Techniques for utilizing a computer input device with multiple computers

• US 9,619,017 B2
• Filed: 11/07/2012
• Issued: 04/11/2017
• Est. Priority Date: 11/07/2012
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Qualcomm, Inc.
• Original Assignee: Qualcomm, Inc.
• Inventors: Samanta Singhar, Anil Ranjan Roy
• Primary Examiner(s): Davis, Tony
• Application Number:
  US13/671,353
• Publication Number:
  US 20140125575A1
• Time in Patent Office: 1,616 Days
• Field of Search: 345619, 345156, 348 77
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 3/005 Input arrangements through a video camera
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 3/011 Arrangements for interaction with the human body, e.g. for user immersion in virtual reality blind teaching G09B21/00
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 3/013 Eye tracking input arrangements G06F3/015 takes precedence
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 3/038 Control and interface arrangements therefor, e.g. drivers or device-embedded control circuitry
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 3/1423 controlling a plurality of local displays, e.g. CRT and flat panel display
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 3/1446 display composed of modules, e.g. video walls
• CPC Class Codes: G09G 2330/022 in absence of operation, e.g. no data being entered during a predetermined time
• CPC Class Codes: G09G 2354/00 Aspects of interface with display user
• CPC Class Codes: G09G 2356/00 Detection of the display position w.r.t. other display screens

Abstract

A method includes analyzing data associated with an image captured by a camera to determine a visual orientation and/or eye gaze movement of a user of a computer. Upon detecting that the visual orientation indicates that the user is visually oriented toward a display device associated with the computer, a wireless connection from the computer to a computer input device and from the computer input device to the computer is established or maintained. Upon detecting that the visual orientation indicates that the user is not visually oriented toward the display device associated with the computer, the wireless connection is terminated. Another method accomplishes similar objectives using proximity sensors.

Claims

1. A method comprising:

accessing a profile corresponding to a user of a computer, wherein the profile comprises facial recognition information specific to the user;

analyzing data associated with an image captured by a camera and the facial recognition information specific to the user to determine a visual orientation of the user of the computer;

upon detecting, based on the image captured by the camera and the facial recognition information specific to the user, that the visual orientation indicates that the user is visually oriented toward a display device associated with the computer, establishing or maintaining a wireless connection from the computer to a computer input device and from the computer input device to the computer; and

upon detecting, based on the image captured by the camera and the facial recognition information specific to the user, that the visual orientation indicates that the user is not visually oriented toward the display device associated with the computer, waiting a time period indicated by the profile, and after waiting the time period indicated by the profile if the visual orientation does not indicate that the user is again visually oriented towards the display device, terminating the wireless connection.

2. The method of claim 1, wherein the time period is counted by a counter included in the computer.

3. The method of claim 1, wherein the wireless connection is a direct wireless connection between the computer and the computer input device.

4. The method of claim 1, further comprising determining the visual orientation of the user based on the profile corresponding to the user, wherein the profile contains facial recognition information specific to the user and is usable by the computer to authenticate the user.

5. The method of claim 1, wherein the profile is associated with an Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers (IEEE) 802.15.1 wireless protocol.

6. The method of claim 5, wherein the profile is associated with a particular layer of a protocol stack associated with the IEEE 802.15.1 wireless protocol, and wherein the wireless connection complies with the IEEE 802.15.1 wireless protocol.

7. The method of claim 1, further comprising upon detecting that the visual orientation indicates that the user is not visually oriented toward the display device associated with the computer:

in response to expiration of the time period, analyzing data associated with a second image captured by the camera to determine the visual orientation of the user of the computer; and

upon detecting based on the second image captured by the camera that the visual orientation indicates that the user is not visually oriented toward the display device associated with the computer, terminating the wireless connection with the computer input device.

8. An apparatus comprising:

a proximity detector configured to detect a computer input device and to generate proximity data in response to detecting the computer input device, wherein the proximity detector is further configured to communicate wirelessly with the computer input device via a near field communication (NFC) protocol;

a proximity analyzer configured to analyze the proximity data to determine whether the computer input device is within a predetermined range of the proximity detector, wherein determining whether the computer input device is within the predetermined range comprises determining whether a signal strength of the proximity data exceeds a threshold;

a wireless transceiver coupled to the proximity analyzer and configured to establish or maintain a wireless connection with the computer input device upon the proximity analyzer determining that the computer input device is within the predetermined range and further configured to terminate the wireless connection upon the proximity analyzer determining that the computer input device is not within the predetermined range; and

a sleep mode logic configured to place the apparatus in a sleep mode in response to the wireless transceiver terminating the wireless connection with the computer input device.

