SMART WATCH AND CONTROL METHOD THEREOF

• US 20150205994A1
• Filed: 12/10/2014
• Published: 07/23/2015
• Est. Priority Date: 01/22/2014
• Status: Abandoned Application

• Current Assignee: Samsung Electronics Co. Ltd. (Samsung Group)
• Original Assignee: Samsung Electronics Co. Ltd. (Samsung Group)
• Inventors: YOO, Sang Hyun, ROH, Yo Han, LEE, Ji Hyun, LEE, Ho Dong, HONG, Seok Jin
• Application Number:
  US14/566,573
• Publication Number:
  US 20150205994A1
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 1/1
• CPC Class Codes: G04G 21/00 Input or output devices integrated in time-pieces
• CPC Class Codes: G06V 40/161 Detection; Localisation; Normalisation
• CPC Class Codes: G06V 40/67 by interactive indications to the user

Abstract

A smart watch and a control method thereof are provided. A smart watch includes a display having a position that is changeable; an estimation-based position controller configured to determine an initial target position based on a face position and control the display to be moved to the determined initial target position; a face position determiner configured to, based on a face recognition result, determine whether a face exists in front of the display positioned at the initial target position; and a face recognition-based position controller configured to, in response to determining a face does not exist in front of the display, determine a modified target position to enable the display to be positioned toward a face and control the display to be moved to the modified target position.

Claims

1. A smart watch comprising:

a display having a position that is changeable;

an estimation-based position controller configured to determine an initial target position based on a face position and control the display to be moved to the determined initial target position;

a face position determiner configured to, based on a face recognition result, determine whether a face exists in front of the display positioned at the initial target position; and

a face recognition-based position controller configured to, in response to determining a face does not exist in front of the display, determine a modified target position to enable the display to be positioned toward a face and control the display to be moved to the modified target position.

2. The smart watch of claim 1, wherein the estimation-based position controller comprises:

a user action detector configured to detect a start action that is set in advance;

a display position estimator configured to, in response to the detection of the start action, detect a current situation of a user, and based on the detected situation, estimate a face position and a current position of the display;

a target position determiner configured to, based on the estimation result of the display position estimator, determine the initial target position where the display is to be moved; and

a display position controller configured to output a control signal that enables the display to be moved from the current position to the initial target position.

3. The smart watch of claim 2, wherein the user action detector is configured to detect the start action through one or more of a gesture recognized by a motion sensor, a voice command recognized by a microphone, and a command input by a key button.

4. The smart watch of claim 2, wherein the display position estimator detects the current situation of the user based on estimation data stored in advance in response to at least one of a current state of the display recognized by a motion sensor, a voice command recognized by a microphone, and a command input by a key button.

5. The smart watch of claim 2, wherein:

the face position determiner comprises a face recognizer configured to, in response to the display reaching the initial target position or the modified target position, capture a front where the display is facing and recognize the face during a predetermined time interval; and

the face recognition-based position controller comprises;

a modified target position determiner configured to, in a case where the recognition result of the face recognizer has been determined to be negative, repeatedly perform an operation for re-calculating the initial target position and determining the modified target position, or an operation for re-calculating the modified target position and re-determining the modified target position; and

a display position controller configured to output a control signal that enables the display to be moved to the determined or re-determined modified target position every time the modified target position is determined or re-determined by the modified target position determiner.

6. The smart watch of claim 5, wherein the target position determiner is configured to determine or re-determine the modified target position based on a preset standard or a new estimation result of the display position estimator.

7. The smart watch of claim 1, further comprising:

a restoration position controller configured to restore the display to an original base state based on a user action.

8. The smart watch of claim 1, wherein:

the smart watch comprises a predetermined area of a main body that is attached to a predetermined area of a wrist band in a manner that is rotatable, and

the estimation-based position controller and the face recognition-based position controller operate a display position moving mechanism that enables the display to be rotated with regard to the wrist band along a predetermined area where the display is attached in a manner that is rotatable.

9. The smart watch of claim 1, wherein:

the smart watch is attached in a manner that enables a lower side of a main body to translate along a wrist band; and

the estimation-based position controller and the face recognition-based position controller operate a display position moving mechanism that enables the display to translate with respect to the wrist band in a direction of winding up a wrist.

