Wearable marker for passive interaction

• US 8,179,604 B1
• Filed: 09/30/2011
• Issued: 05/15/2012
• Est. Priority Date: 07/13/2011
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Google LLC (Alphabet Inc.)
• Original Assignee: Google Inc. (Alphabet Inc.)
• Inventors: Prada Gomez, Luis Ricardo, Chi, Liang-Yu
• Primary Examiner(s): PINKNEY, DAWAYNE
• Application Number:
  US13/249,555
• Time in Patent Office: 228 Days
• Field of Search: 359409-410, 359/462, 359/466, 359638-639, 359 13- 14, 359603-636, 359/404, 359/407, 345/7, 345/9, 348/115, 353 11- 12, 353/28, 353/119, 349/11, 340/438, 340/980, 340/995.1, 340/815.47, 340/815.74
• US Class Current: 359/630
• CPC Class Codes: G02B 27/0093 with means for monitoring data relating to the user, e.g. head-tracking, eye-tracking
• CPC Class Codes: G02B 27/0172 characterised by optical features
• CPC Class Codes: G03H 1/2294 Addressing the hologram to an active spatial light modulator
• CPC Class Codes: G03H 2001/0061 in haptic applications when the observer interacts with the holobject
• CPC Class Codes: G03H 2225/60 Multiple SLMs
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 1/163 Wearable computers, e.g. on a belt
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 2203/0331 Finger worn pointing device
• 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 3/0304 Detection arrangements using opto-electronic means constructional details of pointing devices not related to the detection arrangement using opto-electronic means G06F3/033; optical digitisers G06F3/042

Abstract

In accordance with example embodiments, a wearable marker may be used for passive interaction with a wearable computing device. A wearable marker may take the form of a ring, a bracelet, an artificial fingernail configured to be affixed to a fingernail, a decal configured to be affixed to a fingernail, or a glove, among other possible wearable items. A wearable marker may further include an infrared (IR) reflective surface in the form of a surface pattern that is substantially optically invisible. A wearable computing device may include a head-mounted display (HMD) equipped with an IR camera device capable of detecting IR radiation reflected from the surface pattern on a wearable marker. The HMD and the IR camera device can function together to track position and motion of the wearable marker via reflection, and by doing so can recognize known patterns of motion that correspond to known hand gestures.

Claims

1. A computer-implemented method comprising:

at a wearable head-mounted display (HMD), detecting infrared (IR) radiation reflected from an IR reflective surface on a hand-wearable item, the IR reflective surface being in the form of a particular surface pattern and being substantially optically invisible;

decoding the particular surface pattern from the detected IR radiation to obtain an item identifier;

determining that the item identifier matches a predetermined identifier associated with the wearable HMD; and

responsive to determining that the item identifier matches the predetermined identifier, tracking position and motion of the hand-wearable item relative to the wearable HMD by measuring position and motion of the particular surface pattern relative to the wearable HMD via the detected IR radiation.

2. The method of claim 1, wherein the hand-wearable item is one of:

a ring, a bracelet, an artificial fingernail configured to be affixed to a fingernail, a decal configured to be affixed to a fingernail, and a glove.

3. The method of claim 1, wherein detecting the IR radiation reflected from the IR reflective surface on the hand-wearable item comprises detecting the IR radiation with an IR camera device attached to the wearable HMD.

4. The method of claim 3, wherein the IR camera device comprises two IR detection components separated by a baseline distance,

and wherein measuring the position and motion of the particular surface pattern relative to the wearable HMD comprises triangulating a distance between the wearable HMD and the particular surface pattern using the two IR detection components.

5. The method of claim 1, wherein decoding the particular surface pattern from the detected IR radiation to obtain the item identifier comprises determining that the particular surface pattern includes at least one of:

a particular number, a particular pattern of lines, a particular pattern of shapes, and a particular image,

and wherein determining that the item identifier matches the predetermined identifier associated with the wearable HMD comprises distinguishing the hand-wearable item from a different hand-wearable item.

6. The method of claim 1, wherein measuring the position and motion of the particular surface pattern relative to the wearable HMD comprises determining the position and motion of the particular surface pattern relative to the wearable HMD contemporaneously with detecting the IR radiation from the IR reflective surface on the hand-wearable item.

7. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

matching the tracked position and motion of the hand-wearable item with a pre-determined trajectory in free space; and

responsively invoking an executable command on a processor of the wearable HMD based on the matched pre-determined trajectory.

8. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

identifying the decoded particular surface pattern as a pre-determined command pattern associated with an executable command; and

responsively invoking the executable command on a processor of the wearable HMD.

9. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

identifying the decoded particular surface pattern as a pre-determined authentication pattern associated with an authentication function of the wearable HMD; and

responsively invoking the authentication function on a processor of the wearable HMD in order to grant permission to execute an executable application on the processor.

10. The method of claim 1, wherein the hand-wearable item comprises a plurality of item elements and the particular surface pattern comprises a corresponding plurality of different pattern components, each of the plurality of item elements bearing a different one of the plurality of different pattern components,

wherein decoding the particular surface pattern comprises decoding two or more of the different pattern components,

and wherein the method further comprises:

identifying each of the two or more decoded different pattern components as a respective pre-determined command pattern associated with a respective executable command; and

responsively invoking each respective executable command on a processor of the wearable HMD.

11. The method of claim 10, wherein detecting the IR radiation reflected from the IR reflective surface on the hand-wearable item comprises detecting the two or more different pattern components concurrently,

and wherein decoding the two or more of the different pattern components comprises decoding the two or more of the different pattern components concurrently.

12. The method of claim 10, wherein the plurality of item elements comprises a plurality of fingernail decals, each configured to be affixed to a fingernail.

13. The method of claim 12, wherein at least one of the plurality of fingernail decals comprises an artificial fingernail.

14. A wearable head-mounted display (HMD) comprising:

means for detecting infrared (IR) radiation reflected from an IR reflective surface on a hand-wearable item, wherein the IR reflective surface is in the form of a particular surface pattern and is substantially optically invisible;

means for decoding the particular surface pattern from the detected IR radiation to obtain an item identifier;

means for determining that the item identifier matches a predetermined identifier associated with the wearable HMD; and

means for responding to determining that the item identifier matches the predetermined identifier by measuring position and motion of the particular surface pattern relative to the wearable HMD via the detected IR radiation, in order to track position and motion of the hand-wearable item relative to the wearable HMD.

15. The wearable HMD of claim 14, further comprising:

means for matching the tracked position and motion of the hand-wearable item with a pre-determined trajectory in free space; and

means for responsively invoking an executable command on a processor of the wearable HMD based on the matched pre-determined trajectory.

16. The wearable HMD of claim 14, further comprising:

means for identifying the decoded particular surface pattern as a pre-determined command pattern associated with an executable command; and

means for responsively invoking the executable command on a processor of the wearable HMD.

17. The wearable HMD of claim 14, further comprising:

means for identifying the decoded particular surface pattern as a pre-determined authentication pattern associated with an authentication function of the wearable HMD; and

means for responsively invoking the authentication function on a processor of the wearable HMD in order to grant permission to execute an executable application on the processor.

18. The wearable HMD of claim 14, wherein the hand-wearable item comprises a plurality of item elements and the particular surface pattern comprises a corresponding plurality of different pattern components, and each of the plurality of item elements bears a different one of the plurality of different pattern components,

wherein decoding the particular surface pattern comprises decoding two or more of the different pattern components,

and wherein the wearable HMD further comprises:

means for identifying each of the two or more decoded different pattern components as a respective pre-determined command pattern associated with a respective executable command; and

means for responsively invoking each respective executable command on a processor of the wearable HMD.

19. A nontransitory computer-readable medium having instructions stored thereon that, upon execution by one or more processors of a wearable head-mounted display (HMD), cause the wearable HMD to carry out functions comprising:

detecting infrared (IR) radiation reflected from an IR reflective surface on a hand-wearable item, wherein the IR reflective surface is in the form of a particular surface pattern and is substantially optically invisible;

decoding the particular surface pattern from the detected IR radiation to obtain an item identifier;

determining that the item identifier matches a predetermined identifier associated with the wearable HMD; and

responsive to determining that the item identifier matches the predetermined identifier, tracking position and motion of the hand-wearable item relative to the wearable HMD by measuring position and motion of the particular surface pattern relative to the wearable HMD via the detected IR radiation.