Radar Gesture Recognition Through Walls and Obstructions
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Solution Overview
Problem
Current techniques for controlling smart devices lack seamless and intuitive control, especially when gestures are not within line-of-sight of the device's sensors, relying on touch screens, hand-held remote controls, and audio interfaces that often fail to understand user intent or require line-of-sight.
Innovation Solution
Non-line-of-sight radar-based gesture recognition using a system that includes a microwave radio element, antenna, and signal processor to emit and process radar fields, enabling gesture recognition through direct, reflected, and penetration radar, allowing control of devices obscured by obstacles or in different rooms.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Measurement precision
If line-of-sight gesture sensors are used to control smart devices, then gesture recognition accuracy is improved, but control capability is limited when users are obscured or in different rooms
Solution Approach 1:
The patent introduces radar fields as an intermediary medium between the gesture sensor and the user's hand. The radar field can penetrate or reflect off objects (walls, furniture, human body) to carry gesture information from locations that are not in direct line-of-sight of the sensor, thus enabling control from various locations while maintaining gesture recognition accuracy
Solution Approach 2:
The patent replaces the optical-based gesture sensing system (which requires line-of-sight) with a radar-based system. The radar system uses electromagnetic wave reflection and penetration properties to detect gestures through non-line-of-sight paths, substituting the mechanical/optical constraint with a wave-based detection method that has greater adaptability
2Adaptability or versatility
If remote controls are used to control smart devices, then control capability is maintained, but user convenience deteriorates due to the need to carry and point devices
Solution Approach 1:
The system enables the user's own hand gestures to serve as the control mechanism, eliminating the need for external remote controls. The gesture recognition system directly detects and interprets hand movements to control smart devices, making the user's body the control interface rather than requiring a separate device
Solution Approach 2:
The patent extracts the control function from physical remote controls and embeds it directly into the smart device's gesture recognition capability. By removing the need for external remote controls and integrating gesture detection into the device itself, the system improves ease of operation while maintaining control capability
3Ease of operation
If audio interfaces are used to control smart devices, then voice commands can be processed, but understanding user intent deteriorates due to ambiguity
Solution Approach 1:
The patent segments the control input into spatial gesture information and temporal movement patterns. By analyzing the position, velocity, and trajectory of hand gestures in three-dimensional space, the system can distinguish between different intended actions (e.g., volume up vs. volume down, play vs. pause) more precisely than audio interfaces alone
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
Enables seamless and intuitive control of smart devices through in-the-air gestures, even when not in line-of-sight, by differentiating between direct and reflected radar interactions and penetrating materials to recognize complex gestures for precise control of multiple devices.
Implementation Method 1
non-line-of-sight radar-based gesture recognition
Implementation Method 2
reflected radar field enabling capture of gesture interactions
Data Source
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AI summary
This document describes techniques and devices for non-line-of-sight radar-based gesture recognition. Through use of the techniques and devices described herein, users may control their devices through in-the-air gestures, even when those gestures are not within line-of-sight of their device's sensors. Thus, the techniques enable users to control their devices in many situations in which control is desired but conventional techniques do permit effective control, such as to turn the temperature down in a room when the user is obscured from a thermostat's gesture sensor, turn up the volume on a media player when the user is in a different room than the media player, or pause a television program when the user's gesture is obscured by a chair, couch, or other obstruction.