Using Gestures to Schedule and Manage Meetings

• US 20120216151A1
• Filed: 02/22/2011
• Published: 08/23/2012
• Est. Priority Date: 02/22/2011
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Cisco Technology, Inc. (Cisco Systems, Inc.)
• Original Assignee: Cisco Technology, Inc. (Cisco Systems, Inc.)
• Inventors: Sarkar, Shantanu, Philonenko, Laurent, Bran, Cary A., Ebrahimi, Ali
• Granted Patent: US 8,782,566 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 715/863
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 1/1616 with folding flat displays, e.g. laptop computers or notebooks having a clamshell configuration, with body parts pivoting to an open position around an axis parallel to the plane they define in closed position
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 1/1641 the display being formed by a plurality of foldable display components G06F1/1647 takes precedence
• 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: G06F 3/0481 based on specific properties of the displayed interaction object or a metaphor-based environment, e.g. interaction with desktop elements like windows or icons, or assisted by a cursor's changing behaviour or appearance
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 3/04883 for inputting data by handwriting, e.g. gesture or text
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 12/1822 Conducting the conference, e.g. admission, detection, selection or grouping of participants, correlating users to one or more conference sessions, prioritising transmission
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 51/10 Multimedia information

Abstract

Techniques and configurations for an apparatus are provided for creating and managing meetings using gestures. Movements of a user'"'"'s hand in a three-dimensional space are detected. The hand movements in the three-dimensional space are interpreted to identify a gesture intended by the user to set up or manage a meeting among a plurality of persons. An electronic command is generated from the detected gesture to set up or manage the meeting.

Claims

1. A method comprising:

detecting movements of a user'"'"'s hand in a three-dimensional space;

interpreting the hand movements in the three-dimensional space to identify a gesture intended by the user to set up or manage a meeting among a plurality of persons; and

generating an electronic command from the detected gesture to set up or manage the meeting.

2. The method of claim 1, and further comprising supplying the command to at least one of a calendar application and a conference system server to initiate the sending of electronic invitations to one or more persons.

3. The method of claim 1, and further comprising storing data representing a plurality of gestures and a corresponding command for each gesture.

4. The method of claim 3, wherein interpreting comprises interpreting hand movements of the user to detect a particular gesture associated with initiating a meeting creation sequence.

5. The method of claim 4, and further comprising displaying on a display device a plurality of objects each representing a person, and wherein interpreting comprises interpreting hand movements indicating a pointing and selection gesture associated with one of the objects, and wherein generating comprises generating a command configured to add a person corresponding to the selected object as a participant to be invited to the meeting.

6. The method of claim 4, and further comprising displaying on the display device an object representing a group of persons, and wherein interpreting comprises interpreting hand movements indicating a point and selection gesture of the object representing a group of persons, and wherein generating comprises generating a command configured to add each of the persons in the group as a participant to the meeting.

7. The method of claim 4, wherein interpreting comprises interpreting hand movements for a particular gesture associated with completing the meeting creation sequence, wherein generating comprises generating a command configured to complete the meeting creation sequence and to cause electronic invitations to be sent to the persons who have been selected as participants to the meeting.

8. The method of claim 7, wherein the particular gesture associated with completing the meeting creation sequence is a finger snapping gesture.

9. The method of claim 1, wherein generating comprises generating a command to schedule and start the meeting immediately in response to detecting a particular gesture.

10. The method of claim 1, and further comprising detecting audio from the user, and wherein interpreting further comprises interpreting hand movements together with audio to generate the command.

11. An apparatus comprising:

a sensor array configured to detect movements of a user'"'"'s hand in a three-dimensional space; and

a processor configured to;

analyze data received from the sensor array to interpret the hand movements in the three-dimensional space and identify a gesture intended by a user to set up or manage a meeting among a plurality of persons; and

generate a command from the detected gesture to set up or manage the meeting.

12. The apparatus of claim 11, wherein the sensor array comprises a plurality of sensor devices selected from the group consisting of motion detectors, infrared cameras and video cameras.

13. The apparatus of claim 12, and further comprising a display device coupled to the processor, wherein the plurality of sensors are positioned on a periphery of a display device so as to create the three-dimensional space in front of the display device.

14. The apparatus of claim 12, and further comprising a keyboard device coupled to the processor, and wherein the plurality of sensors are positioned on the keyboard device so as to create the three-dimensional space above the keyboard device.

15. The apparatus of claim 11, and further comprising a network interface unit to enable communications over a network, and wherein the processor is further configured to send the command over the network to a conference system server to initiate the sending of electronic invitations to one or more persons.

16. The apparatus of claim 11, and further comprising a memory device configured to store data representing a plurality of gestures and a corresponding command for each gesture.

17. The apparatus of claim 16, wherein the processor is configured to interpret hand movements of the user to detect a particular gesture for a meeting creation sequence.

18. The apparatus of claim 17, and further comprising a display device, and wherein the processor is configured to generate data for displaying on the display device a plurality of objects each representing a person, and wherein the processor is configured to analyze data from the sensor array to detect hand movements indicating a point and selection gesture associated with one of the objects and to generate a command configured to add a person corresponding to the selected object as a participant to be invited to the meeting.

19. The apparatus of claim 18, wherein the processor is configured to analyze data from the sensor array to detect hand movements for a particular gesture associated with completing the meeting creation sequence, and to generate a command configured to complete the meeting creation sequence and to cause electronic invitations to be sent to the persons who have been selected as participants to the meeting.

20. The apparatus of claim 11, and further comprising at least one microphone configured to detect audio from the user, and wherein the processor is configured to interpret hand movements together with audio to generate the command.

21. One or more computer readable storage media encoded with software comprising computer executable instructions and when the software is executed operable to:

analyze data from a sensor array that detects movements of a user'"'"'s hand in a three-dimensional space;

interpret the hand movements in the three-dimensional space to identify a gesture intended by the user to set up or manage a meeting among a plurality of persons; and

generate a command from the detected gesture to set up or manage the meeting.

22. The computer readable storage media of claim 21, and further comprising instructions that are operable to supply the command to at least one of a calendar application and a conference system server to initiate the sending of electronic invitations to one or more persons.

23. The computer readable storage media of claim 21, and further comprising instructions that are operable to store data representing a plurality of gestures and a corresponding command for each gesture.

24. The computer readable storage media of claim 23, wherein the instructions that are operable to interpret hand movements comprise instructions that are operable to interpret hand movements to detect a particular gesture associated with initiating a meeting creation sequence.

25. The computer readable storage media of claim 24, and further comprising instructions that are operable to display on a display device a plurality of objects each representing a person, and wherein the instructions that are operable to interpret comprise instructions that are operable to interpret hand movements indicating a pointing and selection gesture associated with one of the objects, and wherein the instructions that are operable to generate comprise instructions that are operable to generate a command configured to add a person corresponding to the selected object as a participant to be invited to the meeting.

26. The computer readable storage media of claim 25, wherein the instructions that are operable to interpret comprise instructions that are operable to interpret hand movements for a particular gesture associated with completing the meeting creation sequence, wherein the instructions that are operable to generate comprise instructions that are operable to generate a command configured to complete the meeting creation sequence and to cause electronic invitations to be sent to the persons who have been selected as participants to the meeting.