IP Library Granted Patent US 9,395,821
Granted Patent B2
US 9,395,821 · App. 14/405,731 · Granted Jul 19, 2016

Systems and techniques for user interface control

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Quick Facts
Patent No.
US 9,395,821
App. No.
14/405,731
Granted
Jul 19, 2016
Kind
B2
Abstract

Embodiments of systems and techniques for user interface (UI) control are disclosed herein. In some embodiments, a UI control system may determine locations of landmarks on a body of a user of a computing system, determine a pointer based at least in part on the landmark locations, and identify a UI element of an UI of the computing system based at least in part on the pointer. Other embodiments may be described and/or claimed.

Claims (54)

1. A user interface, UI, control system, comprising:

one or more computer processors;

an image capture device operated by the one or more computer processors to receive images of a portion of a body of a user of a computing system;

a user interface (UI) control module to be operated by the one or more computer processors to implement:

landmark logic to determine locations of a plurality of landmarks associated with the portion of the body of the user of the computing system;

pointer logic, coupled with the landmark logic, to determine a pointer based at least in part on the plurality of landmark locations;

identification logic, coupled with the pointer logic, to identify a UI element from a plurality of UI elements of a UI of the computing system, based at least in part on the pointer by:

identification of a plurality of areas in the UI corresponding to respective ones of the plurality of UI elements; and

identification of an amount of overlap between the area corresponding to the UI element and the pointer, wherein the amount of overlap is based upon a weighted sum of a number of landmarks included in the pointer that overlaps with the UI element; and

display logic, coupled with the pointer logic, to provide a visual indicator of the identified UI element in a display of the computing system.

2. The UI control system of claim 1 , wherein the image capture device includes a depth camera.

3. The UI control system of claim 1 , wherein the portion of the user's body comprises the user's hand.

4. The UI control system of claim 1 , wherein a weight of the weighted sum is based on a distance between a location of the landmark and a reference location on the portion of the user's body.

5. The UI control system of claim 1 , wherein the pointer comprises an area in the UI, and the area is based on a distance between a location of a landmark and a reference location on the portion of the user's body.

6. The UI control system of claim 1 , further comprising:

selection logic, coupled with the identification logic, to select the UI element, subsequent to identification of the UI element, based at least in part on gesture data indicative of a gesture of the user.

7. The UI control system of claim 6 , further comprising display logic, coupled to the pointer logic, wherein:

the gesture data indicative of the gesture of the user includes first gesture data indicative of a hover over the UI element for a predetermined period of time;

the display logic is to display a confirmation UI element based on the first gesture data;

the gesture data indicative of a user gesture includes second gesture data indicative of a selection of the confirmation UI element subsequent to display of the confirmation UI element; and

the selection logic is to select the UI element based on the second gesture data.

8. A wearable computing device, comprising:

one or more computer processors;

a camera operated by the one or more computer processors to receive images of a portion of a body of a user of a computing system; and

a UI control module to be operated by the one or more computer processors to implement:

landmark logic to determine a location of a landmark associated with the portion of the body of the user of the computing system;

pointer logic, coupled with the landmark logic, to determine a pointer based at least in part on a relative position of the landmark location with respect to a virtual interaction region; and

identification logic, coupled with the pointer logic, to identify a UI element from a plurality of UI elements of a UI of the computing system, based at least in part on the pointer by:

identification of a plurality of areas in the UI corresponding to respective ones of the plurality of UI elements; and

identification of an amount of overlap between the area corresponding to the UI element and the pointer, wherein the amount of overlap is based upon a weighted sum of a number of landmarks included in the pointer that overlaps with the UI element.

9. The wearable computing device of claim 8 , wherein the visual indicator is indicative of a distance between the landmark location and the virtual interaction region, and wherein the visual indicator changes as the distance changes.

10. The wearable computing device of claim 9 , wherein the visual indicator has a size that increases as the distance increases.

11. The wearable computing device of claim 8 , wherein:

the landmark logic is to determine a location of a landmark through determination of a location of a first landmark proximate to a tip of an index finger of the user's hand and determine a location of a second landmark between the first landmark and a base joint of the index finger of the user's hand;

the pointer logic is to determine the pointer based on a relative position of the location of the first landmark with respect to the virtual interaction region when the first landmark is positioned on a first side of the virtual interaction region; and

the pointer logic is to determine the pointer based on a relative position of the location of the second landmark with respect to the virtual interaction region when the first landmark is positioned on a second side of the virtual interaction region different from the first side.

12. One or more non-transitory computer readable media comprising computer readable instructions which, when executed by one or more processing devices of a computing system, cause the computing system to operate a user interface (UI) control module to:

receive data from one or more image capture devices of the computing system;

use the received data to determine locations of a plurality of landmarks associated with a portion of a body of a user of the computing system;

determine a pointer based at least in part on the plurality of landmark locations;

identify a UI element from a plurality of UI elements of a UI of the computing system, based at least in part on the pointer by:

identification of a plurality of areas in the UI corresponding to respective ones of the plurality of UI elements; and

identification of an amount of overlap between the area corresponding to the UI element and the pointer, wherein the amount of overlap is based upon a weighted sum of a number of landmarks included in the pointer that overlaps with the UI element; and

provide a visual indicator of the pointer in a display of the computing system.

13. The one or more non-transitory computer readable media of claim 12 , wherein the one or more image capture devices includes a depth camera.

14. The one or more non-transitory computer readable media of claim 12 , further comprising computer readable instructions which, when executed by the one or more processing devices of the computing system, cause the computing system to:

increase the size of the UI element in a display of the computing system, in response to identification of the UI element.

15. The one or more non-transitory computer readable media of claim 12 , further comprising computer readable instructions which, when executed by the one or more processing devices of the computing system, cause the computing system to:

select the UI element, subsequent to identification of the UI element, based at least in part on gesture data indicative of a gesture of the user.

16. The one or more non-transitory computer readable media of claim 15 , wherein the gesture data indicative of the gesture of the user includes first gesture data indicative of a hover over the UI element for a predetermined period of time, and further comprising computer readable instructions which, when executed by the one or more processing devices of the computing system, cause the computing system to:

display a confirmation UI element based on the first gesture data;

receive second gesture data indicative of a selection of the confirmation UI element subsequent to display of the confirmation UI element; and

select the UI element based on the second gesture data.

17. The one or more non-transitory computer readable media of claim 12 , wherein a weight of the weighted sum is based on a distance between a location of the landmark and a reference location on the portion of the user's body.

Assignments (1)
ASSIGNMENT OF ASSIGNOR'S INTEREST Recorded Aug 15, 2022
From: INTEL CORPORATION
To: TAHOE RESEARCH, LTD.
Reel/Frame 061175/0176 →