The present invention relates to a mobile device and a control method. More particularly, the present invention relates to a mobile device capable of recognizing and remotely controlling other wireless devices.
The augmented reality device merges virtual objects into the real world, and thereby can enrich the visual experience of the user. As the hardware and software of the augmented reality technology advance, people would wear the augmented reality devices for a considerable time in their daily lives.
However, it is inconvenient for the user wearing the augmented reality device to manipulate other electronic devices locating at rather far distances. For example, the activity range of the user may be limited by the length of the transmission line of the augmented reality device. Therefore, to manipulate other electronic devices, the user usually has to pause or terminate the activity utilizing the augmented reality device, and thereby lowering the user experience.
The disclosure provides a control method suitable for a mobile device comprising a camera. The control method includes following operations: obtaining a description of a first wireless device adjacent to the mobile device through a wireless communication packet; capturing a first image of a physical environment by the camera; recognizing a first candidate object within the first image; matching the first candidate object with the description of the first wireless device; in response to that the first candidate object matches with the description of the first wireless device and a first predetermined instruction is received, generating a first command according to the description of the first wireless device, wherein the first command is to be transmitted to the first wireless device over a wireless connection for manipulating the first wireless device; in response to that the first candidate object matches with the description of the first wireless device, capturing a series of images of the physical environment by the camera, wherein the series of images comprises a second image and a third image captured after the second image for a predetermined time period; recognizing the first candidate object within the second image; and in response to that the first candidate object is absent within the third image, disconnecting the wireless connection.
This disclosure further provides a mobile device. The mobile device comprises a camera, a wireless communication circuit, and a processing circuit. The camera is configured to capture a first image of a physical environment. The wireless communication circuit is configured to obtain a description of a first wireless device adjacent to the mobile device through a wireless communication packet. The processing circuit is coupled with the camera and the wireless communication circuit, and being adapted to: recognize a first candidate object within the first image; match the first candidate object with the description of the first wireless device; and in response to that the first candidate object matches with the description of the first wireless device and a first predetermined instruction is received, generate a first command according to the description of the first wireless device. The first command is to be transmitted to the first wireless device over a wireless connection for manipulating the first wireless device. In response to that the first candidate object matches with the description of the first wireless device, the processing circuit instructs the camera to capture a series of images of the physical environment. The series of images comprises a second image and a third image captured after the second image for a predetermined time period, and the processing circuit recognizes the first candidate object within the second image. In response to that the first candidate object is absent within the third image, the processing circuit instructs the wireless communication circuit to disconnect the wireless connection.
It is to be understood that both the foregoing general description and the following detailed description are by examples, and are intended to provide further explanation of the invention as claimed.
The invention can be more fully understood by reading the following detailed description of the embodiment, with reference made to the accompanying drawings as follows:
Reference will now be made in detail to the present embodiments of the invention, examples of which are illustrated in the accompanying drawings. Wherever possible, the same reference numbers are used in the drawings and the description to refer to the same or like parts.
As used herein, the term “and/or” includes any and all combinations of one or more of the associated listed items. In addition, the singular forms “a”, “an”, and “the” as used herein are intended to include the plural forms as well, unless the context clearly indicates otherwise.
The camera 120 is configured to capture images of a physical environment at which the mobile device 100 locates. The wireless communication circuit 130 is configured to obtain descriptions of the wireless devices 210a˜210d. The display circuit 140 is configured to display the images captured by the camera 120. The memory module 150 is configured to store data required by the operations of the processing circuit 110.
In practice, the description of each wireless devices 210a˜210d may include, but is not limited to, a Service Set Identifier (SSID), a Media Access Control Address (MAC address), a list of operable commands, and a model number. The model number may represent the manufacturer or category of each wireless devices 210a˜210d.
In practice, the wireless devices 210a˜210c may be realized with various smart household appliances having wireless communication function such as an air conditioner, a refrigerator, a microwave oven, or an air purifier. The processor circuit 110 may be realized with various integrated circuits having calculation capability such as the application-specific integrated circuit (ASIC) or the field-programmable gate array (FPGA). The memory module 150 may be realized with various read-only memory circuits or flash memory circuits. The display circuit 140 may be realized with various display panels such as active-matrix organic light-emitting display panel or liquid-crystal display panel. The wireless communication circuit 130 may be realized with various interface circuits meeting the related regulations of the wireless communication, such as the Wi-Fi interface circuit, the Bluetooth interface circuit, the Bluetooth Low Energy (BLE) interface circuit.
