Input apparatus, control apparatus, control system, control method, and handheld apparatus

• US 8,576,168 B2
• Filed: 12/04/2008
• Issued: 11/05/2013
• Est. Priority Date: 12/07/2007
• Status: Expired due to Fees

• Current Assignee: Sony Corporation (Sony Group Corp.)
• Original Assignee: Sony Corporation (Sony Group Corp.)
• Inventors: Kabasawa, Hidetoshi, Kimura, Hisashi, Yamamoto, Kazuyuki
• Primary Examiner(s): Eisen, Alexander
• Assistant Examiner(s): Chatly, Amit
• Application Number:
  US12/526,473
• Publication Number:
  US 20100321291A1
• Time in Patent Office: 1,797 Days
• Field of Search: 345156-169
• US Class Current: 345/157
• 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

Abstract

A 3-dimensional operation input apparatus, a control apparatus, a control system, a control method, and a handheld apparatus are provided with which planar operations are possible without an increase in the number of components. An input apparatus includes an angular velocity sensor unit and an acceleration sensor. A threshold value is set to angular velocity values detected by the angular velocity sensor unit. Depending on whether the angular velocity values are smaller than the threshold value and whether at least one of acceleration values is larger than a threshold value, a switch can be made between a planar operation mode and a 3-dimensional operation mode. Therefore, a switch can be made between the planar operation mode and the 3-dimensional operation mode without having to use a sensor other than the acceleration sensor and the angular velocity sensor without increasing the number of components.

Claims

1. An input apparatus for controlling a movement of a pointer on a screen, the input apparatus comprising:

a casing;

an inertia sensor to detect a movement of the casing, the inertia sensor including an acceleration sensor to detect an acceleration of the casing and an angular velocity sensor to detect an angular velocity of the casing;

a plane-corresponding value calculation means for calculating, based on a detection value of the inertia sensor, a plane-corresponding value that corresponds to the movement of the casing on a plane, the plane-corresponding value corresponding to a displacement amount of the pointer on the screen;

a space-corresponding value calculation means for calculating, based on the detection value of the inertia sensor, a space-corresponding value that corresponds to the movement of the casing in space, the space-corresponding value corresponding to the displacement amount of the pointer on the screen;

a judgment means for judging whether the movement of the casing is on a plane or in space; and

a switch means for making a switch between, based on the judgment by the judgment means, the calculation of the plane-corresponding value and the calculation of the space-corresponding value, wherein the switch mean switches from the calculation of the plane-corresponding value to the calculation of the space-corresponding value based on at least one angular velocity value obtained from the angular velocity sensor being larger than a first threshold value,

wherein the angular velocity sensor obtains a first angular velocity value corresponding to a first direction, and a second angular velocity value corresponding to a second direction;

wherein the acceleration sensor obtains a first acceleration value corresponding to a third direction, and a second acceleration value corresponding to the second direction, and

wherein the switch mean switches from the calculation of the plane-corresponding value to the calculation of the space-corresponding value when the first angular velocity value and the second angular velocity value are less than the first threshold value, and the first acceleration value and the second acceleration value are less than a second threshold value.

2. The input apparatus according to claim 1,

wherein the judgment means judges whether the movement of the casing is on the plane or in space based on a hand movement detection value of the inertia sensor.

3. The input apparatus according to claim 1,

wherein the judgment means judges whether the movement of the casing is on the plane or in space based on whether a movement detection value of the casing detected by the inertia sensor in a direction orthogonal to the plane is equal to or smaller than a predetermined value.

4. The input apparatus according to claim 2,

wherein the switch means makes the switch between the calculation of the plane-corresponding value by the plane-corresponding value calculation means and the calculation of the space-corresponding value by the space-corresponding value calculation means, when the judgment means consecutively makes the same judgment for over a predetermined time period.

5. The input apparatus according to claim 3,

wherein the switch means makes the switch between the calculation of the plane-corresponding value by the plane-corresponding value calculation means and the calculation of the space-corresponding value by the space-corresponding value calculation means, when the judgment means consecutively makes the same judgment for over a predetermined time period.

6. The input apparatus according to claim 1, further comprising:

a first inertia sensor to detect the movement of the casing in a direction along a first axis;

a second inertia sensor to detect the movement of the casing in a direction along a second axis orthogonal to the first axis; and

a third inertia sensor to detect the movement of the casing in a direction along a third axis orthogonal to the first axis and the second axis,

wherein the space-corresponding value calculation means calculates a corresponding value that corresponds to the displacement amount of the pointer in a first direction on the screen based on a detection value of the first inertia sensor, and calculates a corresponding value that corresponds to the displacement amount of the pointer in a second direction on the screen based on a detection value of the second inertia sensor, and

wherein the plane-corresponding value calculation means calculates a corresponding value that corresponds to the displacement amount of the pointer in the first direction on the screen based on the detection value of the first inertia sensor, and calculates a corresponding value that corresponds to the displacement amount of the pointer in the second direction on the screen based on a detection value of the third inertia sensor.

