Terminal, vehicle having the same, and control method thereof

• US 9,573,471 B2
• Filed: 10/26/2014
• Issued: 02/21/2017
• Est. Priority Date: 12/11/2013
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Hyundai Motor Company (Hyundai Motor Group)
• Original Assignee: Hyundai Motor Company (Hyundai Motor Group)
• Inventors: Lee, Tae Ho
• Primary Examiner(s): Edwards, Jerrah
• Assistant Examiner(s): WEBER, TAMARA L
• Application Number:
  US14/523,900
• Publication Number:
  US 20150158500A1
• Time in Patent Office: 849 Days
• US Class Current: 1/1
• CPC Class Codes: B60K 2360/146 Instrument input by gesture
• CPC Class Codes: B60K 2360/21 using cameras
• CPC Class Codes: B60K 35/10 Input arrangements, i.e. from user to vehicle, associated with vehicle functions or specially adapted therefor
• 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

Abstract

An apparatus is provided that includes a terminal, a detection unit configured to detect movement of a user, and a control unit to control operation of the terminal so that operation and functions corresponding to a number of times the movement is detected. Accordingly, it may be possible to intuitively input operation instructions of the terminal, give cognition of the intuitive and sensuous terminal to the user since the operation instructions of the terminal are input in an input manner by operation struck with a hand two or three times such as clicking or double clicking.

Claims

1. An apparatus installed in a vehicle comprising:

a terminal configured to perform at least one operation of a navigation operation, an audio/video output operation, a telephone call operation, a music playing operation, and a radio operation, and having a display unit and a sound unit, wherein information related to the at least one operation is outputted by the display unit and the sound unit;

a detector configured to detect movement of a hand of a user; and

a controller configured to;

i) activate the detector when a detection mode is activated by the user,

ii) activate a redetection mode for controlling the terminal when the movement of the hand is detected during the detection mode,

iii) terminate the redetection mode when the movement of the hand is not redetected within a preset time period during the redetection mode,

iv) count a number of times the movement of the hand is detected for a preset reference time when the movement of the hand is redetected within the preset time period during the redetection mode,

v) identify an operation corresponding to the counted number of times the movement of the hand is detected,

vi) control operation of the display unit or the sound unit of the terminal such that the identified operation is performed by the terminal,

vii) determine whether the movement of the hand is moving inward and outward from a predetermined detection region based on a magnitude of signals input from the detector, and

viii) count a number of signals among the inputted signals that have a magnitude greater than or equal to a reference magnitude, wherein the counted number of the signals includes the counted number of times the movement of the hand is detected during the redetection mode.

2. The apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the terminal comprises at least one of a navigation device, a black box, a GPS, a Bluetooth device, and a rear camera.

3. The apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the detector comprises a proximity sensor which detects the movement of the hand located in the predetermined detection region.

4. The apparatus according to claim 1, further comprising:

an input unit,

wherein the controller is further configured to activate the detector when key signals to set operation instructions are input to the input unit, and generate operation instructions by matching the number of times the movement of the hand is detected by the detector with the operation instructions input to the input unit.

5. The apparatus according to claim 4, further comprising a storage unit, wherein the generated operation instructions are stored in the storage unit.

6. A terminal which performs at least one operation mode of a vehicle driving route guidance operation mode, an external broadcasting output operation mode, and an A/V output operation mode, the terminal comprising:

a display unit and a sound unit, wherein information related to the at least one operation mode is outputted by the display unit and the sound unit;

a detector configured to detect movement of a hand of a user;

a controller configured to;

i) activate the detector when a detection mode is activated by the user,

ii) activate a redetection mode for controlling the terminal when the movement of the hand is detected during the detection mode,

iii) terminate the redetection mode when the movement of the hand is not redetected within a preset time period during the redetection mode,

iv) count a number of times the movement of the hand is detected for a preset reference time when the movement of the hand is redetected within the preset time period during the redetection mode,

v) identify an operation instruction of the terminal corresponding to the counted number of times the movement of the hand is detected, and

vi) control operation of the display unit or the sound unit based on the identified operation instruction such that the at least one operation mode is performed,

vii) determine whether the movement of the hand is moving inward and outward from a predetermined detection region based on a magnitude of signals input from the detector, and

viii) count a number of signals among the inputted signals that have a magnitude greater than or equal to a reference magnitude, wherein the counted number of the signals includes the counted number of times the movement of the hand is detected during the redetection mode; and

a storage unit, wherein the operation instruction of the terminal corresponding to the number of times the movement of the hand is detected is stored in the storage unit.

7. The terminal according to claim 6, wherein the controller is further configured to convert a current operation mode into another operation mode based on the number of times the movement of the hand is detected.

8. The terminal according to claim 6, wherein the controller is further configured to perform at least one of screen capture operation, channel storage operation, and menu expansion and reduction operation in a current mode, based on the number of times the movement of the hand is detected.

9. The terminal according to claim 6, wherein the detector comprises a proximity sensor which detects movement of the hand located in the predetermined detection region.

10. The terminal according to claim 6, wherein the controller is further configured to identify a detection time at which the movement is detected within a preset detection region and identifying an operation instruction corresponding to the identified detection time.

11. The terminal according to claim 6, wherein the controller is further configured to identify a detection direction of the movement when the movement is detected within a preset detection region and identifying an operation instruction corresponding to the identified detection direction.

12. A method of controlling a terminal provided in a vehicle, the method comprising:

activating a detector when an instruction to perform a detection mode is input to an input unit;

activating a redetection mode for controlling the terminal when the detector is activated;

terminating the redetection mode when a movement of a hand of a user is not redetected within a preset time period during the redetection mode;

counting the number of times the movement of the hand is redetected for a preset reference time when the movement is redetected within the preset time period during the redetection mode;

identifying the counted number of times the movement of the hand is detected;

identifying an operation instruction corresponding to the number of times the movement of the hand is detected;

controlling operation of a display unit and a sound unit of the terminal based on identified operation instructions by causing the display unit or the sound unit of the terminal to output information related to at least one operation of a navigation operation, an audio/video output operation, a telephone call operation, a music playing operation, and a radio operation;

determining whether the movement of the hand is moving inward and outward from a predetermined detection region based on a magnitude of signals input from the detector; and

counting a number of signals among the inputted signals that have a magnitude greater than or equal to a reference magnitude, wherein the counted number of the signals includes the counted number of times the movement of the hand is detected during the redetection mode.

13. The method according to claim 12, further comprising:

activating the detector when key signals to set operation instructions are input to the input unit;

identifying the operation instructions input to the input unit;

identifying the number of times the movement of the hand is detected by the detector;

generating a new operation instruction by matching the number of times the movement of the hand is detected with the operation instructions input to the input unit; and

storing the generated new operation instruction and the number of times the movement of the hand is detected.

14. The method according to claim 13, wherein the identifying movement detected by the detector further comprises identifying the number of times the movement of the hand is detected by the detector and a time interval between the detected movements.