Dual pointing device and method based on 3-D motion and touch sensors

• US 8,049,737 B2
• Filed: 06/16/2008
• Issued: 11/01/2011
• Est. Priority Date: 12/17/2007
• Status: Expired due to Fees

• Current Assignee: Samsung Electronics Co. Ltd.
• Original Assignee: Samsung Electronics Co. Ltd.
• Inventors: Choi, Eun-Seok, Kim, Kyu-Yong, Cho, Sung-Jung, Cho, Seong-Il
• Primary Examiner(s): SHERMAN, STEPHEN G
• Application Number:
  US12/213,201
• Publication Number:
  US 20090153500A1
• Time in Patent Office: 1,233 Days
• Field of Search: 345156-178, 178 1801- 1809, 178/18.11, 178 1901- 1906, 178/20.01
• US Class Current: 345/173
• 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
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 3/044 by capacitive means

Abstract

A dual pointing device and method based on 3-D motion and touch sensors are provided. The dual pointing device includes a sensor including a first sensor sensing a motion in a space and a second sensor sensing a touch input, a movement-mode-determining unit determining a movement mode type using signals of the first and second sensors, and a pointer-moving unit moving a pointer on a display screen using at least one of the signals of the first sensor and the second sensor according to the determined movement mode type.

Claims

1. A dual pointing device based on three-dimensional (3-D) motion and touch sensors, comprising:

a sensor unit including a first sensor to sense a motion in a space and a second sensor to sense a touch input;

a movement-mode-determining unit to determine a movement mode type using signals of the first and second sensors;

a movement-amount-calculating unit to calculate a pointer movement amount using one or more signals of the first and second sensors; and

a pointer-moving unit to move a pointer on a display screen using at least one of the signals of the first sensor and the second sensor according to the determined movement mode type,

wherein, if the movement mode is a long-distance movement mode, the movement-amount-calculating unit assigns a higher weight to the pointer movement amount on the display screen appearing by the first signal of the first sensor than to the pointer movement amount on the display screen appearing by the second signal of the second sensor.

2. The dual pointing device of claim 1, wherein the pointer-moving unit comprises:

a display control unit to move the position of the pointer on the display screen using the calculated pointer movement amount.

3. The dual pointing device of claim 1, wherein if the determined movement mode type is a long-distance movement mode, the pointer-moving unit moves the pointer using the first signal of the first sensor, and if the determined movement mode type is a short-distance movement mode, the pointer-moving unit moves the pointer using the second signal of the second sensor.

4. The dual pointing device of claim 1, wherein the first sensor includes an angular velocity sensor or an acceleration sensor.

5. The dual pointing device of claim 1, wherein the second sensor includes a pressure-sensitive touch sensor or a capacitive touch sensor.

6. The dual pointing device of claim 1, wherein if there is an input from the second sensor, the movement-mode-determining unit determines the movement mode type as a long-distance movement mode, and, if there is no input from the second sensor, the movement-mode-determining unit determines the movement mode as a short-distance movement mode.

7. The dual pointing device of claim 1, further comprising a click-determining unit to identify a click signal from the second signal of the second sensor, wherein the click signal is created if a user'"'"'s contact is moved within a predetermined area or within a predetermined amount of time.

8. A dual pointing device based on three-dimensional (3-D) motion and touch sensors, comprising:

a sensor unit including a first sensor to sense a motion in a space and a second sensor to sense a touch input;

a movement-mode-determining unit to determine a movement mode type using signals of the first and second sensors;

a movement-amount-calculating unit to calculate a pointer movement amount using one or more signals of the first and second sensors; and

a pointer-moving unit to move a pointer on a display screen using at least one of the signals of the first sensor and the second sensor according to the determined movement mode type,

wherein if the movement mode type is a short-distance movement mode, the movement-amount-calculating unit assigns a lower weight to the pointer movement amount on the display screen appearing by the first signal of the first sensor than to the pointer movement amount on the display screen appearing by the second signal of the second sensor.

9. The dual pointing device of claim 8, wherein the pointer-moving unit comprises a display control unit to move the position of the pointer on the display screen using the calculated pointer movement amount.

10. The dual pointing device of claim 8, wherein if the determined movement mode type is a long-distance movement mode, the pointer-moving unit moves the pointer using the first signal of the first sensor, and if the determined movement mode type is a short-distance movement mode, the pointer-moving unit moves the pointer using the second signal of the second sensor.