7. The input apparatus according to claim 1,

wherein the inertia sensor includes an acceleration sensor and an angular velocity sensor.

8. The input apparatus according to claim 1, further comprising

a filter to remove from the detection value of the inertia sensor a vibration frequency component generated by the movement of the casing on the plane.

9. The input apparatus according to claim 8,

wherein the judgment means additionally judges whether the acceleration value detected by the acceleration sensor is larger than the second threshold value, and

wherein the switch means makes the switch between the calculation of the plane-corresponding value by the plane-corresponding value calculation means and the calculation of the space-corresponding value by the space-corresponding value calculation means based on whether the acceleration value is larger than the second threshold value when the angular velocity value is smaller than the first threshold value.

15. The input apparatus according to claim 1,

wherein the switch mean switches from the calculation of the space-corresponding value to the calculation of the plane-corresponding value when the first angular velocity value and the second angular velocity value are less than the first threshold value, and at least one on the first acceleration value and the second acceleration value is larger than the second threshold value.

16. The input apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the first threshold value is greater than an angular velocity value obtained when the input apparatus is operated on the plane.

10. A control apparatus controlling display of a pointer displayed on a screen based on a detection value of an inertia sensor output from an input apparatus including a casing and the inertia sensor to detect a movement of the casing, the control apparatus comprising:

a reception means for receiving the detection value of the inertia sensor output from the input apparatus;

a plane-corresponding value calculation means for calculating, based on the detection value of the inertia sensor received by the reception means, a plane-corresponding value that corresponds to the movement of the casing on a plane, the plane-corresponding value corresponding to a displacement amount of the pointer on the screen;

a space-corresponding value calculation means for calculating, based on the detection value of the inertia sensor received by the reception means, a space-corresponding value that corresponds to the movement of the casing in space, the space-corresponding value corresponding to the displacement amount of the pointer on the screen;

a judgment means for judging whether the movement of the casing is on the plane or in space; and

a coordinate information generation means for generating coordinate information of the pointer on the screen that corresponds to information on the plane-corresponding value or the space-corresponding value, wherein the coordinate information corresponds to the space-corresponding value based on at least one angular velocity value obtained from the inertia sensor being larger than a first threshold value,

wherein the inertia sensor obtains a first angular velocity value corresponding to a first direction, and a second angular velocity value corresponding to a second direction;

wherein the inertia sensor obtains a first acceleration value corresponding to a third direction, and a second acceleration value corresponding to the second direction;

wherein the wherein the coordinate information corresponds to the space-corresponding value when the first angular velocity value and the second angular velocity value are less than the first threshold value, and the first acceleration value and the second acceleration value are less than a second threshold value.

11. A control system comprising:

an input apparatus to output information on a detection value; and

a control apparatus to control a movement of a pointer displayed on a screen based on the information on the detection value output from the input apparatus,

the input apparatus including

a casing,

an inertia sensor to detect a movement of the casing, the inertia sensor including an acceleration sensor to detect an acceleration of the casing and an angular velocity sensor to detect an angular velocity of the casing,

a plane-corresponding value calculation means for calculating, based on a detection value of the inertia sensor, a plane-corresponding value that corresponds to the movement of the casing on a plane, the plane-corresponding value corresponding to a displacement amount of the pointer on the screen, and

a space-corresponding value calculation means for calculating, based on the detection value of the inertia sensor, a space-corresponding value that corresponds to the movement of the casing in space, the space-corresponding value corresponding to the displacement amount of the pointer on the screen,

the control apparatus including

a reception means for receiving information on the plane-corresponding value or the space-corresponding value, and

a coordinate information generation means for generating coordinate information of the pointer on the screen that corresponds to the information on the plane-corresponding value or the space-corresponding value, and

wherein the coordinate information corresponds to the space-corresponding value based on at least one angular velocity value obtained from the angular velocity sensor being larger than a first threshold value,

wherein the angular velocity sensor obtains a first angular velocity value corresponding to a first direction, and a second angular velocity value corresponding to a second direction;

wherein the acceleration sensor obtains a first acceleration value corresponding to a third direction, and a second acceleration value corresponding to the second direction, and

wherein the coordinate information corresponds to the space-corresponding value when the first angular velocity value and the second angular velocity value are less than the first threshold value, and the first acceleration value and the second acceleration value are less than a second threshold value.

