IP Library › Granted Patent US 12,289,559
Granted Patent B2
US 12,289,559 · App. 17/590,036 · Granted Apr 29, 2025

Gesture tracking system

Inventors: Sai Harsha Jandhyala (Santa Clara, CA); Raffi A. Bedikian (Mountain View, CA)
Assignee: Apple Inc.
H04N5/33G06T7/246G06T7/73G06T7/90G06V10/143G06V10/20G06V10/70G06V10/803G06V40/20G06V40/28G06T2207/10024G06T2207/20081G06T2207/30196
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Quick Facts
Patent No.
US 12,289,559
App. No.
17/590,036
Granted
Apr 29, 2025
Kind
B2
Abstract

Various implementations disclosed herein include devices, systems, and methods that identify a gesture based on event camera data and frame-based camera data (e.g., for a CGR environment). In some implementations at an electronic device having a processor, event camera data is obtained corresponding to light (e.g., IR light) reflected from a physical environment and received at an event camera. In some implementations, frame-based camera data is obtained corresponding to light (e.g., visible light) reflected from the physical environment and received at a frame-based camera. In some implementations, a subset of the event camera data is identified based on the frame-based camera data, and a gesture (e.g., of a person in the physical environment) is identified based on the subset of event camera data. In some implementations, a path (e.g., of a hand) by tracking a grouping of blocks of event camera events in the subset of event camera data.

Claims (25)

1. A method of gesture recognition, the method comprising:

at an electronic device having a processor;

obtaining event camera data corresponding to light reflected from a physical environment and received at an event camera, the event camera data produced based on changes in light intensity detected at pixel sensors of the event camera;

obtaining frame-based camera data corresponding to light reflected from the physical environment and received at a frame-based camera;

identifying a subset of the event camera data based on identifying that the event camera data of the subset corresponds to a portion of a person based on the frame-based camera data; and

identifying a gesture based on the subset of event camera data.

2. The method of claim 1 , wherein the event camera uses a first light wavelength band and the frame-based camera uses a different second light wavelength range.

3. The method of claim 1 , further comprising illuminating the physical environment with an infrared (IR) light source, wherein the event camera uses reflected IR light and the frame-based camera uses reflected visible light.

4. The method of claim 3 , wherein the IR light source is variable in size, intensity, or steerable.

5. The method of claim 1 , wherein the event camera uses reflected IR light within an intensity range.

6. The method of claim 1 , wherein identifying the subset of the event camera data comprises excluding event camera data corresponding to a background portion of the physical environment.

7. The method of claim 1 , wherein identifying the subset of the event camera data comprises color analysis of the frame-based camera data.

8. The method of claim 1 , wherein identifying the subset of the event camera data comprises temporally and spatially correlating a field of view of the event camera with a field of view of the frame-based camera.

9. The method of claim 1 , wherein the electronic device comprises the event camera or wherein a second electronic device comprises the event camera, the second electronic device separate from the electronic device.

10. The method of claim 1 , wherein the event camera data corresponds to pixel events triggered based on changes in light intensity at pixel sensors exceeding a comparator threshold or wherein the event camera data excludes data corresponding to visible light (VL) intensity changes.

11. The method of claim 1 , wherein the gesture comprises a hand movement.

12. The method of claim 1 , wherein identifying the gesture comprises evaluating the event camera data using a machine learning algorithm.

13. The method of claim 1 , wherein identifying the gesture comprises identifying a path of one or more hands of a person in the physical environment.

14. A system comprising:

a non-transitory computer-readable storage medium; and

one or more processors coupled to the non-transitory computer-readable storage medium, wherein the non-transitory computer-readable storage medium comprises program instructions that, when executed on the one or more processors, cause the system to perform operations comprising:

obtaining event camera data corresponding to light reflected from a physical environment and received at an event camera, the event camera data produced based on changes in light intensity detected at pixel sensors of the event camera;

obtaining frame-based camera data corresponding to light reflected from the physical environment and received at a frame-based camera;

identifying a subset of the event camera data based on identifying that the event camera data of the subset corresponds to a portion of a person based on the frame-based camera data; and

identifying a gesture based on the subset of event camera data.

Continuity (3)
Continuation PCTUS2020048863 · Sep 1, 2020
Provisional Application 62898119 · Sep 10, 2019
Related Publication 20220157083A1 · May 19, 2022
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