Samsung patents Hand gesture recognition input system and method for a mobile phone

Abstract
A handheld gesture recognition control apparatus and its method are provided for a mobile phone. The input method of the present invention includes collecting a plurality of images; storing the images as control images; mapping the control images to corresponding control commands; capturing an image taken by a camera as a current image; comparing the current image to the control images; selecting one of the control images as a target control image according to a comparison result; extracting a control command mapped to the target control image; and executing the control command.

Description
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CLAIM OF PRIORITY

[0001]This application claims the benefit under 35 U.S.C. .sctn.119(a) of Korean Patent Application filed in the Korean Intellectual Property Office on Oct. 11, 2006 and assigned Serial No. 2006-0099062, the entire disclosure of which is hereby incorporated by reference.

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION

[0002]1. Field of the Invention

[0003]The present invention relates to a mobile phone and, in particular, to a handheld gesture recognition input system and its method for a mobile phone.

[0004]2. Description of the Related Art

[0005]As mobile phones integrate various multimedia modules and functions, different input technologies have been developed for enhancing the convenience of a user's manipulation. Among them keypad, touchscreen, and speech recognition based input technologies that are currently available.

[0006]A keypad input system is a well known solution, in which a plurality of keys is arranged on a keypad such that pressing a series of keys generates a mobile phone-recognizable instruction.

[0007]A touchscreen input system has been offered as an alternative manual input method and collects coordinates generated by touch events on a touchscreen, then recognizes an input signal by comparing the coordinates of the images on the screen.

[0008]A speech recognition input system is another alternative input system. The speech recognition input system analyzes a voice input and generates a mobile phone-recognizable instruction corresponding to the voice input through a microphone. Although the keypad, touchscreen, and speech recognition input systems are useful, they have implementation limits in mobile phones. That is, the keypad input system has a limit of securing enough space for arranging a plurality of keys, and also the touchscreen input system has a key event generation portion limited by the touchscreen. In the speech recognition system, recognition reliability is very dependent on the noise environment, and a high accuracy is required for matching input speech against a stored representation.

[0009]For these reasons, there is a need for developing a novel input technology for a space-limited mobile phone that is capable of facilitating information conveyance as well as mobile phone control.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION

[0010]The present invention has been made in an effort to solve the above problems and provides additional advantages, by providing a hand gesture recognition input system and its method for use in a mobile phone that are capable of facilitating information conveyance and mobile phone controls by matching finger gestures against the stored gestures.

[0011]It is another aspect of the present invention to provide a hand gesture recognition input system and its method for a mobile phone that are capable of efficiently utilizing the limited size screen of a mobile phone by displaying application windows in a 3-dimensional manner in association with a hand gesture recognition.

[0012]In accordance with another aspect of the present invention, an input method includes collecting a plurality of images; storing the images as control images; mapping the control images to corresponding control commands; capturing an image taken by a camera as a current image; comparing the current image to the control images; selecting one of the control images as a target control image according to a comparison result; extracting a control command mapped to the target control image; and executing the control command.

[0013]Preferably, selecting on of the control images as a target control image includes determining whether a difference offset between the current image and the control images are less than a first threshold offset; selecting the control images of which difference offset with the current image as candidate control images; determining whether a difference offset between the current image and the candidate control images are less than a second threshold offset; and selecting, if there is a candidate control image of which difference offset with the current image, the candidate control image as the target control image.

[0014]Preferably, the control images are hand gesture images.

[0015]Preferably, the control commands are commands for controlling the pointer operations on a screen of the mobile phone.

[0016]Preferably, the pointer operations include a pointer activation, inter-layer navigation, inter-window navigation on an identical layer, object flip, left click, and right click, in a three-dimensional coordinate space defined with x, y, and z axes.

[0017]Preferably, mapping the control images to corresponding control commands includes building a lookup table having an index field, a control image field, and a control command field, filled out by indexes from 1 to n, control images, and control commands, respectively.

[0018]Preferably, executing the control command includes turning on a screen of the mobile phone; activating menu windows on the screen; activating a pointer; and controlling the pointer to execute a specific operation in association with the menu windows.

[0019]Preferably, the screen is implemented with a virtual three-dimensional space having a depth such that the menu windows are arranged in different depths or are arranged in the form of perspective view.

[0020]Preferably, the screen presents shortcut icons for executing application programs, a navigation icon for indicating a current user view, and an icon list representing menu windows on a currently activated layer.

[0021]In accordance with yet another aspect of the present invention, an input system includes a camera for taking images to be used as control images and capturing an input image; a memory for storing the control images and control commands mapped to the control images and for temporarily storing the input image; a screen for displaying at least one menu window and operations of the menu window in accordance with the control commands; and a controller for controlling the menu window operation in accordance with a control command selected by comparing the input image and the control images.

[0022]Preferably, the controller includes an image generator for generating the control images from images taken by the camera; a control image mapper for mapping the control images to the control commands; an image comparator for selecting a target control image by comparing the input image with the control images; and a control image adapter for executing the control commands mapped to the target control image.

[0023]Preferably, the screen is implemented with a virtual three-dimensional space having a depth such that the menu windows are arranged in different depths or are arranged in the form of a perspective view.

[0024]Preferably, the screen presents shortcut icons for executing application programs, a navigation icon for indicating a current user view, and an icon list representing menu windows on a currently activated layer.

[0025]Preferably, the controller controls a pointer for operations of the menu windows.

[0026]Preferably, the control command comprises a pointer activation command, inter-layer navigation command, inter-window navigation command, object flip command, left click command, and right click command, in a three-dimensional coordinate space defined with x, y, and z axes.