3D pointing device with up-down-left-right mode switching and integrated swipe detector

• US 8,907,892 B2
• Filed: 09/27/2012
• Issued: 12/09/2014
• Est. Priority Date: 11/22/2010
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: DRNC Holdings, Inc. (InterDigital, Inc.)
• Original Assignee: Hillcrest Laboratories Incorporated (CEVA Incorporated)
• Inventors: Simpkins, Daniel S., Tanen, Joseph
• Primary Examiner(s): Dinh, Duc
• Application Number:
  US13/628,505
• Publication Number:
  US 20130127710A1
• Time in Patent Office: 803 Days
• Field of Search: 345/156, 345169-173, 345/157, 345/158
• US Class Current: 345/156
• 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
• 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 3/03547 Touch pads, in which fingers can move on a surface
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 3/038 Control and interface arrangements therefor, e.g. drivers or device-embedded control circuitry
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 3/04842 Selection of displayed objects or displayed text elements G06F3/0482 takes precedence
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 3/0485 Scrolling or panning
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 3/04883 for inputting data by handwriting, e.g. gesture or text
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/42204 User interfaces specially adapted for controlling a client device through a remote control device; Remote control devices therefor constructive details of casings for the remote control device H01H9/0235; user interfaces for controlling a tuning device of a television receiver through a remote control H03J9/00; remote control of peripheral devices connected to a television receiver through the remote control device of the television receiver H04B1/205
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/42206 characterized by hardware details
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/42222 Additional components integrated in the remote control device, e.g. timer, speaker, sensors for detecting position, direction or movement of the remote control, microphone or battery charging device
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/42224 Touch pad or touch panel provided on the remote control

Abstract

A 3D pointing device for use with a content delivery system is provided. The pointing device can operate in one of at least one of two modes: a first 3D or scrolling mode, and a second non-3D mode that can also be referred to as an up-down-left-right (UDLR) mode. The pointing device can include one or more directional sensors, to provide orientation and movement information. For either of the at least two modes, an optical finger navigation module is provided that can detect movement of a user'"'"'s finger or object across its screen, and provides a predetermined threshold that must be exceeded before movement information is generated from the OFN module. The pointing device can generate scroll and UDLR commands based on the information from the orientation and movement sensors, as well as the OFN module, or can provide the information from the orientation and movement sensors to a user interface that can generate the appropriate scrolling or UDLR commands for use by the content delivery system.

Claims

1. A method for generating either a scroll command or an up-down-left-right (UDLR) command using a single control element of a remote control device, the method comprising:

setting said remote control device in either a scroll mode or an UDLR mode based upon a command received from a user interface which is external to the remote control device;

detecting movement of an object across a surface of said single control element of said remote control device;

generating, when in the scroll mode, a scroll command responsive to said detected movement; and

generating, when in the UDLR mode, an UDLR command.

2. The method of claim 1, wherein said single control element is an optical finger navigation (OFN) device.

3. The method of claim 1, wherein said UDLR command is one of:

an up command, a down command, a left command and a right command.

4. The method of claim 3, wherein said one of said up command, said down command, said left command and said right command are generated based upon a direction of said detected movement.

5. The method of claim 4, wherein said one of said up command, said down command, said left command and said right command are generated when a distance of said detected movement exceeds a predetermined distance threshold in a direction which corresponds to a respective one of said UDLR commands.

6. The method of claim 3, wherein said left command is a left swipe, and wherein said right command is a right swipe.

7. A remote control device comprising:

a housing;

at least one sensor, disposed at least partially within said housing, said at least one sensor configured to detect motion of said remote control device and to generate first data associated with said detected motion;

an optical finger navigation (OFN) module, disposed on an upper surface of said housing, configured to detect movement of an object across a surface of a lens and to generate second data associated with said detected movement;

a user input control element configured to switch said remote control device from a 3D pointing mode into a non-3D pointing mode; and

a processor configured to receive said first data and said second data and further configured to operate, when in said 3D pointing mode, to transmit information associated with said first data and to transmit a scroll command based on said second data,

and further configured to operate, when in said non-3D pointing mode, to transmit an up-down-left-right (UDLR) command based on said second data,

wherein an external user interface effectuates the switch of said remote control device from said 3D pointing mode into said non-3D pointing mode.

