Input apparatus, output apparatus, and storage medium for setting input and/or output mode based on user attribute

• US 9,317,737 B2
• Filed: 12/23/2013
• Issued: 04/19/2016
• Est. Priority Date: 01/15/2013
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Sony Corporation (Sony Group Corp.)
• Original Assignee: Sony Corporation (Sony Group Corp.)
• Inventors: Sako, Yoichiro, Takehara, Mitsuru, Sakoda, Kazuyuki, Watanabe, Kazuhiro, Nakamura, Takatoshi, Asada, Kohei, Hayashi, Kazunori, Kamada, Yasunori, Kon, Takayasu, Tange, Akira, Hanaya, Hiroyuki, Onuma, Tomoya, Koga, Yuki
• Primary Examiner(s): Sternbane, Larry
• Application Number:
  US14/139,073
• Publication Number:
  US 20140191974A1
• Time in Patent Office: 848 Days
• US Class Current: 1/1
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 3/005 Input arrangements through a video camera
• 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 3/04886 by partitioning the display area of the touch-screen or the surface of the digitising tablet into independently controllable areas, e.g. virtual keyboards or menus
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 3/167 Audio in a user interface, e.g. using voice commands for navigating, audio feedback
• CPC Class Codes: G06V 40/107 Static hand or arm
• CPC Class Codes: G06V 40/172 Classification, e.g. identification
• CPC Class Codes: G06V 40/178 estimating age from face image; using age information for improving recognition
• CPC Class Codes: G06V 40/20 Movements or behaviour, e.g. gesture recognition recognition of facial expressions G06V40/16
• CPC Class Codes: G10L 25/51 for comparison or discrimination
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/4532 involving end-user characteristics, e.g. viewer profile, preferences monitoring of user activities for profile generation for accessing a video database G06F16/739; user profiles in network data switching protocols H04L67/306; processing of user preferences or user profiles in wireless networks H04W8/18

Abstract

There is provided an input apparatus including an estimation unit configured to automatically estimate an attribute of a user, a setting unit configured to set an input mode based on the attribute of the user estimated by the estimation unit, and a control unit configured to control input based on the set input mode.

Claims

1. An input apparatus comprising:

an estimation unit configured to automatically estimate one or more attributes of a user;

a setting unit configured to set a software keyboard on a display screen of the input apparatus based on the one or more attributes of the user estimated by the estimation unit, wherein at least one attribute among the one or more attributes of the user is estimated based on a gesture received by the input apparatus from the user; and

a control unit configured to control input based on the set software keyboard.

2. The input apparatus according to claim 1,

wherein one of the one or more attributes of the user estimated by the estimation unit indicates a level of familiarity the user has with the input apparatus,

wherein the estimation unit is configured to estimate the level of familiarity of the user based on a state of an input by the user, age or age range of the user.

3. The input apparatus according to claim 1, wherein one of the one or more attributes of the user estimated by the estimation unit indicates age or age range of the user.

4. The input apparatus according to claim 3, wherein the estimation unit is further configured to estimate the age or age range of the user based on content input by the user, a name of the user, or a captured image of a face of the user.

5. The input apparatus according to claim 1, wherein one of the one or more attributes of the user estimated by the estimation unit indicates race or nationality of the user.

6. The input apparatus according to claim 1,

wherein one of the one or more attributes of the user estimated by the estimation unit indicates eyesight of the user.

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

a detection unit configured to detect information for estimating the one or more attributes of the user,

wherein the estimation unit is configured to estimate the one or more attributes of the user based on a detection result from the detection unit.

8. The input apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the setting unit is configured to set a key layout on the software keyboard that is included on the display screen.

9. The input apparatus according to claim 1, wherein setting the software keyboard is a language setting of a key layout of the software keyboard during input.

10. An output apparatus comprising:

an estimation unit configured to automatically estimate one or more attributes of a user;

a setting unit configured to set a software keyboard on a display screen of the output apparatus based on the one or more attributes of the user estimated by the estimation unit, wherein at least one attribute among the one or more attributes of the user is estimated based on a gesture received by the output apparatus from the user; and

a control unit configured to control output based on the set software keyboard.

11. The output apparatus according to claim 10,

wherein one of the one or more attributes of the user estimated by the estimation unit indicates a level of familiarity the user has with the output apparatus,

wherein the estimation unit is configured to estimate the level of familiarity of the user based on a state of an input by the user, age or age range of the user.

12. The output apparatus according to claim 10, wherein the estimation unit is configured to estimate, as the one or more user attributes, age or age range of the user based on content input by the user, a name of the user, or a captured image of a face of the user.

13. The output apparatus according to claim 10, further comprising:

a detection unit configured to detect information for estimating the one or more attributes of the user,

wherein the estimation unit is configured to estimate the one or more attributes of the user based on a detection result from the detection unit.

14. The output apparatus according to claim 10, wherein the setting unit is further configured to set a size of characters included on the display screen or a font setting.

15. The output apparatus according to claim 10, wherein the setting unit is further configured to set a notation on the display screen.

16. The output apparatus according to claim 15, wherein the notation setting is a setting about presence of furigana, conversion from kanji notation to kana notation, or conversion to another language.

17. A non-transitory computer-readable storage medium having stored thereon, a set of computer-executable instructions for causing a computer to perform a method comprising:

estimating one or more attributes of a user;

setting a software keyboard on a display screen of an input apparatus based on the estimated one or more attributes of the user, wherein at least one attribute among the one or more attributes of the user is estimated based on a gesture received by the input apparatus from the user; and

controlling input based on the set software keyboard.

18. A non-transitory computer-readable storage medium having stored thereon, a set of computer-executable instructions for causing a computer to perform a method comprising:

estimating one or more attributes of a user;

setting a software keyboard on a display screen of an output apparatus based on the estimated one or more attributes of the user, wherein at least one attribute among the one or more attributes of the user is estimated based on a gesture received by the output apparatus from the user; and

controlling output based on the set software keyboard.