Laser Projected Ephemeral UI Gesture Navigation
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Solution Overview
Problem
Existing wearable devices with laser projection systems for ephemeral user interfaces struggle to efficiently navigate and select virtual affordances using hand gestures, limiting user interaction and freeing up the other hand for tasks.
Innovation Solution
The use of a depth sensor, camera, and infrared sensor in a wearable device to detect hand gestures and project an ephemeral user interface onto the user's palm, where the location of an underlying cursor is determined by the angle of the hand palm in 3D space, allowing for navigation and selection of virtual affordances through tilt and roll motions.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Ease of operation
If a laser projection system is used to display a user interface on the user's hand, then the user can interact with virtual affordances using the same hand, but the complexity of gesture recognition and cursor control increases
Solution Approach 1:
The patent extends 2D hand gesture recognition into 3D space by incorporating depth information from a depth sensor. The cursor position is determined by mapping 3D hand coordinates to 2D UI coordinates, allowing natural hand movements to control the cursor position on the projected interface. This dimensional extension enables intuitive interaction without requiring complex gesture vocabularies.
Solution Approach 2:
The patent introduces an invisible cursor as an intermediary between the user's hand gestures and the UI affordances. The cursor acts as a mediator that translates continuous hand movements into discrete selection actions. When the cursor hovers over a UI element and the user performs a selection gesture (such as closing the hand), the intermediary cursor facilitates the interaction by triggering the corresponding action.
2Measurement precision
If multiple sensors (depth, camera, infrared) are added to detect gestures accurately, then gesture detection precision improves, but device complexity and power consumption increase
Solution Approach 1:
The patent combines multiple sensor types (depth sensor, camera, infrared sensor) into an integrated sensing system that works together to detect hand gestures. The depth sensor provides 3D spatial information, the camera captures visual data, and the infrared sensor detects thermal patterns or enhances visibility. By merging these sensors, the system achieves high-precision gesture detection while sharing processing loads and coordinating data fusion.
Solution Approach 2:
The system uses the user's own hand as both the interaction medium and the reference frame for gesture recognition. The hand gestures are detected relative to the user's own anatomy, allowing the system to adapt to different users without recalibration. The sensors detect features inherent to the user's hand structure, enabling self-service gesture recognition that works automatically for any user.
3Ease of operation
If the cursor position is controlled by hand angle in 3D space, then navigation intuitiveness improves, but computational requirements for real-time tracking increase
Solution Approach 1:
The patent pre-establishes the mapping relationship between 3D hand coordinates and 2D UI coordinates. The system pre-calculates transformation matrices and lookup tables that map hand angles and positions to corresponding cursor positions on the projected interface. This preliminary preparation allows real-time cursor tracking with minimal computational overhead during actual interaction.
Solution Approach 2:
The patent replaces complex mechanical or computational cursor control mechanisms with a direct optical-mechanical mapping. The laser projection system and depth sensor work together to create a direct line-of-sight relationship between the user's hand position and the cursor location. This substitution eliminates the need for complex intermediate processing by establishing a natural geometric correspondence between hand space and UI space.
Applied Scientific Principles
This section explains which scientific principles are used to turn an abstract innovation direction into a practical engineering solution.
Function Achieved in This Case
This solution enables users to efficiently navigate and select virtual affordances on a projected ephemeral user interface using hand gestures, freeing up the other hand for tasks while providing intuitive and interactive control over the interface.
Implementation Method 1
a laser projector embedded in a wearable device attached to the user
Implementation Method 2
a depth sensor, a camera and an infrared sensor for detecting gestures made by the user
Implementation Method 3
a depth sensor, a camera and an infrared sensor for detecting gestures made by the user
Data Source
AI summary
Embodiments are disclosed for gestures for navigating and selecting items using a laser projected ephemeral user interface (UI). Also disclosed is a multi-layer menu system that allows a user to select different menu layers by moving their hand towards or away from a depth sensor. Also disclosed is a depth picker control that display different elements of a 3D stack of elements in response to the user moving their palm towards or away from the depth sensor.