Gesture-based remote control

A remote control based on user's gesture includes an infrared emission unit, a storage unit, a gesture sensing unit, a processing unit and a code chip. The gesture sensing unit is configured to capture images and identify hand gestures in the images and output the gesture signals corresponding to the hand gestures to the processing unit; The storage unit stores a first relationship table of gesture signals and associated function instructions. The storage unit also stores a second relationship table of the function instructions and associated infrared remote control codes. The processing unit parses the gesture signal into the corresponding function instruction according to the first relationship table, and then outputs the function instruction to the encode chip, the encode chip chooses an infrared remote control code according to the function instruction and the second relationship table and drives the infrared emission unit to emit infrared rays carrying the infrared remote control code to the device.

BACKGROUND

1. Technical Field

The present disclosure relates to remote controls and, particularly, to a gesture-based remote control.

2. Description of Related Art

A remote control generally has a number of keys for activating a number of relevant functions of devices. Such a remote control function greatly contributes to user convenience. However, sometimes users just want to activate some general functions of the device but still need to find out the remote control, sometimes users involved in housework want to operate the device but worry about dirtying the remote control.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION

Referring toFIGS. 1-2, a gesture-based remote control100is used to remotely control functions of a device that it has been paired with. The device can be a television, air conditioner, computer etc. To facilitate the description, in this embodiment, the device is a television.

The gesture-based remote control100includes a power switch10, a gesture sensing unit20, a storage unit30, a processing unit40, an encoding chip50, an infrared emission unit60, and a display unit70.

The power switch10is connected to the processing unit40and used for outputting a switching signal to the processing unit40to activate or deactivate the gesture-based remote control100.

The gesture sensing unit20is configured to sense and identify hand gestures and output the gesture signals corresponding to the hand gestures to the processing unit40. In this embodiment, the gesture sensing unit20includes a camera module21and a gesture recognition module22. The camera module21is configured to continually capture images while activated. The remote control100would typically be placed or mounted having a line of sight view of both the television and viewing area where a user would be when viewing the television. The gesture recognition module22looks for and identifies any hand gestures in the captured images, and accordingly outputs gesture signals to the processing unit40. For example, in this embodiment, if a user points down with one finger in view of the camera module21, successive images captured of the user during the gesture by the camera module21are examined by the gesture recognition module22. Upon recognizing the hand gesture the gesture recognition module22outputs a corresponding signal to the processing unit40, in this case a signal that will cause the volume of the television to be turned down by a determined amount. It should be noted that any known object recognition algorithms may be used that can examine images for hand gestures.

The storage unit30stores a first relationship table of gesture signals and associated function instructions. For example, in this embodiment, the finger pointing down signal corresponds to a volume-down instruction. The storage unit30also stores a second relationship table of the function instructions and associated infrared remote control codes. Each function instruction corresponds to a function of the television.

The processing unit40parses the gesture signal into the corresponding function instruction according to the first relationship table, and then outputs the function instruction to the encoding chip50. In this embodiment, the processing unit40parses the finger pointing down gesture into the volume-down instruction.

The encode chip50chooses an infrared remote control code according to the volume-down instruction and the second relationship table. Then the encode chip50drives the infrared emission unit60to emit infrared rays carrying the infrared remote control code to the television.

The processing unit40is also used to drive the display unit70to display a user guide80. The user guide80may indicate with illustration hand gestures and associated function instructions. In this embodiment, an illustration hand gesture82and its associated function instruction81are presented, the function instruction81is “volume-down”, and the corresponding illustration hand gesture82is an image of a finger pointing down. The illustration hand gesture82and the associated function instruction81may be highlighted or caused to blink, as well as the finger pointing down gesture parsed and associated function “volume-down” being activated.

The function instructions may also include a lock and unlock instructions used to deactivate the camera module21for preventing accidental gesture input. The user guide71may also include an error message illustration83for when there is a problem in processing such as when a user makes a gesture that cannot be matched up with a function instruction in the first table.