Sensor mapping

• US 8,050,891 B2
• Filed: 10/17/2008
• Issued: 11/01/2011
• Est. Priority Date: 10/17/2008
• Status: Expired due to Fees

• Current Assignee: Aplix IP Holdings Corporation
• Original Assignee: Zeemote Technology Inc.
• Inventors: Calnan, Paul William, Marcus, Beth, Chen, Elaine, Podoloff, Rob
• Primary Examiner(s): Raymond; Edward
• Application Number:
  US12/253,808
• Publication Number:
  US 20100100359A1
• Time in Patent Office: 1,110 Days
• Field of Search: 702/191, 702182-185, 702/188
• US Class Current: 702/191
• CPC Class Codes: A63F 13/428 involving motion or position input signals, e.g. signals representing the rotation of an input controller or a player's arm motions sensed by accelerometers or gyroscopes
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 3/01 Input arrangements or combined input and output arrangements for interaction between user and computer G06F3/16 takes precedence
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 3/038 Control and interface arrangements therefor, e.g. drivers or device-embedded control circuitry

Abstract

Techniques, systems and computer program products are disclosed for providing sensor mapping. In one aspect, a method includes receiving input from a user. The received input includes at least one of motion, force and contact. In addition, a sensor signal is generated based on the received input. From a choice of data structures a data structure associated with a selected application having one or more functions is identified. The data structure indicates a relationship between the generated sensor signal and the one or more functions of the selected application. The generated sensor signal is selectively mapped into a control signal for controlling the one or more functions of the selected application by using the identified data structure.

Claims

1. A method comprising:

receiving input from a user, wherein the received input includes at least one of motion, force and contact;

generating a sensor signal based on the received input;

identifying from a choice of data structures a data structure associated with a selected application having one or more functions, wherein the identified data structure indicates a relationship between the generated sensor signal and the one or more functions of the selected application; and

selectively mapping the generated sensor signal to a control signal for controlling the one or more functions of the selected application based on the identified data structure.

2. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

selecting the identified data structure from the choice of data structures based on a type of the selected application.

3. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

selecting the identified data structure from the choice of data structures based on the one or more functions of the selected application.

4. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

conditioning the generated sensor signal that includes at least one of smoothing, noise reduction and non-linear conformal mapping.

5. The method of claim 1, wherein identifying a data structure comprises:

identifying a data structure that includes a mapping curve from a choice of mapping curves.

6. The method of claim 5, wherein identifying the mapping curve comprises:

identifying a nonlinear mapping curve that comprises a slope near a center of the curve and another slope near extrema of the curve, wherein the other slope is less steep than the slope near the center.

7. The method of claim 1, wherein identifying a data structure comprises:

identifying a data structure that includes a lookup table.

8. The method of claim 7, further comprising:

streaming the lookup table from a host device to an input device; and

selectively mapping the generated sensor signal into the control signal using the streamed lookup table.

9. A system comprising:

a sensor component configured to

receive input from a user, wherein the received input includes at least one of motion, force and contact, and generate a sensor signal based on the received input; and

a sensor mapping component to communicate with the sensor component, wherein the sensor mapping component is configured to;

receive a data structure selected from a choice of data structures that indicates a relationship between the generated sensor signal and one or more functions of a selected application, and

selectively convert the generated sensor signal into a control signal configured to control the one or more functions of the selected application using the received data structure.

10. The system of claim 9, further comprising:

a data storage component to communicate with the sensor mapping component, wherein the data storage component is configured to store the choice of data structures to be forwarded to the sensor mapping component.

11. The system of claim 10, further comprising:

a selector component to communicate with the selected application and the data storage component, wherein the selector component is configured to;

select a data structure from the choice of data structures stored in the data storage component based on the selected application; and

forward the selected data structure to the sensor mapping component to use in converting the sensor signal.

12. The system of claim 11, further comprising

a device driver to communicate with the selector component.

13. The system of claim 11, wherein the sensor mapping component and the data storage component are disposed on an input device;

and

the selector component is disposed on a host device separate from the input device, wherein the selector component is configured to communicate with the storage device over a wired or wireless communication medium to select the data structure from the choice of data structures.

14. The system of claim 11, further comprising:

an input device; and

a host device to communicate with the input device.

15. The system of claim 14, wherein the sensor mapping component is disposed within the input device, and the data storage component and the selector component are disposed within the host device separate from the input device;

and

the sensor mapping component is configured to communicate with the storage device over a wired or wireless communication medium to receive the selected data structure.

16. The system of claim 14, wherein the sensor component is disposed on the input device;

and

the sensor mapping component, the data storage component and the selector component are disposed within the host device, wherein the sensor mapping component is configured to communicate with the sensor component over a wired or wireless communication medium to receive the sensor signal.

17. The system of claim 11, wherein the selector component is configured to identify the data structure from the choice of data structures based on the selected application that includes a game application.

18. The system of claim 17, wherein the selector component is configured to identify the data structure from the choice of data structures based on a type of application.

19. The system of claim 11, wherein the selector component is configured to select the data structure from the choice of data structures that includes at least one nonlinear mapping curve.

20. The system of claim 11, wherein the selector component is configured to select the data structure based on the one or more functions of the selected application.

21. The system of claim 10, wherein the data storage component is configured to:

store the choice of data structures comprising lookup tables; and

stream one of the lookup tables to the sensor mapping component.

22. The system of claim 10, wherein the data storage component is configured to:

store the choice of data structures comprising mapping curves; and

stream one of the mapping curves to the sensor mapping component.

23. A computer program product, embodied on a non-transitory computer readable medium, operable to cause a data processing apparatus to perform operations comprising:

receiving input from a user, wherein the received input includes at least one of motion, force and contact;

generating a sensor signal based on the received input;

identifying a data structure associated with a selected application having one or more functions, wherein the identified data structure indicates a relationship between the generated sensor signal and the one or more functions of the selected application; and

selectively converting the sensor signal into a control signal for controlling the one or more functions of the selected application based on the identified data structure.

24. The computer program product of claim 23, further operable to cause a data processing apparatus to perform operations comprising:

select the identified data structure based on a type of the selected application.

25. The computer program product of claim 23, further operable to cause a data processing apparatus to perform operations comprising:

adjust the identified data structure based on the one or more functions of the selected application.

26. The computer program product of claim 23, further operable to cause a data processing apparatus to perform operations comprising:

select a data structure from a choice of data structures associated with the selected application.

27. The computer program product of claim 26, further operable to cause a data processing apparatus to select a lookup table from the choice of data structures comprising lookup tables.

28. The computer program product of claim 27, further operable to cause a data processing apparatus to stream the selected lookup table from a host device to an input device, wherein the streamed lookup table is used to convert the generated sensor signal into the control signal at the input device.

29. The computer program product of claim 23, further operable to cause a data processing apparatus to perform operations comprising:

condition the sensor signal that includes at least one of smoothing, noise reduction and non-linear conformal mapping.