Control using movements

• US 9,946,357 B2
• Filed: 05/11/2016
• Issued: 04/17/2018
• Est. Priority Date: 07/07/2009
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Elliptic Laboratories AS
• Original Assignee: Elliptic Laboratories AS
• Inventors: Dahl, Tobias
• Primary Examiner(s): Cheng, Joe H
• Application Number:
  US15/152,433
• Publication Number:
  US 20160252970A1
• Time in Patent Office: 706 Days
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 2203/04101 2.5D-digitiser, i.e. digitiser detecting the X/Y position of the input means, finger or stylus, also when it does not touch, but is proximate to the digitiser's interaction surface and also measures the distance of the input means within a short range in the Z direction, possibly with a separate measurement setup
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 2203/04108 Touchless 2D- digitiser, i.e. digitiser detecting the X/Y position of the input means, finger or stylus, also when it does not touch, but is proximate to the digitiser's interaction surface without distance measurement in the Z direction
• 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 3/0325 using a plurality of light emitters or reflectors or a plurality of detectors forming a reference frame from which to derive the orientation of the object, e.g. by triangulation or on the basis of reference deformation in the picked up image
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 3/043 using propagating acoustic waves
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 3/0484 for the control of specific functions or operations, e.g. selecting or manipulating an object, an image or a displayed text element, setting a parameter value or selecting a range
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 3/04883 for inputting data by handwriting, e.g. gesture or text
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/422 Input-only peripherals , i.e. input devices connected to specially adapted client devices, e.g. global positioning system [GPS] input devices also receiving signals from specially adapted client devices H04N21/4104
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/42204 User interfaces specially adapted for controlling a client device through a remote control device; Remote control devices therefor constructive details of casings for the remote control device H01H9/0235; user interfaces for controlling a tuning device of a television receiver through a remote control H03J9/00; remote control of peripheral devices connected to a television receiver through the remote control device of the television receiver H04B1/205
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/42206 characterized by hardware details
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/42221 Transmission circuitry, e.g. infrared [IR] or radio frequency [RF]
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/44218 Detecting physical presence or behaviour of the user, e.g. using sensors to detect if the user is leaving the room or changes his face expression during a TV program methods or arrangements for recognising human body or animal bodies or body parts G06V40/10; methods or arrangements for acquiring or recognising human faces, facial parts, facial sketches, facial expressions G06V40/16; methods or arrangements for recognising movements or behaviour G06V40/20; arrangements for identifying users in broadcast systems H04H60/45

Abstract

A movement of an object is recognized as a predetermined movement, by transmitting signals between transmitter-receiver pairs, which are reflected from the object. A first event is recorded for one of the transmitter-receiver pairs if a reflected signal meets a predetermined proximity criterion, and a second event is recorded for a second transmitter-receiver pair if, after the first event, a subsequent reflected signal meets a predetermined proximity criterion. The first and second events are used to identify the movement.

Claims

1. A method of receiving a touchless input to an electronic device from a moving input object, the method comprising:

determining that one of a plurality of software applications or interaction modes is active on the electronic device;

selecting, in dependence on the active software application or interaction mode, an active gesture set consisting of a subset of a larger set of predetermined gestures identifiable by the electronic device;

receiving an acoustic signal reflected off the moving input object and received at the electronic device, wherein the received acoustic signal conveys information relating to movement of the input object when the input object is not in contact with the electronic device;

processing the received acoustic signal to identify a gesture from the active gesture set based on the information relating to movement of the input object conveyed by the acoustic signal, thereby determining a touchless input to the electronic device;

the electronic device performing an action in response to the determined touchless input.

2. The method of claim 1, wherein processing the received acoustic signal to identify a gesture from the active gesture set comprises finding a best match between the information relating to movement of the input object and the gestures in the active gesture set.

3. The method of claim 1, wherein the active software application or interaction mode is activated by a user.

4. The method of claim 1, wherein the identified gesture is used to control a function of the active software application or a function of the electronic device defined by the active interaction mode.

5. The method of claim 1, wherein the input object is a human hand.

6. The method of claim 1, comprising transmitting an ultrasound signal from the electronic device, through air, to the input object, wherein the received acoustic signal is a reflection of said ultrasound signal off the moving input object.

7. The method of claim 1, wherein the action comprises updating an electronic display screen on the electronic device.

8. The method of claim 1, wherein all the gestures in the set of predetermined gestures identifiable by the electronic device are touchless gestures.

9. An electronic device configured to receive a touchless input from a moving input object, the electronic device comprising:

an acoustic transducer arranged to receive an acoustic signal reflected off the moving input object and received at the electronic device, wherein the received acoustic signal conveys information relating to movement of the input object when the input object is not in contact with the electronic device; and

a processing system configured to;

determine that one of a plurality of software applications or interaction modes is active on the electronic device;

select, in dependence on the active software application or interaction mode, an active gesture set consisting of a subset of a larger set of predetermined gestures identifiable by the electronic device;

process the received acoustic signal to identify a gesture from the active gesture set based on the information relating to movement of the input object, thereby determining a touchless input to the electronic device; and

cause the electronic device to perform an action in response to the determined touchless input.

10. The electronic device of claim 9, wherein the processing system is configured to identify a gesture from the active gesture set by finding a best match between the information relating to movement of the input object and the gestures in the active gesture set.

11. The electronic device of claim 9, configured to have a default active software application or interaction mode that is active when the electronic device is first powered on.

12. The electronic device of claim 9, wherein the processing system is configured to use the identified gesture to control a function of the active software application or a function of the electronic device defined by the active interaction mode.

13. The electronic device of claim 9, wherein the input object is a human hand.

14. The electronic device of claim 9, comprising a ultrasound transmitter and configured to transmit an ultrasound signal, through air, to the input object.

15. The electronic device of claim 9, comprising an electronic display screen, wherein the processing system is configured to update the electronic display screen in response to the touchless input.

16. The electronic device of claim 9, wherein all the gestures in the set of predetermined gestures identifiable by the electronic device are touchless gestures.

17. A non-transitory medium bearing computer software, which, when executed on a processing system of an electronic device that is configured to receive an acoustic signal reflected off a moving input object conveying information relating to movement of the input object when the input object is not in contact with the electronic device, causes the processing system to:

determine that one of a plurality of software applications or interaction modes is active on the electronic device;

select, in dependence on the active software application or interaction mode, an active gesture set consisting of a subset of a larger set of predetermined gestures identifiable by the electronic device;

process the received acoustic signal reflected off the moving input object and received at the electronic device, conveying information relating to movement of the input object when the input object is not in contact with the electronic device, to identify a gesture from the active gesture set based on the information relating to movement of the input object, thereby determining a touchless input to the electronic device; and

cause the electronic device to perform an action in response to the determined touchless input.