MOVEMENT DETECTION APPARATUS AND MOVEMENT DETECTION METHOD

• US 20110025901A1
• Filed: 06/23/2010
• Published: 02/03/2011
• Est. Priority Date: 07/29/2009
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Canon Kabushiki Kaisha (Canon Inc.)
• Original Assignee: Canon Kabushiki Kaisha (Canon Inc.)
• Inventors: Tsubusaki, Akihiro
• Granted Patent: US 8,610,785 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 348/333.12
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 1/1694 the I/O peripheral being a single or a set of motion sensors for pointer control or gesture input obtained by sensing movements of the portable computer
• 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: H04N 23/6812 based on additional sensors, e.g. acceleration sensors

Abstract

A movement detection apparatus that detects a shake added by an operator to execute a function of a device, the apparatus comprises an acceleration detection unit configured to detect accelerations caused by a shake in at least three-axis directions; a determination unit configured to determine an axis with a minimum value of acceleration and an axis with a maximum value of acceleration among the accelerations in at least three-axis directions detected by the acceleration detection unit; a decision unit configured to decide a direction of the shake added by the operator based on the axis with the minimum value and the axis with the maximum value determined by the determination unit; and a selection unit configured to select a predetermined function based on the result of the decision unit.

Claims

1. A movement detection apparatus that detects a shake added by an operator to execute a function of a device, said apparatus comprising:

an acceleration detection unit configured to detect accelerations caused by a shake in at least three-axis directions;

a determination unit configured to determine an axis with a minimum value of acceleration and an axis with a maximum value of acceleration among the accelerations in at least three-axis directions detected by said acceleration detection unit;

a decision unit configured to decide a direction of the shake added by the operator based on the axis with the minimum value and the axis with the maximum value determined by said determination unit; and

a selection unit configured to select a predetermined function based on the result of said decision unit.

2. The apparatus according to claim 1, wherein

said acceleration detection unit detects the accelerations in the three-axis directions perpendicular to each other, and

said determination unit determines the axis with the minimum value of acceleration as a rotational axis and a plane formed by the other two axes as a rotary surface.

3. The apparatus according to claim 2, wherein

said determination unit starts the determination when one of the accelerations in the three-axis directions is equal to or greater than a predetermined value.

4. The apparatus according to claim 3, wherein

said determination unit ends the determination when all of the accelerations in the three-axis directions are equal to or smaller than the predetermined value.

5. The apparatus according to claim 4, further comprising:

a memory that stores a maximum value of output of each axis by said acceleration detection unit from the start to the end of the determination, wherein

said determination unit compares the maximum values to determine the axis with the minimum value of acceleration and the axis with the maximum value of acceleration.

6. An electronic device comprising the movement detection apparatus according to claim 1, said electronic device further comprising:

a control unit configured to execute a predetermined function of said electronic device based on a selection result of said selection unit.

7. The electronic device according to claim 6, further comprising:

a display unit configured to display an image, wherein

the function is one of enlargement of image, reduction of image, scrolling up of image, and scrolling down of image.

8. An image capturing apparatus comprising:

a movement detection unit according to claim 1;

a display unit configured to display an image; and

a control unit configured to execute one of enlargement of image, reduction of image, scrolling up of image, and scrolling down of image in accordance with the direction of the shake decided by said decision unit.

9. An electronic device comprising:

an acceleration detection unit configured to detect accelerations caused by a shake in at least three-axis directions;

a determination unit configured to determine an axis with a minimum value of acceleration and an axis with a maximum value of acceleration among the accelerations in at least three-axis directions detected by said acceleration detection unit;

a decision unit configured to decide a direction of the shake added by the operator based on the result of said determination unit;

a computation unit configured to count the number of changes in the axis with the minimum value in the acceleration direction; and

a control unit configured to execute a predetermined function of said electronic device in accordance with the number of changes counted by said computation unit.

10. The electronic device according to claim 9, further comprising:

a display unit configured to display an image, wherein

the function is one of a slide show of image and a rotation of image.

11. An image capturing apparatus comprising:

an acceleration detection unit configured to detect accelerations caused by a shake in at least three-axis directions;

a determination unit configured to determine an axis with a minimum value of acceleration and an axis with a maximum value of acceleration among the accelerations in at least three-axis directions detected by said acceleration detection unit;

a decision unit configured to decide a direction of the shake added by the operator based on the result of said determination unit;

a computation unit configured to count the number of changes in the axis with the minimum value in the acceleration direction;

a display unit configured to display an image; and

a control unit configured to execute one of a slide show of an image displayed on said display unit and a rotation of an image in accordance with the number of changes counted by said computation unit.

12. A movement detection method of detecting a shake added by an operator to execute a function of a device, said method comprising:

an acceleration detection step of detecting accelerations caused by a shake in at least three-axis directions;

a determination step of determining an axis with a minimum value of acceleration and an axis with a maximum value of acceleration among the accelerations in at least three-axis directions detected in said acceleration detection step;

a decision step of deciding a direction of the shake added by the operator based on the axis with the minimum value and the axis with the maximum value determined in said determination step; and

a selection step of selecting a predetermined function based on the result in said decision step.

14. A computer-readable storage medium with an executable program stored thereon, wherein the program instructs a microprocessor to perform the method according to claim 12.

13. A method of controlling an electronic device, the method comprising:

an acceleration detection step of detecting accelerations caused by a shake in at least three-axis directions;

a determination step of determining an axis with a minimum value of acceleration and an axis with a maximum value of acceleration among the accelerations in at least three-axis directions detected in said acceleration detection step;

a decision step of deciding a direction of the shake added by the operator based on the result in said determination step;

a computation step of counting the number of changes in the axis with the minimum value in the acceleration direction; and

a control step of executing a predetermined function of said electronic device in accordance with the number of changes counted in said computation step.

15. A computer-readable storage medium with an executable program stored thereon, wherein the program instructs a microprocessor to perform the method according to claim 13.