RADAR BASED USER INTERFACE

• US 20160259037A1
• Filed: 03/03/2016
• Published: 09/08/2016
• Est. Priority Date: 03/03/2015
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: NVIDIA Corporation
• Original Assignee: NVIDIA Corporation
• Inventors: MOLCHANOV, Pavlo, KIM, Kihwan, GUPTA, Shalini, PULLI, Kari
• Granted Patent: US 10,481,696 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 1/1
• CPC Class Codes: B60R 11/04 Mounting of cameras operative during drive; Arrangement of controls thereof relative to the vehicle
• CPC Class Codes: G01S 13/42 Simultaneous measurement of distance and other co-ordinates indirect measurement G01S13/46
• CPC Class Codes: G01S 13/4454 phase comparisons monopulse, i.e. comparing the echo signals received by an interferometric antenna arrangement
• CPC Class Codes: G01S 13/584 adapted for simultaneous range and velocity measurements
• CPC Class Codes: G01S 7/0233 Avoidance by phase multiplex
• CPC Class Codes: G01S 7/0234 Avoidance by code multiplex
• CPC Class Codes: G01S 7/352 Receivers
• CPC Class Codes: G01S 7/415 Identification of targets based on measurements of movement associated with the target
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 18/214 Generating training patterns; Bootstrap methods, e.g. bagging or boosting
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 18/24 Classification techniques
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 18/25 Fusion techniques
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 3/011 Arrangements for interaction with the human body, e.g. for user immersion in virtual reality blind teaching G09B21/00
• 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: G06N 3/04 Architecture, e.g. interconnection topology
• CPC Class Codes: G06N 3/045 Combinations of networks
• CPC Class Codes: G06N 3/08 Learning methods
• CPC Class Codes: G06N 3/082 modifying the architecture, e.g. adding, deleting or silencing nodes or connections
• CPC Class Codes: G06N 3/084 Backpropagation, e.g. using gradient descent
• CPC Class Codes: G06V 40/28 Recognition of hand or arm movements, e.g. recognition of deaf sign language static hand signs G06V40/113

Abstract

An apparatus and method for radar based gesture detection. The apparatus includes a processing element and a transmitter configured to transmit radar signals. The transmitter is coupled to the processing element. The apparatus further includes a plurality of receivers configured to receive radar signal reflections, where the plurality of receivers is coupled to the processing element. The transmitter and plurality of receivers are configured for short range radar and the processing element is configured to detect a hand gesture based on the radar signal reflections received by the plurality of receivers.

Claims

1. An apparatus for gesture sensing comprising:

a processing element;

a transmitter configured to transmit radar signals, wherein the transmitter is coupled to the processing element;

a plurality of receivers configured to receive radar signal reflections, wherein the plurality of receivers is coupled to the processing element; and

wherein the transmitter and plurality of receivers are configured for short range radar based detection and the processing element is configured to detect a hand gesture based on the radar signal reflections received by the plurality of receivers.

2. The apparatus as described in claim 1, wherein the short range radar based detection has a range of one meter.

3. The apparatus as described in claim 1, wherein the transmitter and plurality of receivers are a portion of a user interface device of a vehicle.

4. The apparatus as described in claim 1, wherein a first pair of receivers of the plurality of receivers is configured to measure a vertical component of a gesture movement and a second pair of receivers of the plurality of receivers is configured to measure a horizontal component of a gesture movement.

5. The apparatus as described in claim 1, wherein the processing element is configured to determine a 3D position and radial velocity for a signal reflection received by the plurality of receivers.

6. The apparatus as described in claim 5, wherein the processing element is further configured to determine an elevation angle and an azimuth angle for an object from which a signal reflection received by the plurality of receivers.

7. The apparatus as described in claim 1, wherein the transmitter and the plurality of receivers are operated in a frequency-modulated continuous-wave (FMCW) mode.

8. The apparatus as described in claim 1, wherein the transmitter and the plurality of receivers are part of a multiple input single output (MISO) device.

9. The apparatus as described in claim 1, wherein the hand gesture is a dynamic hand gesture and the processing element is configured to automatically recognize the hand gesture and to determine a command associated with the dynamic hand gesture.

10. The apparatus as described in claim 1, wherein the plurality of receivers is spatially distributed.

11. A system for hand gesture detection and classification, the system comprising:

a processing element;

a transmitter configured for transmitting radar signals, wherein the transmitter is coupled to the processing element;

a first receiver, a second receiver, and a third receiver, wherein the first receiver, the second receiver, and the third receiver are configured for receiving the radar signals, and wherein the first receiver and the second receiver are configured for measuring a horizontal component of a movement and the second receiver and the third receiver are configured for measuring a vertical component of a movement, and wherein the first receiver, the second receiver, and the third receiver are communicatively coupled to the processing element; and

wherein the transmitter and the first receiver, the second receiver, and the third receiver are configured for short range radar based detection and the processing element is configured to detect a hand gesture based on reflections of the radar signals received by the first receiver, the second receiver, and the third receiver.

12. The system as described in claim 11, wherein the short range based detection of the hand gestures has a range of one meter.

13. The system as described in claim 11, wherein the transmitter and the receivers are a portion of a user interface device of a vehicle.

14. The system as described in claim 11, wherein the processing element is configured to determine a 3D position and radial velocity for a signal reflection received from the receivers.

15. The system as described in claim 14, wherein the processing element is further configured to determine an elevation angle and an azimuth angle for the signal reflection received from the receivers.

16. The system as described in claim 11, wherein the transmitter and the plurality of receivers are operated in a frequency-modulated continuous-wave (FMCW) mode.

17. A mobile apparatus comprising:

a processing element;

a transmitter configured for transmitting radar signals, wherein the transmitter is coupled to the processing element;

a first receiver, a second receiver, and a third receiver, wherein the first receiver, the second receiver, and the third receiver are configured for receiving the radar signals, and wherein the first receiver and the second receiver are configured for measuring a horizontal component of a movement and the second receiver and the third receiver are configured for measuring a vertical component of a movement, and wherein the first receiver, the second receiver, and the third receiver are communicatively coupled to the processing element; and

wherein the transmitter and the first receiver, the second receiver, and the third receiver are configured for short range radar based detection and the processing element is configured to detect a hand gesture of a driver of the mobile apparatus based on reflections of the radar signals received by the first receiver, the second receiver, and the third receiver, and wherein the processing element is configured to automatically recognize the hand gesture and to determine a command associated with the hand gesture.

18. The mobile apparatus as described in claim 17, wherein the short range based detection has a range of substantially one meter.

19. The mobile apparatus as described in claim 17, wherein the processing element is further configured to perform background subtraction.

20. The mobile apparatus as described in claim 17, wherein the processing element is configured to determine a 3D position and radial velocity for a signal reflection from an object received from the receivers.