SYSTEMS AND METHODS FOR USER INDICATION RECOGNITION

• US 20150362988A1
• Filed: 06/16/2014
• Published: 12/17/2015
• Est. Priority Date: 06/16/2014
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Edge 3 Technologies, LLC, Honda Motor Co., Ltd. (Honda Motor Company)
• Original Assignee: Edge 3 Technologies, LLC
• Inventors: El Dokor, Tarek A., Cluster, Jordan, Yamamoto, Stuart, Vaghefinazari, Pedram
• Granted Patent: US 10,936,050 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 1/1
• CPC Class Codes: G01C 21/3679 Retrieval, searching and output of POI information, e.g. hotels, restaurants, shops, filling stations, parking facilities G01C21/3611 takes precedence
• CPC Class Codes: G01C 21/3682 output of POI information on a road map G01C21/3614, G01C21/3685 take precedence
• 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 3/017 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 3/0487 using specific features provided by the input device, e.g. functions controlled by the rotation of a mouse with dual sensing arrangements, or of the nature of the input device, e.g. tap gestures based on pressure sensed by a digitiser
• CPC Class Codes: G10L 15/00 Speech recognition G10L17/00 takes precedence
• CPC Class Codes: G10L 15/24 Speech recognition using non-acoustical features
• CPC Class Codes: G10L 2015/223 Execution procedure of a spoken command

Abstract

Various methods and apparatuses are provided to determine an occurrence of a first user indication and determine a plurality of Points of Interest (POI) corresponding to the first user indication, and to determine an occurrence of a second user indication and responsively determine a narrowed POI from the plurality of POIs. An action corresponding to the narrowed POI and the first and/or second user indication is determined and effected.

Claims

1. An apparatus, comprising:

at least one sensor device configured to sense at least one user indication, wherein the at least one user indication comprises at least one of an indication gesture and an audible indication;

at least one processing device communicatively coupled to the at least one sensor device, the at least one processing device configured to;

determine at least one occurrence of at least one first user indication;

determine a plurality of Points of Interest (POIs) corresponding to the at least one first user indication;

determine at least one occurrence of at least one second user indication in response to determining the plurality of POIs;

determine at least one narrowed POI from the plurality of POIs in response to determining the at least one occurrence of the at least one second user indication;

determine at least one action corresponding to the at least one narrowed POI and at least one of the first and second user indications; and

effect performance of the at least one action.

2. The apparatus of claim 1, wherein the at least one processing device is further configured to effect presentation of the plurality of POIs to a user in response to determining the plurality of POIs, wherein effecting presentation further comprises at least one of effecting a visual representation of the plurality of POIs on a display device and effecting an audible representation of the plurality of POIs.

3. The apparatus of claim 2, wherein the at least one processing device is further configured to enable a user to interact with the presentation of the plurality of POIs with the at least one second user indication.

4. The apparatus of claim 1, wherein the at least one first user indication comprises at least one indication gesture, and wherein the at least one second user indication comprises at least one audible indication.

5. The apparatus of claim 1, wherein the processing device is further configured to determine the plurality of POIs using, at least in part, at least one of environmental data, a time of day, a present location, a known location, information about one or more present users, a user setting, and an historical record of POIs.

6. The apparatus of claim 1, wherein the at least one first user indication comprises a coarse user indication and wherein the at least one second user indication comprises a fine indication.

7. The apparatus of claim 1, wherein the at least one first user indication comprises both an indication gesture and an audible indication.

8. The apparatus of claim 1, wherein the at least one processing device is configured to effect performance of the at least one action further comprises the at least one processing device being configured to at least one of:

enable saving a location of the at least one narrowed POI;

enable provision of information pertaining to the at least one narrowed POI;

enable provision of information pertaining to a present location of a contact in relation to the at least one narrowed POI;

identify at least one narrowed POI as a hazard;

enable at least one of modification and initiation of a navigation route; and

enable operation of at least one barrier operator.

9. The apparatus of claim 1, wherein the at least one processing device is configured to:

determine the plurality of POIs by using, at least in part, at least one of location data, compass data, steering wheel angle data, speed data, and CAN bus data.

10. The apparatus of claim 1, wherein the at least one processing device is configured to restrict the plurality of POIs to POIs that are located within a geographical region having an outer border.

11. The apparatus of claim 10, wherein the at least one processing device is configured to:

compare a number of the plurality of POIs to a lower threshold and an upper threshold; and

when the number of the plurality POIs is either greater than the upper threshold or lower than the lower threshold, modify the outer border.

12. The apparatus of claim 11, wherein the at least one processing device is configured to:

when the number of the plurality of POIs is less than the lower threshold, enlarge the outer border; and

when the number of the plurality of POIs is greater than the upper threshold, contract the outer border.

13. The apparatus of claim 12, wherein the at least one processing device is configured to:

determine a default outer border based on, at least in part, a user profile, a current location, a type of search, a threshold value, a border shape, a type of current road, and a time of day.

14. A method, comprising:

sensing at least one occurrence of at least one first user indication;

determining a plurality of Points of Interest (POIs) corresponding to the at least one first user indication;

sensing at least one occurrence of at least one second user indication in response to determining the plurality of POIs;

determining at least one narrowed POI from the plurality of POIs in response to determining the at least one occurrence of the at least one second user indication;

determining at least one action corresponding to the at least one narrowed POI and at least one of the first and second user indications; and

performing the at least one action.

15. The method of claim 14, including presenting the plurality of POIs to a user in response to determining the plurality of POIs using at least one of a visual representation of the plurality of POIs on a display device and an audible representation of the plurality of POIs.

16. The method of claim 15, including enabling a user to interact with the presentation of the plurality of POIs with the at least one second user indication.

17. The method of claim 14, including restricting the plurality of POIs to POIs that are located within a geographical region having an outer border.

18. The method of claim 17, including:

comparing a number of the plurality of POIs to a lower threshold and an upper threshold; and

when the number of the plurality POIs is either greater than the upper threshold or lower than the lower threshold, modifying the outer border.

19. The method of claim 18, including:

when the number of the plurality of POIs is less than the lower threshold, enlarging the outer border; and

when the number of the plurality of POIs is greater than the upper threshold, contracting the outer border.

20. The method of claim 19, including determining a default outer border based on, at least in part, a user profile, a current location, a type of search, a threshold value, a border shape, a type of current road, and a time of day.

21. The method of claim 14, wherein the at least one first user indication comprises a coarse user indication and wherein the at least one second user indication comprises a fine indication.

22. A method, comprising:

sensing at least one occurrence of at least one first coarse user indication;

determining a plurality of Points of Interest (POIs) corresponding to the at least one first coarse user indication;

sensing at least one occurrence of at least one second fine user indication in response to determining the plurality of POIs;

determining at least one narrowed POI from the plurality of POIs in response to determining the at least one occurrence of the at least one second fine user indication;

performing at least one action corresponding to the at least one narrowed POI.