Patent Publication Number: US-10331946-B2

Title: Gesture control device and method

Description:
CROSS-REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATIONS 
     This application claims priority to Taiwan Patent Application No. 105116690 filed on May 27, 2016. 
     FIELD 
     The subject matter herein generally relates to gesture control, and particularly to a gesture control device and method capable of determining an object to be controlled by gesture, among a plurality of electronic devices. 
     BACKGROUND 
     Electronic devices can be controlled by gestures. A gesture command usually controls one electronic device. However, a number of electronic devices may be close together, and it is difficult to determine which one of the electronic devices should be controlled by the gesture. 
    
    
     
       BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS 
       Implementations of the present technology will now be described, by way of example only, with reference to the attached figures. 
         FIG. 1  is a block diagram illustrating an exemplary embodiment of an operating environment of a device with gesture control system. 
         FIG. 2  is a block diagram illustrating an exemplary embodiment of a gesture control system running in the device of  FIG. 1 . 
         FIG. 3  is a schematic diagram illustrating an exemplary embodiment of a working process of the device of  FIG. 1 . 
         FIG. 4  is a flowchart illustrating an exemplary embodiment of a gesture control method. 
     
    
    
     DETAILED DESCRIPTION 
     It will be appreciated that for simplicity and clarity of illustration, where appropriate, reference numerals have been repeated among the different figures to indicate corresponding or analogous elements. In addition, numerous specific details are set forth in order to provide a thorough understanding of the embodiments described herein. However, it will be understood by those of ordinary skill in the art that the embodiments described herein can be practiced without these specific details. In other instances, methods, procedures, and components have not been described in detail so as not to obscure the related relevant feature being described. The drawings are not necessarily to scale and the proportions of certain parts may be exaggerated to better illustrate details and features. The description is not to be considered as limiting the scope of the embodiments described herein. 
     The term “comprising” means “including, but not necessarily limited to”, it specifically indicates open-ended inclusion or membership in a so-described combination, group, series, and the like. 
       FIG. 1  illustrate an exemplary embodiment of an operating environment of a gesture control device  100 . The gesture control device  100  can communicate with a number of electronic devices. The gesture control device  100  can determine which one of the electronic devices, including a device of which it is part, should be controlled by a gesture. In the exemplary embodiment, the electronic devices can be, but are not limited to, televisions, air conditioners, fridges, multimedia players, monitors, computers, and the like. The gesture control device  100  can communicate with the electronic devices wirelessly, for example by using WIFI, Global System for Mobile Communications (GSM), General Packet Radio Service (GPRS), Code Division Multiple Access (CDMAW-CDMA), CDMA2000, IMT Single Carrier, Enhanced Data Rates for GSM Evolution (EDGE), Long-Term Evolution, (LTE), Time-Division LTE, (TD-LTE), High Performance Radio Local Area Network, (HiperLAN), High Performance Radio Wide Area Network, (HiperWAN), Local Multipoint Distribution Service, (LMDS), Worldwide Interoperability for Microwave Access, (WiMAX), ZIGBEE, BLUETOOTH, Flash Orthogonal Frequency-Division Multiplexing, (Flash-OFDM), High Capacity Spatial Division Multiple Access, (HC-SDMA), Universal Mobile Telecommunications System, (UMTS), UMTS Time-Division Duplexing, (UMTS-TDD), Evolved High Speed Packet Access, (HSPA+), Time Division Synchronous Code Division Multiple Access, (TD-SCDMA), Evolution-Data Optimized, (EV-DO), Digital Enhanced Cordless Telecommunications, (DECT), or the like. The gesture control device  100  also can communicate with the electronic devices by wires. 
     In the exemplary embodiment, a first electronic device  200  and a second electronic device  300  are taken as examples to communicate with the gesture control device  100 . In the exemplary embodiment, the first electronic device  200  includes a first image capturing device  20 , the second electronic device  300  includes a second image capturing device  30 . The first image capturing device  20  is a depth camera configured to capture images of gestures in a first effective range R 1 , the second image capturing device  30  is a depth camera configured to capture gesture images in a second effective range R 2 . The first electronic device  200  and the second electronic device  300  execute functions according to gestures captured by the image capturing devices  20  and  30 . 
     In the exemplary embodiment, the gesture control device  100  can be, but is not limited to, a server, a communication device such as a Set Top Box, or an integrated chip or programming modules embedded in the first electronic device  200  or the second electronic device  300 . 
     Referring to  FIG. 2 , in the exemplary embodiment, the gesture control device  100  can include, but is not limited to, a storage device  11  and a processor  12 . The storage device  11  can be, but is not limited to, an internal storage system, such as a flash memory, a random access memory (RAM) for temporary storage of information, and/or a read-only memory (ROM) for permanent storage of information. The storage device  11  can also be a storage system, such as a hard disk, a storage card, or a data storage medium. The processor  12  can be, but is not limited to, a central processing unit, a digital signal processor, or a single chip, for example. 
