RECOGNITION APPARATUS

• US 20130321261A1
• Filed: 02/14/2013
• Published: 12/05/2013
• Est. Priority Date: 05/30/2012
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Kabushiki Kaisha Toshiba (Toshiba Corporation), Toshiba Digital Solutions Corporation (Toshiba Corporation)
• Original Assignee: Kabushiki Kaisha Toshiba (Toshiba Corporation)
• Inventors: Nakasu, Toshiaki, Ike, Tsukasa, Ouchi, Kazushige, Okada, Ryuzo
• Granted Patent: US 9,405,373 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 345/156
• 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

Abstract

The acquiring unit is configured to acquire positions of a particular part of a user in time series. The calculator is configured to calculate a feature value of a motion of the particular part from the positions acquired in time series. The comparing unit configured to compare the feature value and a first threshold. The recognizing unit is configured to recognize the motion of the particular part using a first recognition method and a second recognition method which is different from the first recognition method. The control unit configured to control the recognizing unit to select the first recognition method for recognizing a position or a motion of the particular part when the feature value is smaller than the first threshold, and select the second recognition method when the feature value is equal to or larger than the first threshold.

Claims

1. A recognition apparatus comprising:

an acquiring unit configured to acquire positions of a particular part of a user in time series;

a calculator configured to calculate a feature value of a motion of the particular part from the positions acquired in time series;

a comparing unit configured to compare the feature value and a first threshold

a recognizing unit configured to recognize the motion of the particular part using a first recognition method and a second recognition method which is different from the first recognition method; and

a control unit configured to control the recognizing unit to select the first recognition method for recognizing a position or a motion of the particular part when the feature value is smaller than the first threshold, and select the second recognition method when the feature value is equal to or larger than the first threshold.

2. The apparatus according to claim 1, wherein

the comparing unit further compares the feature value and a second threshold that is smaller than the first threshold, and

the control unit control the recognizing unit to select the first recognition method when the feature value is equal to or larger than the second threshold and smaller than the first threshold.

3. The apparatus according to claim 1, wherein

the comparing unit further controls compare the feature value and a third threshold that is larger than the first threshold, and

the control unit controls to select the second recognition method when the feature value is equal to or larger than the first threshold and smaller than the third threshold.

4. The apparatus according to claim 2, wherein when the feature value is equal to or larger than the second threshold and smaller than the first threshold, the control unit controls a display process of a screen to be displayed on a display unit according to the feature value.

5. The apparatus according to claim 3, wherein when the feature value is equal to or larger than the first threshold and smaller than the third threshold, the control unit controls a display process of a screen to be displayed on a display unit according to the feature value.

6. The apparatus according to claim 4, wherein the control unit increases or decreases at least one of a transparency, a brightness, a blinking speed and a pop-up amount of an object displayed on the display unit according to the feature value to control the display process of the screen.

7. The apparatus according to claim 4, wherein the control unit controls the display process such that a proportion of shape change of an object to be displayed on the display unit according to the first recognition method is 0 percent and a proportion of shape change of an object according to the second recognition method is 100 percent when the feature value is the first threshold, and controls the display process such that the proportion of shape change of the object according to the first recognition method is of 100 percent and the proportion of shape change of the object according to the second recognition method is 0 percent when the feature value is the second threshold.

8. The apparatus according to claim 1, further comprising:

a first recognizing unit configured to recognize a position or a motion of the particular part by the first recognition method from the positions acquired in time series by the acquiring unit; and

a second recognizing unit configured to recognize a position or a motion of the particular part by the second recognition method from the positions acquired in time series by the acquiring unit, wherein

the control unit controls the display process according to a result of recognition by the first recognizing unit when the first recognition method is selected and controls the display process according to a result of recognition by the second recognizing unit when the second recognition method is selected.

9. The apparatus according to claim 1, further comprising:

a first recognizing unit configured to obtain the positions acquired by the acquiring unit in time series according to a result of comparison by the comparing unit and to recognize a position or a motion of the particular part by the first recognition method from the obtained positions; and

a second recognizing unit configured to obtain the positions acquired by the acquiring unit in time series according to a result of comparison by the comparing unit and to recognize a position or a motion of the particular part by the second recognition method from the obtained positions, wherein

either one of the recognitions by the first recognizing unit and the second recognizing unit is selectively performed, and

when the recognition by the first recognizing unit is performed, the control unit controls the display process according to the result of recognition by the first recognizing unit, while when the recognition by the second recognizing unit is performed, the control unit controls the display process according to the result of recognition by the second recognizing unit.

10. The apparatus according to claim 1, wherein when a state in which the feature value is equal to or larger than the first threshold continues for a predetermined time or longer while the first recognition method is selected, the control unit selects the second recognition method.

11. The apparatus according to claim 1, wherein when a state in which the feature value is smaller than the first threshold continues for a predetermined time or longer while the second recognition method is selected, the control unit selects the first recognition method.

12. The apparatus according to claim 1, wherein when the feature value is equal to or larger than a fourth threshold that is larger than the first threshold by a predetermined value while the first recognition method is selected, the control unit selects the second recognition method.

13. The apparatus according to claim 1, wherein when the feature value is smaller than a fifth threshold that is smaller than the first threshold by a predetermined value while the second recognition method is selected, the control unit selects the first recognition method.

14. The apparatus according to claim 2, further comprising an identifying unit configured to identify a user that is the subject, wherein

the comparing unit uses at least one of the first threshold increased or decreased by a value according to the identified user and the second threshold increased or decreased by a value according to the identified user to compare the feature value.

15. The apparatus according to claim 3, further comprising an identifying unit configured to identify a user that is the subject, wherein

the comparing unit uses at least one of the first threshold increased or decreased by a value according to the identified user and the second threshold increased or decreased by a value according to the identified user to compare the feature value.

16. The apparatus according to claim 1, further comprising a shape recognizing unit configured to recognize a shape of the particular part, wherein

the comparing unit uses at least one of the first threshold increased or decreased by a value according to a degree of agreement between the recognized shape of the particular part and a predetermined shape and the second threshold increased or decreased by a value according to the degree of agreement to compare the feature value.

17. The apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the calculator calculates at least one of a distance, a speed and an acceleration of motion of the particular part as the feature value.

18. The apparatus according to claim 1, wherein

the calculator calculates as the feature value the number of continuous occurrences of motion of the particular part with time from switching of a sign of a scalar product of a motion vector of the particular part and a predetermined coordinate axis vector to next switching of the sign being within a predetermined time,

the comparing unit compare the number of occurrences and a sixth threshold, and

the control unit selects the first recognition method when the number of occurrences is smaller than the sixth threshold and selects the second recognition method when the number of occurrences is equal to or larger than the sixth threshold.

19. The apparatus according to claim 1, wherein

the calculator calculates as the feature value the number of continuous occurrences of motion of the particular part with time from switching of a sign of a scalar product of a motion vector thereof and a predetermined coordinate axis vector to next switching of the sign being within a predetermined time,

the comparing unit compare the number of occurrences and a sixth threshold, and

the control unit selects the first recognition method when the number of occurrences is smaller than the sixth threshold and selects the second recognition method when the number of occurrences is equal to or larger than the sixth threshold.