9. The apparatus of claim 8, further comprising:

a camera configured to capture an image; and

an image analyzer configured to analyze data of the image to determine a visual orientation of a user,

wherein the wireless transceiver is further configured to establish or maintain the wireless connection upon detecting that the visual orientation indicates that the user is visually oriented toward a display device associated with the apparatus, and

wherein the wireless transceiver is further configured to terminate the wireless connection upon detecting that the visual orientation and a last gaze movement associated with the user indicate that the user is not visually oriented toward the display device.

10. The apparatus of claim 8, wherein the transceiver is further configured to wait a time period prior to terminating the wireless connection with the computer input device after detecting that the computer input device is not within the predetermined range.

11. The apparatus of claim 8, wherein the computer input device is associated with a second computer input device, and wherein the wireless transceiver is further configured to establish or maintain a second wireless connection with the second computer input device upon the proximity analyzer determining that the computer input device is within the predetermined range, and wherein the wireless transceiver is further configured to terminate the second wireless connection with the second computer input device upon the proximity analyzer determining that the computer input device is not within the predetermined range.

12. A computer input device comprising:

a user input portion configured to receive input from a user, wherein the user input portion includes a position sensor;

a radio device coupled to the user input portion, wherein the radio device is configured to communicate with a first computer via a first wireless connection and is further configured to communicate with a second computer via a second wireless connection;

a buffer of the computer input device, wherein the buffer is configured to buffer data received from the first computer before the data is transferred to the second computer;

routing logic coupled to the radio device and to the buffer, wherein the routing logic is configured to cause the data stored in the buffer to be transferred to the second computer; and

sleep mode logic configured to cause the radio device to enter a sleep mode upon the position sensor not sensing a change in position of the computer input device within a time period.

13. The computer input device of claim 12, wherein the buffer is further configured to buffer the data when the data has a data size that does not exceed a threshold, and wherein the routing logic is further configured to cause the radio device to send the buffered data to the second computer via the second wireless connection.

14. The computer input device of claim 13, wherein the radio device is further configured to request the first computer to transfer the data directly to the second computer when the data size exceeds the threshold.

15. The computer input device of claim 12, wherein the computer input device is a mouse, a keyboard, a trackball, and a game controller, or a combination thereof.

16. The computer input device of claim 12, wherein the sleep mode logic is further configured to cause the radio device to enter the sleep mode in response to termination of the first wireless connection, the termination in response to a change in visual orientation of the user, a change in proximity of the computer input device relative to the first computer, or a combination thereof.

17. The computer input device of claim 16, further comprising a timer configured to count a second time period and to cause the sleep mode logic to cause the radio device to enter the sleep mode in response to not detecting the input from the user within the second time period.

18. A method comprising:

receiving a request at a first computer from a computer input device via a first wireless connection to send data stored at the first computer to a second computer, wherein the request identifies whether the data has a data size that exceeds a threshold, wherein the threshold is based on a capacity of a buffer of the computer input device;

when the data size exceeds the threshold, sending the data directly to the second computer via a second wireless connection between the first computer and the second computer and without sending the data to the computer input device; and

when the data size does not exceed the threshold, sending the data to the computer input device.

19. The method of claim 18, further comprising:

when the data size exceeds the threshold, sending a message to the second computer, wherein the message indicates a location of the data; and

receiving an access request from the second computer to access the location.

20. The method of claim 18, wherein one or more of the first wireless connection and the second wireless connection comply with an Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers (IEEE) 802.15.1 wireless protocol.