     In the exemplary embodiment, the storage device  11  can store a gesture control system  10 . The gesture control system  10  can include a number of modules, which are collection of software instructions stored in the storage device  11  and executed by the processor  12 . In the exemplary embodiment, the gesture control system  10  can include an acquiring module  101 , an establishing module  102 , a calculating module  103 , and a determining module  104 . 
     The acquiring module  101  acquires an image of a gesture from each of the electronic devices (for example, the first image capturing device  20  and the second image capturing device  30 ), the gesture image can include a depth information as to objects in the images. In the exemplary embodiment, the gesture image can include a number of pictures, thus a movement track of a gesture can be determined according to the pictures. In the exemplary embodiment, the first image capturing device  20  and the second image capturing device  30  capture the gesture image when a gesture is detected in the effective area of the first image capturing device  20  and the second image capturing device  30 . 
     The establishing module  102  establishes a three dimensional coordinate system for each image captured by each of the electronic devices. The establishing module  102  further determines a coordinate of a central point of each of the electronic devices, and determines a coordinate of a start point of the gesture and a coordinate of an end point of the gesture. In the exemplary embodiment, plane coordinates of the gesture image are determined as an X axis and a Y axis of the coordinate system, and the depth information of the gesture image is determined as a Z axis of the coordinate system. In the exemplary embodiment, the coordinate of the center points of the first electronic device  200  and the second electronic device  300  are predetermined according to a position of the image capturing device  20  and  30 . For example, if the first electronic device  200  is a computer, and the image capturing device  20  is located in the middle of an upper edge of a screen of the first electronic device  200 , the coordinate of the center point of the first electronic device  200  will be predetermined as the coordinate of the center point of the screen of the first electronic device  200 . The start point of the gesture is a position of a hand when the gesture is started. The end point of the gesture is a position where the hand may be when the gesture is ended. In the exemplary embodiment, a gesture is determined as ended if the movement of the hand stops for a preset time, for example 2 seconds. 
     Referring to  FIG. 3 , for example, the first image capturing device  20  is located in the middle of the upper edge of the first electronic device  200 , the second image capturing device  30  is located in the middle of the upper edge of the second electronic device  300 . The first electronic device  200  includes a first center point O 1 , the second electronic device  300  includes a second center point O 2 . When a gesture appears in an effective area  400 , the first image capturing device  20  and the second image capturing device  30  capture images of the gesture. The gesture control device  100  establish a three dimensional coordinate system for each gesture image captured by the first image capturing device  20  and the second image capturing device  30 . In the exemplary embodiment, the establishing module  102  establish a first three dimensional coordinate system for the gesture image captured by the first image capturing device  20  and establish a second three dimensional coordinate system for the gesture image captured by the second image capturing device  30 . 
     The calculating module  103  calculates a vector from the start point of the gesture to the center point of each of the electronic device and calculates a vector from the end point of the gesture to the center point of each of the electronic device. For example, the calculating module  103  calculates a first vector O 1 A from the start point A of the gesture to the center point O 1  of the first electronic device  200 . The calculating module  103  also calculates a second vector O 2 A from the start point A of the gesture to the center point O 2  of the second electronic device  300 , as shown in  FIG. 3 . The calculating module  103  further calculates a third vector O 1 B from the end point B of the gesture to the center point O 1  of the first electronic device  200 , and calculates a fourth vector O 2 B from the end point B of the gesture to the center point O 2  of the second electronic device  300 , as shown in  FIG. 3 . 
     The calculating module  103  further calculates an angle between the vector from the start point of the gesture to the center point of each electronic device and the vector form the end point of the gesture to the center point of each electronic device. For example, the calculating module  103  calculates a first angle θ1 between the first vector O 1 A and the third vector O 1 B, and a second angle θ2 between the second vector O 2 A and the fourth vector O 2 B. In the exemplary embodiment, the calculating module  103  calculates an angle θ between two vectors according to a formula:
 
Cos θ={right arrow over (a)}·{right arrow over (b)}/|{right arrow over (a)}|·|{right arrow over (b)}|=a 1 b 1 +a 2 b 2 +a 3 b 3 /(√{square root over (a 1   2 +a 2   2 +a 3   2 )}·√{square root over (b 1   2 +b 2   2 +b 3   2 )}); here, {right arrow over (a)}=(a 1 ,a 2 ,a 3 ), {right arrow over (b)}=(b 1 ,b 2 ,b 3 ).
 
