Gesture based power management system and method

• US 9,459,698 B2
• Filed: 12/10/2014
• Issued: 10/04/2016
• Est. Priority Date: 12/10/2014
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: TCL Research America, Inc. (TCL Technology Group Corp.)
• Original Assignee: TCL Research America, Inc. (TCL Technology Group Corp.)
• Inventors: Lee, Janghwan
• Primary Examiner(s): Cheng, Joe H
• Application Number:
  US14/565,839
• Publication Number:
  US 20160170490A1
• Time in Patent Office: 664 Days
• US Class Current: 1/1
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 1/163 Wearable computers, e.g. on a belt
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 1/3206 Monitoring of events, devices or parameters that trigger a change in power modality
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 1/3231 Monitoring the presence, absence or movement of users
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 1/3234 Power saving characterised by the action undertaken
• 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: G06V 40/28 Recognition of hand or arm movements, e.g. recognition of deaf sign language static hand signs G06V40/113
• CPC Class Codes: G09G 2330/021 Power management, e.g. power saving
• CPC Class Codes: Y02D 10/00 Energy efficient computing, e.g. low power processors, power management or thermal management

Abstract

A gesture based power management method for a wearable device is provided. The method includes establishing a mapping relationship between a set of pre-defined gestures including at least a lookup gesture and a set of power management functions including at least a function for turning on a display screen of the wearable device. The method also includes receiving motion information from a plurality of sensors and determining whether the display screen of the wearable device is on. Further, the method includes counting down a timeout counter when the display screen of the wearable device is on, determining whether the motion information indicates a specific pre-defined gesture when the display screen of the wearable device is off, and performing a power management function corresponding to the specific pre-defined gesture when the motion information indicates the specific pre-defined gesture.

Claims

1. A gesture based power management method for a wearable device, comprising:

establishing a mapping relationship between a set of pre-defined gestures including at least a lookup gesture and a set of power management functions including at least a function for turning on a display screen of the wearable device, wherein the lookup gesture comprises an up-down movement, a twist movement, and a stop motion in a sequence;

receiving motion information from a plurality of sensors;

determining whether the display screen of the wearable device is on;

when the display screen of the wearable device is on, counting down a timeout counter;

when the display screen of the wearable device is off, determining whether the motion information indicates a specific pre-defined gesture, comprising determining the lookup gesture by detecting the up-down movement, the twist movement, and the stop motion sequentially; and

when the motion information indicates the specific pre-defined gesture, performing a power management function corresponding to the specific pre-defined gesture.

2. The method according to claim 1, wherein receiving motion information from a plurality of sensors further includes:

receiving acceleration information in 3-axis directions from the plurality of sensors, wherein the 3-axis directions include an X axis direction being from left to right horizontally, a Y axis direction being from bottom to top vertically, and a Z axis direction being from back to front and perpendicular to the display screen of the wearable device.

3. The method according to claim 1, wherein determining whether the motion information indicates a specific pre-defined gesture when the display screen of the wearable device is off further includes:

detecting the lookup gesture by calling detection subroutines; and

based on a detection result of the lookup gesture, changing a value of a detection state.

4. The method according to claim 3, wherein changing a value of a detection state based on a detection result of the lookup gesture further includes:

based on a detection result of the movements, changing the value of the detection state;

based on the value of the detection state, determining whether a stop motion is detected; and

based on a detection result of the stop motion, changing the value of the detection state.

5. The method according to claim 1, wherein performing a power management function corresponding to the specific pre-defined gesture further includes:

performing the function for turning on the display screen of the wearable device corresponding to the lookup gesture when the motion information indicates the lookup gesture.

6. A gesture based power management method for a wearable device, comprising:

establishing a mapping relationship between a set of pre-defined gestures including at least a lookup gesture and a set of power management functions including at least a function for turning on a display screen of the wearable device;

receiving motion information from a plurality of sensors;

determining whether the display screen of the wearable device is on;

when the display screen of the wearable device is on, counting down a timeout counter;

when the display screen of the wearable device is off, determining whether the motion information indicates a specific pre-defined gesture, comprising;

detecting up-down and twist movements of the wearable device by calling a subroutine for detecting the up-down and twist movements, and

detecting a stop motion of the wearable device by calling a subroutine for detecting the stop motion; and

when the motion information indicates the specific pre-defined gesture, performing a power management function corresponding to the specific pre-defined gesture.

7. The method according to claim 6, wherein detecting up-down and twist movements of the wearable device by calling a subroutine for detecting the up-down and twist movements further includes:

calculating a current angle;

preprocessing the current angle using a low pass filter;

comparing an algebraic sign of a difference between the updated angle and an old angle with an algebraic sign of an accumulated sum of change of the angle;

when the algebraic sign of the difference between the updated angle and the old angle is the same as the algebraic sign of the accumulated sum of the change of the angle, adding the difference between the updated angle and the old angle to the accumulated sum of the change of the angle to obtain a new accumulated sum and determining whether an absolute value of the new accumulated sum of the change of the angle is greater than a predefined movement threshold; and

when the algebraic sign of the difference between the updated angle and the old angle is different from the algebraic sign of the accumulated sum of change of the angle, determining whether the absolute value of the accumulated sum of the change of the angle is greater than a predefined threshold.

8. The method according to claim 7, wherein determining whether an absolute value of the new accumulated sum of the change of the angle is greater than a predefined movement threshold further includes:

when the absolute value of the new accumulated sum of the change of the angle is greater than the predefined movement threshold, changing the value of the detection state to 1; and

when the absolute value of the new accumulated sum of the change of the angle is not greater than the predefined movement threshold, exiting the subroutine for detecting the up-down and twist movements.