10. The smart watch of claim 1, wherein:

the display is a flexible display; and

the estimation-based position controller and the face recognition-based position controller operate a display shape changing mechanism that changes the flexible display between a curved shape and a plane shape.

11. A method of controlling a smart watch comprising a display of which position is changeable, the method comprising:

controlling an estimation-based position to determine an initial target position based on a face location and to move the display to the determined initial target position;

determining a face position based on a face recognition result in order to determine whether a face exists in front of the display moved to the initial target position; and

controlling a face recognition-based position to, in response to determining a face does not exist in front of the display, determine a modified target position to enable the display to be positioned toward the face and control the display to be moved to the modified target position.

12. The method of claim 11, wherein the controlling of the estimation-based position comprises:

detecting a user action to detect a start action that is set in advance;

estimating a display position to, in response to the detection of the start action, detect a current situation of a user, and based on the detected situation, estimate a face position and a current position of the display;

determining an initial target position to, based on the estimation result from the estimating of the display position, determine the initial target position where the display is to be moved; and

controlling a display initial position to output a control signal that enables the display to be moved from the current position to the initial target position.

13. The method of claim 12, wherein the detecting of the user action comprises detecting the start action through one or more of a gesture recognized by a motion sensor, a voice command recognized by a microphone, and a command input by a key button.

14. The method of claim 12, wherein the estimating of the display position comprises detecting the current situation of the user based on estimation data stored in advance in response to at least one of a current state of the display recognized by a motion sensor, a voice command recognized by a microphone, and a command input by a key button.

15. The method of claim 12, wherein:

the determining of the face position comprises recognizing a face in an image capturing a front of the display during a predetermined time interval in response to the display reaching the initial target position or the modified target position; and

the controlling of the face recognition-based position comprises;

determining a modified target position to, in response to the recognition result from the recognizing of the face of the user being determined to be negative, repeatedly performs an operation for re-calculating the initial target position and determining the modified target position, or an operation for re-calculating the modified target position and re-determining the modified target position; and

controlling a display modification position to output a control signal that enables the display to be moved to the determined or re-determined modified target position every time the modified target position is determined or re-determined in the determining of the modified target position.

16. The smart watch of claim 15, wherein the determining of the modified target position comprises determining the modified target position based on a preset standard or a new estimation result from the estimating of the display position.

17. The method of claim 11, further comprising:

controlling a restoration position to restore the display to an original base state based on a user action.

18. The method of claim 11, wherein:

the smart watch comprises a predetermined area of a main body that is attached to a predetermined area of a wrist band in a manner that is rotatable, and

the controlling of the estimation-based position and the controlling of the face recognition-based position comprise operating a display position moving mechanism that enables the display to be rotated with regard to the wrist band along a predetermined area where the display is attached in a manner that is rotatable.

19. The method of claim 11, wherein:

the smart watch is attached in a manner that enables a lower side of a main body to translate along a wrist band; and

the controlling of the estimation-based position and the controlling of the face recognition-based position comprise operating a display position moving mechanism that enables the display to translate with respect to the wrist band in a direction of winding up a wrist

20. The method of claim 11, wherein:

the display is a flexible display; and

the controlling of the estimation-based position and the controlling of the face recognition-based position comprise operating a display shape changing mechanism that changes the flexible display between a curved shape and a plane shape.

21. A smart watch comprising:

a main body configured to be positioned on a wrist;

a display configured to be positioned in the main body and having a display surface configured to form a tilt angle with respect to a bottom surface of the main body;

a camera configured to capture an image;

a face recognizer configured to recognize a face from the image; and

a position controller configured to adjust the tilt angle of the display surface based on a location of a face recognized in the image captured by the camera.

22. The smart watch of claim 21, wherein the position controller is configured to change the tilt angle of the display surface in response to the face recognizer determining that a face is not recognized in the image captured by the camera.

23. The smart watch of claim 21, wherein the display surface is configured to form a tilt angle of approximately 20 to 90 degrees with the bottom surface of the main body.