Using unidirectional and omnidirectional antennas to determine whether object image is in camera viewfinder

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-10455156-B2
Application number	US-201615772270-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Feb 29, 2016
Priority date	Feb 29, 2016
Publication date	Oct 22, 2019
Grant date	Oct 22, 2019

Abstract

A technique includes sensing energy emitted from an object using an omnidirectional antenna of electronic device and sensing the energy using a unidirectional antenna of the electronic device. The technique includes, based at least in part on the sensing of energy using the omnidirectional antenna and the sensing of the energy using the unidirectional antenna, determining whether an image of the object is displayed in a camera viewfinder of the electronic device. The technique includes selectively causing the electronic device to generate an output based at least in part on the determination.

First claim

What is claimed is:

1. A method comprising:
sensing, using an omnidirectional antenna of an electronic device, a first energy of a signal emitted from an object;
sensing, using a unidirectional antenna of the electronic device, a second energy of the signal emitted from the object;
based at least in part on the sensing of the first energy using the omnidirectional antenna and the sensing of the second energy using the unidirectional antenna, determining whether the object is within a specified range of an optical axis of a camera of the electronic device such that an image of the object is displayed in a camera viewfinder of the electronic device; and
selectively causing the electronic device to generate an output based at least in part on the determination.

2. The method of claim 1 , wherein selectively causing the electronic device to generate the output comprises selectively displaying an image in the camera viewfinder to identify the image of the object.

3. The method of claim 1 , wherein the sensing of the second energy of the signal emitted by the object using the unidirectional antenna comprises sensing the second energy using the unidirectional antenna aligned with the optical axis of the camera.

4. The method of claim 1 , wherein:
sensing the first energy of the signal using the omnidirectional antenna comprises sensing a first signal strength of the signal using the omnidirectional antenna;
sensing the second energy of the signal using the unidirectional antenna comprises sensing a second signal strength of the signal using the unidirectional antenna; and
generating an indicator based on the first and second signal strengths representing whether the object is within the specified range of the optical axis of the camera.

5. The method of claim 1 , further comprising:
communicating a request from the electronic device to initiate polling by the object.

6. The method of claim 4 , wherein generating the indicator based on the first and second signal strengths comprises generating the indicator based on a difference between the first signal strength and the second signal strength.

7. An apparatus comprising:
a unidirectional antenna;
an omnidirectional antenna;
a camera;
a display to display an image captured by the camera; and
a processor to:
use the omnidirectional antenna to measure a first signal strength of a signal emitted by a device;
use the unidirectional antenna to measure a second signal strength of the signal emitted by the device; and
based at least in part on the detected first and second signal strengths, selectively provide an indication in the image displayed by the display to indicate detection of the device.

8. The apparatus of claim 7 , wherein the processor is to:
provide the indication further based on a further output of the device in addition to the first and second signal strengths.

9. The apparatus of claim 8 , wherein the further output comprises a signal delay propagation in the signal emitted by the device, an infrared signal emitted by the device, a radio frequency (RF) fingerprint associated with the device, a visual output of the device, or an audio output of the device.

10. The apparatus of claim 7 , wherein the processor is to send a request to the device to cause the device to communicate information describing a configuration of the device.

11. The apparatus of claim 7 , wherein the processor is to:
send a request to the device to cause the device to communicate data describing an identifier for the device; and
use the data to retrieve additional data describing a configuration of the device.

12. The apparatus of claim 7 , further comprising a protective case, wherein the unidirectional antenna is part of the protective case.

13. An article comprising a non-transitory computer readable storage medium to store instructions that when executed by a computer cause the computer to:
receive a first indicator of a first energy of a signal emitted from an electronic device, the first energy sensed using an omnidirectional antenna of the computer;
receive a second indicator of a second energy of the signal emitted from the electronic device, the second energy sensed using a unidirectional antenna of the electronic device;
based at least in part on the first indicator and the second indicator, determine whether the electronic device is within a specified azimuthal range of an optical axis of a camera of the computer such that an image of the electronic device is displayed in a display of the computer; and
selectively cause the computer to provide an output based at least in part on the determination.

14. The article of claim 13 , wherein the first indicator comprises a first signal strength of the signal sensed using the omnidirectional antenna, and the second indicator comprises a second signal strength of the signal sensed using the unidirectional antenna, and wherein the determination of whether the electronic device is within the specified azimuthal range of the optical axis of the camera is based on a difference between the first signal strength and the second signal strength.

15. The method of claim 1 , wherein the first energy comprises a first electromagnetic energy sensed using the omnidirectional antenna, and the second energy comprises a second electromagnetic energy sensed using the unidirectional antenna.

16. The method of claim 6 , further comprising:
comparing the difference between the first signal strength and the second signal strength to a threshold,
wherein the indicator is generated responsive to the difference exceeding the threshold.

17. The method of claim 1 , wherein the unidirectional antenna has a gain pattern that is sensitive to a direction of the signal received by the unidirectional antenna, and a maximum peak gain of the unidirectional antenna is in a direction that is aligned with the optical axis of the camera.

18. The apparatus of claim 7 , wherein the providing of the indication is based on a difference between the first signal strength and the second signal strength.

19. The apparatus of claim 18 , wherein the indication is provided responsive to the difference exceeding a threshold.

20. The article of claim 14 , wherein the instructions when executed by the computer cause the computer to:
compare the difference between the first signal strength and the second signal strength to a threshold,
wherein the determination of whether the electronic device is within the specified azimuthal range of the optical axis of the camera is based on the difference exceeding the threshold.

Assignees

• Hewlett Packard Development Co

Inventors

• Lagnado Isaac
• Ali Vali

Classifications

• H04N23/00

  Cameras or camera modules comprising electronic image sensors; Control thereof · CPC title

• H04N23/63 Primary

  by using electronic viewfinders · CPC title

• H04N23/60

  Control of cameras or camera modules · CPC title

• G01S3/34 Primary

  the separate antennas comprising one directional antenna and one non-directional antenna, e.g. combination of loop and open antennas producing a reversed cardioid directivity characteristic · CPC title

• G01S3/28

  using amplitude comparison of signals derived simultaneously from receiving antennas or antenna systems having differently-oriented directivity characteristics · CPC title