Control using movements

• US 8,941,625 B2
• Filed: 06/21/2010
• Issued: 01/27/2015
• Est. Priority Date: 07/07/2009
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Elliptic Laboratories AS
• Original Assignee: Elliptic Laboratories AS
• Inventors: Dahl, Tobias
• Primary Examiner(s): Cheng, Joe H
• Application Number:
  US13/382,898
• Publication Number:
  US 20120206339A1
• Time in Patent Office: 1,681 Days
• Field of Search: 345/156, 345/158, 345/173, 345175- 77, 345/179, 178/18.01, 178/18.04, 178/18.09, 702/150, 356/3, 715/781, 715/863
• US Class Current: 345/177
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 2203/04101 2.5D-digitiser, i.e. digitiser detecting the X/Y position of the input means, finger or stylus, also when it does not touch, but is proximate to the digitiser's interaction surface and also measures the distance of the input means within a short range in the Z direction, possibly with a separate measurement setup
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 2203/04108 Touchless 2D- digitiser, i.e. digitiser detecting the X/Y position of the input means, finger or stylus, also when it does not touch, but is proximate to the digitiser's interaction surface without distance measurement in the Z direction
• 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 3/0325 using a plurality of light emitters or reflectors or a plurality of detectors forming a reference frame from which to derive the orientation of the object, e.g. by triangulation or on the basis of reference deformation in the picked up image
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 3/043 using propagating acoustic waves
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 3/0484 for the control of specific functions or operations, e.g. selecting or manipulating an object, an image or a displayed text element, setting a parameter value or selecting a range
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 3/04883 for inputting data by handwriting, e.g. gesture or text
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/422 Input-only peripherals , i.e. input devices connected to specially adapted client devices, e.g. global positioning system [GPS] input devices also receiving signals from specially adapted client devices H04N21/4104
• 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 21/42221 Transmission circuitry, e.g. infrared [IR] or radio frequency [RF]
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/44218 Detecting physical presence or behaviour of the user, e.g. using sensors to detect if the user is leaving the room or changes his face expression during a TV program methods or arrangements for recognising human body or animal bodies or body parts G06V40/10; methods or arrangements for acquiring or recognising human faces, facial parts, facial sketches, facial expressions G06V40/16; methods or arrangements for recognising movements or behaviour G06V40/20; arrangements for identifying users in broadcast systems H04H60/45

Abstract

A movement of an object is recognised as a predetermined movement, by transmitting signals between transmitter-receiver pairs, which are reflected from the object. A first event is recorded for one of the transmitter-receiver pairs if a reflected signal meets a predetermined proximity criterion, and a second event is recorded for a second transmitter-receiver pair if after the first event, a subsequent reflected signal meets a predetermined proximity criterion. The first and second events are used to identify the movement.

Claims

1. A method of recognizing a movement of an object as one of a set of one or more possible predetermined movements, the method comprising:

continuously or repeatedly transmitting acoustic signals between at least two transmitter-receiver pairs, said signals being reflected from an object to produce reflected signals;

analyzing signals received at the receiver of a first one of said transmitter-receiver pairs to determine whether one or more reflected signals, received at the receiver, meets a first predetermined proximity criterion, the first predetermined proximity criterion comprising the reflected signal or signals having a time of flight, or average time of flight, from the transmitter to the receiver of the transmitter-receiver pair, via the object, that is within a first predetermined maximum time of flight, and recording a first event for the first one of said transmitter-receiver pairs when one or more reflected signal meets the first predetermined proximity criterion;

analyzing signals received at the receiver of a second one of said transmitter-receiver pairs to determine whether one or more reflected signals, received at the receiver, meets a second predetermined proximity criterion, the second predetermined proximity criterion comprising the reflected signal or signals having a time of flight, or average time of flight, from the transmitter to the receiver of the transmitter-receiver pair, via the object, that is within a second predetermined maximum time of flight, and recording a second event for the second one of said transmitter-receiver pairs when, after the first event, one or more subsequent reflected signals meets the second predetermined proximity criterion; and

using said first and second events to identify a movement of the object as one of a set of one or more possible predetermined movements.

2. The method of claim 1, wherein a control surface separates the transmitter and receiver of each pair.

3. The method of claim 1, wherein one or both of the first and second predetermined proximity criteria additionally comprises each of the one or more reflected signals containing at least a minimum energy reflected from the object.

4. The method of claim 1, wherein the first event is recorded after the reflected signals corresponding to both the first and the second events have been received.

5. The method of claim 1, further comprising determining quantitative measures of the proximity of the object to each transmitter-receiver pair.

6. The method of claim 5, further comprising recording the first or second events for the transmitter-receiver pair that is closest to the object.

7. The method of claim 1, further comprising using the identity of the transmitter-receiver pairs corresponding to the first and second events, and the order in which the events occurred, to identify said movement of the object as one of the set of one or more possible predetermined movements.

8. The method of claim 1, further comprising using the time interval between the first and second events to identify said movement of the object as one of the set of one or more possible predetermined movements.

