Method and Apparatus for Touchless Control of a Device

• US 20080059915A1
• 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 8,316,324 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 715/863
• 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 3/0481 based on specific properties of the displayed interaction object or a metaphor-based environment, e.g. interaction with desktop elements like windows or icons, or assisted by a cursor's changing behaviour or appearance

Abstract

A touchless sensing unit (110) and method (200) for operating a device via touchless control is provided. The method can include detecting (210) a finger (310) within a touchless sensory space (101), and handling (220) a control of the device (100) in accordance with a movement of the finger. A first finger movement can be recognized for acquiring a control, and a second finger movement for selecting a control. The method can include estimating (230) a location of the finger in the touchless sensory space for acquiring the control, and identifying a finger movement (250) of the finger at the location for selecting the control.

Claims

1. A touchless user interface suitable for use with a device, comprising:

a touchless sensing unit for generating a touchless sensory space, and tracking a finger movement; and

a control unit for associating at least one finger movement with a control action, and adjusting at least one control of the device in response to the finger movement,

wherein said control action is an acquire, a select, or a release,

2. The touchless user interface of claim 1, wherein the control unit identifies a jitter movement of the finger in a region of the touchless sensory space, associates the jitter movement with a control on a display of the device, and performs a control action on the control in response to the jitter movement.

3. The touchless user interface of claim 2, wherein the control unit identifies a left-right jitter movement, and associates the left-right jitter movement with a control,

wherein a left-right jitter movement to a left region acquires a left control to produce an acquired left control, or a left-right jitter to a right region acquires a right control to produce an acquired right control.

4. The touchless user interface of claim 2, wherein the control unit identifies an up-down jitter movement of the finger, and associates the up-down jitter movement with a control,

wherein the up-down jitter movement to the left region selects an acquired left control, or an up-down jitter to the right region selects an acquired right control.

5. The touchless user interface of claim 1, wherein the control unit identifies an up-down jitter finger movement in the touchless sensory space, associates the up-down jitter finger movement with a scrolling of a menu on a display of the device, and performs a scrolling of the menu in response to the up-down jitter finger movement.

6. The touchless user interface of claim 1, wherein the control unit identifies a rotational finger movement in the touchless sensory space, associates the rotational finger movement with a scrolling of a menu on a display of the device, and performs a scrolling of the menu in response to the rotational movement.

7. The touchless user interface of claim 6, wherein a clockwise rotational finger movement corresponds to a down scroll, and a counter-clockwise rotational finger movement corresponds to an up scroll.

8. The touchless user interface of claim 1, wherein the control is one of a voice mail control, an email control, a display control, a game control, a contact list, an audio control, a camera control, a security control, or a telephone control.

9. The touchless user interface of claim 11, wherein the processor differentiates between the presence of a thumb or a finger in the touchless sensory field for associating the control.

10. The touchless user interface of claim 1, wherein the device is a cell phone, a radio, a portable music player, a personal digital assistant, a portable memory module, a portable personal identifier device, a hand-held game, or a hand-held electronic security device.

11. The touchless user interface of claim 1, further comprising at least one button communicatively coupled to the controller, wherein the controller

detects a button press;

and

grants touchless control in response to the button press.

12. The touchless user interface of claim 1, wherein the button is associated with a control attribute, and the touchless control is associated with a value of the control attribute.

13. The touchless user interface of claim 1, further comprising at least one button communicatively coupled to the controller, wherein the controller

detects a first button press;

determines if the first button press is held down within a time duration,

if the button press is held down within the time duration, grants touchless control of the device, else,

if the button press is held down longer than the time duration, initiates a calibration of the device for touchless sensing.

14. A method for touchless control suitable for use with a device, comprising:

detecting a presence of a finger within a touchless sensory space;

tracking a movement of the finger within the touchless sensory space; and

handling a control of the device in accordance with the finger movement, by

recognizing a first finger movement for acquiring a control; and

recognizing a second finger movement for selecting a control.

15. The method of claim 14, wherein the tracking a movement further comprises:

estimating a location of the finger in the touchless sensory space for acquiring a control; and

identifying a finger movement of the finger at the location for selecting the control.

16. The method of claim 14, further comprising visually displaying an acknowledgment that the finger has acquired the control.

17. The method of claim 14, wherein the tracking a movement further comprises:

estimating a location of the finger in the touchless sensory space; and

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

18. The method of claim 14, further comprising visually displaying an acknowledgment that the finger has acquired the control.

19. The method of claim 14, further comprising:

recognizing a finger swipe movement in the touchless sensory space for selecting the control.

20. The method of claim 14, further comprising:

acquiring the control in response to detecting a first jitter finger movement at the location; and

selecting the control in response to a second jitter finger movement, wherein the acquiring locks the control, such that while the control remains locked, the second jitter finger movement in the touchless sensory space does not acquire a second control.