High fidelity remote controller device for digital living room

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-2016011676-A1
Application number	US-201514682999-A
Country	US
Kind code	A1
Filing date	Apr 9, 2015
Priority date	Feb 4, 2011
Publication date	Jan 14, 2016
Grant date	—

Abstract

Described herein is an intelligent remote controlling device (e.g. a mobile phone). The device can include a six-axis motion sensor to accurately track three dimensional hand motions. For example, the sensors can include a three-axis accelerometer and a three-axis gyroscope. The remote control device can also include a processing unit integrated with the motion sensors in a single module. The processing unit can convert data regarding the hand motion to data regarding a cursor motion for a cursor that will be displayed on a screen of an electronic device. The processing unit can be integrated with the motion sensors in a single module (e.g. an integrated circuit chip (IC)). The processing unit can include at least two modes of functionality corresponding to different types of hand motion: a one to one mode where the cursor directly tracks the hand motion and a non-linear mode that filters data from the motion sensors to eliminate hand jitter.

First claim

What is claimed is:

1 . A handheld remote control device, comprising:
at least one gyroscope that senses a rotational movement of the handheld remote control device and provides a first measurement output in response to an occurrence of a first input condition; at least one accelerometer that senses gravity and linear movement of the handheld remote control device and provides a second measurement output in response to the occurrence of the first input condition; and a processing unit that uses the first and second measurement outputs to generate information associated with cursor location; wherein, the at least one accelerometer, the at least one gyroscope and the processing unit are encompassed in an integrated circuit chip.

2 . The handheld remote control device of claim 1 , wherein the handheld remote control device includes a mobile phone.

3 . The handheld remote control device of claim 2 , wherein the first input indicates that a user has picked up the mobile phone.

4 . The handheld remote control device of claim 1 , further comprising: the processing unit uses the first and second measurement outputs to perform gesture recognition when a user picks up the handheld remote control device.

5 . The handheld remote control device of claim 1 , further comprising: one of a pressure sensor, a push button, a soft button, a microphone or a capacitive sensor that detects the occurrence of the first input condition.

6 . The handheld remote control device of claim 1 , further comprising: a compass providing a third measurement output in response to the occurrence of the first input condition.

7 . The handheld remote control device of claim 1 , wherein the at least one gyroscope includes three gyroscopes that provide three dimensional angular motion.

8 . The handheld remote control device of claim 1 , wherein the at least one accelerometer provides three dimensional linear motion measurements.

9 . The handheld remote control device of claim 1 , further comprising: a radio frequency (RF) unit configured to transmit the information.

10 . The handheld remote control device of claim 9 , wherein the RF module is encompassed in the integrated circuit chip.

11 . The handheld remote control device of claim 1 , further comprising: a transmitter that transmits the information to outside the handheld remote control device by a using wireless protocol.

12 . The handheld remote control device of claim 11 , wherein the wireless protocol includes one of WiFi, Bluetooth, or Radio Frequency for Consumer Electronics.

13 . The handheld remote control device of claim 1 , wherein the device operates in at least two modes of functionality, wherein
a mode of the two modes includes a tracking mode wherein the information associated with the cursor location directly tracks the first and second measurement outputs, and a mode of the two modes includes a non-linear mode wherein the processor generates the information associated with the cursor location by removing noise related to a user's hand jitter.

14 . The handheld remote control device of claim 13 , further comprising: an intelligent component that switches between the at least two modes of functionality.

15 . The handheld remote control device of claim 13 , further comprising: the processor that switches between the at least two modes of functionality in response to occurrence of a second input condition.

16 . The handheld remote control device of claim 15 , wherein the occurrence of the second input condition includes one of a user making a gesture in air while holding the device, tapping the device, shaking the device, drawing a handwriting symbol in air while holding the device or drawing a handwriting character in air while holding the device.

17 . The handheld remote control device of claim 15 , further comprising: the processor that changes a shape of a cursor in response to an occurrence of the second input condition.

18 . The handheld remote control device of claim 15 , further comprising: the processor that initiates an operational control of the handheld remote control device in response to an occurrence of the second input condition.

19 . A method, comprising:
detecting a motion of a handheld remote control device by using a three-axes gyroscope that senses orientation in three dimensions and a three-axes accelerometer that senses gravity and linear motion in three dimensions embedded in an integrated circuit chip; determining a action associated with the motion by using a processor that is embedded in the integrated circuit chip; selecting an operating mode of the processor based on the determination; and generating information about cursor location by tracking the motion; wherein the information about the cursor location is two dimensional information.

20 . The method of claim 19 , wherein the selecting includes selecting a linear mode upon determining that the motion includes the motion of the device in a constant direction.

Assignees

• Invensense Inc

Inventors

• Nasiri Steve
• Jiang Joseph
• Lin Shang-Hung
• Zheng Yuan

Classifications

• G06F3/0383

  Signal control means within the pointing device · CPC title

• G06F3/0346 Primary

  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

• G06F3/017

  Gesture based interaction, e.g. based on a set of recognized hand gestures (interaction based on gestures traced on a digitiser G06F3/04883) · CPC title