9. The method of claim 1, wherein the acoustic signals are acoustic signals.

10. The method of claim 1, wherein the second predetermined proximity criterion is the same as the first predetermined proximity criterion.

11. The method of claim 1, wherein the first or second predetermined proximity criterion comprises the reflected signal or signals having a time of flight, or average time of flight, from the transmitter to the receiver of the transmitter-receiver pair, via the object, that is within a predetermined range interval, the method further comprising detecting whether there is an object present within the predetermined range interval by applying an energy detector, or an edge detector, or an envelope shape detector to corresponding portions of one or more signals received by the first or second transmitter-receiver pairs, or to corresponding portions of impulse responses calculated from signals received by the first or second transmitter-receiver pairs.

12. An apparatus for recognizing a movement of an object as one of a set of one or more possible predetermined movements, comprising:

at least two transmitter-receiver pairs;

electronic controller arranged to;

continuously or repeatedly transmit acoustic signals between the transmitter-receiver pairs, the signals being reflected from an object to produce reflected signals;

analyze signals received at the receiver of a first one of said transmitter-receiver pairs to determine whether one or more reflected signals, received at the receiver, meets a first predetermined proximity criterion, the first predetermined proximity criterion comprising the reflected signal or signals having a time of flight, or average time of flight, from the transmitter to the receiver of the transmitter-receiver pair, via the object, that is within a first predetermined maximum time of flight, and to record a first event for the first one of said transmitter-receiver pairs when one or more reflected signal meets the first predetermined proximity criterion; and

analyze signals received at the receiver of a second one of said transmitter-receiver pairs to determine whether one or more reflected signals, received at the receiver, meets a second predetermined proximity criterion, the second predetermined proximity criterion comprising the reflected signal or signals having a time of flight, or average time of flight, from the transmitter to the receiver of the transmitter-receiver pair, via the object, that is within a second predetermined maximum time of flight, and to record a second event for the second one of said transmitter-receiver pairs when, after the first event, one or more subsequent reflected signals meets the second predetermined proximity criterion; and

an electronic processor arranged to use the first and second events to identify a movement of the object as one of a set of one or more possible predetermined movements.

13. The apparatus of claim 12, wherein for each transmitter-receiver pair, the transmitter and receiver of the pair are separated from one another across at least a part of a control surface.

14. The apparatus of claim 13, wherein the transmitter of each transmitter-receiver pair is on an opposite side of the control surface to the paired receiver.

15. The apparatus of claim 13, wherein the control surface comprises a display for an electronic device.

16. The apparatus of claim 13, wherein the control surface is planar and wherein each transmitter-receiver pair comprises a transducer which is mounted flush with or below the plane of the control surface.

17. The apparatus of claim 12, wherein the acoustic signals are acoustic signals.

18. The apparatus of claim 12, wherein the second predetermined proximity criterion is the same as the first predetermined proximity criterion.

19. The apparatus of claim 12, wherein the first or second predetermined proximity criterion comprises the reflected signal or signals having a time of flight, or average time of flight, from the transmitter to the receiver of the transmitter-receiver pair, via the object, that is within a predetermined range interval, and the electronic controller being further arranged to detect whether there is an object present within the predetermined range interval by applying an energy detector, or an edge detector, or an envelope shape detector to corresponding portions of one or more signals received by the first or second transmitter-receiver pairs, or to corresponding portions of impulse responses calculated from signals received by the first or second transmitter-receiver pairs.

20. A non-transitory computer software product configured, when executed on a computer, to recognize a movement of an object as one of a set of one or more possible predetermined movements, the software performing the method comprising:

receiving data resulting from continuously or repeatedly transmitting acoustic signals between at least two transmitter-receiver pairs, the signals being reflected from an object to produce reflected signals;

analyzing signals received at the receiver of a first one of said transmitter-receiver pairs to determine whether one or more reflected signals, received at the receiver, meets a first predetermined proximity criterion, the first predetetermined proximity criterion comprising the reflected signal or signals having a time of flight, or average time of flight, from the transmitter to the receiver of the transmitter-receiver pair, via the object, that is within a first predetermined maximum time of flight, and recording a first event for the first one of said transmitter- receiver pairs if the data represents one or more reflected signals meeting the first predetermined proximity criterion;

analyzing signals received at the receiver of a second one of said transmitter-receiver pairs to determine whether one or more reflected signals, received at the receiver, meets a second predetermined proximity criterion, the second predetermined proximity criterion comprising the reflected signal or signals having a time of flight, or average time of flight, from the transmitter to the receiver of the transmitter-receiver pair, via the object, that is within a second predetermined maximum time of flight, and recording a second event for the second one of said transmitter-receiver pairs if, after the first event, the data represents a subsequent one or more reflected signals meeting the second predetermined proximity criterion; and

using the first and second events to identify a movement of the object as one of a set of one or more possible predetermined movements.

21. The non-transitory computer software product of claim 20, wherein the second predetermined proximity criterion is the same as the first predetermined proximity criterion.