METHOD AND SYSTEM FOR DETECTING LINEAR SWIPE GESTURE USING ACCELEROMETER

• US 20160282949A1
• Filed: 03/27/2015
• Published: 09/29/2016
• Est. Priority Date: 03/27/2015
• Status: Abandoned Application

• Current Assignee: Sony Mobile Communications Incorporated (Sony Group Corp.)
• Original Assignee: Sony Corporation (Sony Group Corp.)
• Inventors: Midholt, Magnus, Thorn, Ola
• Application Number:
  US14/670,633
• Publication Number:
  US 20160282949A1
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 1/1
• CPC Class Codes: G01P 15/00 Measuring acceleration; Measuring deceleration; Measuring shock, i.e. sudden change of acceleration
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 1/163 Wearable computers, e.g. on a belt
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 1/1694 the I/O peripheral being a single or a set of motion sensors for pointer control or gesture input obtained by sensing movements of the portable computer
• 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 3/012 Head tracking input arrangements
• 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
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 3/0346 with detection of the device orientation or free movement in a 3D space, e.g. 3D mice, 6-DOF [six degrees of freedom] pointers using gyroscopes, accelerometers or tilt-sensors

Abstract

A device and method detect user input for an electronic device based on linear acceleration and/or linear acceleration rate of the electronic device. More particularly, at least one of linear acceleration or linear acceleration rate of the electronic device is detected, the detected linear acceleration or acceleration rate is correlated to a gesture for controlling the electronic device.

Claims

1. An electronic device, comprising:

a linear acceleration sensor;

a control circuit operatively coupled to the linear acceleration sensor, the control circuit configured to detect at least one of linear acceleration or a linear acceleration rate of the electronic device based on data provided by the linear acceleration sensor, and correlate the detected linear acceleration or linear acceleration rate to an input command for controlling the electronic device.

2. The electronic device according to claim 1, wherein the linear acceleration sensor comprises an accelerometer, and accelerometer and a gyroscope, or an accelerometer and a magnetometer.

3. The electronic device according to claim 1, wherein the electronic device comprises a smart watch or a headset.

4. The electronic device according to claim 1, wherein the control circuit is configured to determine a direction of the gesture based on a direction of the linear acceleration.

5. The electronic device according to claim 4, wherein the control circuit is configured to determine the direction of the gesture in at least two different axes.

6. The electronic device according to claim 1, wherein the control circuit is configured to:

ignore linear acceleration data that is below a prescribed threshold acceleration;

or

ignore linear acceleration data corresponding to a gait of a user.

7. The electronic device according to claim 1, wherein the control circuit is configured to ignore linear acceleration data that is not within a prescribed range of directions.

8. The electronic device according to claim 1, wherein the control circuit is configured to:

determine an orientation of the electronic device relative to a direction of a force of gravity; and

perform the detecting step only when the orientation of the electronic device is within a prescribed orientation relative to gravity.

9. The electronic device according to claim 1, wherein the control circuit is configured to:

detect linear acceleration data corresponding to a walking or running motion of the user; and

ignore such linear acceleration data.

10. The electronic device according to claim 1, wherein the controller is configured to:

determine an elapsed time between the detected linear acceleration or linear acceleration rate and a previously detected linear acceleration or linear acceleration rate;

determine whether a direction change occurred between the detected linear acceleration or linear acceleration rate and a previously detected linear acceleration or linear acceleration rate;

ignore the detected linear acceleration or linear acceleration rate when a direction change is detected and the elapsed time is less than a prescribed time period.

11. The electronic device according to claim 1, wherein the control circuit is configured to determine an intensity of the gesture based on the linear acceleration rate.

12. A method for detecting user inputs for an electronic device, comprising:

detecting at least one of a linear acceleration or a linear acceleration rate of the electronic device; and

correlating the detected linear acceleration or linear acceleration rate to a gesture for controlling the electronic device.

13. The method according to claim 12, wherein correlating includes determining a direction of the gesture based on a direction of the linear acceleration.

14. The method according to claim 12, wherein detecting at least one of the linear acceleration or linear acceleration rate comprises at least one of:

ignoring linear acceleration data that is below a prescribed threshold acceleration;

or

ignoring linear acceleration data corresponding to a gait of a user.

15. The method according to claim 12, wherein detecting at least one of linear acceleration or linear acceleration rate comprises ignoring linear acceleration data that is not within a prescribed range of directions.

16. The method according to claim 12, wherein detecting at least one of linear acceleration or linear acceleration rate comprises:

determining an orientation of the electronic device relative to a direction of a force of gravity; and

performing the detecting step only when the orientation of the electronic device is within a prescribed orientation relative to gravity.

17. The method according to claim 12, wherein detecting at least one of linear acceleration or linear acceleration rate comprises detecting linear acceleration data corresponding to a walking or running motion of the user, and ignoring such linear acceleration data.

18. The method according to claim 12, further comprising performing the gesture on the skin of the user, wherein at least one of linear acceleration or linear acceleration rate of the electronic device corresponds to movement of the user'"'"'s skin.

19. The method according to claim 12, wherein detecting at least one of linear acceleration or linear acceleration rate comprises:

determining an elapsed time between the detected linear acceleration or linear acceleration rate and a previously detected linear acceleration or linear acceleration rate;

determining whether a direction change occurred between the detected linear acceleration or linear acceleration rate and a previously detected linear acceleration or linear acceleration rate;

ignoring the detected linear acceleration or linear acceleration rate when a direction change is detected and the elapsed time is less than a prescribed time period.

20. The method according to claim 12, wherein correlating the detected linear acceleration or acceleration rate to a gesture for controlling the electronic device includes determining an intensity of the gesture based on the linear acceleration rate.