11. The dual pointing device of claim 8, wherein the first sensor includes an angular velocity sensor or an acceleration sensor.

12. The dual pointing device of claim 8, wherein the second sensor includes a pressure-sensitive touch sensor or a capacitive touch sensor.

13. The dual pointing device of claim 8, wherein if there is an input from the second sensor, the movement-mode-determining unit determines the movement mode type as a long-distance movement mode, and, if there is no input from the second sensor, the movement-mode-determining unit determines the movement mode as a short-distance movement mode.

14. The dual pointing device of claim 8, further comprising a click-determining unit to identify a click signal from the second signal of the second sensor, wherein the click signal is created if a user'"'"'s contact is moved within a predetermined area or within a predetermined amount of time.

15. A dual pointing method based on three-dimensional (3-D) motion and touch sensors, comprising:

detecting a first signal of a first sensor sensing a motion in a space and a second signal of a second sensor sensing a touch input;

determining a movement mode type using the first signal and the second signal;

calculating a pointer movement amount using at least one of the first and second signals; and

moving a pointer on a display screen using at least one of the first and second signals of the first and second sensors according to the determined movement mode type,

wherein, if the movement mode is a long-distance movement mode, the calculating a pointer movement amount comprises assigning a higher weight to the pointer movement amount on the display screen appearing by the first signal of the first sensor than to the pointer movement amount on the display screen appearing by the second signal of the second sensor.

16. The dual pointing method of claim 15, wherein the moving of the pointer comprises:

moving the position of the pointer on the display screen according to the calculated pointer movement amount.

17. The dual pointing method of claim 15, wherein the moving of the pointer comprises, if the determined movement mode type is a long-distance movement mode, moving the pointer using the first signal of the first sensor, and, if the determined movement mode type is a short-distance movement mode, moving the pointer using the second signal of the second sensor.

18. A dual pointing method based on three-dimensional (3-D) motion and touch sensors, comprising:

detecting a first signal and a second signal from a first sensor and second sensor, respectively, the first sensor sensing a motion and the second sensor sensing a touch input;

determining a movement mode type using the first signal and the second signal; and

calculating a pointer movement amount on a display screen by combining the first signal and the second signal,

wherein, if the movement mode is a long-distance movement mode, the calculating a pointer movement amount comprises assigning a higher weight to the pointer movement amount on the display screen appearing by the first signal of the first sensor than to the pointer movement amount on the display screen appearing by the second signal of the second sensor.

19. The dual pointing method of claim 18, wherein the calculating of the pointer movement amount further comprises:

calculating a first pointer movement amount using the first signal and a second pointer movement amount using the second signal and calculating a final pointer movement amount by multiplying each of the first pointer movement amount and the second pointer movement amount by a weight and summing the multiplication results.

20. A dual pointing method of a dual pointing device including a first sensor to point in a three-dimensional (3-D) space and a second sensor to point by a touch input, comprising:

determining whether there is an input signal of the second sensor;

determining a movement mode type using an input signal of the first sensor and the input signal of the second sensor;

calculating a pointing movement amount on a display screen using a second signal detected by the second sensor if there is an input signal of the second signal; and

moving a pointer on the display screen using the calculated pointer movement amount,

wherein, if the movement mode is a long-distance movement mode, the calculating a pointing movement amount comprises assigning a higher weight to the pointing movement amount on the display screen appearing by the input signal of the first sensor than to the pointing movement amount on the display screen appearing by the second signal of the second sensor.

21. The dual pointing method of claim 20, further comprising:

calculating the pointing movement amount using the input signal detected by the first sensor if there is no input signal of the second sensor.

22. A dual pointing method of a dual pointing device including a first sensor for three-dimensional (3-D) motion-based pointing and a second sensor for touch-input-based pointing, the dual pointing method comprising:

calculating a first pointer movement amount on a display screen by sensing a first signal using the first sensor;

determining whether there is an input signal from the second sensor;

determining a movement mode type using the first signal from the first sensor and the input signal from the second sensor;

if there is an input signal from the second sensor, calculating a second pointer movement amount on the display screen by sensing a second signal using the second sensor; and

moving a pointer on the display screen by combining the first and second pointer movement amounts,

wherein, if the movement mode is a long-distance movement mode, the calculating a first pointer movement amount comprises assigning a higher weight to the first pointer movement amount on the display screen appearing by the first signal from the first sensor than to the second pointer movement amount on the display screen appearing by the input signal from the second sensor.

