Time-of-flight head movement measurement for wearable device
The present disclosure is directed to a system and method of determining a movement of a user's head with a ranging sensor. The ranging sensor transmits a ranging signal that is reflected off of a user's shoulder and received back at the ranging sensor. The received ranging signal can be used to determine distance between the user's head and the user's shoulder or to determine the reflectivity of the user's shoulder. With the distance or the reflectivity, a processor can be used to determine movement of the user's head. Furthermore, a multiple zone ranging sensor or multiple ranging sensors can be used to detect the user's shoulder in different spatial zones.
1. A system, comprising:
a supporting structure having a shape corresponding to a head of a user;
a first distance detection sensor coupled to the supporting structure; and
a processor electrically coupled to the first distance detection sensor and configured to:
receive a first measurement obtained by the first distance detection sensor at a first time, the first measurement being a measurement of a distance between the first distance detection sensor and a first portion of a body of the user at the first time;
receive a second measurement obtained by the first distance detection sensor at a second time, the second measurement being a measurement of a distance between the first distance detection sensor and the first portion of the body of the user at the second time; and
determine a position of the head based at least in part on the first measurement and the second measurement.
2. The system of claim 1 , wherein the first portion of the body is a shoulder of the user.
3. The system of claim 1 wherein the first distance detection sensor is a multiple zone time of flight ranging sensor configured to detect a plurality of distances for different spatial zones.
4. The system of claim 1 , further comprising a second distance detection sensor coupled to the supporting structure.
5. The system of claim 4 , wherein the processor is electrically coupled to the second distance detection sensor, and the processor is configured to determine the position of the head based on a third measurement by the second distance detection sensor.
6. The system of claim 5 wherein the first portion of the body is a first shoulder of the user, the third measurement is a measurement of a distance between the second distance detection sensor and a second shoulder of the user, and the processor is configured to:
receive the third measurement detected by the second distance detection sensor.
7. The system of claim 1 wherein the first distance detection sensor is configured to detect a first reflectivity of a first ranging signal.
8. The system of claim 7 , further comprising:
a second distance detection sensor coupled to the supporting structure and configured to detect a second reflectivity of a second ranging signal, wherein the processor is configured to determine the position of the head based at least in part on the first reflectivity and the second reflectivity.
9. The system of claim 1 , further comprising a display screen coupled to the supporting structure.
10. The system of claim 1 , wherein the first measurement and the second measurement each include an array of reflectivity values for different spatial zones.
11. A method, comprising:
receiving, by a processor, a first measurement obtained by a first distance detection sensor at a first time, the processor being electrically coupled to the first distance detection sensor, the first distance detection sensor being coupled to a supporting structure having a shape corresponding to a head of a user, the first measurement being a measurement of a distance between the first distance detection sensor and a first portion of a body of the user at the first time;
receiving, by the processor, a second measurement obtained by the first distance detection sensor at a second time, the second measurement being a measurement of a distance between the first distance detection sensor and the first portion of the body of the user at the second time; and
determining, by the processor, a position of the head of the user based at least in part on the first measurement and the second measurement.
12. The method of claim 11 wherein and first portion of the body is a first shoulder of the user.
13. The method of claim 12 , comprising:
receiving, by the processor, a third measurement obtained by a second distance detection sensor, the third measurement being a measurement of a distance between the second distance detection sensor and a second shoulder of the user,
determining, by the processor, the position of the head of the user based at least in part on the third measurement.
14. The method of claim 11 wherein the first ranging sensor is a time-of-flight ranging sensor.
15. A system, comprising:
a supporting structure having a shape corresponding to a head of a user;
a first distance detection sensor coupled to the supporting structure;
a second distance detection sensor coupled to the supporting structure; and
a processor electrically coupled to the first distance detection sensor and the second distance detection sensor, the processor configured to:
receive a first measurement obtained by the first distance detection sensor, the first measurement being a measurement of a distance between the first distance detection sensor and a first portion of a body of the user;
receive the second measurement obtained by the second distance detection sensor, the second measurement being a measurement of a distance between the second distance detection sensor and a second portion of the body of the user, the second portion being different from the first portion; and
determine a position of the head based at least in part on the first measurement and the second measurement.
16. The system of claim 15 wherein
the first distance detection sensor is positioned on a first side of the supporting structure, and
the second distance detection sensor is positioned on a second side, opposite to the first side, of the supporting structure.
17. The system of claim 15 wherein the first portion is a first shoulder of the user, and the second portion is a second shoulder of the user.
18. The system of claim 15 wherein
the processor is configured to receive a third measurement obtained by the first distance detection sensor,
the third measurement is a measurement of a distance between the first distance detection sensor and the first portion of the body of the user, and
the processor is configured to determine another position of the head based at least in part on the first measurement and the third measurement.