Wearable gesture control device and method

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-10110272-B2
Application number	US-201615383623-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Dec 19, 2016
Priority date	Aug 24, 2016
Publication date	Oct 23, 2018
Grant date	Oct 23, 2018

Abstract

Novel tools and techniques are provided for implementing Internet of Things (“IoT”) functionality. In some embodiments, a wearable control device (“WCD”) might receive first user input comprising one or more of touch, gesture, and/or voice input from the user. The WCD (and/or a remote computing system (“RCS”)) might analyze the first user input to identify a user device of a plurality of user devices to remotely control. The WCD might establish wireless communications with the identified user device, and might reconfigure its user interface to provide the user with command options to control the user device. The WCD might receive second user input. The WCD (and/or the RCS) might analyze the second user input to identify one or more functionalities of the user device to invoke, and might generate first command instructions, which might be sent by the WCD to the user device, via the wireless communications.

First claim

What is claimed is:

1. A method, comprising:
receiving, with a wearable control device worn by a user, at least one first user input indicating which user device of a plurality of user devices that the user intends to control, the at least one first user input comprising at least one of first gesture input, first voice input, or first touch input;
identifying, with at least one of the wearable control device or a remote computing system, a first user device of the plurality of user devices to remotely control based at least in part on the received at least one first user input;
establishing, with the wearable control device, wireless communication with the identified first user device;
reconfiguring, with the wearable control device, a user interface of the wearable control device to provide, to the user, a first set of command options that are customized for controlling the first user device;
receiving, with the wearable control device, at least one second user input indicating which functionalities of a first plurality of functionalities of the first user device the user intends to invoke, the at least one second user input comprising at least one of second gesture input, second voice input, or second touch input;
identifying, with the at least one of the wearable control device or the remote computing system, one or more first functionalities of the first plurality of functionalities of the first user device to invoke based at least in part on the received at least one second user input;
generating, with the at least one of the wearable control device or the remote computing system, one or more first command instructions for the first user device, based at least in part on the identified one or more first functionalities of the first user device; and
sending, with the wearable control device and via the wireless communication with the first user device, the generated one or more first command instructions to cause the first user device to perform the one or more first functionalities.

2. The method of claim 1 , wherein the wearable control device has a form comprising one of a bracer, a bracelet, a wrist watch, a smart watch, a wrist band, a bangle, a gauntlet, a wrist strap, a finger ring, a head band, or a glove.

3. The method of claim 1 , wherein the plurality of user devices comprises at least one of one or more display devices, one or more speakers, one or more media recording or playback devices, one or more household appliances, one or more kitchen appliances, one or more lighting systems, one or more automated door locking systems, one or more automated door opening or closing systems, one or more automated window locking systems, one or more automated window opening or closing systems, one or more smart windows, one or more window covering control systems, one or more customer premises security systems, one or more customer premises environmental control systems, one or more electrical outlets, one or more power strips, one or more dimmer switches, one or more data ports, one or more clocks, one or more sprinkler systems, one or more vehicles, one or more mobile user devices, one or more medical devices, one or more fitness trackers, or one or more exercise equipment.

4. The method of claim 1 , wherein the wireless communication comprises at least one of machine-to-machine Internet of Things (“IoT”) communications, Bluetooth communications, Z-wave communications, ZigBee communications, or WiFi communications.

5. The method of claim 1 , wherein establishing wireless communication with the identified first user device comprises establishing, with the wearable control device, wireless communication with the identified first user device via one or more application programming interfaces (“APIs”) established between the wearable control device and the first user device.

6. The method of claim 1 , wherein identifying the first user device comprises analyzing, with the at least one of the wearable control device or the remote computing system, the at least one first user input by using at least one of the first gesture input, the first voice input, or the first touch input to augment or complement at least one other of the first gesture input, the first voice input, or the first touch input.

7. The method of claim 1 , wherein identifying the one or more first functionalities of the first user device comprises analyzing, with the at least one of the wearable control device or the remote computing system, the at least one second user input by using at least one of the second gesture input, the second voice input, or the second touch input to augment or complement at least one other of the second gesture input, the second voice input, or the second touch input.

8. The method of claim 1 , wherein identifying the first user device and identifying the one or more first functionalities of the first user device comprise analyzing, with the at least one of the wearable control device or the remote computing system, the at least one first user input and the at least one second user input, respectively, using artificial intelligence (“AI”) to improve interactions with the user.

9. The method of claim 8 , wherein the AI is further utilized to improve machine-to-machine interactions and to improve reconfiguration of the user interface of the wearable control device to provide, to the user, the command options that are customized for controlling the first user device.

10. The method of claim 1 , wherein the remote computing system comprises at least one of a server computer remote from the wearable control device, a gateway device, a human interface device, a cloud computing system, or a distributed computing system that integrates computing resources from two or more user devices of the plurality of user devices.

11. The method of claim 1 , further comprising:
receiving, with the wearable control device, at least one third user input indicating which other user device of the plurality of user devices that the user intends to control next, the at least one third user input comprising at least one of third gesture input, third voice input, or third touch input;
identifying, with the at least one of the wearable control device or the remote computing system, a second user device of the plurality of user devices to remotely control based at least in part on the received at least one third user input;
establishing, with the wearable control device, wireless communication with the identified second user device;
reconfiguring, with the wearable control device, the user interface of the wearable control device to provide, to the user, a second set of command options that are customized for controlling the second user device, the second set of command options being different from the first set of command options;
receiving, with the wearable control device, at least one fourth user input indicating which functionalities of a second plurality of functionalities of the second user device to invoke, the at least one fourth user input comprising at least one of fourth gesture input, fourth voice input, or fourth touch input;
identifying, with the at least one of the wearable control device or the remote computing system, one or more second functionalities of the second plurality of functionalities of the second user device to invoke based at least in part on the received at least one fourth user input;
generating, with the at least one of the wearable control device or the remote computing system, one or more second command instructions for the second user device, based at least in part on the identified one or more second functionalities of the second user device; and
sending, with the wearable control device and via

Assignees

• Centurylink Ip Llc

Inventors

• Barnett Jr Thomas Charles

Classifications

• H04W4/80

  Services using short range communication, e.g. near-field communication [NFC], radio-frequency identification [RFID] or low energy communication · CPC title

• G06F1/1652

  the display being flexible, e.g. mimicking a sheet of paper, or rollable · CPC title

• G06F1/163

  Wearable computers, e.g. on a belt · CPC title

• G06F1/1698

  the I/O peripheral being a sending/receiving arrangement to establish a cordless communication link, e.g. radio or infrared link, integrated cellular phone (details of antennas disposed inside a computer H01Q1/2266) · CPC title

• G06F1/1684

  Constructional details or arrangements related to integrated I/O peripherals not covered by groups G06F1/1635 - G06F1/1675 · CPC title