21. The method of claim 18, wherein the second wireless connection is a secured communication channel.

22. A computer-readable non-transitory storage medium storing instructions executable by a processor of a computer to cause the processor to:

access a profile corresponding to a user of the computer, wherein the profile comprises facial recognition information specific to the user;

analyze data associated with an image captured by a camera and the facial recognition information specific to the user to determine a visual orientation of the user of the computer;

upon detecting, based on the image captured by the camera and the facial recognition information specific to the user, that the visual orientation indicates that the user is visually oriented toward a display device associated with the computer, establish or maintain a wireless connection from the computer to a computer input device and from the computer input device to the computer; and

upon detecting, based on the image captured by the camera and the facial recognition information specific to the user, that the visual orientation indicates that the user is not visually oriented toward the display device associated with the computer, wait a time period indicated by the profile, and after waiting the time period indicated by the profile if the visual orientation does not indicate that the user is again visually oriented towards the display device, terminate the wireless connection.

23. The computer-readable non-transitory storage medium of claim 22, wherein the computer uses the profile corresponding to the user of the computer to determine the visual orientation of the user, the profile containing facial recognition information specific to the user and is usable by the computer to authenticate the user.

24. The computer-readable non-transitory storage medium of claim 22, wherein the profile is associated with an Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers (IEEE) 802.15.1 wireless protocol.

25. The computer-readable non-transitory storage medium of claim 24, wherein the profile is associated with a particular layer of a protocol stack associated with the IEEE 802.15.1 wireless protocol.

26. The computer-readable non-transitory storage medium of claim 22, wherein the wireless connection complies with an Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers (IEEE) 802.15.1 wireless protocol.

27. An apparatus comprising:

means for accessing a profile corresponding to a user of a computer, wherein the profile comprises facial recognition information specific to the user;

means for analyzing data associated with an image captured by a camera and the facial recognition information specific to the user to determine a visual orientation of the user of the computer; and

means for;

establishing or maintaining, upon detecting, based on the image captured by the camera and the facial recognition information specific to the user, that the visual orientation indicates that the user is visually oriented toward a display device associated with the computer, a wireless connection from the computer to a computer input device and from the computer input device to the computer; and

terminating the wireless connection upon detecting, based on the image captured by the camera and the facial recognition information specific to the user, that the visual orientation indicates that the user is not visually oriented toward the display device, and after waiting a time period indicated by the profile and not detecting that the visual orientation indicates that the user is again visually oriented towards the display device.

28. The apparatus of claim 27, wherein the wireless connection is a direct wireless connection between the computer and the computer input device.

29. The apparatus of claim 27, wherein the facial recognition information is usable by the computer to authenticate the user.

30. The apparatus of claim 27, wherein the profile is associated with an Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers (IEEE) 802.15.1 wireless protocol.

31. The apparatus of claim 30, wherein the profile is associated with a particular layer of a protocol stack associated with the IEEE 802.15.1 wireless protocol.

32. The apparatus of claim 27, wherein the wireless connection complies with an Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers (IEEE) 802.15.1 wireless protocol.

33. A method comprising:

monitoring eye gaze movement of a user by a camera;

monitoring mouse pointer movement associated with a computer input device;

automatically determining a relative physical position of a first display with respect to a second display using both of the monitored eye gaze movement and the monitored mouse pointer movement; and

storing data indicating the relative physical position.

34. The method of claim 33, further comprising upon detecting a physical movement of the computer input device, waking up the computer input device and putting the computer input device into page-scan mode to receive incoming connection requests.

35. A method comprising:

receiving information from one or more proximity sensors;

monitoring mouse pointer movement associated with a computer input device;

automatically determining a relative physical position of a first display with respect to a second display based on both of a direction of movement indicated by the received information from the one or more proximity sensors and the monitored mouse pointer movement; and

storing data indicating the relative physical position.

36. An apparatus comprising:

a user input portion configured to receive input from a user to copy data from a first computer to a buffer based on a copy operation; and

a radio device configured to;

cause a second computer to send a request for the data to the first computer in response to the user input portion receiving input indicating a paste operation;

receive from the first computer an address associated with the data; and

send to the second computer the address associated with the data upon receiving the input indicating the paste operation from the second computer to enable the second computer to establish a direct wireless connection with the first computer to send the request for the data to the first computer using the address.

37. The apparatus of claim 36, wherein upon receiving the request for the data from the second computer, the first computer requests authentication information or user information from the second computer.