Instrument interface for reducing effects of erratic motion

• US 9,880,631 B2
• Filed: 09/02/2014
• Issued: 01/30/2018
• Est. Priority Date: 09/02/2014
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: STMicroelectronics International N.V. (STMicroelectronics NV)
• Original Assignee: STMicroelectronics International N.V. (STMicroelectronics NV)
• Inventors: Pandey, Prashant, Sivakumar, Ramkumar
• Primary Examiner(s): McLoone, Peter D
• Application Number:
  US14/474,908
• Publication Number:
  US 20160062470A1
• Time in Patent Office: 1,246 Days
• CPC Class Codes: G01B 11/00 Measuring arrangements characterised by the use of optical techniques
• CPC Class Codes: G01P 15/00 Measuring acceleration; Measuring deceleration; Measuring shock, i.e. sudden change of acceleration
• 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 3/0354 with detection of 2D relative movements between the device, or an operating part thereof, and a plane or surface, e.g. 2D mice, trackballs, pens or pucks
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 3/038 Control and interface arrangements therefor, e.g. drivers or device-embedded control circuitry
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 3/04812 Interaction techniques based on cursor appearance or behaviour, e.g. being affected by the presence of displayed objects

Abstract

Apparatus and methods to reduce effects of erratic motion input during operation of an instrument via a graphical user interface are described. Spatial motion input received from a user may be filtered using filter parameters obtained during a calibration procedure. The filtered motion input may be used to predict a trajectory of a cursor or object used to select an icon or text. The icon or text may be latched to the approaching cursor or object. The combination of motion smoothing and latching may improve ease-of-use of the graphical user interface for individuals having neuromuscular disorder, or users operating instruments in high-vibration environments.

Claims

1. An instrument interface comprising:

motion sensors configured to sense motion representative of a first user input and a second user input in at least two dimensions and produce two-dimensional motion data for the first user input and the second user input, respectively;

a first filter configured to filter the motion data corresponding to a first dimension;

a second filter configured to filter the motion data corresponding to a second dimension; and

a processor configured to receive a request for motion-input calibration and, in response to receiving the request for motion-input calibration;

cause a reference path and a cursor located at an end of the reference path to be displayed,

prompt a user to move the cursor along the reference path,

identify motion corresponding to the second user input based upon first filtered motion data received from the first filter and second filtered motion data received from the second filter,

compute errors based on a plurality of sampled data points on an actual path resulting from the first user input and a plurality of corresponding points on the reference path,

reconfigure the first parameters for the first filter based on the computed errors, and

reconfigure the second parameters for the second filter based on the computed errors, the second parameters for the second filter being reconfigured independently from the first parameters for the first filter.

2. The instrument interface of claim 1, wherein the first filter or the second filter comprises a low-pass filter having a cut-off frequency that is reconfigurable through software operation.

3. The instrument interface of claim 1, wherein the first filter or the second filter comprises a multi-tap, finite impulse response filter.

4. The instrument interface of claim 3, wherein the number of taps is greater than 10.

5. The instrument interface of claim 1, further comprising:

a visual display in communication with the processor, wherein the visual display is configured to display the reference path,

wherein the software operation includes reducing at least one of the errors by adjusting at least one of the filter parameters.

6. The instrument interface of claim 5, wherein the processor is further configured to display and move the cursor on the visual display representative of the identified motion.

7. The instrument interface of claim 1, wherein the processor is further configured to assign a weighting value to the at least one selectable image in the path.

8. The instrument interface of claim 7, wherein the processor is further configured to latch a selectable image in the path based at least upon a weighting value of the selectable image.

9. The instrument interface of claim 8, wherein a latched selectable image is an only selectable image that may be selected by the user while the selectable image is latched.

10. The instrument interface of claim 8, wherein the processor is configured to change the appearance of the latched selectable image while the selectable image is latched.

11. The instrument interface of claim 1, wherein the visual display comprises a screen of a computer or a screen of a smart phone.

12. The instrument interface of claim 1 embodied as a remote controller, wherein the motion sensors, first filter, and second filter are located at the remote controller.

13. The instrument interface of claim 1, wherein the processor is configured to predict a path for the second user input based upon the identified motion.

14. The instrument interface of claim 13, wherein the processor is configured to expand at least one active area associated with at least one selectable image in the predicted path.

15. A method for operating an instrument interface, the method comprising:

receiving, by a processor, a request for motion-input calibration;

in response to receiving the request for motion-input calibration;

causing, by the processor, a reference path and a cursor located at an end of the reference path to be displayed;

prompting, by the processor, a user to move the cursor along the reference path;

sensing, with motion sensors, a first user input in at least two dimensions, the first user input corresponding to an actual path that results from the user attempting to move the cursor along the reference path;

producing two-dimensional first motion data representative of the first user input;

filtering, with a first filter, the first motion data for a first dimension;

filtering, with a second filter, the first motion data for a second dimension; and

computing, by the processor, errors based on a plurality of sampled data points on the actual path and a plurality of corresponding points on the reference path;

reconfiguring, by the processor, the first parameters for the first filter based on the computing of the errors, and

reconfiguring, by the processor, the second parameters for the second filter based on the computing of the errors, the reconfiguring of the second parameters for the second filter being independent of the reconfiguring of first parameters for the first filter;

sensing, with the motion sensors, a second user input in at least two dimensions;

producing two-dimensional second motion data representative of the second user input;

filtering, with the first filter, the second motion data for the first dimension;

filtering, with the second filter, the second motion data for the second dimension; and

identifying, by the processor, motion corresponding to the second user input based upon first filtered motion data received from the first filter and second filtered motion data received from the second filter.

16. The method of claim 15, further comprising:

computing a smoothed path from the filtered motion data for the first dimension and second dimension;

determining first filter parameters for the first filter by reducing an error in a first direction between the smoothed path and the reference path; and

determining second filter parameters for the second filter by reducing an error in a second direction between the smoothed path and the reference path.

17. The method of claim 15, wherein at least the first filter comprises a first low-pass filter having a first cut-off frequency and wherein the act of independently reconfiguring comprises altering the first cut-off frequency independent of changing a parameter for the second filter.

18. The method of claim 15, wherein at least the first filter comprises a multi-tap, finite impulse response filter.

19. The method of claim 18, wherein the number of taps is greater than 10.

20. The method of claim 15, further comprising displaying and moving the cursor on a visual display of the instrument interface representative of second user-input motion.

21. The method of claim 20, further comprising:

determining a predicted path for the second user-input motion based upon filtered motion data for the second user-input motion; and

assigning a weighting value to at least one selectable image in the path.

22. The method of claim 21, further comprising latching a selectable image in the predicted path based at least upon a weighting value of the selectable image.

23. The method of claim 22, further comprising permitting selection of only a latched selectable image while the selectable image is latched.

24. The method of claim 22, further comprising changing the appearance of the latched selectable image while the selectable image is latched.

25. The method of claim 24, further comprising permitting selection of the latched selectable image regardless of cursor position while the appearance of the latched selectable image is changed.

26. The method of claim 15, wherein the reconfiguring includes reducing at least one of the errors by adjusting at least one of the filter parameters.

27. The method of claim 15, further comprising predicting a path for the second user input based upon the identified motion.

28. The method of claim 27, further comprising expanding at least one active area associated with at least one selectable image in the predicted path.