Recognition apparatus

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-9405373-B2
Application number	US-201313766877-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Feb 14, 2013
Priority date	May 30, 2012
Publication date	Aug 2, 2016
Grant date	Aug 2, 2016

Abstract

The acquiring unit is configured to acquire positions of a particular part of a user in time series. The calculator is configured to calculate a feature value of a motion of the particular part from the positions acquired in time series. The comparing unit configured to compare the feature value and a first threshold. The recognizing unit is configured to recognize the motion of the particular part using a first recognition method and a second recognition method which is different from the first recognition method. The control unit configured to control the recognizing unit to select the first recognition method for recognizing a position or a motion of the particular part when the feature value is smaller than the first threshold, and select the second recognition method when the feature value is equal to or larger than the first threshold.

First claim

What is claimed is:

1. A recognition apparatus comprising:
an acquiring unit configured to acquire positions of a particular part of a user in time series;
a calculator configured to calculate a feature value of a motion of the particular part from the positions acquired in time series;
a determination unit configured to determine a relation between the feature value and a first threshold, and determine the relation between the feature value and a second threshold that is smaller than the first threshold;
a control unit configured to control, when the feature value is equal to or larger than the second threshold and smaller than the first threshold, a display process of a screen of a display unit for informing that there is possibility of a recognition method for recognizing a position or a motion of the particular part being switched.

2. The apparatus according to claim 1 , wherein
the determination unit further determines the relation between the feature value and a third threshold that is larger than the first threshold, and
when the feature value is equal to or larger than the first threshold and smaller than the third threshold, the control unit selects a second recognition method that is different from a first recognition method, the first recognition method being selected when the feature value is smaller than the first threshold.

3. The apparatus according to claim 1 , wherein
the control unit increases or decreases at least one of a transparency, a brightness, a blinking speed, and a pop-up amount of an object to be displayed on the display unit according to the feature value to control the display process of the screen.

4. The apparatus according to claim 1 , wherein
the control unit controls the display process such that a proportion of shape change of an object to be displayed on the display unit according to a first recognition method that is selected when the feature value is smaller than the first threshold is 0 percent and a proportion of shape change of an object to be displayed on the display unit according to a second recognition method that is different from the first recognition method is 100 percent when the feature value is the first threshold, and controls the display process such that the proportion of shape change of the object according to the first recognition method is 100 percent and the proportion of shape change of the object according to the second recognition method is 0 percent when the feature value is the second threshold.

5. The apparatus according to claim 1 , further comprising:
a first recognizing unit configured to recognize a position or a motion of the particular part by a first recognition method that is selected when the feature value is smaller than the first threshold, from the positions acquired in time series by the acquiring unit; and
a second recognizing unit configured to recognize a position or a motion of the particular part by a second recognition method that is selected when the feature value is equal to or larger than the first threshold and that is different from the first recognition method, from the positions acquired in time series by the acquiring unit, wherein
the control unit controls the display process according to a result of recognition by the first recognizing unit when the first recognition method is selected and controls the display process according to a result of recognition by the second recognizing unit when the second recognition method is selected.

6. The apparatus according to claim 1 , further comprising:
a first recognizing unit configured to obtain the positions acquired by the acquiring unit in time series according to a result of determination by the determination unit and to recognize a position or a motion of the particular part by a first recognition method that is selected when the feature value is smaller than the first threshold, from the obtained positions; and
a second recognizing unit configured to obtain the positions acquired by the acquiring unit in time series according to a result of determination by the determination unit and to recognize a position or a motion of the particular part by a second recognition method that is selected when the feature value is equal to or larger than the first threshold and that is different from the first recognition method, from the obtained positions, wherein
either one of the recognitions by the first recognizing unit and the second recognizing unit is selectively performed, and
when the recognition by the first recognizing unit is performed, the control unit controls the display process according to the result of recognition by the first recognizing unit, while when the recognition by the second recognizing unit is performed, the control unit controls the display process according to the result of recognition by the second recognizing unit.

7. The apparatus according to claim 1 , wherein when a state in which the feature value is equal to or larger than the first threshold continues for a predetermined time or longer while a first recognition method is selected when the feature value is smaller than the first threshold, the control unit selects a second recognition method that is different from the first recognition method.

8. The apparatus according to claim 1 , wherein when a state in which the feature value is smaller than the first threshold continues for a predetermined time or longer while a second recognition method is selected when the feature value is equal to or larger than the first threshold, the control unit selects a first recognition method that is different from the second recognition method.

9. The apparatus according to claim 1 , wherein when the feature value is equal to or larger than a fourth threshold that is larger than the first threshold by a predetermined value while a first recognition method is selected when the feature value is smaller than the first threshold, the control unit selects a second recognition method that is different from the first recognition method.

10. The apparatus according to claim 1 , wherein when the feature value is smaller than a fifth threshold that is smaller than the first threshold by a predetermined value while a second recognition method is selected when the feature value is equal to or larger than the first threshold, the control unit selects a first recognition method that is different from the second recognition method.

11. The apparatus according to claim 1 , further comprising an identifying unit configured to identify a user who is a subject, wherein
the determination unit uses at least one of the first threshold increased or decreased by a value according to the identified user and the second threshold increased or decreased by a value according to the identified user to determine the relation with the feature value.

12. The apparatus according to claim 1 , further comprising a shape recognizing unit configured to recognize a shape of the particular part, wherein
the determination unit uses at least one of the first threshold increased or decreased by a value according to a degree of agreement between the recognized shape of the particular part and a predetermined shape and the second threshold increased or decreased by a value according to the degree of agreement to determine the relation with the feature value.

13. The apparatus according to claim 1 , wherein the calculator calculates at least one of a distance, a speed and an acceleration of motion of the particular part as the feature value.

14. The apparatus according to claim 13 , wherein
when the distance of the motion as the feature value being within a predetermined ran

Assignees

• Toshiba Kk

Inventors

• Nakasu Toshiaki
• Ike Tsukasa
• Ouchi Kazushige
• Okada Ryuzo

Classifications

• 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

• G06F3/0304

  Detection arrangements using opto-electronic means (constructional details of pointing devices not related to the detection arrangement using opto-electronic means G06F3/033; optical digitisers G06F3/042) · CPC title