GESTURE DETECTION DEVICE FOR DETECTING HOVERING AND CLICK

• US 20140210716A1
• Filed: 01/07/2014
• Published: 07/31/2014
• Est. Priority Date: 01/31/2013
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: PixArt Imaging Incorporated
• Original Assignee: PixArt Imaging Incorporated
• Inventors: YANG, SHU-SIAN, KAO, MING-TSAN, CHENG, HAN-PING
• Granted Patent: US 9,524,037 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 345/158
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 2203/04101 2.5D-digitiser, i.e. digitiser detecting the X/Y position of the input means, finger or stylus, also when it does not touch, but is proximate to the digitiser's interaction surface and also measures the distance of the input means within a short range in the Z direction, possibly with a separate measurement setup
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 2203/04108 Touchless 2D- digitiser, i.e. digitiser detecting the X/Y position of the input means, finger or stylus, also when it does not touch, but is proximate to the digitiser's interaction surface without distance measurement in the Z direction
• 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 3/03547 Touch pads, in which fingers can move on a surface
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 3/042 by opto-electronic means
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 3/04883 for inputting data by handwriting, e.g. gesture or text

Abstract

There is provided a gesture detection device including two linear image sensor arrays and a processing unit. The processing unit is configured to compare sizes of pointer images in the image frames captured by the two linear image sensor arrays in the same period or different periods so as to identify a click event.

Claims

1. A gesture detection device, comprising:

a detection surface having a normal direction;

a first image sensor disposed on the detection surface and capturing a first image along the normal direction;

a second image sensor disposed on the detection surface offsetting a predetermined distance from the first image sensor along a Z-axis and capturing a second image along the normal direction; and

a processing unit configured to calculate an X-axis coordinate according to a position of a pointer image in the first image or a pointer image in the second image, calculate a Y-axis coordinate according to a disparity of the pointer images in the first image and the second image, and identify a click event of the Z-axis when a size difference of the pointer images between the first image and the second image is larger than or equal to a difference threshold.

2. The gesture detection device as claimed in claim 1, wherein when sizes of the pointer images in the first image and the second image are larger than or equal to a predetermined size, the processing unit stops calculating the X-axis coordinate and the Y-axis coordinate and stops identifying the click event.

3. The gesture detection device as claimed in claim 1, further comprising an infrared light source configured to illuminate field of views of the first image sensor and the second image sensor.

4. The gesture detection device as claimed in claim 3, wherein the infrared light source emits light alternatively in a first brightness value and a second brightness value, and the first image sensor and the second image sensor respectively capture a bright image corresponding to the first brightness value and respectively capture a dark image corresponding to the second brightness value, and the processing unit further calculates a differential image between the bright image and the dark image.

5. The gesture detection device as claimed in claim 4, wherein the second brightness value is zero or nonzero brightness.

6. The gesture detection device as claimed in claim 1, wherein the first image sensor and the second image sensor comprise a linear image sensor array.

7. A gesture detection device, comprising:

a detection surface having a normal direction;

a first image sensor disposed on the detection surface and capturing first images along the normal direction;

a second image sensor disposed on the detection surface parallel to the first image sensor and capturing second images along the normal direction; and

a processing unit configured to calculate an X-axis coordinate according to a position of a pointer image in the first images or a pointer image in the second images, calculate a Y-axis coordinate according to a disparity of the pointer images in the first images and the second images, and identify a click event when a size variation of the pointer images between the first images captured at different times and/or between the second images captured at different times is larger than or equal to a variation threshold.

8. The gesture detection device as claimed in claim 7, wherein when sizes of the pointer images in the first images and the second images are larger than or equal to a predetermined size, the processing unit stops calculating the X-axis coordinate and the Y-axis coordinate and stops identifying the click event.

9. The gesture detection device as claimed in claim 7, further comprising an infrared light source configured to illuminate field of views of the first image sensor and the second image sensor.

10. The gesture detection device as claimed in claim 9, wherein the infrared light source emits light alternatively in a first brightness value and a second brightness value, and the first image sensor and the second image sensor respectively capture a bright image corresponding to the first brightness value and respectively capture a dark image corresponding to the second brightness value, and the processing unit further calculates a differential image between the bright image and the dark image.

11. The gesture detection device as claimed in claim 10, wherein the second brightness value is zero or nonzero brightness.

12. The gesture detection device as claimed in claim 7, wherein the first image sensor and the second image sensor comprise a linear image sensor array.

13. A gesture detection device, comprising:

a detection surface having a normal direction;

a first image sensor disposed on the detection surface and capturing a first image along the normal direction;

a second image sensor disposed on the detection surface parallel to the first image sensor and capturing a second image along the normal direction;

a third image sensor disposed on the detection surface offsetting a predetermined distance from the first image sensor and the second image sensor along a Z-axis and capturing a third image along the normal direction; and

a processing unit configured to calculate a two-dimensional coordinate according to the first image and the second image, and identify a click event of the Z-axis when a size difference between a pointer image in the first image and a pointer image in the third image or between a pointer image in the second image and the pointer image in the third image is larger than or equal to a difference threshold.

14. The gesture detection device as claimed in claim 13, wherein the two-dimensional coordinate comprises an X-axis coordinate and a Y-axis coordinate, and the processing unit calculates an X-axis coordinate according to a position of the pointer image in the first image or the pointer image in the second image, and calculates a Y-axis coordinate according to a disparity of the pointer images in the first image and the second image.

15. The gesture detection device as claimed in claim 13, wherein when sizes of the pointer images in the first image and the second image are larger than or equal to a predetermined size, the processing unit stops calculating the two-dimensional coordinate and stops identifying the click event.

16. The gesture detection device as claimed in claim 13, further comprising an infrared light source configured to illuminate field of views of the first image sensor, the second image sensor and the third image sensor.

17. The gesture detection device as claimed in claim 16, wherein the infrared light source emits light alternatively in a first brightness value and a second brightness value, and the first image sensor, the second image sensor and the third image sensor respectively capture a bright image corresponding to the first brightness value and respectively capture a dark image corresponding to the second brightness value, and the processing unit further calculates a differential image between the bright image and the dark image.

18. The gesture detection device as claimed in claim 17, wherein the second brightness value is zero or nonzero brightness.

19. The gesture detection device as claimed in claim 13, wherein the first image sensor, the second image sensor and the third image sensor comprise a linear image sensor array.