Method and apparatus for touchless control of a device
First Claim
Patent Images
1. A touchless user interface integrated with a portable device, comprising:
- a touchless sensing unit arranged external to a display of the device and integrated thereon forgenerating an ultrasonic touchless sensory space projected one inch or more above and wider than a dimension of the display, andtracking a three-dimensional finger movement that projects forward and retracts backward one inch or more above the display in the touchless sensory space by pulse-echo detection of reflected ultrasonic signals; and
a control unit forcalibrating a tracking of the finger or object movement from forward projecting and backward retracting movement along a principal axis of the ultrasonic touchless sensory space;
mapping a virtual coordinate system of the touchless sensory space in three-dimensions to a two-dimensional display coordinate system of the device according to the calibrating along the principal axis;
associating at least one forward projecting and backward retracting finger or object movement in the virtual coordinate system with a control action of a user interface component in the display coordinate system, andadjusting at least one control of the device in response to the finger movement according to the mapping,wherein said control action is an acquire, a select, or a release, and the calibrating compensates for a three-dimensional sweeping range of the finger movement in the touchless sensory space to an absolute range of locations in the device coordinate system.
1 Assignment
0 Petitions
Accused Products
Abstract
A touchless sensing unit (110) and method (200) for operating a device via touchless control is provided. The method can include detecting (210) a finger (310) within a touchless sensory space (101), and handling (220) a control of the device (100) in accordance with a movement of the finger. A first finger movement can be recognized for acquiring a control, and a second finger movement for selecting a control. The method can include estimating (230) a location of the finger in the touchless sensory space for acquiring the control, and identifying a finger movement (250) of the finger at the location for selecting the control.
-
Citations
20 Claims
-
1. A touchless user interface integrated with a portable device, comprising:
-
a touchless sensing unit arranged external to a display of the device and integrated thereon for generating an ultrasonic touchless sensory space projected one inch or more above and wider than a dimension of the display, and tracking a three-dimensional finger movement that projects forward and retracts backward one inch or more above the display in the touchless sensory space by pulse-echo detection of reflected ultrasonic signals; and a control unit for calibrating a tracking of the finger or object movement from forward projecting and backward retracting movement along a principal axis of the ultrasonic touchless sensory space; mapping a virtual coordinate system of the touchless sensory space in three-dimensions to a two-dimensional display coordinate system of the device according to the calibrating along the principal axis; associating at least one forward projecting and backward retracting finger or object movement in the virtual coordinate system with a control action of a user interface component in the display coordinate system, and adjusting at least one control of the device in response to the finger movement according to the mapping, wherein said control action is an acquire, a select, or a release, and the calibrating compensates for a three-dimensional sweeping range of the finger movement in the touchless sensory space to an absolute range of locations in the device coordinate system. - View Dependent Claims (2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13)
-
-
14. A method for touchless control suitable for use with a mobile device, comprising:
-
generating an ultrasonic touchless sensory space projected one inch or more above and wider than a dimension of the display; calibrating a tracking of a forward projecting and backward retracting finger one inch or more along a principal axis above and approximately perpendicular to the display; detecting a presence of a finger or object within the touchless sensory space from a mapping of a virtual coordinate system along three-dimensions therein to a display coordinate system along two-dimensions of the device according to the calibrating along the principal axis, wherein a relative range of locations of the finger movement in the virtual coordinate system is mapped to an absolute range of locations in the device coordinate system; tracking three-dimensional movement of the finger within the touchless sensory space by pulse-echo detection of reflected ultrasonic signals one inch or more above the display; associating at least one finger or object movement in the virtual coordinate system with a control of a user interface component in the display coordinate system and handling a control of the device in accordance with the finger movement, by recognizing a first finger movement for acquiring a control; locking the control upon completion of the first finger movement; and recognizing a second finger movement for selecting the control; where continued touchless control is granted to acquire other controls during the lock but prevent a selection of the other controls until the lock is thereto assigned. - View Dependent Claims (15, 16, 17, 18, 19, 20)
wherein the acquiring locks the control, such that while the control remains locked, the second finger movement in the touchless sensory space does not select a second control where during the lock continued touchless control is granted to acquire other controls until the lock is released.
-
Specification