Systems and methods for navigating a scene using deterministic movement of an electronic device

• US 9,733,730 B2
• Filed: 11/17/2014
• Issued: 08/15/2017
• Est. Priority Date: 01/28/2009
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Apple Inc.
• Original Assignee: Apple Inc.
• Inventors: Tsai, Richard H., Just, Andrew B., Harris, Brandon B.
• Primary Examiner(s): Johnson, M Good
• Application Number:
  US14/543,017
• Publication Number:
  US 20150070275A1
• Time in Patent Office: 1,002 Days
• Field of Search: None
• 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: G06F 3/038 Control and interface arrangements therefor, e.g. drivers or device-embedded control circuitry
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 3/048 Interaction techniques based on graphical user interfaces [GUI]

Abstract

Systems and methods are providing for scrolling the display of information based on the displacement of the electronic device. An electronic device can include a motion sensing component operative to detect movement of the electronic device (e.g., an accelerometer). The electronic device can display any suitable information, including information that is too large to display at a single instance on the display (e.g., a multi-page text document, or a large image). To view portions of the information that are not initially displayed (e.g., to scroll displayed information), the user can move the electronic device along the plane of the device. As the motion sensing component detects movement, the electronic device can scroll the displayed information to match the detected movement. In some embodiments, the electronic device can detect tilt movements and adjust the displayed information to reflect the tilted display.

Claims

1. An electronic device comprising:

an output component operative to communicate a plurality of objects to a user;

a motion sensing component operative to detect movements of the electronic device; and

a processor operative to;

direct the output component to communicate a first portion of the plurality of objects, wherein, when the first portion is communicated, a second portion of the plurality of objects is not communicated;

receive first data from the motion sensing component that is indicative of a first movement of the electronic device that is detected by the motion sensing component;

decide that the detected first movement is at least partially caused by at least one movement of an environment of the electronic device that is distinct from any movement caused by the user by receiving movement information that corresponds to the at least one movement of the environment from a remote source;

in response to the decision that the detected first movement is at least partially caused by the at least one movement of the environment, determine second data that corresponds to the at least one movement of the environment;

process the received first data based on the determined second data to remove a portion of the detected first movement that is due to the at least one movement of the environment; and

direct the output component to communicate at least a portion of the second portion of the plurality of objects based on the processed first data.

2. The electronic device of claim 1, wherein:

the output component is a display; and

the processor is further operative to;

identify a representation on the display of a particular physical distance; and

direct the display to scroll the displayed first portion to display the at least a portion of the second portion based on the identified representation.

3. The electronic device of claim 1, wherein:

the output component is a display; and

the processor is further operative to;

detect a physical amount of the detected first movement;

identify a representation on the display of a particular physical distance that corresponds to the detected physical amount; and

direct the display to scroll the displayed first portion to display the at least a portion of the second portion based on the identified representation.

4. The electronic device of claim 1, wherein the processor is further operative to:

enable a movement based output mode;

direct the output component to communicate the first portion of the plurality of objects when enabling the movement based output mode;

determine an initial position of the electronic device when enabling the movement based output mode;

determine that a current position of the electronic device matches the initial position; and

direct the output component to communicate the first portion of the plurality of objects in response to the determining that the current position matches the initial position.

5. The electronic device of claim 1, wherein the motion sensing component comprises at least one of an accelerometer and a gyroscope.

6. The electronic device of claim 1, wherein the processor is operative to process the received first data based on the determined second data by subtracting the determined second data from the received first data.

7. The electronic device of claim 1 further comprising communications circuitry for receiving environment data comprising the movement information that is associated with the environment from the remote source, wherein the processor is operative to decide that the detected first movement is at least partially caused by the at least one movement of the environment by determining that first environment data that corresponds to the at least one movement is received by the communications circuitry.

8. The electronic device of claim 7, wherein the processor is operative to determine the second data by processing at least a portion of the received first environment data.

9. The electronic device of claim 1, wherein the processor is further operative to decide that the detected first movement is at least partially caused by the at least one movement of the environment by determining that the second data is predictable.

10. The electronic device of claim 9, wherein the processor is operative to determine that the second data is predictable based on a current location of the electronic device.

11. A method for communicating information to a user using an electronic device comprising an output component, a motion sensing component, and a processor, the method comprising:

communicating, using the output component, a first portion of the information to the user, wherein, when the first portion is communicated, a second portion of the information is not communicated;

outputting, using the motion sensing component, first data that is indicative of a first movement of the electronic device that is detected by the motion sensing component;

deciding, using the processor, that the detected first movement is at least partially caused by at least one movement of an environment of the electronic device that is distinct from any movement caused by the user, wherein the deciding comprises receiving movement information that corresponds to the at least one movement of the environment from a source remote from the electronic device;

in response to the deciding that the detected first movement is at least partially caused by the at least one movement of the environment, determining, using the processor, second data that corresponds to the at least one movement of the environment;

processing, using the processor, the received first data based on the determined second data to remove a portion of the detected first movement that is due to the at least one movement of the environment; and

communicating, using the output component, at least a portion of the second portion of the information to the user based on the processed first data.

12. The method of claim 11, wherein the processing comprises subtracting the determined second data from the received first data.

13. The method of claim 11, wherein:

the deciding comprises receiving with the electronic device the movement information that corresponds to the at least one movement of the environment from a sensor that is embedded in the environment; and

the determining the second data comprises processing, using the processor, the received movement information to correlate the received movement information with the detected first movement.

14. The method of claim 13, wherein the processing the received movement information comprises at least one of:

converting the received movement information to a different unit; and

adjusting a reference frame that is associated with the received movement information.

15. The method of claim 11, wherein:

the deciding further comprises determining that an indication from the user of a path that the electronic device follows is received by the electronic device; and

the determining the second data comprises predicting movement information that is associated with the path.

16. The method of claim 15, wherein the predicting comprises predicting an output of the motion sensing component based on at least one characteristic of the path.

17. The method of claim 11, wherein the deciding further comprises:

identifying a current location of the electronic device;

recognizing that only one path is available for the at least one movement of the environment over a particular distance; and

the determining the second data comprises predicting movement information that is associated with the recognized one path over the particular distance.

18. The method of claim 11, wherein the environment comprises a vehicle.

19. The method of claim 11, wherein the information comprises at least one of a document and an image.

20. Non-transitory computer readable media for communicating information to a user using an electronic device comprising an output component, a motion sensing component, and a processor, the non-transitory computer readable media comprising computer-readable instructions for:

communicating, with the output component, a first portion of the information to the user, wherein, when the first portion is communicated, a second portion of the information is not communicated;

outputting, with the motion sensing component, first data that is indicative of a first movement of the electronic device that is detected by the motion sensing component;

deciding, with the processor, that the detected first movement is at least partially caused by at least one movement of an environment of the electronic device that is distinct from any movement caused by the user, wherein the deciding comprises receiving movement information that corresponds to the at least one movement of the environment from a source remote from the electronic device;

in response to the deciding that the detected first movement is at least partially caused by the at least one movement of the environment, determining, with the processor, second data that corresponds to the at least one movement of the environment;

processing, with the processor, the received first data based on the determined second data to remove a portion of the detected first movement that is due to the at least one movement of the environment; and

communicating, with the output component, at least a portion of the second portion of the information to the user based on the processed first data.