12. A control system comprising:

an input apparatus to output information on a detection value; and

a control apparatus to control a movement of a pointer displayed on a screen based on the information on the detection value output from the input apparatus,

the input apparatus including

a casing,

an inertia sensor to detect a movement of the casing, the inertia sensor including an acceleration sensor to detect an acceleration of the casing and an angular velocity sensor to detect an angular velocity of the casing, and

an output means for outputting a detection value of the inertia sensor,

the control apparatus including

a reception means for receiving information on the detection value of the inertia sensor output by the output means,

a plane-corresponding value calculation means for calculating, based on the detection value of the inertia sensor received by the reception means, a plane-corresponding value that corresponds to the movement of the casing on a plane, the plane-corresponding value corresponding to a displacement amount of the pointer on the screen,

a space-corresponding value calculation means for calculating, based on the detection value of the inertia sensor received by the reception means, a space-corresponding value that corresponds to the movement of the casing in space, the space-corresponding value corresponding to the displacement amount of the pointer on the screen, and

a coordinate information generation means for generating coordinate information of the pointer on the screen that corresponds to information on the plane-corresponding value or the space-corresponding value,

wherein the coordinate information corresponds to the space-corresponding value based on at least one angular velocity value obtained from the angular velocity sensor being larger than a first threshold value

wherein the angular velocity sensor obtains a first angular velocity value corresponding to a first direction, and a second angular velocity value corresponding to a second direction;

wherein the acceleration sensor obtains a first acceleration value corresponding to a third direction, and a second acceleration value corresponding to the second direction, and

wherein the coordinate information corresponds to the space-corresponding value when the first angular velocity value and the second angular velocity value are less than the first threshold value, and the first acceleration value and the second acceleration value are less than a second threshold value.

13. A method of controlling a movement of a pointer displayed on a screen based on a movement of an input apparatus including a casing, the control method comprising:

detecting, by an inertia sensor, a movement of the casing, the detecting including an acceleration of the casing and an angular velocity of the casing;

judging whether the movement of the casing is on a plane or in space; and

making a switch between, based on a detection value of the inertia sensor, a calculation of a plane-corresponding value that corresponds to the movement of the casing on the plane, the plane-corresponding value corresponding to a displacement amount of the pointer on the screen, and a calculation of a space-corresponding value that corresponds to the movement of the casing in space, the space-corresponding value corresponding to the displacement amount of the pointer on the screen,

wherein the switch is made from the calculation of the plane-corresponding value to the calculation of the space-corresponding value based on at least one angular velocity value being larger than a first threshold value,

wherein a first angular velocity value corresponding to a first direction is detected by the inertia sensor, and a second angular velocity value corresponding to a second direction is detected by the inertia sensor;

wherein a first acceleration value corresponding to a third direction is detected by the inertia sensor, and a second acceleration value corresponding to the second direction is detected by the inertia sensor, and

wherein the switch is made form the calculation of the plane-corresponding value to the calculation of the space-corresponding value when the first angular velocity value and the second angular velocity value are less than the first threshold value, and the first acceleration value and the second acceleration value are less than a second threshold value.

14. A handheld apparatus for controlling a movement of a pointer on a screen, the handheld apparatus comprising:

a casing;

a display section to display the screen;

an inertia sensor to detect a movement of the casing, the inertia sensor including an acceleration sensor to detect an acceleration of the casing and an angular velocity sensor to detect an angular velocity of the casing;

a plane-corresponding value calculation means for calculating, based on a detection value of the inertia sensor, a plane-corresponding value that corresponds to the movement of the casing on a plane, the plane-corresponding value corresponding to a displacement amount of the pointer on the screen;

a space-corresponding value calculation means for calculating, based on the detection value of the inertia sensor, a space-corresponding value that corresponds to the movement of the casing in space, the space-corresponding value corresponding to the displacement amount of the pointer on the screen;

a judgment means for judging whether the movement of the casing is on the plane or in space; and

a switch means for making a switch between, based on the judgment by the judgment means, the calculation of the plane-corresponding value and the calculation of the space-corresponding value, wherein the switch mean switches from the calculation of the plane-corresponding value to the calculation of the space-corresponding value based on at least one angular velocity value obtained from the angular velocity sensor being larger than a first threshold value,

wherein the angular velocity sensor obtains a first angular velocity value corresponding to a first direction, and a second angular velocity value corresponding to a second direction;

wherein the acceleration sensor obtains a first acceleration value corresponding to a third direction, and a second acceleration value corresponding to the second direction, and

wherein the switch mean switches from the calculation of the plane-corresponding value to the calculation of the space-corresponding value when the first angular velocity value and the second angular velocity value are less than the first threshold value, and the first acceleration value and the second acceleration value are less than a second threshold value.