Inertia sensing input controller and receiver and interactive system using thereof

• US 8,184,100 B2
• Filed: 10/05/2007
• Issued: 05/22/2012
• Est. Priority Date: 08/16/2007
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Industrial Technology Research Institute
• Original Assignee: Industrial Technology Research Institute
• Inventors: Lian, Jr-Wei, Chiu, Chih-Kai, Liou, Shun-Nan, Tsai, Ming-Jye, Chen, Chun-Yuan
• Primary Examiner(s): Lao, Lun-Yi
• Assistant Examiner(s): Hegarty, Kelly B
• Application Number:
  US11/867,814
• Publication Number:
  US 20090048021A1
• Time in Patent Office: 1,691 Days
• Field of Search: 345157-172, 345/156, 348/734, 348/601, 463/30, 463/31, 463/43, 463/38, 273/148.B
• US Class Current: 345/169
• CPC Class Codes: A63F 13/211 using inertial sensors, e.g. accelerometers or gyroscopes
• CPC Class Codes: A63F 13/235 using a wireless connection, e.g. infrared or piconet
• CPC Class Codes: A63F 2300/1031 using a wireless connection, e.g. Bluetooth, infrared connections
• CPC Class Codes: A63F 2300/105 using inertial sensors, e.g. accelerometers, gyroscopes
• 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 3/0346 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 3/038 Control and interface arrangements therefor, e.g. drivers or device-embedded control circuitry
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 3/0383 Signal control means within the pointing device

Abstract

An inertial sensing input controller, receiver and interactive system using thereof are provided in the present invention. The inertial sensing input controller functioning to capture motions of a human body comprises an inertial sensing module for sensing a sequence of motions of the human body and generating the corresponding parameters and then transmitting to a receiver connected to an electrical device. In addition, the inertial sensing input controller further integrates a plurality of communication protocols and the electrical device interacting with the inertial sensing input controller can be switched to different control modes according to the parameters received by the receiver. On the other hand, the parameters generated by the inertial sensing input controller can be transmitted to the electrical device directly so that the electrical device can process the parameters and judge the action or scenario with respect to the human movement accordingly for increasing diversity of interactions.

Claims

1. An inertial sensing input controller, comprising:

an inertial sensing module, being configured with at least an inertial sensor, for sensing a sequence of motions of a human body and generating motion parameters;

an interface unit, for generating and transmitting at least an input signal corresponding to a selected input mode of the inertial sensing input controller, a defined combination of at least one pressed key of the inertial sensing input controller actuated by a user, and the motion parameters;

a switch unit having three registers for holding three flag values, each flag value representing a mouse, a joystick, and a keyboard, respectively, the switch unit further comprising a single key other than the pressed key for selecting said one input mode form the group consisting of a mouse mode, a joystick mode, a keyboard mode, and all combination thereof; and

a remote control unit, coupled to the switch unit, the interface unit, and the inertial sensing module for generating and thus transmitting a control signal according to the selected input mode, the at least one input signal and the motion parameters.

2. The inertial sensing input controller of claim 1, wherein each inertial sensor is a device selected from the group consisting of at least a gyroscope, at least an accelerometer, and the combination thereof.

3. The inertial sensing input controller of claim 1, wherein the interface unit is coupled to at least an input unit;

and the input unit is a device selected from the group consisting of a cross key, an assembly of a plurality of press buttons, and the combination thereof.

4. The inertial sensing input controller of claim 1, further comprising:

a receiver, including;

a receiving unit, for receiving the control signal from the remote control unit and thus decoding the control signal into the motion parameters, the at least an input signal, and the selected input mode;

an operation unit, coupled to the receiving unit for analyzing the motion parameters into at least a motion signal while generating an operation signal according to the at least one input signal and the selected input mode; and

an interface connecting unit, for transmitting the operation signal and the at least one motion signal to an electronic device.

5. The inertial sensing input controller of claim 4, wherein the electronic device is a device selected from the group consisting of a computer, an interactive gaming device and an interactive multimedia device.

6. The inertial sensing input controller of claim 4, wherein the interface unit is electrically connected to the electronic device by a means selected from the group consisting of a wired means and a wireless means;

and the wired means is enabled by an USB interface; and

the wireless means is enabled by a way selected form the group consisting of Bluetooth communication and radio frequency (RF) communication.

