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 700/12
• CPC Class Codes: F24F 11/30 for purposes related to the operation of the system, e.g. for safety or monitoring
• CPC Class Codes: F24F 11/46 Improving electric energy efficiency or saving
• CPC Class Codes: F24F 11/65 for selecting an operating mode
• CPC Class Codes: F24F 11/74 for controlling air flow rate or air velocity
• CPC Class Codes: F24F 11/79 for controlling the direction of the supplied air
• CPC Class Codes: F24F 2120/10 Occupancy
• CPC Class Codes: F24F 2120/12 Position of occupants
• CPC Class Codes: G05B 15/02 electric
• CPC Class Codes: G05B 2219/2642 Domotique, domestic, home control, automation, smart house
• CPC Class Codes: G06T 2207/30196 Human being; Person
• CPC Class Codes: G06T 7/254 involving subtraction of images

Abstract

There is provided a home appliance control device for obtaining various parameters of each active object according to a variation between a plurality of current images acquired by an image sensor or according to a relation of a current image acquired by the image sensor with respect to a reference image or a reference data thereby determining an operation state of a home appliance.

Claims

1. A home appliance control device, for controlling an operation state of a home appliance, the home appliance control device comprising:

a light source module configured to project a predetermined optical pattern to at least one active object;

a first image sensor configured to acquire a current image containing at least one active object image and the predetermined optical pattern;

a processing unit for comparing the current image with a reference image or a reference data to obtain a static parameter and a dynamic parameter associated with the active object; and

a control unit for controlling the operation state of the home appliance according to the static parameter and the dynamic parameter.

2. The home appliance control device as claimed in claim 1, wherein the dynamic parameter is obtained according to a variation of the plurality of static parameters;

the static parameter is a number, a position and/or a distance of the active object, and the dynamic parameter is an activity level and/or an activity range of the active object.

3. The home appliance control device as claimed in claim 1, wherein the reference image is an image acquired by the first image sensor when the active object is at a predetermined distance;

and the processing unit calculates a displacement between the active object image in the current image and that in the reference image to accordingly calculate the static parameter.

4. The home appliance control device as claimed in claim 1, wherein the reference data are point spread functions associated with difference object distances or the predetermined optical pattern acquired at different object distances.

5. The home appliance control device as claimed in claim 1, wherein the light source module further comprises a laser light source and an optical component;

the predetermined optical pattern projected by the laser light source through the optical component is a speckle pattern, and the reference data is the speckle pattern associated with difference object distances.

6. The home appliance control device as claimed in claim 1, wherein the operation state is an output or a directivity of the home appliance.

7. The home appliance control device as claimed in claim 1, wherein the home appliance is a temperature controller, a directivity loudspeaker or a directivity electronic device.

8. A home appliance control device, for controlling an operation state of a home appliance, the home appliance control device comprising:

a first image sensor comprising a variable aperture or a variable focus, and configured to acquire a plurality of current images of at least one active object through the variable aperture or the variable focus, wherein every current image corresponds to different aperture values or focus values;

a processing unit for comparing the current images with each other to obtain a static parameter and a dynamic parameter associated with the active object; and

a control unit for controlling the operation state of the home appliance according to the static parameter and the dynamic parameter.

9. The home appliance control device as claimed in claim 8, wherein the processing unit obtains the static parameter and the dynamic parameter by using depth from defocus technique according to the current images.

10. The home appliance control device as claimed in claim 8, wherein the dynamic parameter is obtained according to a variation of the plurality of static parameters;

the static parameter is a number, a position and/or a distance of the active object, and the dynamic parameter is an activity level and/or an activity range of the active object.

11. The home appliance control device as claimed in claim 8, wherein the operation state is an output or a directivity of the home appliance.

12. The home appliance control device as claimed in claim 8, wherein the home appliance is a temperature controller, a directivity loudspeaker or a directivity electronic device.

13. The home appliance control device as claimed in claim 8, wherein the processing unit controls the first image sensor to acquire the current images respectively according to different focus values and identifies a clearest current image to accordingly determine the static parameter, wherein the clearest current image is the current image having smallest point spread functions or sharpest edges.

14. The home appliance control device as claimed in claim 13, wherein the focus value associated with the clearest current image is a depth of the active object.

15. The home appliance control device as claimed in claim 8, wherein the processing unit controls the first image sensor to acquire the current images respectively according to different focus values and obtains the static parameter and the dynamic parameter of the active object by using depth from focus technique.

16. A home appliance control device, for controlling an operation state of a home appliance, the home appliance control device comprising:

a first image sensor comprising a coded aperture and configured to acquire a current image of at least one active object through the coded aperture;

a processing unit for comparing the current image with a reference data to obtain a static parameter and a dynamic parameter associated with the active object; and

a control unit for controlling the operation state of the home appliance according to the static parameter and the dynamic parameter.

17. The home appliance control device as claimed in claim 16, wherein the reference data are point spread functions associated with different object distances of the coded aperture.

18. The home appliance control device as claimed in claim 16, wherein the dynamic parameter is obtained according to a variation of the plurality of static parameters;

the static parameter is a number, a position and/or a distance of the active object, and the dynamic parameter is an activity level and/or an activity range of the active object.

19. The home appliance control device as claimed in claim 16, wherein the operation state is an output or a directivity of the home appliance.

20. The home appliance control device as claimed in claim 16, wherein the home appliance is a temperature controller, a directivity loudspeaker or a directivity electronic device.