Visual indicator for paused radar gestures

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-11281303-B2
Application number	US-202016912635-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Jun 25, 2020
Priority date	Aug 30, 2019
Publication date	Mar 22, 2022
Grant date	Mar 22, 2022

Abstract

This document describes techniques and systems that enable a visual indicator for paused radar gestures. The techniques and systems use a radar field to enable an electronic device to accurately determine radar gestures, or other movement, by a user. Further, the electronic device can determine certain conditions that can make it difficult for the electronic device to properly determine the user's radar gestures. When the device includes an application that can be controlled using radar gestures (a radar-gesture application), and the conditions are present, the device can enter a gesture-paused mode. When the device enters this mode, the techniques provide a gesture-paused feedback element on a display, which lets the user know that there is at least one radar-gesture application available or running on the electronic device but that radar gestures cannot presently be used to control the application.

First claim

What is claimed is:

1. A method implemented in an electronic device that includes a display, a computer processor, and a radar system, the method comprising:
detecting a gesture-pause trigger, the detecting during a period in which:
the radar system provides a radar field through which a radar gesture can be determined; and
an application capable of receiving a control input corresponding to the radar gesture is executing, through the computer processor, on the electronic device; and

providing, in response to detecting the gesture-pause trigger, a gesture-paused feedback element on the display of the electronic device, the gesture-paused feedback element comprising a visual element that:
is presented on an active area of the display of the electronic device;
moves on the active area of the display of the electronic device, the movement of the visual element corresponding to the gesture-pause trigger; and
indicates that the application cannot perform an action associated with the control input.

2. The method of claim 1 , wherein the gesture-pause trigger comprises at least one of:
an oscillating motion of the electronic device, a first oscillation frequency of the oscillating motion of the electronic device exceeding a first threshold frequency;
a motion of the electronic device at a velocity above a threshold velocity; or
an oscillating motion of an object in the radar field, a second oscillation frequency of the oscillating motion of the object in the radar field exceeding a second threshold frequency.

3. The method of claim 2 , wherein the gesture-pause trigger comprises the oscillating motion of the electronic device and the corresponding movement of the visual element comprises:
a decrease from a first luminosity of at least part of the visual element to a second luminosity of the at least part of the visual element; and
a decrease from a first size of the visual feedback element to a second size of the visual feedback element.

4. The method of claim 3 , wherein the corresponding movement of the visual element further comprises a lateral oscillation of the visual element, the lateral oscillation having a frequency that is approximately a same frequency as the first oscillation frequency of the oscillating motion of the electronic device.

5. The method of claim 2 , wherein the gesture-pause trigger comprises the oscillating motion of the object in the radar field and the corresponding movement of the visual element comprises:
a decrease from a first luminosity of at least part of the visual element to a second luminosity of the at least part of the visual element; and
a decrease from a first size of the visual element to a second size of the visual element.

6. The method of claim 5 , wherein the corresponding movement of the visual element further comprises a lateral oscillation of the visual element, the lateral oscillation having a frequency that is approximately a same frequency as the second oscillation frequency of the oscillating motion of the object in the radar field.

7. The method of claim 2 , wherein:
the gesture-pause trigger comprises the oscillating motion of the electronic device and the corresponding movement of the visual element comprises a lateral oscillation of the visual element, the lateral oscillation having a frequency that is approximately a same frequency as the first oscillation frequency of the oscillating motion of the electronic device; or
the gesture-pause trigger comprises the oscillating motion of the object in the radar field and the corresponding movement of the visual element comprises a lateral oscillation of the visual element, the lateral oscillation having a frequency that is approximately a same frequency as the second oscillation frequency of the oscillating motion of the object in the radar field.

8. The method of claim 1 , further comprising:
determining a background color of a region of the display on which the gesture-paused feedback element is displayed; and
responsive to determining the background color of the region of the display on which the gesture-paused feedback element is displayed, causing the display to present the gesture-paused feedback element in another color that is different from the background color, the different color effective to provide human-discernable contrast between the gesture-paused feedback element and the region of the display on which the gesture-paused feedback element is displayed.

9. The method of claim 1 , further comprising:
responsive to detecting the gesture-pause trigger, causing the electronic device to exit a current state in which the application can perform the action associated with the control input, and enter a new state in which the application cannot perform the action associated with the control input.

10. The method of claim 1 , further comprising:
determining whether the user is interacting with the electronic device using input other than a radar gesture;
responsive to a determination that the user is interacting with the electronic device using input other than a radar gesture, modifying the appearance of the visual element by causing the visual element to decrease in brightness or disappear; or
responsive to another determination that the user has ceased interacting with the electronic device using input other than a radar gesture, modifying the appearance of the visual element by causing the visual element to increase in brightness or reappear.

11. An electronic device, comprising:
a display;
a computer processor;
a radar system, implemented at least partially in hardware, configured to:
provide a radar field;
sense reflections from a user in the radar field;
analyze the reflections from the user in the radar field; and
provide, based on the analysis of the reflections, radar data; and

a computer-readable media having instructions stored thereon that, responsive to execution by the computer processor, implement an input-mode manager configured to:
detect a gesture-pause trigger, the detection during a period in which:
the radar system is providing the radar field through which a radar gesture can be determined based on the radar data; and
an application capable of receiving a control input corresponding to the radar gesture is executing, through the computer processor, on the electronic device; and

provide, in response to the detection of the gesture-pause trigger, a gesture-paused feedback element on the display of the electronic device, the gesture-paused feedback element comprising a visual element that:
is presented on an active area of the display;
moves on the active area of the display, the movement of the visual element corresponding to the gesture-pause trigger; and
indicates that the application cannot perform an action associated with the control input.

12. The electronic device of claim 11 , wherein the gesture-pause trigger comprises at least one of:
an oscillating motion of the electronic device, a first oscillation frequency of the oscillating motion of the electronic device exceeding a first threshold frequency;
a motion of the electronic device at a velocity above a threshold velocity; or
an oscillating motion of an object in the radar field, a second oscillation frequency of the oscillating motion of the object in the radar field exceeding a second threshold frequency.

13. The electronic device of claim 12 , wherein the gesture-pause trigger comprises the oscillating motion of the electronic device and the corresponding movement of the visual element comprises:
a decrease from a first luminosity of at least part of the visual element to a second luminosity of the at least p

Assignees

• Google Llc

Inventors

• Stern Devon James O'Reilley
• Giusti Leonardo
• Sachidanandam Vignesh
• Bedal Lauren
• Jacobs John David

Classifications

• G06F3/0346

  with detection of the device orientation or free movement in a three-dimensional [3D] space, e.g. 3D mice, 6-DOF [six degrees of freedom] pointers using gyroscopes, accelerometers or tilt-sensors · CPC title

• G06F1/1684

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

• G06F1/1694

  the I/O peripheral being a single or a set of motion sensors for pointer control or gesture input obtained by sensing movements of the portable computer · CPC title

• G09G5/10

  Intensity circuits · CPC title

• G06F1/3215

  Monitoring of peripheral devices · CPC title