ELECTRONIC CONTROLLER WITH FINGER MOTION SENSING

• US 20180361234A1
• Filed: 06/15/2018
• Published: 12/20/2018
• Est. Priority Date: 06/16/2017
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Valve Corporation
• Original Assignee: Valve Corporation
• Inventors: Nietfeld, Scott, Leinbaugh, Jeffrey George, Hope, Eric James, Bryan, Philip, Britt, Scott Richard, Mucha, Jeffrey Walter, Gottschalk, Claire Michelle, Slocum, Jeremy
• Granted Patent: US 10,874,939 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• CPC Class Codes: A63F 13/21 characterised by their sensors, purposes or types
• CPC Class Codes: A63F 13/213 comprising photodetecting means, e.g. cameras, photodiodes or infrared cells A63F13/219, A63F13/655 take precedence
• CPC Class Codes: A63F 13/214 for locating contacts on a surface, e.g. floor mats or touch pads
• CPC Class Codes: A63F 13/245 specially adapted to a particular type of game, e.g. steering wheels
• CPC Class Codes: A63F 13/42 by mapping the input signals into game commands, e.g. mapping the displacement of a stylus on a touch screen to the steering angle of a virtual vehicle
• CPC Class Codes: A63F 2300/8082 Virtual reality
• CPC Class Codes: B25J 13/02 Hand grip control means handles or pedals for crane control B66C13/56; for measuring the force applied to control members G01L5/22; hand-held casings for switching devices, e.g. joy-sticks H01H9/0214
• 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 3/0304 Detection arrangements using opto-electronic means constructional details of pointing devices not related to the detection arrangement using opto-electronic means G06F3/033; optical digitisers G06F3/042

Abstract

A controller includes a body having a handle, and an array of proximity sensors spatially distributed on, in, beneath, or near the outer surface of the handle, responsive to a proximity of a user'"'"'s fingers to that outer surface. A finger tracker converts the output of the array of proximity sensors to a set of joint angles corresponding to a plurality of the user'"'"'s fingers. The controller may include a renderer for processing the joint angles to deform a hand mesh that is rendered for display. Values may be calculated to facilitate normalization of the output of the proximity sensor array and thereby generate a set of normalized finger detection data. This data may be processed through curl logic to produce a linear estimate of gross finger curl with respect to the user and thereby generate a set of estimates for a plurality of finger joint angles for the user.

Claims

1. A handheld controller comprising:

a controller body having a handle portion;

a proximity sensor coupled to the handle portion and responsive to a proximity of a finger of a user grasping the handle portion to produce an output signal; and

a finger tracker component configured to calculate an estimated joint angle of the finger based at least in part on the output signal.

2. The controller of claim 1, further comprising a renderer for processing said estimated joint angle to deform a hand mesh that is rendered for display.

3. The controller of claim 1, wherein said finger tracker component comprises:

a normalizer that calculates a set of values based at least in part on the output signal with respect to said user and thereby generates a set of normalized finger detection data; and

a curl logic component that processes said set of normalized finger detection data to calculate said estimated joint angle.

4. The controller of claim 1, wherein said controller is for use in conjunction with a virtual reality system.

5. The controller of claim 1, wherein said controller includes a rechargeable battery disposed within said controller body.

6. The controller of claim 1, wherein said controller includes a tracking arc that is fixed to the controller body.

7. The controller of claim 6, further comprising a first plurality of tracking sensors disposed in said tracking arc, said first plurality of tracking sensors being responsive to electromagnetic radiation emitted by said electronic system.

8. The controller of claim 1, wherein said controller includes a hand retainer configured to physically bias the user'"'"'s palm against said outside surface of said handle portion.

9. The controller of claim 1, wherein said controller body further comprises a distal head that extends from said handle portion, said distal head including a distal end, and at least one thumb-operated control disposed between said handle portion and said distal end.

10. The controller of claim 1, wherein said proximity sensor comprises a plurality of capacitive sensors embedded under said outer surface of the handle portion, said outer surface comprising an electrically insulative material.

15. The controller of claim 1, wherein said proximity sensor is incorporated into one or more flexible printed circuits, and wherein each of said flexible printed circuits is attached to an inner surface of said handle portion.

17. The controller of claim 1, wherein said proximity sensor comprises an array comprising a plurality of capacitive sensors.

11. A method comprising:

receiving an output of a proximity sensor coupled to a handle portion of a user hand-held controller and responsive to a proximity of a finger of a user grasping the handle portion; and

calculating an estimate of the joint angle of the finger.

12. A method according to claim 11, further comprising:

deforming a hand mesh based on said estimate of the joint angle of the finger and generating a deformed hand mesh; and

rendering said deformed hand mesh for display.

13. A method according to claim 11, further comprising:

monitoring said output of said proximity sensor until detecting a predetermined hand gesture by said user.

14. A method according to claim 13, wherein said predetermined hand gesture comprises an ungrasp gesture.

16. A method according to claim 11, wherein said proximity sensor is incorporated into one or more flexible printed circuits, and wherein each of said flexible printed circuits is attached to an inner surface of said handle portion.

18. A method according to claim 11, further comprising calculating a plurality of values based at least in part on said output of said proximity array to facilitate normalization of said output of said proximity sensor with respect to said user and thereby generating a set of normalized finger detection data.

19. A method according to claim 18, further comprising processing said set of normalized finger detection data through a set of curl logic to produce an estimate of finger curl with respect to said user and thereby calculating said estimate of said joint angle.

20. A method according to claim 19, wherein said estimate is a linear estimate.