3D gesture recognition

• US 9,996,165 B2
• Filed: 12/08/2016
• Issued: 06/12/2018
• Est. Priority Date: 07/11/2014
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Microsoft Technology Licensing LLC (Microsoft Corporation)
• Original Assignee: Microsoft Technology Licensing LLC (Microsoft Corporation)
• Inventors: Gilad-Bachrach, Ran, Lymberopoulos, Dimitrios, Dejean, II, Gerald Reuben, Alanis Reyes, Eden Alejandro, Thai, Trang T.
• Primary Examiner(s): SHENG, TOM V
• Application Number:
  US15/372,939
• Publication Number:
  US 20170090591A1
• Time in Patent Office: 551 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 3/041 Digitisers, e.g. for touch screens or touch pads, characterised by the transducing means
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 3/04166 Details of scanning methods, e.g. sampling time, grouping of sub areas or time sharing with display driving Synchronisation with the driving of the display or the backlighting unit to avoid interferences generated internally G06F3/04184
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 3/046 by electromagnetic means
• CPC Class Codes: G06V 20/64 Three-dimensional objects
• CPC Class Codes: G06V 40/20 Movements or behaviour, e.g. gesture recognition recognition of facial expressions G06V40/16

Abstract

The description relates to 3D gesture recognition. One example gesture recognition system can include a gesture detection assembly. The gesture detection assembly can include a sensor cell array and a controller that can send signals at different frequencies to individual sensor cells of the sensor cell array. The example gesture recognition system can also include a gesture recognition component that can determine parameters of an object proximate the sensor cell array from responses of the individual sensor cells to the signals at the different frequencies, and can identify a gesture performed by the object using the parameters.

Claims

1. A system, comprising:

a gesture detection assembly including;

a sensor cell array, individual sensor cells of the sensor cell array comprising bandpass filters, and

a switching network having switches configured to route signals independently to selected sensor cells of the sensor cell array; and

a processor and storage storing computer readable instructions that, when executed by the processor, cause the processor to;

perform analysis of frequency responses received across the selected sensor cells, and,

detect an object proximate the sensor cell array from the analysis.

2. The system of claim 1, wherein an individual bandpass filter is configured to transmit an individual signal from an input port of a corresponding sensor cell to an output port of the corresponding sensor cell based at least on whether a frequency of the individual signal is within a certain band.

3. The system of claim 2, wherein the bandpass filters are two-port, half-wavelength coupled bandpass filters.

4. The system of claim 1, wherein the switching network is further configured to be able to route an individual signal to a single bandpass filter of the sensor cell array at a time.

5. A system, comprising:

a gesture detection assembly including;

a sensor cell array, individual sensor cells of the sensor cell array comprising bandpass filters and resonator patches, and

a switching network configured to send signals independently to the individual sensor cells of the sensor cell array; and

a processor and storage storing computer readable instructions that, when executed by the processor, cause the processor to;

perform analysis of frequency responses received across the individual sensor cells, and,

detect an object proximate the sensor cell array from the analysis.

6. The system of claim 5, wherein the bandpass filters are configured to couple energy to the resonator patches in response to the signals sent to the bandpass filters.

7. The system of claim 6, wherein the resonator patches are configured to create second bandpass responses in response to the coupled energy from the bandpass filters.

8. The system of claim 7, wherein the frequency responses include the second bandpass responses.

9. The system of claim 5, wherein the resonator patches produce an electromagnetic field in response to the signals.

10. The system of claim 9, wherein at least some of the frequency responses are related to disturbances of the electromagnetic field by the object.

11. A system, comprising:

a sensor cell array;

a switching network having switches configured to send signals independently to individual sensor cells of the sensor cell array; and

a processor and storage storing computer readable instructions that, when executed by the processor, cause the processor to;

perform analysis of frequency responses of the individual sensor cells, and,

detect an object proximate the sensor cell array from the analysis.

12. The system of claim 11, wherein at least one individual sensor cell of the sensor cell array is a terminated sensor cell.

13. The system of claim 12, wherein an individual frequency response received from the terminated sensor cell is a reflected signal.

14. The system of claim 11, wherein the switching network is configured to send an individual signal to at least one individual sensor cell and receive a corresponding frequency response from the at least one individual sensor cell via a single line.

15. The system of claim 14, wherein the corresponding frequency response is a reflected signal.

16. The system of claim 11, further comprising an additional sensor configured to sense the object, wherein the analysis includes consideration of results from the additional sensor.

17. The system of claim 16, wherein the additional sensor is a camera.

18. The system of claim 11, wherein the computer readable instructions further cause the processor to determine proximity of the object and another object to the sensor cell array based at least in part on the frequency responses.

19. The system of claim 11, wherein the computer readable instructions further cause the processor to differentiate the object and another object that is at a different distance from the sensor cell array based at least in part on the frequency responses.

20. The system of claim 11, wherein the switching network is further configured to sequentially send the signals to at least some of the individual sensor cells one at a time.