7. The inertial sensing input controller of claim 4, wherein the remote control unit is able to transmit the motion parameters directly to the electronic device.

8. The inertial sensing input controller of claim 4, wherein the operation unit is able to detect the input mode selected by the switch unit and thus correspondingly transmits signals to the electronic device according to the detected input mode.

9. An inertial sensing input controller, comprising:

an inertial sensing module, being configured with at least a first inertial sensor, for sensing at least a sequence of motions of a human body and generating a first set of motion parameters;

an interface unit, for generating and transmitting at least an input signal corresponding to a selected input mode of the inertial sensing input controller and a defined combination of at least one pressed key of the inertial sensing input controller actuated by a user, and the motion parameters;

a switch unit having three registers for holding three flag values, each flag value representing a mouse, a joystick and a keyboard, respectively, the switch unit further comprising a single key other than the pressed key for selecting said one input mode form the group consisting of a mouse mode, a joystick mode, a keyboard mode, and all combination thereof;

a plurality of second inertial sensors, capable of sensing at least a control motion and thus correspondingly generating a second set of motion parameters;

a remote control unit, capable of receiving the second set of motion parameters while coupling to the switch unit, the interface unit and the inertial sensing module for generating and thus transmitting a control signal according to the selected input mode, the at least one input signal, the first set of motion parameters, and the at least one second inertial sensing parameter; and

an electronic device, capable of performing a computation according to the control signal received from the remote control unit.

10. The inertial sensing input controller of claim 9, wherein each inertial sensor is a device selected from the group consisting of at least a gyroscope, at least an accelerometer, and the combination thereof.

11. The inertial sensing input controller of claim 9, wherein the interface unit is coupled to at least an input unit;

and the input unit is a device selected from the group consisting of a cross key, an assembly of a plurality of press buttons, and the combination thereof.

12. The inertial sensing input controller of claim 9, further comprising:

a receiver, including;

a receiving unit, for receiving the control signal from the remote control unit and thus decoding the control signal into the first and second set of motion parameters, the at least an input signal and the selected input mode;

an operation unit, coupled to the receiving unit for analyzing the first set of motion parameters into at least a motion signal while generating an operation signal according to the at least one input signal and the selected input mode; and

an interface connecting unit, for transmitting the operation signal and the at least one motion signal to an electronic device for computation.

13. The inertial sensing input controller of claim 12, wherein the interface unit is electrically connected to the electronic device by a means selected from the group consisting of a wired means and a wireless means;

and the wired means is enabled by an USB interface; and

the wireless means is enabled by a way selected form the group consisting of Bluetooth communication and radio frequency (RF) communication.

14. The inertial sensing input controller of claim 9, wherein the electronic device is a device selected from the group consisting of a computer, an interactive gaming device and an interactive multimedia device.

15. The inertial sensing input controller of claim 9, wherein the remote control unit is able to transmit the at least one first and second inertial sensing parameters directly to the electronic device.

16. The inertial sensing input controller of claim 12, wherein the operation unit is able to detect the input mode selected by the switch unit and thus correspondingly transmits signals to the electronic device according to the detected input mode.

17. An interactive system, comprising:

an inertial sensing module, being configured with at least a first inertial sensor, for sensing at least a sequence of motions of a human body and generating a first set of motion parameters;

an interface unit, for generating and transmitting at least an input signal corresponding to a selected input mode of the inertial sensing input controller and a defined combination of at least one pressed key of the inertial sensing input controller actuated by a user;

a switch unit having three registers for holding three flag values, each flag value representing a mouse, a joystick, and a keyboard, respectively, the switch unit further comprising a single key other than the pressed key for selecting said one input mode from the group consisting of a mouse mode, a joystick mode, a keyboard mode, and all combination thereof;

a plurality of second inertial sensors, capable of sensing at least a control motion and thus correspondingly generating a second set of motion parameters;

a remote control unit, coupling to the switch unit, the interface unit and the inertial sensing module for generating and thus transmitting a control signal according to the selected input mode, the at least one input signal, the first set of motion parameters, and the second set of motion parameters;

a receiver, for receiving the control signal from the remote control unit and thus decoding the control signal into the first set of motion parameters, the at least an input signal and the selected input mode; and

an electronic device, capable of performing a computation upon the first and second set of motion parameters.