Configurable human-machine interface

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-2016091981-A1
Application number	US-201414784633-A
Country	US
Kind code	A1
Filing date	May 5, 2014
Priority date	May 7, 2013
Publication date	Mar 31, 2016
Grant date	—

Abstract

A configurable human-machine interface for controlling an electrical apparatus includes at least one permanent magnet rigidly connected to each of utensils and a magnetometer array including N triaxial magnetometers, mechanically linked to each other without any degree of freedom to retain a known distance between each of the magnetometers, wherein N is a whole number greater than or equal to five, and a processing unit configured to: define, for each permanent magnet of a utensil, a value of at least one variable encoding a position or orientation of same in a three-dimensional reference system fixed without any degree of freedom to the array or the amplitude of the magnetic moment of same, from measurements of the magnetometers of the array, and automatically select a control law based on the value defined for the variable.

First claim

1 - 12 . (canceled)

13 . A configurable human-machine interface for controlling an electrical apparatus, the interface comprising:
at least one movable utensil, each utensil being actuatable directly by a hand of a user to pass between at least one first state of control of the electrical apparatus and a second state; a processing unit configured:
to automatically select a control law to be associated with the utensil actuated by the user from a number of different control laws of the electrical apparatus, each control law associating a first control of the electrical apparatus with a first state of a utensil and a second different control or no control of the electrical apparatus with the second state of the same utensil, the control laws differing from one another in that they associate different controls of the electrical apparatus with a same first state of the utensil or with a same second state of the utensil, and
to generate and to transmit a control to the electrical apparatus depending on a current state of the utensil and depending on the control law that has been selected for the utensil;
wherein: the interface comprises at least one permanent magnet connected to each utensil and a magnetometer array comprising N triaxial magnetometers mechanically connected to one another without any degree of freedom to maintain a known distance between each of the magnetometers, wherein N is a whole number greater than or equal to five; and the processing unit is configured:
to determine, for each permanent magnet of a utensil, a value of at least one variable encoding its position or its orientation in a three-dimensional coordinate system fixed without any degree of freedom to the array or the amplitude of the magnetic moment thereof, on the basis of the measurements of the magnetometers of the array, and
to automatically select the control law on the basis of the determined value of the variable.

14 . The interface as claimed in claim 13 , wherein:
each utensil includes at least one permanent magnet of which a position or orientation varies when the utensil is actuated by the user to pass between its first and second states, the permanent magnet being same as that used to automatically select the control law to be associated with the utensil or being a different permanent magnet, the processing unit is configured:
to determine, for the permanent magnet of which the position or the orientation varies when the utensil is actuated, the value of at least one variable that varies depending on the state of the utensil, on the basis of measurements of the magnetometers of the array, and
to establish the state of the utensil, used to generate the control of the electrical apparatus, on the basis of the determined value.

15 . The interface as claimed in claim 14 , wherein the utensil comprises:
an axis having a first and a second inclination with respect to one of the axes of the three-dimensional coordinate system in the first and second states of the utensil respectively, and a permanent magnet fixed without any degree of freedom with respect to the axis, in a position in which the direction of the magnetic moment of the permanent magnet is parallel to the axis.

16 . The interface as claimed in claim 14 , wherein the utensil comprises a steering wheel movable in rotation about an axis and a permanent magnet fixed without any degree of freedom to the steering wheel in an eccentric position with respect to the axis of rotation or in a position in which the direction of its magnetic moment is inclined with respect to the axis of rotation.

17 . A method for controlling an electrical apparatus with aid of a configurable human-machine interface, the method comprising:
actuation of at least one movable utensil, directly by a hand of a user, so as to pass between at least one first state of control of the electrical apparatus and a second state; automatic selection of a control law to be associated with the utensil actuated by the user from a plurality of different control laws of the electrical apparatus, each control law associating a first control of the electrical apparatus with the first state of a utensil and a second different control or no control of the electrical apparatus with the second state of the same utensil, the control laws differing from one another by the fact that they associate different controls of the electrical apparatus with a same first state of the utensil or with a same second state of the utensil; and generation and transmission to the electrical apparatus of a control depending on a current state of the utensil and the control law that has been selected for the utensil; measuring magnetic field generated by at least one permanent magnet connected to the utensil with aid of a magnetometer array comprising N triaxial magnetometers connected mechanically to one another without any degree of freedom to maintain a known distance between each of the magnetometers, wherein N is a whole number greater than or equal to five; determining, for each permanent magnet of a utensil, a value of at least one variable encoding its position or orientation in a three-dimensional coordinate system fixed without any degree of freedom to the array or the amplitude of its magnetic moment, on the basis of the measurements of the magnetometers of the array; and automatically selecting the control law on the basis of the determined value of the variable.

18 . The method as claimed in claim 17 , further comprising:
for each permanent magnet of a utensil, determining six variables encoding its position and its orientation in the three-dimensional coordinate system and amplitude of its magnetic moment, on the basis of the measurements of magnetometers of the array; then using a first number of the six variables of which the values have been determined for the same permanent magnet to establish the state of the utensil including the permanent magnet and use of a second number of the six variables, different from the first number, to select the control law to be associated with the utensil.

19 . The method as claimed in claim 18 , wherein the state of the utensil is established only on the basis of the values of the variables encoding the inclination of the utensil with respect to at least one axis of the three-dimensional coordinate system.

20 . The method as claimed in claim 17 , wherein the determining includes determining, for each permanent magnet of a utensil, a value of at least one variable encoding its position in the three-dimensional coordinate system, and the automatically selecting includes comparison of the determined value of the variable encoding the position with a predefined zone of which limits are defined with respect to the magnetometer array to select the control law to be associated with the utensil equipped with the permanent magnet depending on the location of the utensil with respect to the magnetometer array.

21 . The method as claimed in claim 17 , wherein the determining includes determining, for each permanent magnet, a value of at least one variable encoding its position or its orientation in the three-dimensional coordinate system, and the automatically selecting includes determination of the relative position or orientation of a permanent magnet with which the utensil is equipped with respect to the position or the orientation of another permanent magnet mechanically independent of the utensil on the basis of the values of the variables determined during the determining and the selection of the control law to be associated with the utensil on the basis of this determined relative position or orientation.

22 . The method as claimed in claim 17 , wherein th

Assignees

• Commissariat à l'énergie atomique et aux énergies alternatives

Inventors

• Hautson Tristan
• Aloui Rebeb

Classifications

• G06F3/046

  by electromagnetic means · CPC title

• G06F3/03545

  Pens or stylus · CPC title

• G06F3/017 Primary

  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