MOTION AND GESTURE INPUT FROM A WEARABLE DEVICE

• US 20160091980A1
• Filed: 02/06/2015
• Published: 03/31/2016
• Est. Priority Date: 09/30/2014
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Apple Inc.
• Original Assignee: Apple Inc.
• Inventors: ISIKMAN, Serhan, LYNCH, Stephen Brian, ELY, Colin M., BARANSKI, Andrzej, SHEDLETSKY, Anna-Katrina, LONKAR, Kuldeep P., WERNER, Christopher, DE JONG, Erik, WEISS, Samuel B.
• Granted Patent: US 10,488,936 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 1/1
• CPC Class Codes: A61B 2562/0219 Inertial sensors, e.g. accelerometers, gyroscopes, tilt switches
• CPC Class Codes: A61B 2562/0261 Strain gauges
• CPC Class Codes: A61B 5/0059 using light, e.g. diagnosis by transillumination, diascopy, fluorescence A61B5/0093, A61B5/1455, A61B5/02416 and A61B5/0261 take precedence
• CPC Class Codes: A61B 5/11 Measuring movement of the entire body or parts thereof, e.g. head or hand tremor, mobility of a limb for measuring pulse A61B5/02 ;A61B5/1038 takes precedence; motion detection to correct for motion artifacts in physiological signals A61B5/721
• CPC Class Codes: A61B 5/1125 Grasping motions of hands
• CPC Class Codes: A61B 5/316 Modalities, i.e. specific diagnostic methods
• CPC Class Codes: A61B 5/389 Electromyography [EMG]
• CPC Class Codes: A61B 5/4519 Muscles A61B5/389, A61B5/224 take precedence
• CPC Class Codes: A61B 5/4523 Tendons
• CPC Class Codes: A61B 5/6824 Arm or wrist
• CPC Class Codes: A61B 5/7475 User input or interface means, e.g. keyboard, pointing device, joystick
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 1/163 Wearable computers, e.g. on a belt
• 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 3/014 Hand-worn input/output arrangements, e.g. data gloves
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 3/015 Input arrangements based on nervous system activity detection, e.g. brain waves [EEG] detection, electromyograms [EMG] detection, electrodermal response detection
• 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

This relates to a device that detects a user'"'"'s motion and gesture input through the movement of one or more of the user'"'"'s hand, arm, wrist, and fingers, for example, to provide commands to the device or to other devices. The device can be attached to, resting on, or touching the user'"'"'s wrist, ankle or other body part. One or more optical sensors, inertial sensors, mechanical contact sensors, and myoelectric sensors can detect movements of the user'"'"'s body. Based on the detected movements, a user gesture can be determined. The device can interpret the gesture as an input command, and the device can perform an operation based on the input command. By detecting movements of the user'"'"'s body and associating the movements with input commands, the device can receive user input commands through another means in addition to, or instead of, voice and touch input, for example.

Claims

1. A portable electronic device comprising:

one or more light emitters capable of emitting light at a user'"'"'s body part;

one or more optical sensors capable of detecting a first reflectance of the emitted light, wherein the first reflectance is associated with movement of one or more tendons located in the body part; and

logic capable of determining a gesture from the first reflectance and further capable of associating a command with the determined gesture.

2. The device of claim 1, further comprising a strap attached to the device, wherein at least one of the one or more optical sensors and at least one of the one or more light emitters are located on or in the strap.

3. The device of claim 2, wherein the at least one of the one or more optical sensors located on or in the strap is capable of detecting a second reflectance of emitted light from the at least one or more light emitters located on or in the strap, and the logic is further capable of determining the gesture from the first and second reflectance.

4. The device of claim 1, comprising at least two light emitters and at least two optical sensors, wherein the at least two light emitters and the at least two optical sensors emit and detect light at different wavelengths.

5. The device of claim 4, wherein the different wavelengths are selected from a group comprising infrared, blue, and green wavelengths.

6. The device of claim 1, wherein the optical sensors are multi-functional sensors capable of detecting a photoplethysmography signal.

7. The device of claim 1, further comprising at least one of an inertial sensor, a mechanical contact sensor, and a myoelectric sensor.

15. The device of claim 1 or claim 8 or claim 12, further comprising

a transceiver capable of receiving a second gesture or movement information from a second device, the second device capable of detecting the second gesture or movement associated with one or more tendons located on a second body part,

wherein the logic is further capable of associating the command with the second gesture or movement.

8. A portable electronic device comprising:

a strap attached to the device, wherein the strap comprises a first band; and

logic capable of measuring a change in one or more characteristics associated with movement of the first band in response to movement of one or more tendons located in a user'"'"'s body part,

determining a gesture based on the change in the one or more characteristics, and

associating a command with the gesture.

9. The device of claim 8, wherein the first band comprises a plurality of regions,

the plurality of regions capable of stretching or compressing in response to the movement of the one or more tendons, and

wherein the one or more characteristics is a resistance due to a change in stretch or compression in at least one of the plurality of regions.

10. The device of claim 8, wherein the strap further comprises a second band,

the first band comprises a plurality of optical features, and

the second band comprises

one or more light emitters capable of emitting light at the optical features, and

one or more light sensors capable of detecting a reflectance of the emitted light, and

wherein the one or more characteristics is the detected reflectance.

11. The device of claim 8, further comprising at least one of an optical sensor, an inertial sensor, and a myoelectric sensor.

12. A portable electronic device comprising:

one or more electrodes capable of detecting a change in capacitance associated with movement of one or more tendons located in a user'"'"'s body part; and

logic capable of determining a gesture based on the movement and further capable of associating a command with the determined gesture.

13. The device of claim 12, wherein the one or more electrodes are located in or on a strap attached to the device.

14. The device of claim 12, further comprising at least one of an optical sensor, an inertial sensor, and a mechanical contact sensor.

16. A method of determining a gesture comprising:

detecting a signal, wherein the signal is a reflectance, change in capacitance, or change in resistance associated with movement of one or more tendons located in the body part;

determining the gesture from the signal; and

associating a command with the determined gesture.

17. The method of claim 16, wherein the signal is a reflectance of light, the reflectance of light being a reflectance profile generated from a plurality of optical sensors detecting light at different wavelengths.

18. The method of claim 17, wherein the plurality of optical sensors are capable of detecting a photoplethysmography signal.

19. The method of claim 16, wherein the signal is a change in resistance generated from the movement of the one or more tendons causing a change in stretch or compression in a strap.

20. The method of claim 16, wherein the determining the gesture includes receiving a second gesture or movement information from another device, and the associated command is further based on the second gesture.