9. The method according to claim 7, wherein determining whether the absolute value of the accumulated sum of the change of the angle is greater than a predefined threshold further includes:

when the absolute value of the accumulated sum of the change of the angle is greater than the predefined threshold, changing the value of the detection state to 2; and

when the absolute value of the accumulated sum of the change of the angle is not greater than the predefined threshold, exiting the subroutine for detecting the up-down and twist movements.

10. The method according to claim 6, wherein detecting a stop motion of the wearable device by calling a subroutine for detecting the stop motion further includes:

determining whether an absolute value of acceleration on an X axis is greater than a predefined value;

when the absolute value of the acceleration on the X axis is not greater than the predefined value, decreasing a waiting period by 1 and detecting whether the decreased waiting period is not greater than 0, wherein;

when the decreased waiting period is not greater than 0, the value of the detection state is set to 3; and

when the decreased waiting period is greater than 0, the subroutine for detecting the stop motion is exited; and

when the absolute value of the acceleration on the X axis is greater than the predefined value, resetting the value of the detection state to 0 and resetting the waiting period to an initial value.

11. A gesture based power management system for a wearable device, comprising:

a mapping relationship establishment module configured to establish a mapping relationship between a set of pre-defined gestures including at least a lookup gesture and a set of power management functions including at least a function for turning on a display screen of the wearable device, wherein the lookup gesture comprises an up-down movement, a twist movement, and a stop motion in a sequence;

a receiving module configured to receive motion information from a plurality of sensors; and

a detection module configured to determine whether the display screen of the wearable device is on, wherein;

when the display screen of the wearable device is on, a timeout counter is counted down;

when the display screen of the wearable device is off, whether the motion information indicates a specific pre-defined gesture is determined,

wherein the detection module is further configured to determine the lookup gesture by detecting the up-down movement, the twist movement, and the stop motion sequentially; and

when the motion information indicates the specific pre-defined gesture, a power management function corresponding to the specific pre-defined gesture is performed.

12. The system according to claim 11, wherein the receiving module is further configured to:

receive acceleration information in 3-axis directions from the plurality of sensors, wherein the plurality of sensors are configured to establish a three-dimensional (3D) coordinate system, including an X axis direction being from left to right horizontally, a Y axis direction being from bottom to top vertically, and a Z axis direction being from back to front and perpendicular to the display screen of the wearable device.

13. The system according to claim 11, wherein the detection module is further configured to:

when the display screen of the wearable device is off, detect the lookup gesture by calling detection subroutines;

change a value of a detection state based on a detection result of the lookup gesture; and

determine whether the display screen of the wearable device is turned on based on the value of the detection state.

14. The system according to claim 13, wherein the detection module further includes:

an up-down and twist movement detection submodule configured to detect up-down and twist movements of the wearable device by calling a subroutine for detecting the up-down and twist movements; and

a stop motion detection submodule configured to detect a stop motion of the wearable device by calling a subroutine for detecting the stop motion.

15. The system according to claim 14, wherein:

based on a detection result of the movements, the up-down and twist movement detection submodule changes the value of the detection state;

based on the value of the detection state, the stop motion detection submodule determines whether the stop motion is detected; and

based on a detection result of the stop motion, the stop motion detection submodule changes the value of the detection state.

16. The system according to claim 14, wherein the up-down and twist movement detection submodule is further configured to:

calculate a current angle;

obtain the current angle preprocessed by a low pass filter;

compare an algebraic sign of a difference between the updated angle and an old angle with an algebraic sign of an accumulated sum of change of the angle;

when the algebraic sign of the difference between the updated angle and the old angle is the same as the algebraic sign of the accumulated sum of the change of the angle, add the difference between the updated angle and the old angle to the accumulated sum of the change of the angle to obtain a new accumulated sum and determine whether an absolute value of the new accumulated sum of the change of the angle is greater than a predefined movement threshold; and

when the algebraic sign of the difference between the updated angle and the old angle is different from the algebraic sign of the accumulated sum of change of the angle, determine whether the absolute value of the accumulated sum of the change of the angle is greater than a predefined threshold.

17. The system according to claim 16, wherein:

when the absolute value of the new accumulated sum of the change of the angle is greater than the predefined movement threshold, the value of the detection state is changed to 1; and

when the absolute value of the new accumulated sum of the change of the angle is not greater than the predefined movement threshold, the subroutine for detecting the up-down and twist movements is exited.

18. The system according to claim 16, wherein:

when the absolute value of the accumulated sum of the change of the angle is greater than the predefined threshold, the value of the detection state is changed to 2; and

when the absolute value of the accumulated sum of the change of the angle is not greater than the predefined threshold, the subroutine for detecting the up-down and twist movements is exited.

19. The system according to claim 14, wherein the stop motion detection submodule is further configured to:

determine whether an absolute value of acceleration on an X axis is greater than a predefined value;

when the absolute value of the acceleration on the X axis is not greater than the predefined value, decrease a waiting period by 1 and detect whether the decreased waiting period is not greater than 0, wherein;

when the decreased waiting period is not greater than 0, the value of the detection state is set to 3; and

when the decreased waiting period is greater than 0, the subroutine for detecting the stop motion is exited; and

when the absolute value of the acceleration on the X axis is greater than the predefined value, reset the value of the detection state to 0 and reset the waiting period to an initial value.

20. The system according to claim 11, wherein:

when the motion information indicates the lookup gesture, the function for turning on the display screen of the wearable device corresponding to the lookup gesture is performed.