Method and Apparatus for Touchless Calibration

• US 20080055247A1
• Filed: 09/05/2007
• Published: 03/06/2008
• Est. Priority Date: 09/05/2006
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Navisense
• Original Assignee: Navisense
• Inventors: Boillot, Marc
• Granted Patent: US 7,961,173 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 345/158
• 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

Abstract

A touchless sensing unit (110) and method (210) for calibrating a mobile device for touchless sensing is provided. The method can include evaluating (214) a finger movement within a touchless sensory space (101), estimating (216) a virtual coordinate system (320) from a range of finger movement, and mapping (218) the virtual coordinate system to a device coordinate system (330).

Claims

1. A method for operating a mobile device, comprising:

detecting a first button press;

determining if the first button press is held down within a time duration; and

granting touchless control of the mobile device if the button press is held down within the time duration.

2. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

determining if the first button press is held down longer than the time duration; and

starting a calibration of the mobile device for touchless control if the button press is held down longer than the time duration.

3. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

detecting a second button press; and

disabling touchless control of the mobile device in response to the second button press.

4. The method of claim 1, wherein the initiating the calibration, further comprises:

presenting a first indicator that calibration is starting;

evaluating a range of finger movement within the touchless sensory field;

mapping the range of finger movement to a display range; and

presenting a second indicator when the mapping is complete, wherein the mapping maps at least one location of the finger in the touchless sensory field to at least one location in the display range to assign a virtual coordinate system to the touchless sensory field.

5. The method of claim 4, wherein presenting an indicator includes displaying a visual indicator or audibly playing a sound.

6. The method of claim 4, wherein mapping the range further comprises:

estimating a virtual coordinate system from the range of finger movement;

visually presenting an origin of the virtual coordinate system in the display range associated with a device coordinate system;

identifying a stationary position of the finger in the virtual coordinate system;

determining a difference between the stationary position in the virtual coordinate system and the origin in the device coordinate system; and

warping the virtual coordinate system to the device coordinate system based on the difference.

7. The method of claim 6, wherein the warping includes:

translate an elliptical area to an elliptical projection; and

mapping the elliptical projection onto a rectangular area,

wherein the rotating accounts for a rotational movement of the finger along a principal axis of the virtual coordinate system with respect to a principal axis of the device coordinate system.

8. The method of claim 6, further comprising:

presenting a third indicator when the warping is complete; and

granting touchless control of the mobile device,

wherein the touchless control uses the virtual coordinate system to adjust at least one control in a device coordinate system in response to a finger movement.

19. The touchless unit of claim 1, further comprising a processor for:

estimates a virtual coordinate system from a range of finger movement; and

maps the virtual coordinate system to a device coordinate system,

wherein the mapping maps at least one location of the finger in the touchless sensory space to at least one location in a device coordinate system.

20. The touchless unit of claim 1, wherein the plurality of sensors project an approximately planar sensory field in a direction that is approximately perpendicular to the display of the mobile device.

9. A method for calibrating a mobile device for touchless control, comprising:

evaluating at least one finger movement within a touchless sensory space; and

associating the at least one finger movement with at least one range of touchless control for the mobile device,

wherein the associating calibrates at least one control with the at least one finger movement.

10. The method of claim 9, wherein the associating the at least one finger movement further comprises:

estimating a virtual coordinate system from a range of finger movement; and

mapping the virtual coordinate system to a device coordinate system;

wherein the mapping maps at least one location of the finger in the touchless sensory space to at least one location in a device coordinate system.

11. The method of claim 10, further comprising at least one of:

estimating a left-right range of finger movement for identifying an X range;

estimating an up-down range of finger movement for identifying a Y range;

estimating a forward-back range of finger movement for identifying a Z range;

or estimating a rotational range of finger movement for identifying a circumferential range.

12. The method of claim 9, further comprising at least one of:

presenting a first indicator when the calibrating is starting;

presenting a second indicator when the associating is complete;

or

presenting a third indicator when the calibrating is complete.

13. The method of claim 9, further comprising at least one of:

presenting an image for teaching the at least one finger movement;

or

presenting a video clip for teaching the at least one finger movement.

14. The method of claim 9, wherein the associating the at least one finger movement includes at least one of:

learning an up-down jitter movement;

learning a left-right jitter movement;

learning a back-and-forth sweep finger movement;

learning a forward projecting finger movement;

learning a rotational finger movement;

or

learning a finger swipe movement.

15. The method of claim 9, further comprising:

identifying a location of the finger movement; and

associating the location with a control on a display of the mobile device,

wherein a variance of the finger movement at the location is associated with a calibration of the control.

16. The method of claim 15, wherein the associating a location includes mapping a three-dimensional finger movement to a control command.

17. The method of claim 15, wherein the associating a location includes mapping a two-dimensional finger movement to a control command.

18. A touchless unit communicatively coupled to a mobile device, comprising:

a plurality of sensors for;

evaluating at least one finger movement within a touchless sensory field; and

associating the at least one finger movement with at least one control of the mobile device for calibrating a touchless control of the mobile device.