DISPLAY DIRECTIONAL SENSING

• US 20140118256A1
• Filed: 10/29/2012
• Published: 05/01/2014
• Est. Priority Date: 10/29/2012
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Lenovo PC International Limited (Lenovo Group Ltd.)
• Original Assignee: Lenovo Singapore Pte Limited (Lenovo Group Ltd.)
• Inventors: SONODA, NAO, KASHIYAMA, HIDEKI
• Granted Patent: US 8,896,533 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 345/158
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 1/1686 the I/O peripheral being an integrated camera
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 1/169 the I/O peripheral being an integrated pointing device, e.g. trackball in the palm rest area, mini-joystick integrated between keyboard keys, touch pads or touch stripes G06F1/1643 takes precedence; constructional details of pointing devices G06F3/033
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 1/1694 the I/O peripheral being a single or a set of motion sensors for pointer control or gesture input obtained by sensing movements of the portable computer
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 2200/1637 Sensing arrangement for detection of housing movement or orientation, e.g. for controlling scrolling or cursor movement on the display of an handheld computer
• 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: G09G 2340/0492 Change of orientation of the displayed image, e.g. upside-down, mirrored

Abstract

An electronic device includes a display with an image display area configured to change orientation based on a change of position of the device. Upon detection of the position change, a camera may capture an image adjacent the device. The orientation of the image display area may be moved relative to a reference feature captured in the image.

Claims

1. An apparatus, comprising:

a housing;

a display on one side of the housing;

a camera coupled to the housing;

an orientation sensor coupled to the housing;

a computing device coupled to the orientation sensor; and

an image display area on the display controlled by the computing device, wherein the computing device is configured to;

receive an indication of a change in position of the apparatus provided by the orientation sensor,

trigger the camera to capture an image,

analyze the captured image for a reference feature, and

move an orientation of the image display area to coincide with a position of the reference feature.

2. The apparatus of claim 1, wherein the computing device controls the image display area to switch between a landscape orientation and a portrait orientation.

3. The apparatus of claim 1, wherein the reference feature is one or more of an eye, nose or mouth of a user holding the apparatus.

4. The apparatus of claim 1, wherein the image display area is moved to align perpendicular to a line across a user'"'"'s set of eyes captured in the image.

5. The apparatus of claim 1, wherein the camera is on the same side as the display.

6. The apparatus of claim 1, comprising an infra-red sensor coupled to the computing device, wherein the computing device is configured to detect a position of two eyes of a user holding the apparatus as the reference feature.

7. The apparatus of claim 1, wherein the orientation sensor is configured to detect movement of the apparatus so that the display is planar to a ground level.

8. The apparatus of claim 7, wherein the camera is triggered by the orientation sensor sensing a change in the position of the apparatus relative to the ground level, wherein the change is greater than a threshold level.

9. A method for displaying an orientation of an image area on a display, comprising:

detecting a change in position of an orientation sensor coupled to the display;

triggering a camera, upon the detection, to capture an image of a reference feature adjacent the display;

recognizing an orientation position of the reference feature in the captured image; and

rotating a view shown in the image area to align with the orientation position of the reference feature.

10. The method of claim 9 further comprising determining if a direction of the view shown in the display is different than a direction of the orientation position of the reference feature.

11. The method of claim 9 further comprising turning the camera off after capturing the image.

12. The method of claim 9 further comprising recognizing a face of a user holding the display, wherein the reference feature is on the face.

13. The method of claim 12 further comprising determining a relative position of the reference feature on the face to other reference features on the face.

14. The method of claim 13 further comprising determining an axis along the face and the orientation position of the reference feature based on the determined axis.

15. A computer readable medium for determining an orientation view of a display on an electronic device having computer usable program code embodied therewith, the computer usable program code configured to:

detect a change in position of the display;

trigger a camera, upon the detected change in position, to capture an image of a user holding the electronic device;

enable a facial recognition function to recognize facial features in the captured image of the user;

determine an orientation of the user based on the captured image of the user; and

align a view of an image area in the display to align with the orientation of the user.

16. The computer program code of claim 15 further comprising computer program code configured to determine positioning of the facial features and determine the orientation of the user based on the positioning of the recognized facial features.

17. The computer program code of claim 16 further comprising computer program code configured to determine an axis of the face based on the positioning of the facial features and align the axis of the face with an axis of the display.

18. The computer program code of claim 16 further comprising computer program code configured to determine a position of a nose on the face relative to a position of eyes on the face and align a top of the view of the image area to the display to the user'"'"'s eyes.

19. The computer program code of claim 15 wherein the camera is continuously on while the user changes the position of the display.

20. The computer program code of claim 15 further comprising computer program code storing facial recognition data associated with the user.