Operating a device using touchless and touchscreen gestures

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-9405461-B2
Application number	US-201313937444-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Jul 9, 2013
Priority date	Jul 9, 2013
Publication date	Aug 2, 2016
Grant date	Aug 2, 2016

Abstract

A device operable using touch-less and touchscreen gestures and a method and system to operate the device are described. The device includes two or more ambient light sensors arranged at respective surface locations of the device and sensing light intensity at the respective surface locations. The device also includes a processor coupled to the two or more ambient light sensors to identify a touch-less gesture based on the light intensity sensed by the two or more ambient light sensors, receive a touchscreen gesture, and operate the device based on the touch-less gesture and the touchscreen gesture.

First claim

What is claimed is:

1. A device operable using touch-less and touchscreen gestures, the device comprising:
three or more ambient light sensors arranged at respective surface locations of the device and configured to sense light intensity at the respective surface locations; and
a processor coupled to the three or more ambient light sensors and configured to identify a touch-less gesture based on the light intensity sensed by the three or more ambient light sensors and a touchscreen gesture received at the device, and operate the device based on the touch-less gesture and the touchscreen gesture,
wherein the processor initiates identification of the touch-less gesture only when the touchscreen gesture is received within a first duration after detecting a threshold change in light intensity sensed by at least one of the ambient light sensors, the threshold change caused by movement of an object in proximity to the device,
wherein the processor detects the threshold change in light intensity when a difference between two consecutive light intensity measurements obtained by one of the ambient light sensors is in a range from approximately 7% to approximately 30%.

2. The device according to claim 1 , wherein the processor outputs one or more control signals based on the touch-less gesture and the touchscreen gesture to operate the device.

3. The device according to claim 2 , wherein the processor outputs two control signals, each respective control signal corresponding with the touch-less gesture and the touchscreen gesture.

4. The device according to claim 1 , wherein the processor generates a hybrid gesture as a combination of the touch-less gesture and the touchscreen gesture.

5. The device according to claim 4 , wherein the processor operates the device based on the hybrid gesture.

6. The device of claim 1 , wherein the three or more ambient light sensors are arranged at the respective surface locations in a triangular pattern such that one of the ambient light sensors is positioned along an axis perpendicular to at least two coaxially-positioned ambient light sensors,
wherein the processor specifies a threshold distance between two non-coaxial ambient light sensors that a touch-less object must travel in order to facilitate distinguishing between touch-less gestures, the threshold distance being based at least on an expected size of the touch-less object.

7. The device of claim 6 , wherein the threshold distance is in a range from approximately 2 centimeters (cm) to approximately 3.5 cm.

8. The device of claim 6 , the processor sets the threshold distance to approximately 2 centimeters (cm) when a user's finger is expected to be the touch-less object.

9. The device of claim 6 , wherein the processor sets the threshold distance to approximately 3.5 centimeters (cm) when an open hand of a user is expected to be the touch-less object.

10. The device according to claim 1 , wherein the processor dynamically adjusts the threshold change in light intensity based on expected noise and errors, the adjustment being such that a threshold percentage of change in detected light intensity is required before the processor interprets it as a true variation in ambient light, wherein the processor detects the threshold percentage of change in light intensity when a difference between two consecutive light intensity measurements obtained by one of the ambient light sensors is in a range from approximately 7% to approximately 13%.

11. The device according to claim 1 , wherein the processor dynamically adjusts the threshold change in light intensity based on expected noise and errors, the adjustment being such that a threshold percentage of change in detected light intensity is required before the processor interprets it as a true variation in ambient light, wherein the processor detects the threshold percentage of change in light intensity when a difference between two consecutive light intensity measurements obtained by one of the ambient light sensors is in a range from approximately 15% to approximately 25%.

12. The device according to claim 1 , wherein the processor dynamically adjusts the threshold change in light intensity based on expected noise and errors, the adjustment being such that a threshold percentage of change in detected light intensity is required before the processor interprets it as a true variation in ambient light, wherein the processor detects the threshold percentage of change in light intensity when a difference between two consecutive light intensity measurements obtained by one of the ambient light sensors is in a range from approximately 20% to approximately 30%.

13. A method of operating a device using touch-less and touchscreen gestures, the method comprising:
sensing, using three or more ambient light sensors arranged at respective surface locations of the device, light intensity at the respective surface locations;
identifying, using a processor, a touch-less gesture based on the light intensity sensed by the three or more ambient light sensors and a touchscreen gesture received at the device, wherein the processor only initiates identification of the touch-less gesture when the touchscreen gesture is received within a first duration after detecting a threshold change in light intensity sensed by at least one of the ambient light sensors, the threshold change caused by movement of an object in proximity to the device; and
operating the device based on the touch-less gesture and the touchscreen gesture,
wherein the processor detects the threshold change in light intensity when a difference between two consecutive light intensity measurements obtained by one of the ambient light sensors is in a range from approximately 7% to approximately 30%.

14. The method according to claim 13 , further comprising the processor outputting one or more control signals based on the touch-less gesture and the touchscreen gesture to operate the device.

15. The method according to claim 14 , wherein the outputting includes the processor outputting two control signals, each respective control signal corresponding with the touch-less gesture and the touchscreen gesture.

16. The method according to claim 13 , further comprising the processor generating a hybrid gesture as a combination of the touch-less gesture and the touchscreen gesture.

17. The method according to claim 16 , wherein the operating the device is based on the hybrid gesture.

18. The method of claim 13 , wherein the three or more ambient light sensors are arranged at the respective surface locations in a triangular pattern such that one of the ambient light sensors is positioned along an axis perpendicular to at least two coaxially-positioned ambient light sensors,
wherein the processor specifies a threshold distance between two non-coaxial ambient light sensors that a touch-less object must travel in order to facilitate distinguishing between touch-less gestures, the threshold distance being based at least on an expected size of the touch-less object.

19. The method of claim 18 , wherein the threshold distance is in a range from approximately 2 centimeters (cm) to approximately 3.5 cm.

20. A system to operate a device using touch-less and touchscreen gestures, the system comprising:
three or more ambient light sensors arranged at respective surface locations of the device and configured to sense light intensity at the respective surface locations;
a gesture library configured to store two or more gestures in correspondence with respective two or more control signa

Assignees

• Blackberry Ltd

Inventors

• Mankowski Peter
• Caci Joseph D
• Wu Xiaowei

Classifications

• G06F3/042

  by opto-electronic means · CPC title

• G06F3/04883

  for inputting data by handwriting, e.g. gesture or text · 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

• G06F2203/04106

  Multi-sensing digitiser, i.e. digitiser using at least two different sensing technologies simultaneously or alternatively, e.g. for detecting pen and finger, for saving power or for improving position detection · 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