System and method for gesture control

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-9921739-B2
Application number	US-201514596120-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Jan 13, 2015
Priority date	Mar 3, 2014
Publication date	Mar 20, 2018
Grant date	Mar 20, 2018

Abstract

A system with a processing system, an input device integrated within the processing system and coupled with the processing system, and a sensor arrangement integrated with the processing system and configured to monitor an area above the input device, and a controller coupled with the sensor arrangement to detect predefined input actions, wherein the controller is coupled with the processing system and wherein the predefined input actions are combined with inputs from the input device.

First claim

What is claimed is:

1. A system comprising:
a processing system;
an input device integrated within the processing system and coupled with the processing system; and
a sensor arrangement integrated with the processing system and configured to monitor an area above said input device for detection of non-touching gestures, and a controller coupled with the sensor arrangement to detect said non-touching gestures, wherein the controller is coupled with the processing system and wherein the controller is further configured to detect predefined non-touching input actions and forward associated commands to the processing system;
wherein:
the predefined non-touching input actions include a sequence of multiple, identical non-touching gestures performed in succession; and
the controller is configured to detect the sequence of multiple, identical non-touching input gestures performed in succession and to forward an associated command to the processing system;
wherein the sensor arrangement is configured to detect a double movement of a hand from a keyboard towards the input device and, based upon the detection, the controller is configured to identify the movement as a gesture to close an application.

2. The system according to claim 1 , wherein the sensor arrangement is an electrode arrangement comprising a plurality of electrodes arranged such that the electrodes surround the input device.

3. The system according to claim 2 , wherein the electrode arrangement is configured to detect a gesture performed in a 3D space above the electrode arrangement, wherein the electrode arrangement comprises a transmission electrode for generating a quasi-static electric field and a plurality of reception electrodes arranged around said input device.

4. The system according to claim 3 , wherein the reception electrodes around said input device can be configured to operate as non-touching gesture detection sensors in a first operating mode and as touch sensors in a second operating mode.

5. The system according to claim 4 , wherein the operating modes are time-multiplexed.

6. The system according to claim 2 , wherein the electrode arrangement comprises a plurality of electrode sensors around said input device that can be configured to operate as touch sensors arranged.

7. The system according to claim 2 , wherein a touch detection on one of said electrodes combined with an input on said input device performs a predefined function of the processing system.

8. The system according to claim 2 , wherein the input device is a touchpad and the input action is a touch detection on an electrode of said electrode arrangement and the input from said input device is a touch movement performed on said touch pad.

9. The system according to claim 8 , wherein the electrode arrangement comprises a plurality of electrodes and a touched electrode defines the predefined function which is selected from the group consisting of horizontal scrolling, vertical scrolling, and zooming.

10. The system according to claim 1 , wherein the sensor arrangement comprises infra-red sensors.

11. The system according to claim 1 , wherein the sensor arrangement comprises ultrasound sensors.

12. The system according to claim 1 , wherein the input device is a touch sensor comprising a matrix of capacitive sensor elements, wherein in one operating mode the matrix of capacitive sensor elements operate as a touch sensor and wherein in a second operating mode predefined sets of sensor elements can be combined to form individual elongated sensor elements, wherein in the second operating mode, the individual elongated sensor elements of the input device form the sensor arrangement to monitor the area above the input device.

13. The system according to claim 1 , wherein the predefined non-touching input actions are used to block or unblock said input device based on a detection of predefined non-touching adjacent to said input device.

14. The system according to claim 1 , wherein the predefined non-touching are used to perform predefined functions of the processing system.

15. The system according to claim 1 , wherein the identical predefined non-touching gestures are moving a hand vertically across the input device twice.

16. The system according to claim 1 , wherein a first predefined function is a copy function and a second predefined function is a paste function.

17. The system according to claim 1 , wherein:
the sensor arrangement is an electrode arrangement comprising a plurality of electrodes arranged such that the electrodes surround the input device;
the electrode arrangement is configured to detect a gesture performed in a 3D space above the electrode arrangement; and
the electrode arrangement comprises a transmission electrode formed on a first side of a substrate of the sensor arrangement and a reception electrode formed on an opposite, second side of the substrate of the sensor arrangement.

18. The system according to claim 1 , wherein the sensor arrangement is configured to detect a proximity of a hand of a user on an outside of the input device and, based upon the detection, the controller is configured to block input to the input device.

19. The system according to claim 1 , wherein the sensor arrangement is configured to detect a proximity of a hand of a user on an outside of the input device and, based upon the detection, the controller is configured to block input to another input device.

20. The system according to claim 1 , wherein the sensor arrangement is configured to detect a proximity of a hand of a user while the system is in a standby mode and, based upon the detection, the controller is configured to activate a backlight of a keyboard.

21. The system according to claim 1 , wherein:
the sensor arrangement includes an electrode arrangement comprising a plurality of electrodes arranged such that the electrodes surround the input device;
the sensor arrangement includes is configured to detect a simultaneous touch of the input device and proximity to portions of the electrodes surrounding the input device; and
the controller is configured to, based upon the detection of a simultaneous touch of the input device and proximity to portions of the electrodes surrounding the input device, identify a gesture for scrolling.

22. The system according to claim 1 , wherein:
the sensor arrangement is configured to detect two consecutive movements towards the input device and to detect two consecutive movements away from the input device; and
the controller is configured to, based upon detection of the two consecutive movements away the input device, identify a gesture to copy data from an application executing on the system; and
the controller is further configured to, based upon detection of the two consecutive movements towards the input device, identify a gesture to paste the data copied from the application executing on the system.

23. The system according to claim 1 , wherein the sequence of multiple, identical non-touching gestures must be performed within a predetermined time period for detection.

24. A system comprising:
a processing system;
an input device integrated within the processing system and coupled with the processing system; and
a sensor arrangement integrated with the processing system and configured to monitor an area around said input device, and a controller coupled with the sensor arrangement to detect predefined non-touching input actions, wherein the contro

Assignees

• Microchip Tech Inc

Inventors

• Dorfner Andreas

Classifications

• G06F3/04815

  Interaction with a metaphor-based environment or interaction object displayed as three-dimensional [3D], e.g. changing the user viewpoint with respect to the environment or object · CPC title

• G06F3/011 Primary

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

• G06F2203/04101

  2.5D-digitiser, i.e. digitiser detecting the X/Y position of the input means, finger or stylus, also when it does not touch, but is proximate to the digitiser's interaction surface and also measures the distance of the input means within a short range in the Z direction, possibly with a separate measurement setup · CPC title

• G06F3/0488 Primary

  using a touch-screen or digitiser, e.g. input of commands through traced gestures · CPC title

• G06F2203/04808

  Several contacts: gestures triggering a specific function, e.g. scrolling, zooming, right-click, when the user establishes several contacts with the surface simultaneously; e.g. using several fingers or a combination of fingers and pen · CPC title