Method and apparatus for scaling gesture recognition to physical dimensions of a user

• US 8,929,609 B2
• Filed: 10/19/2011
• Issued: 01/06/2015
• Est. Priority Date: 01/05/2011
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Qualcomm, Inc.
• Original Assignee: Qualcomm, Inc.
• Inventors: Padovani, Niccolo A., Julian, David Jonathan, Keating, Virginia Walker
• Primary Examiner(s): Bitar, Nancy
• Application Number:
  US13/276,742
• Publication Number:
  US 20120270654A1
• Time in Patent Office: 1,175 Days
• Field of Search: None
• US Class Current: 382/107
• CPC Class Codes: A63F 13/00 Video games, i.e. games using an electronically generated display having two or more dimensions gaming systems which provide a financial reward G07F17/32
• CPC Class Codes: A63F 13/211 using inertial sensors, e.g. accelerometers or gyroscopes
• CPC Class Codes: A63F 13/428 involving motion or position input signals, e.g. signals representing the rotation of an input controller or a player's arm motions sensed by accelerometers or gyroscopes
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 2218/00 Aspects of pattern recognition specially adapted for signal processing
• 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 3/017 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 3/0346 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 3/0487 using specific features provided by the input device, e.g. functions controlled by the rotation of a mouse with dual sensing arrangements, or of the nature of the input device, e.g. tap gestures based on pressure sensed by a digitiser
• CPC Class Codes: G06V 40/20 Movements or behaviour, e.g. gesture recognition recognition of facial expressions G06V40/16

Abstract

An apparatus for gesture recognition, according to aspects of the disclosure contained herein, include a processing system configured to obtain at least one physical dimension of a user and determine a gesture of the user based on the at least one physical dimension independent of a location of the user relative to the apparatus. A method for gesture recognition is also disclosed.

Claims

1. An apparatus for gesture recognition comprising:

a processing system configured to;

determine an at least one physical dimension of a user;

identify an at least one movement of the user; and

determine a gesture of the user independent of a location of the user relative to the apparatus by scaling gesture recognition to the at least one physical dimension, wherein the scaling includes adjusting at least one movement parameter used to determine the gesture of the user based on the at least one physical dimension, and wherein the processing system is further configured to scale the gesture recognition to the at least one physical dimension using a scale factor that is similar in all directions.

2. The apparatus of claim 1, wherein the processing system is further configured to adjust the at least one movement parameter based on a selected at least one physical dimension, and wherein the selected at least one physical dimension is selected from among a plurality of determined physical dimensions of the user.

3. The apparatus of claim 1, wherein the processing system is further configured to determine the gesture based on a relationship between the at least one physical dimension of the user and the at least one movement of the user.

4. The apparatus of claim 3, wherein the relationship is defined by at least one of an equation or a lookup table comprising at least one association between the at least one physical dimension of the user and the at least one movement of the user.

5. The apparatus of claim 1, wherein identifying the at least one movement comprises capturing the at least one movement from at least one of a remote accelerometer, a remote ranging sensor, or a remote gyro.

6. The apparatus of claim 1, wherein the at least one physical dimension comprises at least one of a height of the user or a length of an arm span of the user.

7. The apparatus of claim 1, wherein the at least one physical dimension is determined by at least one of:

receiving information from a handheld device moved between a first position proximate to ground and a second position proximate to a physical height of the user, or receiving information from at least one remote ranging sensor not worn by the user and a handheld device.

24. The apparatus of claim 1, wherein the processing system is further configured to determine the at least one physical dimension by:

prompting the user for a movement; and

receiving information capturing the prompted user movement from at least one sensor.

25. The apparatus of claim 1, wherein the processing system is further configured to determine the at least one physical dimension by:

prompting the user to input the at least one physical dimension; and

receiving direct user input via a user interface.

26. The apparatus of claim 1, wherein the processing system is further configured to modify the scaling based on a stored history of movements performed by the user.

8. A method for gesture recognition comprising:

determining an at least one physical dimension of a user;

identifying an at least one movement of the user, wherein the movement is captured by at least one remote sensor; and

determining a gesture of the user independent of a location of the user relative to the at least one remote sensor, wherein;

the gesture is scaled to the at least one physical dimension, and the scaling includes adjusting at least one movement parameter used to determine the gesture of the user based on the at least one physical dimension, and wherein the processing system is further configured to scale the gesture recognition to the at least one physical dimension using a scale factor that is similar in all directions.

9. The method of claim 8, further comprising:

adjusting the at least one movement parameter based on a selected at least one physical dimension, and wherein the selected at least one physical dimension is selected from among a plurality of determined physical dimensions of the user.

