Magic wand

• US 9,171,454 B2
• Filed: 11/14/2007
• Issued: 10/27/2015
• Est. Priority Date: 11/14/2007
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Microsoft Technology Licensing LLC (Microsoft Corporation)
• Original Assignee: Microsoft Technology Licensing LLC (Microsoft Corporation)
• Inventors: Wilson, Andrew David, Allard, James E., Drucker, Steven, Kuo, Yu-Ting, Cohen, Michael H.
• Primary Examiner(s): BROWN, VERNAL U
• Application Number:
  US11/939,739
• Publication Number:
  US 20090121894A1
• Time in Patent Office: 2,904 Days
• Field of Search: 340/825.49, 340/825.69, 340/12.22, 340/4.11, 340/5.1, 340/5.61, 715/863, 382/103, 382/154
• US Class Current: 1/1
• CPC Class Codes: G08C 17/00 Arrangements for transmitting signals characterised by the use of a wireless electrical link
• CPC Class Codes: G08C 2201/30 User interface
• CPC Class Codes: G08C 2201/32 Remote control based on movements, attitude of remote control device
• CPC Class Codes: G08C 2201/51 Remote controlling of devices based on replies, status thereof

Abstract

The claimed subject matter relates to an architecture that can facilitate rich interaction with and/or management of environmental components included in an environment. The architecture can exist in whole or in part in a housing that can resemble a wand or similar object. The architecture can utilize one or more sensor from a collection of sensors to determine an orientation or gesture in connection with the wand, and can further issue an instruction to update a state of an environmental component based upon the orientation. In addition, the architecture can include an advisor component to provide contextual and/or comprehensive guidance in an intuitive manner.

Claims

1. A system that facilitates rich interaction with and/or management of environmental components included in an environment, comprising:

a housing with a face;

a communication component that manages a set of I/O components, the communication component is configured to receive an input by way of an input component from the set of I/O components and to transmit an instruction by way of an output component from the set of I/O components;

a presence component that employs a set of sensors to determine an orientation of the housing;

a command component that determines the instruction based at least in part upon the orientation of the housing; and

an advisor component that is configured to provide guidance in connection with the orientation of the housing, the guidance regarding how to orient the housing to achieve the instruction, the guidance provided by way of an associated avatar, the avatar is presentable by way of an audio output, a text-based output, a video output or display, a holographic output or display, or combinations thereof.

2. The system of claim 1, the instruction is configured to update a state of an environmental component, the environmental component is configured to receive the instruction and to update the state.

3. The system of claim 2, the environmental component is at least one of a light device or a thermostat, and the instruction is configured to modify a setting of the thermostat or modify a setting of the light device.

4. The system of claim 2, the environmental component is at least one of a light device, a thermostat, a media device, a game console, a computer, a controller device, or a component of one or more of the foregoing.

5. The system of claim 1, the presence component determines the orientation of the housing based at least in part on a direction of the face of the housing or a gesture, of the housing.

6. The system of claim 1, the orientation indicates an environmental component targeted by the face of the housing.

7. The system of claim 1, the set of sensors includes at least one of an accelerometer, a gyroscope, a camera, a laser, a biometric sensor, a transmitter, or a receiver.

8. The system of claim 1, the command component further employs the input to determine the instruction.

9. The system of claim 1, the advisor component, in order to provide the guidance, facilitates articulation or display of at least one of the instruction, a targeted environmental component, a suitable orientation to produce the instruction, or a suitable orientation to target a particular environmental component.

10. The system of claim 1, further comprising an attachable module that, upon being communicatively attached to the housing, provides at least one of an additional avatar or additional available features.

11. The system of claim 1, further comprising a holographic display component that displays a holograph substantially near to one of the housing or a targeted environmental component, the holograph is at least one of a data display associated with the instruction or the avatar.

12. The system of claim 1, further comprising a modeling component that constructs a 3-D geometric model of the environment.

13. The system of claim 12, the modeling component employs at least two cameras from the set of sensors to determine a 3-D position of the housing.

14. The system of claim 12, the 3-D geometric model is dynamically constructed on the fly based upon a location of the housing.

19. The system of claim 1, the set of sensors includes at least a biometric sensor, wherein the avatar is selected from a plurality of avatars based at least in part on information collected from the biometric sensor.

20. The system of claim 1, the set of sensors includes at least a biometric sensor, wherein an identity of a user and an emotional state of the user is determined based at least in part on information collected from the biometric sensor.

15. A method comprising:

receiving an input from an input component included in a set of I/O components;

transmitting an instruction to an environmental component by way of an output component included in the set of I/O components;

utilizing at least one sensor from a set of sensors to determine an orientation of a housing;

determining the instruction based at least in part upon the orientation of the housing;

providing guidance in connection with at least one of the orientation of the housing or the instruction, the guidance is provided by way of articulation or display; and

transmitting a display instruction to a holographic display component that displays a holograph, the holograph is at least one of a data display associated with the instruction or an avatar associated with the guidance.

16. The method of claim 15, further comprising at least one of the following acts:

employing the orientation to determine a target environmental component;

maintaining state information associated with the orientation of the housing in order to determine a gesture;

utilizing the input for the act of determining the instruction;

updating a state of the environmental component based upon the instruction;

presenting an avatar in connection with the guidance;

or

updating data relating to at least one of the avatar, an instruction set, or an orientation set.

17. The method of claim 15, further comprising at least one of the following acts:

generating a 3-D model of an environment proximate to the housing that includes the set of environmental components in respective positions that correspond to corporeal locations;

or

employing at least two cameras from the set of I/O components for determining a 3-D position of the housing in the environment.

18. One or more computer storage media comprising computer-executable instructions that, when executed by one or more processors, configure the one or more processors to perform acts comprising:

obtaining an input from an input component included in a set of I/O components;

transmitting an instruction to an environmental component by way of an output component included in the set of I/O components;

employing a set of sensors to determine an orientation of a housing about at least a substantially vertical axis;

employing at least two cameras from the set of I/O components for determining a 3-D position of the housing;

utilizing the orientation of the housing for determining the instruction; and

presenting guidance in connection with at least one of the orientation of the housing or the instruction, the guidance is presented by way of articulation or display.