23. The dual pointing method of claim 22, wherein the moving of the pointer comprises:

calculating a final pointer movement amount by multiplying each of the first and second pointer movement amounts by each weight assigned to the first and second pointer movement amounts and summing the multiplication results.

24. A dual pointing method based on three-dimensional (3-D) motion and touch sensors, comprising:

detecting a first signal of a first sensor sensing a motion in a space and a second signal of a second sensor sensing a touch input;

determining a movement mode type using the first signal and the second signal;

calculating a pointer movement amount using at least one of the first and second signals; and

moving a pointer on a display screen using at least one of the first and second signals of the first and second sensors according to the determined movement mode type,

wherein if the movement mode is a short-distance movement mode, the calculating a pointer movement amount comprises assigning a lower weight to the pointer movement amount on the display screen appearing by the first signal of the first sensor than to the pointer movement amount on the display screen appearing by the second signal of the second sensor.

25. The dual pointing method of claim 24, wherein the moving of the pointer comprises moving the position of the pointer on the display screen according to the calculated pointer movement amount.

26. The dual pointing method of claim 24, wherein the moving of the pointer comprises, if the determined movement mode type is a long-distance movement mode, moving the pointer using the first signal of the first sensor, and, if the determined movement mode type is a short-distance movement mode, moving the pointer using the second signal of the second sensor.

27. A dual pointing method based on three-dimensional (3-D) motion and touch sensors, comprising:

detecting a first signal and a second signal from a first sensor and second sensor, respectively, the first sensor sensing a motion and the second sensor sensing a touch input;

determining a movement mode type using the first signal and the second signal; and

calculating a pointer movement amount on a display screen by combining the first signal and the second signal,

wherein if the movement mode is a short-distance movement mode, the calculating a pointer movement amount comprises assigning a lower weight to the pointer movement amount on the display screen appearing by the first signal of the first sensor than to the pointer movement amount on the display screen appearing by the second signal of the second sensor.

28. The dual pointing method of claim 27, wherein the calculating of the pointer movement amount further comprises:

calculating a first pointer movement amount using the first signal and a second pointer movement amount using the second signal and calculating a final pointer movement amount by multiplying each of the first pointer movement amount and the second pointer movement amount by a weight and summing the multiplication results.

29. A dual pointing method of a dual pointing device including a first sensor to point in a three-dimensional (3-D) space and a second sensor to point by a touch input, comprising:

determining whether there is an input signal of the second sensor;

determining a movement mode type using an input signal of the first sensor and the input signal of the second sensor;

calculating a pointing movement amount on a display screen using a second signal detected by the second sensor if there is an input signal of the second signal; and

moving a pointer on the display screen using the calculated pointer movement amount,

wherein if the movement mode is a short-distance movement mode, the calculating a pointing movement amount comprises assigning a lower weight to the pointing movement amount on the display screen appearing by the input signal of the first sensor than to the pointing movement amount on the display screen appearing by the second signal of the second sensor.

30. The dual pointing method of claim 29, further comprising:

calculating the pointing movement amount using the input signal detected by the first sensor if there is no input signal of the second sensor.

31. A dual pointing method of a dual pointing device including a first sensor for three-dimensional (3-D) motion-based pointing and a second sensor for touch-input-based pointing, the dual pointing method comprising:

calculating a first pointer movement amount on a display screen by sensing a first signal using the first sensor;

determining whether there is an input signal from the second sensor;

determining a movement mode type using the first signal from the first sensor and the input signal from the second sensor;

if there is an input signal from the second sensor, calculating a second pointer movement amount on the display screen by sensing a second signal using the second sensor; and

moving a pointer on the display screen by combining the first and second pointer movement amounts,

wherein if the movement mode is a short-distance movement mode, the calculating a first pointer movement amount comprises assigning a lower weight to the first pointer movement amount on the display screen appearing by the first signal from the first sensor than to the second pointer movement amount on the display screen appearing by the input signal from the second sensor.

32. The dual pointing method of claim 31, wherein the moving of the pointer comprises:

calculating a final pointer movement amount by multiplying each of the first and second pointer movement amounts by each weight assigned to the first and second pointer movement amounts and summing the multiplication results.