     For example, the calculating module  103  determines that the coordinate of the start point A of the gesture is (x 1 , y 1 , z 1 ) and the coordinate of the end point B of the gesture is (x 2 , y 2 , z 2 ). The coordinate of the center point O 1  of the first electronic device  200  is determined as (x 0 , y 0 , z 0 ) and the coordinate of the center point O 2  of the second electronic device  300  is (x 3 , y 3 , z 3 ). The calculating module  103  determines the first vector O 1 A is (x 1 −x 0 , y 1 −y 0 , z 1 −z 0 ), the second vector O 2 A is (x 1 −x 3 , y 1 −y 3  z 1 −z 3 ), the third vector O 1 B is (x 2 −x 0 , y 2 −y 0 , z 2 −z 0 ), and the fourth vector O 2 B is (x 2 −x 3  y 2 −y 3 , z 2 −z 3 ). 
     The calculating module  103  calculates the first angle θ1 according to a formula: 
                 cos   ⁢           ⁢     θ   1       =         (         x   1     -     x   0       ,       y   1     -     y   0       ,       z   1     -     z   0         )     ·     (         x   2     -     x   0       ,       y   2     -     y   0       ,       z   2     -     z   0         )                 (       x   1     -     x   0       )     2     +       (       y   1     -     y   0       )     2     +       (       z   1     -     z   0       )     2         ·           (       x   2     -     x   0       )     2     +       (       y   2     -     y   0       )     2     +       (       z   2     -     z   0       )     2               ;         
the calculating module calculates the second angle θ2 according to the formula:
 
     
       
         
           
             
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     The determining module  104  determines which one of the electronic devices is a target controlled by the gesture by determining which one of the angle is less than a preset value. For example, the determining module  104  determines which one of the first electronic device  200  and the second electronic device  300  is most likely the object to be controlled by the gesture by determining which of the first angle θ1 and the second angle θ2 is less than a preset value δ. In detail, the determining module  104  compares the first angle θ1 and the second angle θ2 with the preset value δ. If the determining module  104  determines that the first angle θ1 is greater than the preset value δ and the second angle θ2 is less than the preset value δ, the determining module  104  determines that the second electronic device  300  is the intended object. If the determining module  104  determines that the first angle θ1 is less than the preset value δ and the second angle θ2 is greater than the preset value δ, the determining module  104  determines that the first electronic device  200  is the intended object. If both of the first angle θ1 and the second angle θ2 are less than the preset value δ, the determining module  104  determines an error state, the object to be controlled cannot be determined. 
     A method for determining which one of a plurality of electronic devices is to be controlled by a gesture is illustrated in  FIG. 4 . The method is provided by way of example, as there are a variety of ways to carry out the method. Each block shown in  FIG. 4  represent one or more processes, methods, or subroutines carried out in the example method. Additionally, the illustrated order of blocks is by example only and the order of the blocks can be changed. The example method can begin at block  401 . 
     At block  401 , an acquiring module of a gesture control device acquires an image of a gesture from an image capturing device of each electronic devices communicated with the gesture control device. In the exemplary embodiment, the gesture image can include a depth information as to objects in the images. In the exemplary embodiment, the gesture image can include a number of pictures, thus a movement track of a gesture can be determined according to the pictures. 
     At block  402 , a establishing module establishes a three dimensional coordinate system for each image of the gesture, determines a coordinate of a central point of each electronic device, and determines a coordinate of a start point of the gesture and a coordinate of an end point of the gesture. 
     At block  403 , a calculating module calculates a vector from the start point of the gesture to the center point of each of the electronic device and calculates a vector from the end point of the gesture to the center point of each of the electronic device. 
     At block  404 , the calculating module calculates an angle between the vector from the start point of the gesture to the center point of each electronic device and the vector form the end point of the gesture to the center point of each electronic device. 
     At block  405 , a determining module determines which one of the electronic devices is a target controlled by the gesture by determining which one of the angle between the vector from the start point of the gesture to the center point of each electronic device and the vector form the end point of the gesture to the center point of each electronic device is less than a preset value. 
     It is believed that the present embodiments and their advantages will be understood from the foregoing description, and it will be apparent that various changes may be made thereto without departing from the spirit and scope of the disclosure or sacrificing all of its material advantages, the examples hereinbefore described merely being exemplary embodiments of the present disclosure.