23. The device of claim 7, wherein said UDLR command is one of:

an up command, a down command, a left command and a right command.

24. The device of claim 23, wherein said one of said up command, said down command, said left command and said right command are generated based upon a direction of said detected movement.

25. The device of claim 24, wherein said one of said up command, said down command, said left command and said right command are generated when a distance of said detected movement exceeds a predetermined distance threshold in a direction which corresponds to a respective one of said UDLR commands.

26. The device of claim 23, wherein said left command is a left swipe, and wherein said right command is a right swipe.

8. A system comprising:

a user interface controlling device configured to generate and control a user interface based, at least in part, on received user inputs via a remote control device,

wherein said user interface controlling device is further configured to receive an input from said remote control device which, in a first mode, is interpreted as a scroll command and which, in a second mode, is interpreted as an up-down-left-right (UDLR) command,

wherein said remote control device changes from said first mode to said second mode or from said second mode to said first mode based upon a command received from said user interface which is external to the remote control device,

further wherein said user interface controlling device is a television, a set-top box, a gaming console, or a system controller.

9. The system of claim 8, wherein the user interface is configured to determine whether the user interface controlling device should be operating in the first mode or the second mode, and wherein the first mode is a scroll mode and the second mode is a UDLR mode, and further wherein the user interface is further configured to forward a mode control signal to the user interface controlling device to change the operating mode of the user interface controlling device.

10. The system of claim 8, wherein the user interface controlling device is configured to determine whether the user interface controlling device should be operating in the first mode or the second mode, and wherein the first mode is a scroll mode and the second mode is a UDLR mode, and further wherein the user interface is further configured to change its operating mode.

11. A method for controlling a user interface using a 3D pointing device comprising:

switching an operating mode of the 3D pointing device between a random access mode and a non-random access mode,

wherein said step of switching said operating mode is performed by a system controller in communication with said 3D pointing device based upon a command received from said user interface which is external to said 3D pointing device,

further wherein when said 3D pointing device is in said random access mode, interpreting an output of a control element disposed on said 3D pointing device as a scroll command; and

when said 3D pointing device is in said non-random access mode, interpreting said output of said control element as an up-down-left-right (UDLR) command.

12. The method of claim 11, wherein while in said random access mode, control of said user interface can involve pointing to any location on a display and while in said non-random access mode control of said user interface can only involve accessing predetermined display locations.

13. The method of claim 11, wherein said random access mode is a pointing mode and said non-random access mode is an up-down-left-right (UDLR) mode.

14. The method of claim 11, wherein said control element is an optical finger navigation (OFN) element.

15. The method of claim 11, wherein said control element is an optical touchpad.

16. The method of claim 11, wherein said control element is a non-optical device.

17. The method of claim 11, wherein said step of switching said operating mode is performed by an application which is receiving inputs from said 3D pointing device.

18. The method of claim 11, further comprising:

switching said operating mode in response to receipt of an UDLR gesture.

19. The method of claim 11, further comprising:

continuing to interpret some outputs from said 3D pointing device as random access outputs after switching to said non-random access mode.

20. The method of claim 19, further comprising:

interpreting motion of said 3D pointing device as a random access output after switching to said non-random access mode; and

interpreting an input via an optical touchpad or optical finger navigation element disposed on said 3D pointing device as a non-random access output after switching to said non-random access mode.

21. The method of claim 11, wherein said steps of interpreting are performed by the 3D pointing device and prior to transmitting corresponding data toward the user interface.

22. The method of claim 11, wherein said steps of interpreting are performed by one of a system controller, the user interface or an application after receipt of corresponding data from the 3D pointing device.