Motion detecting device, portable terminal device and motion detecting method

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-9684013-B2
Application number	US-201514665190-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Mar 23, 2015
Priority date	Mar 27, 2014
Publication date	Jun 20, 2017
Grant date	Jun 20, 2017

Abstract

A motion detecting device has: an input section to which acceleration signals, that express accelerations of respective axes of three axes of a three-dimensional orthogonal coordinate system, are respectively inputted; and a motion detecting section that sets each of plural axes, that include two different axes that are selected from among the three axes, as a designated axis in a predetermined order, and outputs a motion detection signal if it is judged that directions of motion, that are detected on the basis of the acceleration signals of the respective axes that were inputted to the input section, are directions of respective designated axes that have been set.

First claim

What is claimed is:

1. A motion detecting device comprising:
an input section to which acceleration signals, that express accelerations of respective axes of three axes of a three-dimensional orthogonal coordinate system, are respectively inputted; and
a motion detecting section configured to set each of plural axes, that include two different axes that are selected from among the three axes, as a plurality of designated axes in a predetermined order, and output a motion detection signal upon judgment that directions of motion, that are detected on a basis of the acceleration signals of the respective axes that were inputted to the input section, are directions of respective designated axes that have been set,
wherein upon detection that an acceleration signal of an axis has reached both a first threshold value that is set for a positive side and a second threshold value that is set for a negative side, the motion detecting section is configured to detect that motion in a direction of the axis has been carried out,
upon judgment that a direction of motion, that is detected on a basis of the acceleration signals of the respective axes that were inputted to the input section, is a direction of the designated axis that has been set, the motion detecting section is configured to generate designated axis detection information and store the designated axis detection information, and
upon judgment that a direction of motion, that is detected on a basis of the acceleration signals of the respective axes that were inputted to the input section, is a direction that differs from the direction of the plurality of designated axes that has been set, the motion detecting section is configured to delete the designated axis detection information, and return setting of the designated axis to an initial state.

2. The motion detecting device of claim 1 , wherein, when the motion detecting section detects motion in a direction of an axis other than the plurality of designated axes during a period from the acceleration signal of the designated axis exceeding either one of the first threshold value or the second threshold value to the acceleration signal of the designated axis exceeding another of the first threshold value or the second threshold value, the motion detecting section is configured to invalidate detection of the motion on the axis other than the plurality of designated axes.

3. The motion detecting device of claim 1 , wherein:
a proximity detection signal, that expresses that an object is close to the motion detecting device, is further inputted to the input section, and
upon detection, on a basis of the proximity detection signal, that an object is close to the motion detecting device, the motion detecting section is configured to not output the motion detection signal.

4. A portable terminal device comprising:
the motion detecting device of claim 1 ;
an acceleration sensor configured to input the respective acceleration signals to the input section; and
a control section configured to carry out a predetermined operation in accordance with the motion detection signal.

5. The portable terminal device of claim 4 , wherein, when the motion detecting section detects motion in a direction of an axis other than the plurality of designated axes during a period from the acceleration signal of the designated axis exceeding either one of the first threshold value or the second threshold value to the acceleration signal of the designated axis exceeding another of the first threshold value or the second threshold value, the motion detecting section is configured to invalidate detection of the motion on the axis other than the plurality of designated axes.

6. The portable terminal device of claim 4 , wherein:
a proximity detection signal, that expresses that an object is close to the motion detecting device, is further inputted to the input section, and
upon detection, on a basis of the proximity detection signal, that an object is close to the motion detecting device, the motion detecting section is configured to not output the motion detection signal.

7. A motion detecting method comprising:
setting each of plural axes, that are selected from among three axes of a three-dimensional orthogonal coordinate system, as a plurality of designated axes in a predetermined order; and
outputting a motion detection signal upon judgment that directions of motion, that are detected on the basis of received acceleration signals that express accelerations of the respective axes of the three axes, are directions of respective designated axes that have been set,
wherein upon detection that an acceleration signal of an axis has reached both a first threshold value that is set for a positive side and a second threshold value that is set for a negative side, detecting that motion in the direction of the axis has been carried out,
upon judgment that a direction of motion, that is detected on a basis of the received acceleration signals of the respective axes, is a direction of the designated axis that has been set, generating designated axis detection information and storing the designated axis detection information, and
upon judgment that a direction of motion, that is detected on a basis of the received acceleration signals of the respective axes, is a direction that differs from the direction of the plurality of designated axes that has been set, deleting the designated axis detection information, and returning setting of the designated axis to an initial state.

8. The motion detecting device of claim 1 , further comprising:
a storage section configured to store order information that indicates an order of setting of the plurality of designated axes,
wherein the motion detection section is configured to detect sequentially whether or not the acceleration signals of the respective designated axes exceed a threshold value in an order indicated in the order information.

Assignees

• Lapis Semiconductor Co Ltd

Inventors

• Sato Junpei

Classifications

• G01P13/00 Primary

  Indicating or recording presence, absence, or direction, of movement (electric switches H01H; counting moving objects G06M7/00) · 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

• G06F1/1626

  with a single-body enclosure integrating a flat display, e.g. Personal Digital Assistants [PDAs] · CPC title

• G06F2200/1637

  Sensing arrangement for detection of housing movement or orientation, e.g. for controlling scrolling or cursor movement on the display of an handheld computer · CPC title

• G06F3/011

  Arrangements for interaction with the human body, e.g. for user immersion in virtual reality (blind teaching G09B21/00) · CPC title