Determining a device identifier from a light signal emitted by a device

• US 9,413,950 B2
• Filed: 01/25/2013
• Issued: 08/09/2016
• Est. Priority Date: 01/25/2013
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Hewlett-Packard Development Company, L.P. (HP Inc.)
• Original Assignee: Hewlett-Packard Development Company, L.P. (HP Inc.)
• Inventors: Hong, Wei
• Primary Examiner(s): Taylor, Nicholas
• Assistant Examiner(s): ROY, SANJOY K
• Application Number:
  US13/750,656
• Publication Number:
  US 20140211035A1
• Time in Patent Office: 1,292 Days
• Field of Search: 348/222.1
• US Class Current: 1/1
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/4223 Cameras H04N23/00 takes precedence
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/42684 Client identification by a unique number or address, e.g. serial number, MAC address, socket ID network arrangements, protocols or services for addressing or naming H04L61/00
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/436 Interfacing a local distribution network, e.g. communicating with another STB or one or more peripheral devices inside the home
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/44227 Monitoring of local network, e.g. connection or bandwidth variations; Detecting new devices in the local network configuring of peripheral devices in general G06F9/4411; monitoring connectivity in data switched networks H04L43/0811
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/4788 communicating with other users, e.g. chatting arrangements for providing for computer conferences, e.g. chat rooms, to substation in data switching networks H04L12/1813; distributed application using peer-to-peer [P2P] networks H04L67/104
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 23/80 Camera processing pipelines; Components thereof

Abstract

A method performed by a processing system includes determining a device identifier corresponding to a device from a series of captured images that include a light signal emitted by the device.

Claims

1. A method performed by a processing device, the method comprising:

capturing, by the processing device, a series of images with a camera of the processing system, wherein the series of images includes a first light signal emitted by a first device;

determining, by the processing device, an identifier of the first device from the first light signal captured in the series of images;

providing the identifier of the first device from the processing device to a device interaction service via a network connection;

receiving information of the first device from the device interaction service;

displaying, on a user interface of the processing device, an icon representing the first device based on the captured series of images and displaying the information of the first device received from the device interaction service;

receiving a selection input indicating a selection of the first device, the selection input including a movement on the user interface from the icon representing the first device in a direction towards a location of the first device;

determining, by the processing device, a selection angle between the direction of the selection input received on the user interface and a reference line on the user interface;

determining, by the processing device, a first device angle between a line from a location of the processing device to the location of the first device and a reference plane;

comparing the selection angle to the first device angle; and

based on the comparison between the selection angle and the first device angle, determining that the first device has been selected to establish an interaction between the processing device and the first device.

2. The method of claim 1, wherein the information of the first device identifies a user of the first device.

3. The method of claim 2, further comprising:

displaying a name of the user of the first device next to the icon of the first device on the user interface.

4. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

sending designated content from the processing device to the first device.

5. The method of claim 1, wherein the reference plane is a plane orthogonal to the camera of the processing device.

6. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

capturing, by the processing device, a second light signal emitted by a second device;

determining a second device identifier of the second device from the captured second light signal;

providing the second device identifier from the processing system to the device interaction service using the network connection; and

receiving information of the second device from the device interaction service.

7. The method of claim 6, further comprising:

displaying, on the user interface, an icon representing the second device and information of the second device;

determining a second device angle between a line from the location of the processing device to the second device and the reference plane;

comparing the selection angle and the second device angle; and

determining that the first device has been selected in response to a determination that the first device angle is closer to the selection angle than the second device angle is to the selection angle.

8. An article comprising at least one non-transitory machine-readable storage medium storing instructions that, when executed by a processing system, cause the processing system to:

capture a series of images with a camera of the processing system, wherein the series of images includes a first light signal emitted by a first device;

determine an identifier of the first device from the first light signal captured in the series of images;

provide the identifier of the first device to a device interaction service;

receive information of the first device from the device interaction service;

display, on a display of the processing system, a first representation of the first device based on the captured series of images and display the information of the first device received from the device interaction service;

receive a selection input indicating a selection of the first device, the input including a movement on the display from the first representation of the first device on the display in a direction towards a location of the first device;

determine a selection angle between the direction of the selection input received on the display and a reference line on the display;

determine a first device angle between a line from a location of the processing system to the location of the first device and a reference plane;

compare the selection angle to the first device angle; and

determine that the first device has been selected based on the comparison between the selection angle and the first device angle.

9. The article of claim 8, wherein the instructions, when executed by the processing system, cause the processing system to:

display the series of images including the first device on the display of the processing system.

10. The article of claim 8, wherein the instructions, when executed by the processing system, cause the processing system to:

display the first representation of the first device at a first location on a circular map on the display based on the first device angle;

display a second representation of a second device at a second location on the circular map based on a second device angle, wherein the first location of the first representation and the second location of the second representation on the circular map correspond to physical geographical locations of the first device and the second device, respectively, with respect to the processing system.

11. The article of claim 10, wherein the first location is further based upon a first distance between the first device and the camera of the processing system, and wherein the second location is further based upon a second distance between the second device and the camera of the processing system.

12. A method performed by a processing device, the method comprising:

capturing, by a camera of the processing device, a series of images including a first light signal emitted by a first device and a second light signal emitted by a second device;

determining an identifier of the first device from the first light signal captured in the series of images and a second light signal;

obtaining, by the processing device, information of the first device based on the first device identifier and information of the second device based on the second device identifier;

displaying, by the processing device, a first representation of the first device and a second representation of the second device on a user interface of the processing device;

receiving a selection input on the user interface, the selection input including a movement on the user interface from the first representation of the first device in a direction towards a location of the first device;

determining a selection angle between the direction of the selection input and a reference line on the user interface;

determining, by the processing device, a first device angle between a line from a location of the processing device to the location of the first device and a reference plane;

comparing the selection angle and the first device angle; and

determining that the first device has been selected based on the comparison between the selection angle and the first device angle.

13. The method of claim 12, further comprising:

providing, from the processing device to a device interaction service, designated content and the first device identifier to cause the designated content to be provided to the first device by the device interaction service.

14. The method of claim 12, further comprising:

determining a second device angle between a line from the processing device to the second device and a reference plane;

comparing the selection angle and the second device angle; and

determining that the first device has been selected in response to a determination that the first device angle is closer to the selection angle than the second device angle is to the selection angle.

15. The method of claim 12, wherein displaying the first representation of the first device and the second representation of the second device comprises:

displaying, on the user interface, the first representation of the first device at a first location on a circular map;

displaying the second representation of the second device at a second location on the circular map, wherein the first location of the first representation and the second location of the second representation on the circular map correspond to physical geographical locations of the first device and the second device, respectively, with respect to the processing system.