DEVICE AND METHOD FOR DETECTING GESTURES ON THE SKIN

• US 20150220154A1
• Filed: 02/06/2014
• Published: 08/06/2015
• Est. Priority Date: 02/06/2014
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Sony Corporation (Sony Group Corp.)
• Original Assignee: Sony Corporation (Sony Group Corp.)
• Inventors: Midholt, Magnus, Thorn, Ola, de Leon, David
• Granted Patent: US 9,921,658 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 1/1
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 3/011 Arrangements for interaction with the human body, e.g. for user immersion in virtual reality blind teaching G09B21/00
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 3/014 Hand-worn input/output arrangements, e.g. data gloves
• 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

Abstract

A device and method in accordance with the present disclosure provide an input to an electronic device via a gesture performed by a user. A distortion of the user'"'"'s skin surface due to a gesture performed on the user'"'"'s skin surface is detected, and a characteristic of the detected distortion is determined. Based on the determined characteristic, the gesture performed on the user'"'"'s skin surface is determined.

Claims

1. A method of determining a gesture performed by a user, the method comprising:

detecting a distortion of the user'"'"'s skin surface due to a gesture performed on the user'"'"'s skin surface;

determining a characteristic of the detected distortion; and

based on the determined characteristic, determining the gesture performed on the user'"'"'s skin surface.

2. The method according to claim 1, wherein determining the gesture includes comparing the characteristic of the detected skin distortion to a plurality entries stored in a database, each entry including skin distortion data corresponding to skin distortion due to a predetermined gesture.

4. The method according to claim 1, further comprising:

retrieving an input command assigned to the detected gesture;

determining an orientation of the user'"'"'s arm,

wherein retrieving the input command assigned to the determined gesture is further based on the determined orientation of the user'"'"'s arm.

5. The method according to claim 1, further comprising:

retrieving an input command assigned to the detected gesture;

determining an orientation of the user'"'"'s arm; and

assigning the retrieved input command to one electronic device of a plurality of electronic devices based on the determined orientation of the user'"'"'s arm.

7. The method according to claim 1, wherein the gesture is performed on the user'"'"'s forearm, and detecting the distortion of the skin is performed at the user'"'"'s wrist.

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

determining an orientation of the user'"'"'s arm; and

performing the detection step only when the determined orientation corresponds to a predetermined orientation.

9. The method according to claim 1, wherein detecting the distortion of the user'"'"'s skin surface comprises using an optical device to detect the distortion.

14. The method according to claim 1, wherein the gesture comprises at least one of a single flick of the skin, a double flick of the skin in the same direction, a double flick of the skin in opposing directions, or dragging the skin.

16. The method according to claim 1, wherein detecting distortion of the user'"'"'s skin surface comprises detecting movement of the user'"'"'s skin surface relative to a reference point.

17. The method according to claim 16, wherein detecting motion of the user'"'"'s skin surface comprises:

obtaining a sequence of images corresponding to the user'"'"'s skin surface;

comparing the sequence of images to each other to determine if one or more of the sequence of images differs from the other sequence of images; and

concluding there is skin movement when there is a difference between one or more sequence of images.

3. (canceled)

6. (canceled)

10. (canceled)

11. (canceled)

12. (canceled)

13. (canceled)

15. (canceled)

18. A gesture detection device, comprising:

a processor and memory;

a sensor operatively coupled to the processor, the sensor configured to provide to the processor data corresponding to skin distortion; and

logic stored in the memory and executable by the processor, the logic including

logic configured to detect a distortion of the user'"'"'s skin surface due to a gesture performed on the user'"'"'s skin surface based on data provided by the sensor;

logic configured to determine a characteristic of the detected distortion; and

logic configured to determine a gesture performed on the user'"'"'s skin surface based on the determined characteristic.

19. The detection device according to claim 18, wherein the logic configured to determine the gesture includes logic configured to compare the characteristic of the detected skin distortion to a plurality entries stored in a database, each entry including skin distortion data corresponding to skin distortion due to a predetermined gesture.

20. The device according to claim 18, further comprising logic that retrieves an input command assigned to the detected gesture.

21. The device according to claim 20, further comprising logic that determines an orientation of the user'"'"'s arm,

wherein the logic that retrieves the input command assigned to the determined gesture includes logic that retrieves the input command based on the determined orientation of the user'"'"'s arm.

22. The device according to claim 20, wherein the logic configured to determine the orientation of the user'"'"'s arm comprises logic that uses at least one of data obtained from an orientation sensor to determine the orientation.

23. The device according to claim 19, further comprising:

logic configured to determine an orientation of the user'"'"'s arm; and

logic configured to perform the detection step only when the determined orientation corresponds to a predetermined orientation.

25. The device according to claim 19, wherein sensing device comprises an optical device.

26. The device according to claim 25, wherein the optical device comprises a camera.

27. The device according to claim 19, further comprising an attachment device configured for attachment to a wrist, wherein the sensor is attached to the attachment device.

29. The device according to claim 19, wherein the logic configured to determine the characteristic of skin distortion based on data provided by the sensor includes logic configured to determine skin distortion corresponding to at least one of a single flick of the skin, a double flick of the skin in the same direction, a double flick of the skin in opposing directions, or dragging the skin.

30. The device according to claim 19, wherein the logic configured to detect distortion of the user'"'"'s skin surface comprises logic configured to detect movement of the user'"'"'s skin surface relative to the sensor.

31. The device according to claim 30, wherein the logic configured to detect motion of the user'"'"'s skin surface comprises:

logic configured to cause a sequence of images corresponding to the user'"'"'s skin surface to be obtained;

logic configured to compare the sequence of images to each other to determine if one or more of the sequence of images differs from the other sequence of images; and

logic configured to conclude there is skin movement when there is a difference between one or more sequence of images.

24. (canceled)

28. (canceled)