Device and control method thereof

• US 9,142,182 B2
• Filed: 10/07/2011
• Issued: 09/22/2015
• Est. Priority Date: 10/07/2011
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: LG Electronics, Inc. (LG Corporation)
• Original Assignee: LG Electronics, Inc. (LG Corporation)
• Inventors: Kim, Taehyeong, Yu, Sunjin, Lee, Hyunsook, Im, Soungmin
• Primary Examiner(s): Mengistu, Amare
• Assistant Examiner(s): MATHEWS, CRYSTAL
• Application Number:
  US13/269,320
• Publication Number:
  US 20130088419A1
• Time in Patent Office: 1,446 Days
• US Class Current: 1/1
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 2203/0381 Multimodal input, i.e. interface arrangements enabling the user to issue commands by simultaneous use of input devices of different nature, e.g. voice plus gesture on digitizer
• 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 3/038 Control and interface arrangements therefor, e.g. drivers or device-embedded control circuitry
• CPC Class Codes: G09G 2354/00 Aspects of interface with display user
• CPC Class Codes: G09G 5/00 Control arrangements or circuits for visual indicators common to cathode-ray tube indicators and other visual indicators image data processing or generation, in general G06T
• 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 21/485 End-user interface for client configuration

Abstract

A device and a control method for the device are disclosed. A device and a control method for the device according to the present invention comprises a sensing unit; and a controller, if at least one of a second control command is received through the sensing unit while carrying out a control operation based on at least one of a first control command received through the sensing unit, generating a display signal based on a control command selected according to a predetermined criterion from the received multiple control commands of the first and the second control command. According to the present invention, a control command for generating a display signal can be effectively selected in the case that another control command is received while a particular control command is carried out.

Claims

1. A device, comprising:

sensing units comprising at least two among a microphone detecting a user'"'"'s voice, a camera detecting the user'"'"'s gesture motion, and a communication unit detecting a communication signal of at least one external device and configured to detect multiple control commands; and

a controller configured to;

receive the multiple control commands through the sensing units, the multiple control commands being detected from different sensing units;

determine whether the received multiple control commands are compatible based on a current state of the device and a predetermined sets of control commands;

simultaneously execute multiple functions corresponding to the multiple control commands when the multiple control commands are compatible; and

selectively execute one function corresponding to a control command selected from the multiple control commands according to a predetermined criterion when the multiple control commands are incompatible,

wherein the multiple control commands include a first control command detected through a first sensing unit and a second control command detected through a second sensing unit, the second sensing unit being different from the first sensing unit, and

wherein the multiple functions are independent each other.

2. The device of claim 1, wherein the controller determines that the first control command and the second control command cannot be carried out simultaneously when a display state indicating control operation due to the first control command is changed as a control signal due to the second control command is generated.

3. The device of claim 1, wherein the controller determines that the first control command and the second control command cannot be carried out simultaneously when the particular control command corresponds to at least one of a hovering control command for pointers indicating the first control command and the second control command;

a control command for changing a menu hierarchy displayed;

a control command for selecting a displayed menu; and

a control command for selecting the same object.

4. The device of claim 1, wherein the communication unit detects at least one from among a communication signal from a 3D pointing device detecting a motion in 3D space, a communication signal from an infrared ray-based remote controller, and a communication signal from a mobile terminal.

5. The device of claim 1, wherein the predetermined criterion is determined according to a priority of an entity which generates the first control command and the second control command.

6. The device of claim 5, wherein the entity which generates the first control command and the second control command corresponds to at least one among a user'"'"'s gesture motion, the user'"'"'s voice, a 3D pointing device, an infrared remote controller, and a mobile terminal.

7. The device of claim 1, wherein the controller generates the display signal based on the second control command when receiving of the first control command is suspended while the second control command is received.

8. The device of claim 1, wherein the predetermined criterion is determined based on a time point at which the first control command and second control command are generated.

9. The device of claim 1, wherein the predetermined criterion is determined based on whether an entity which generates the first control command and the second control command is directed toward the device'"'"'s position.

10. The device of claim 1, wherein the first control command is a control command for selecting a menu and the second control command is a control command for adjusting a volume, and

wherein the controller simultaneously executes two functions to select the menu and to adjust the volume when the controller determine that both the first control command and the second command are compatible.

11. The device of claim 1, wherein the first control command is a control command for hovering of a pointer and the second control command is a control command for adjusting a volume, and

wherein the controller simultaneously executes two functions for the pointer to hover over a screen and to adjust the volume when the controller determine that both the first control command and the second command are compatible.

12. A device, comprising:

sensing units comprising at least two among a microphone detecting a user'"'"'s voice, a camera detecting the user'"'"'s gesture motion, and a communication unit detecting a communication signal of at least one external device and configured to detect multiple control commands;

the communication unit comprising at least one of a wireless communication module and a wired communication module; and

a controller configured to;

receive the multiple control commands through the sensing units, the multiple control commands being detected from different sensing units;

determine whether the received multiple control commands are compatible based on a current state of the device and a predetermined sets of control commands;

simultaneously execute multiple functions corresponding to the multiple control commands when the multiple control commands are compatible; and

selectively execute one function corresponding to a control command selected from the multiple control commands according to a predetermined criterion when the multiple control commands are incompatible,

wherein the multiple control commands include a first control command detected through a first sensing unit and a second control command detected through a second sensing unit, the second sensing unit being different from the first sensing unit, and

wherein the multiple functions are independent each other.

13. The device of claim 12, wherein the communication unit detects at least one from among a communication signal from a 3D pointing device detecting a motion in 3D space, a communication signal from an infrared ray-based remote controller, and a communication signal from a mobile terminal.

14. The device of claim 12, wherein the predetermined criterion is determined according to a priority of an entity which generates the first control command and the second control command.

15. A method for controlling a device, comprising:

receiving multiple control commands through the sensing units, the multiple control commands being detected from different sensing units;

determining whether the received multiple control commands are compatible based on a current state of the device and a predetermined sets of control commands;

simultaneously executing multiple functions corresponding to the multiple control commands when the multiple control commands are compatible; and

selectively executing one function corresponding to a control command selected from the multiple control commands according to a predetermined criterion when the multiple control commands are incompatible,

wherein the multiple control commands include a first control command detected through a first sensing unit and a second control command detected through a second sensing unit, the second sensing unit being different from the first sensing unit, and

wherein the multiple functions are independent each other.

16. The controlling method of claim 15, wherein it is determined that the first control command and the second control command cannot be carried out simultaneously when a particular control command corresponds to at least one of a hovering control command for a pointer displayed;

a control command for changing a menu hierarchy displayed;

a control command for selecting a displayed menu; and

a control command for selecting the same object.

17. The controlling method of claim 15, wherein the predetermined criterion is determined according to a priority of an entity which generates the first control command and the second control command.

18. The controlling method of claim 15, further comprising generating the display signal based on the second control command when receiving of the first control command is suspended while the second control command is received.