10. The method of claim 8, wherein the gesture of the user is determined based on a relationship between the at least one physical dimension of the user and the at least one movement of the user.

11. The method of claim 10, wherein the relationship is defined by at least one of an equation or a lookup table comprising at least one association between the at least one physical dimension of the user and the at least one movement of the user.

12. The method of claim 8, wherein the identifying the at least one movement of the user comprises capturing the at least one movement from at least one of a remote accelerometer, a remote ranging sensor, or a remote gyro.

13. The method of claim 8, wherein the at least one physical dimension comprises at least one of a height of the user or a length of an arm span of the user.

14. The method of claim 8, wherein the determining of the at least one physical dimension comprises at least one of:

processing information received from a handheld device moved between a first position proximate to ground and a second position proximate to a physical height of the user, or processing information received from at least one remote ranging sensor not worn by the user and a handheld device.

27. The method of claim 8, wherein the at least one physical dimension is determined by:

prompting the user for a movement; and

capturing the prompted movement of the user using at least one sensor.

28. The method of claim 8, wherein the determining of the at least one physical dimension further comprises:

prompting the user to input the at least one physical dimension; and

receiving direct user input via a user interface.

29. The method of claim 8, wherein the determining of the gesture of the user further includes modifying the scaling based on a stored history of movements performed by the user.

15. An apparatus for gesture recognition comprising:

means for determining an at least one physical dimension of a user;

means for identifying an at least one movement of the user; and

means for determining a gesture of the user independent of a location of the user relative to the apparatus by scaling gesture recognition to the at least one physical dimension, wherein the means for determining further includes means for adjusting at least one movement parameter used to determine the gesture of the user based on the at least one physical dimension, wherein the processing system is further configured to scale the gesture recognition to the at least one physical dimension using a scale factor that is similar in all directions.

16. The apparatus of claim 15, further comprising:

means for adjusting the at least one movement parameter based on a selected at least one physical dimension, and wherein the selected at least one physical dimension is selected from among a plurality of determined physical dimensions of the user.

17. The apparatus of claim 15, wherein the means for determining a gesture is configured to determine the gesture based on a relationship between the at least one physical dimension of the user and the at least one movement of the user.

18. The apparatus of claim 17, further comprising means for storing a lookup table comprising the relationship between the at least one physical dimension of the user and the at least one movement of the user.

19. The apparatus of claim 17, wherein the relationship is defined by at least one of an equation or a lookup table comprising at least one association between the at least one physical dimension of the user and the at least one movement of the user.

20. The apparatus of claim 15, wherein the means for identifying the at least one movement of the user comprises means for capturing the at least one movement from at least one of a remote accelerometer, a remote ranging sensor, or a remote gyro.

21. The apparatus of claim 15, wherein the at least one physical dimension comprises at least one of a height of the user or a length of an arm span of the user.

22. The apparatus of claim 15, wherein the means for obtaining the at least one physical dimension comprises at least one of:

means for receiving information from a handheld device moved between a first position proximate to ground and a second position proximate to a physical height of the user, or means for receiving information from at least one remote ranging sensor not worn by the user and a handheld device.

30. The apparatus of claim 15, wherein the at least one physical dimension is determined by:

prompting the user for a movement; and

capturing the prompted user movement from at least one sensor.

31. The apparatus of claim 15, wherein the at least one physical dimension is determined by:

prompting the user to input the at least one physical dimension; and

receiving direct user input via a user interface.

32. The apparatus of claim 15, wherein the means for determining the gesture of the user further includes modifying the scaling based on a stored history of movements performed by the user.

23. A computer program product comprising:

a non-transitory computer-readable medium comprising codes executable to cause an apparatus to;

determine an at least one physical dimension of a user;

identify an at least one movement of the user; and

determine a gesture of the user independent of a location of the user relative to the apparatus by scaling gesture recognition to the at least one physical dimension, wherein the scaling further includes adjusting at least one movement parameter used to determine the gesture of the user based on the at least one physical dimension, and wherein the processing system is further configured to scale the gesture recognition to the at least one physical dimension using a scale factor that is similar in all directions.

33. The computer program product of claim 23, wherein the non-transitory computer-readable medium further comprising codes executable to cause an apparatus to determine the at least one physical dimension by:

prompting the user for a movement; and

capturing the prompted user movement from at least one sensor.

34. The computer program product of claim 23, wherein the non-transitory computer-readable medium further comprising codes executable to cause an apparatus to determine the at least one physical dimension by:

prompting the user to input the at least one physical dimension; and

receiving direct user input via a user interface.

35. The computer program product of claim 23, wherein the non-transitory computer-readable medium further comprising codes executable to cause an apparatus to modify the scaling based on a stored history of movements performed by the user.