User interface apparatus and user interface method

• US 9,947,289 B2
• Filed: 04/15/2015
• Issued: 04/17/2018
• Est. Priority Date: 07/29/2014
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Samsung Electronics Co. Ltd.
• Original Assignee: Samsung Electronics Co. Ltd.
• Inventors: Lee, Jun Haeng, Ryu, Eric Hyunsurk, Shin, Chang Woo, Woo, Joo Yeon
• Primary Examiner(s): Amini, Javid A
• Application Number:
  US14/687,574
• Publication Number:
  US 20160035315A1
• Time in Patent Office: 1,098 Days
• Field of Search: 345629
• 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 3/14 Digital output to display device ; Cooperation and interconnection of the display device with other functional units
• CPC Class Codes: G09G 2340/12 Overlay of images, i.e. displayed pixel being the result of switching between the corresponding input pixels
• CPC Class Codes: G09G 2340/125 wherein one of the images is motion video
• CPC Class Codes: G09G 2354/00 Aspects of interface with display user
• CPC Class Codes: G09G 2360/144 the light being ambient light
• CPC Class Codes: G09G 2380/02 Flexible displays
• CPC Class Codes: G09G 5/006 Details of the interface to the display terminal specific for a display terminal using a CRT G09G1/167; using a flat panel G09G3/2096; circuits for interfacing with colour displays G09G5/04
• CPC Class Codes: G09G 5/026 Control of mixing and/or overlay of colours in general G09G5/022 and G09G5/024 take precedence

Abstract

A user interface apparatus and a method of improving user interface are provided. The user interface apparatus may detect a change in an incident light and may control a display to represent the detected change in the light to be overlaid on image content. Provided is a user interface apparatus including: a display configured to display image content; a detector configured to detect a change in an incident light; and a controller configured to control the display to overlay the detected change in the light on the image content.

Claims

1. A user interface apparatus comprising:

a display configured to display image content, the image content being unrelated to a surrounding environment of the user interface apparatus;

a detector implemented by at least one sensor and configured to detect an object of the surrounding environment of the user interface apparatus moving with respect to the user interface apparatus; and

a controller implemented by at least one hardware processor, configured to generate an object image representing the detected object, and configured to control the display to overlay the object image on the image content while continuously displaying the image content.

2. The user interface apparatus of claim 1, wherein the detector comprises an event-based vision sensor configured to detect an event where an incident light varies and configured to time-asynchronously generate a signal indicating a change in the incident light.

3. The user interface apparatus of claim 1, wherein the detector comprises:

a collector configured to collect an incident light; and

a generator configured to analyze the collected light and configured to generate a signal indicating a change in the incident light.

4. The user interface apparatus of claim 1, wherein the controller is configured to detect pixels corresponding to a change in a light from among a plurality of pixels of the display and is configured to control values of the detected pixels so that an overlaid change of the light is represented on the image content.

5. The user interface apparatus of claim 1, wherein the controller is configured to analyze a change in a light to minimize a portion in which the change in the light is represented to be overlaid on the image content.

6. The user interface apparatus of claim 1, wherein the controller is configured to generate information associated with an object present around a user based on a change in a light, and configured to control the display based on the generated information.

7. The user interface apparatus of claim 6, wherein the information associated with the object comprises at least one of a type of the object, a velocity of the object, a distance between the user and the object, and a location of the object.

8. The user interface apparatus of claim 1, wherein the controller is configured to determine whether a change in a light is caused by a hand of a user, and configured to process a user input based on the change in the light in response to the change in the light being determined to be caused by the hand of the user.

9. The user interface apparatus of claim 1, wherein an incident light comprises an incident light from a surrounding environment of the user interface apparatus.

10. A mobile device comprising the user interface apparatus of claim 1.

11. A wearable device comprising the user interface apparatus of claim 1.

12. The user interface apparatus of claim 1, wherein the object image comprises an outline of the detected object.

13. A user interface method comprising:

displaying image content on a display, the image content being unrelated to a surrounding environment of a user interface apparatus;

detecting, by a detector implemented by at least one sensor, an object of the surrounding environment of the user interface apparatus moving with respect to the user interface apparatus;

generating, by a controller implemented by at least one hardware processor, an object image representing the detected object; and

controlling, by the controller, the display to overlay the object image on the image content while continuously displaying the image content on the display.

14. The user interface method of claim 13, wherein the object image comprises an outline of the detected object.

15. A user interface apparatus comprising:

a display configured to display image content, the image content being unrelated to a surrounding environment of the user interface apparatus;

a detector implemented by at least one sensor and configured to detect a moving object in the surrounding environment of the user interface apparatus while the user interface apparatus is being held by a user; and

a controller implemented by at least one hardware processor and configured to control the display to overlay the detected moving object on the image content and display the image content and the detected object simultaneously.

16. The user interface apparatus of claim 15, wherein the detector is configured to detect the object by detecting a change of amount of light by the detector.