Application programming interface (API) for sensory events

• US 8,312,479 B2
• Filed: 03/07/2007
• Issued: 11/13/2012
• Est. Priority Date: 03/08/2006
• Status: Expired due to Fees

• Current Assignee: Navisense
• Original Assignee: Navisense
• Inventors: Boillot, Marc Andre
• Primary Examiner(s): Ho, Andy
• Assistant Examiner(s): DORAIS, CRAIG C
• Application Number:
  US11/683,412
• Publication Number:
  US 20070214462A1
• Time in Patent Office: 2,078 Days
• Field of Search: None
• US Class Current: 719/328
• 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

An Applications Programming Interface (API) provides coordinate and movement information of an object within a sensory field. The API can provide touchless APT methods for identifying a position, a displacement, a velocity, an acceleration, and a length of time an object is within a sensory field. The API can include an event listener for receiving at least one sensory event, and an event handler for processing sensory events. A GUI can implement the API to provide touchless navigation and control.

Claims

1. An Applications Programming Interface (API), executing from a computer system suitable for use in providing sensory information comprising:

a set of programmable touchless API methods wherein the set of programmable touchless API methods expose sensory information related to an object within a three-dimensional sensory space for rendering onto a Graphical User Interface (GUI), and

a low-level driver on the computer system configured to

communicate over a wireless communication link to an ultrasonic sensing unit providing the sensory information,

wherein the ultrasonic sensing unit;

stores digital ultrasonic reflection wave in a local memory of the ultrasonic sensing unit, and,

generates a history of sensory information consisting of Time of Flights (TOFs) and phase differentials calculated from the stored digital ultrasonic reflection wave including an absolute location and relative movement of the object with respect to an origin of a three-dimensional coordinate system defining the touchless sensory space,

wherein the ultrasonic sensing unit contains an on-board digital signal processor (DSP), the local memory and battery to perform pulse-echo location of the object by way of a transmitter and three or more receivers wherein a transmitter receiver pair provides one-dimensional range measurement, establish the three-dimensional coordinate system with X, Y and Z principal axes, and

wherein the low-level driver receives the history of sensory information for each transmitter and receiver pair from the local memory by the DSP performing precise tracking and angular resolution of the object along range measurement projections of the X, Y and Z principal axes in the three-dimensional coordinate system.

2. The API of claim 1, wherein said set of touchless API methods comprises at least one among an touchless API method for providing a position of the object, a displacement of the object, a velocity of the object, an acceleration of the object, and a time the object is in the sensory space

whereby a symmetric arrangement of sensors produces a parabolic intersection point from first, second and third complex surfaces for respective first, second and third range measurements of the transmitter receiver pairs.

3. The API of claim 1, further comprising a user interface of the computer system, wherein said object is a user'"'"'s finger and the computer system controls components within said user interface using touchless API methods implemented by the computer system.

4. The API of claim 3, wherein said object is a user'"'"'s finger and the computer system controls graphical components within said GUI using touchless API methods implemented by the computer system.

5. The API of claim 1, wherein the computer system further comprises a touchscreen, a touchpad, a tablet, a mobile device or a laptop that implements said API for permitting a developer to program and build touchless sensory interfacing applications thereon.

6. The API of claim 1, wherein a movement is identified as at least one among an up motion, down motion, left motion, right motion, clockwise pattern, or counter clockwise pattern.

7. The API of claim 1, wherein said set of touchless API methods comprises at least one among a touchless API method for detecting a three-dimensional pause action, a pressing action, a glide action, a hold action, and a release action of a finger within the sensory space.

8. The API of claim 7, wherein said touchless API method of detecting said pressing action returns at least one of:

a location of said pressing action;

a depth of said pressing action; and

a length of time of said pressing action.

9. The API of claim 7, wherein said touchless API method of detecting said glide action returns at least one of:

a length of said glide;

a starting point of said glide;

an ending point of said glide; and

a length of time of said glide.

10. The API of claim 1, wherein said set of touchless API methods comprises at least one among an API method for determining:

a boundary of the sensory space;

a resolution of the sensory space; and

a dimensionality of the sensory space.

11. The API of claim 1, further comprising:

an event listener for receiving at least one sensory event from the ultrasonic sensing unit; and

an event handler for processing said sensory event.

12. The API of claim 1, wherein the low-level driver converts the history received from the sensing unit into a coordinate object responsive to the ultrasonic sensing unit tracking the previously received stored digital reflected ultrasonic waves by weighting the TOFs with the phase differentials,

wherein said low-level driver comprises computer instructions in a computer-readable storage medium of a communication device.

13. A computer-readable storage medium, comprising computer instructions that implement a touchless applications programming interface (API) comprising a set of programmable touchless API methods and touchless API fields

wherein the set of programmable touchless API methods programmatically manipulate sensory information related to an object within a three-dimensional sensory space for building a Graphical User Interface (GUI), and

a low-level driver on the computer system configured to:

communicate over a wireless communication link to an ultrasonic sensing unit providing the sensory information,

wherein the ultrasonic sensing unit;

calculates phase differentials between previously received reflected stored ultrasonic wave in a local memory of the ultrasonic sensing unit,

tracks a history of Time of Flights weighted by phase differentials for predicting an error estimate to produce a fine location of the object; and

,

generates sensory information from the tracking of the Time of Flights (TOFs) and phase differentials in the history for each transmitter-receiver pair on the ultrasonic sensing unit,

wherein the low-level driver generates an absolute location and relative movement of the object with respect to an origin of a three-dimensional coordinate system defining the touchless sensory space from the sensory information,

wherein the ultrasonic sensing unit contains an on-board digital signal processor (DSP), the local memory, ultrasonic sensors and power supply to

perform pulse-echo location of the object by way of ultrasonic sensors comprising a transmitter and three or more receivers,

establish the three-dimensional coordinate system with respect to a approximately symmetric arrangement of the sensors located thereon to create X, Y and Z principal axes of the three-dimensional coordinate system, and

store and reference received ultrasonic wave in the local memory for performing millimeter accuracy tracking and angular resolution of the object along range measurement projections of the X, Y and Z principal axes in the three-dimensional coordinate system.

14. The storage medium of claim 13, comprising computer instructions for providing at least one among a time, a position, a displacement, a velocity, an acceleration of a finger within a touchless sensory space of a computer system.

15. The storage medium of claim 14, wherein the storage medium resides in at least one among a computer, a mobile device, a portable music player, a laptop, a personal digital assistant, and a cell phone.

16. The API of claim 13 provides sensory event handling by:

registering a sensory event listener enumerated by the ultrasonic sensing unit; and

implementing a sensory event handler in the GUI specific to the enumeration,

wherein said sensory event listener identifies a sensory event and reports said sensory event to said sensory event handler.

17. The method of claim 13, further comprising providing at least one among a finger position, a finger relative displacement, a finger velocity, and a finger acceleration.

18. The method of claim 17, further comprising detecting at least one among a pause action, a depression action, a glide action, a hold action, and a release action.