Proximity based gesturing devices, systems and methods
View Patent ↗A device includes sensor substantially coplanar with one another in a sensor plane, each sensor generating a sense value that varies according to a physical distance between the sensor and an object without physically contacting the object. The device also includes control circuits configured to generate a first position value, a second position value, and a third value using the sense values. The first position value and the second position values identify a two-dimensional position of the object in the sensor plane and the third value varies in response to movement of the object in a Z-direction substantially perpendicular to the sensor plane. The control circuits include a programmable integrated circuit including an analog portion and a digital portion.
1. A device comprising:
a plurality of sensors substantially coplanar with one another in a sensor plane, each sensor generating a sense value, which varies according to a physical distance between that sensor and an object, without physically contacting the object; and
control circuits configured to generate a first position value, a second position value, and a third value using the sense values, the first position value and second position value identifying a two-dimensional position of the object in the sensor plane and the third value varies in response to movement of the object in an axis substantially perpendicular to the sensor plane, wherein the control circuits comprise a programmable integrated circuit comprising:
an analog portion configured to acquire the sense value at each sensor and convert the sense value to a numerical sensor count value; and
a digital portion comprising arithmetic logic circuits configured to calculate the first, second, and third values from the numerical sensor count values.
2. The device of claim 1 , wherein the plurality of sensors comprise capacitive sensors, and the physical distance between each capacitive sensor and the object varies a capacitance of each capacitive sensor by capacitive coupling.
3. The device of claim 1 , further comprising at least one stimulus circuit configured to generate a signal configured to interact with the object and is to be detected by the plurality of sensors.
4. The device of claim 3 , wherein the at least one stimulus circuit and plurality of sensors are included in a system, wherein the system comprises at least one of:
an acoustic system comprising a stimulus circuit configured to generate a sound signal and acoustic transducers configured to detect the sound signal reflecting off the object,
ultrasonic systems comprising a stimulus circuit configured to generate a ultrasonic signal and acoustic transducers configured to detect the ultrasonic signal reflecting off the object, or
light detection systems comprising a stimulus circuit configured to generate light and light detectors configured to detect the light reflecting off the object.
5. The device of claim 1 , wherein the third value is a third position value, and wherein the first position value, second position value and third position value identify a three-dimensional position of the object in a space adjacent to the sensor plane.
6. The device of claim 1 , wherein the analog portion comprises inputs connected to each sensor configured to be selectively connected to a common sense node by input switches, an analog-to-digital conversion circuit configured to convert the sense value at the common sense node into a digital value, and the digital portion comprises a processor configured to execute instructions stored in an instruction memory.
7. The device of claim 1 , wherein the plurality of sensors comprises:
a first sensor and a second sensor aligned along a first axis, and
a third sensor and a fourth sensor aligned along a second axis different than the first axis, and wherein the control circuits are configured to generate the first position value using the sense values of the first and second sensors, generate the second position value using the sense values of the third and fourth sensors, and generate the third value using the sense values of the first, second, third and fourth sensors.
8. The device of claim 1 , wherein the plurality of sensors comprise at least a first sensor, a second sensor, and a third sensor, and wherein the control circuits are configured to generate the first position value, second position value and third value with trilateration using the sense values of the first, second, and third sensors.
9. The device of claim 1 , wherein the device comprises a device surface substantially coplanar with the sensor plane, and the plurality of sensors are positioned on a periphery of the device surface.
10. The device of claim 1 , wherein the device comprises a device surface substantially coplanar with the sensor plane, and the sensor plane comprises a touch surface of a touchscreen.
11. The device of claim 1 , further comprising communication circuits configured to output the first position value, second position value, and third value in a predetermined format to a host device, wherein the host comprises an electronic device comprising a user interface coupled to the control circuits.
12. The device of claim 1 , wherein the device is a portable computing device, wherein the portable computing device is at least one of a tablet computer or a mobile phone.
13. A method comprising:
acquiring, by an analog portion of a programmable integrated circuit, sensor data from sensors aligned in a sensor plane;
detecting, by a digital portion of the programmable integrated circuit, a presence of an object, in a detection space extending from the sensor plane, without contact between the object and the sensor plane;
detecting, by the digital portion, differences between a plurality of object positions in a dimension extending from the sensor plane using the sensor data; and
detecting, by the digital portion, object position in another plane that is substantially parallel with the sensor plane using the sensor data, wherein the sensors comprise a first sensor and a second sensor aligned along a first axis, and a third sensor and a fourth sensor aligned along a second axis different than the first axis, and the detecting the object position in the other plane comprises generating a first position value from sensor data from the first and second sensors, and generating a second position value from sensor data from the third and fourth sensors.
14. The method of claim 13 , wherein the detecting differences between the plurality of object positions in the dimension extending from the sensor plane comprises an arithmetic operation with sensor data from the sensors, and the detecting the object position in the other plane that is substantially parallel with the sensor plane comprises deriving two position values, each position value being generated with sensor data from less than all of the sensors.
15. The method of claim 13 , wherein the sensors comprise a first sensor, a second sensor and a third sensor, and wherein the detecting the differences between the object positions in the dimension extending from the sensor plane comprises a trilateration operation with values generated in response to the sensor data.
16. The method of claim 13 , wherein the acquiring sensor data from sensors comprises sequentially generating a count value for each sensor, each count value corresponding to a charge rate of the sensor due to a capacitance of the sensor.
17. A device, comprising:
a first sensor configured to generate first proximity data for an object in a detection space adjacent to a device body;
a second sensor configured to generate second proximity data for the object in the detection space;
a third sensor configured to generate third proximity data for the object in the detection space;
a fourth sensor configured to generate fourth proximity data for the object in the detection space; and
processing circuits configured to determine a two-dimensional position of the object in a first plane of the detection space using at least two of the first proximity data, the second proximity data, the third proximity data, or the fourth proximity data and to determine movement of the object in a first direction substantially perpendicular to the first plane using at least two of the first proximity data, the second proximity data, the third proximity data, or the fourth proximity data, wherein the first sensor is configured to sense a different physical quality to generate the first proximity data than the second sensor senses to generate the second proximity data.
18. The device of claim 17 , wherein the first sensor is configured to sense a different physical quality to generate the first proximity data than the second sensor senses to generate the second proximity data, wherein the third sensor is configured to sense a different physical quality to generate the third proximity data than the fourth sensor senses to generate the fourth proximity data.
19. The device of claim 17 , wherein the first sensor comprises first one or more capacitance sensors, the second sensor comprises a first image sensor, the third sensor comprises second one or more capacitance sensor, and the fourth sensor comprises a second image sensor, and wherein the processing circuits comprise image processing circuits.
20. The device of claim 17 , wherein the device is a portable computing device. wherein the portable computing device is at least one of a tablet computer or a mobile phone.