Then, in operation S302, the processing circuit 110 may instruct the camera 120 to capture a first image 400 of the physical environment.
In operation S303, as shown in
Notably, the descriptions of the wireless devices 210a˜210d may be included in message boxes 420a˜420d, respectively. The message boxes 420a˜420d overlap with the first image 400, so as to cover a portion of the first image 400. The multiple candidate objects are each corresponding to one of the wireless devices 210a˜210d or the normal device 220. In detail, the multiple candidate objects 410a˜410d are corresponding to the wireless devices 210a˜210c and the normal device 220, respectively. In operation 304, as shown in
In practice, the predetermined geometric features may be, but are not limited to, the geometric features of various household appliances such as the air conditioner and the microwave oven.
In operation S305, the mobile device 100 may match the descriptions of the wireless devices 210a˜210d with the candidate objects 410a˜410d according to received instructions. For example, the mobile device 100 may prompt the user, by a message shown by the display circuit 140 or broadcasted by an speaker (not shown in
To be more specific, as shown in
By matching the descriptions of the wireless devices 210a˜210c with the candidate objects 410a˜410c, respectively, the mobile device 100 knows the SSID, the MAC address, and/or the model number corresponding to each candidate objects 410a ˜410c. That is, the mobile device 100 knows the identities of each of the candidate objects 410a˜410c.
In operation S306, in response to that the candidate objects 410a˜410c match with the descriptions of the wireless devices 210a˜210c, the processing circuit 110 instructs the wireless communication circuit 130 to establish wireless communications between the wireless communication circuit 130 and each of the wireless devices 210a˜210c. The wireless communications between the wireless communication circuit 130 and each of the wireless devices 210a˜210c are established according to the descriptions of the wireless devices 210a˜210c, respectively.
Notably, since the description of the wireless device 210d does not match with any candidate object, the mobile device 100 would not use the description of the wireless device 210d to establish any wireless communication.
Then, the mobile device may conduct operation S307 to periodically obtain information from the wireless devices 210a˜210c over wireless communications.
In this embodiment, the mobile device 100 may detect eye movement of the user. In operation S308, as shown in
For example, when the user stares at the candidate object 410a, the processing circuit 110 may instruct the display circuit 140 to show a virtual user interface 620 nearby the candidate object 410a. The virtual user interface 620 may contain information periodically obtained from the wireless device 210a.
In some embodiments, at least a portion of an outline of the user interface 620 connects with at least a portion of the outline of the candidate object 410a.
In other embodiments, the processing circuit 110 instructs the display circuit 140 to show the virtual user interface 620 only if one of the candidate objects 410a˜410c overlaps with a region locating at the center of the picture displayed by the display circuit 140.
In operation S309, when the user interacts with the candidate object 410a through the virtual user interface 620 by predetermined instructions (e.g., predetermined hand motions), the camera 120 would receive the hand motions. Then, the processing circuit 110 may interpret the hand motions, and generate corresponding commands according to the interpreted hand motions and the list of operable commands included in the description of the wireless device 210a.
In operation S310, when the processing circuit 110 receives further instructions (e.g., other hand motions) from the user, the processing circuit 110 may instruct the wireless communication circuit 130 to transmit the corresponding commands to the wireless device 210a over the wireless communication between the mobile device 100 and the wireless device 210a, so as to manipulate the wireless device 210a.
In some embodiments, the user may interact with the candidate objects 410a˜410c by voice commands based on the information shown on the virtual user interface 620. The processing circuit 110 would interpret the voice commands to generate the corresponding commands, and instruct the wireless communication circuit 140 to transfer the corresponding commands to the wireless devices 210a.
In another embodiment, after the first image is captured, the processing circuit 110 may further instruct the camera 120 to capture a series of images of the physical environment. The processing circuit 110 may recognizing the candidate objects 410a˜410c in the series of images, and perform operations similar to operations S303˜S309. Furthermore, when the processing circuit 110 determines that one of the candidate object 410a˜410c has been absent from the series of images for a predetermined time period, the processing circuit 110 may instruct the wireless communication circuit 130 to disconnect the wireless communication between the mobile device 100 and the wireless device corresponding to the absent candidate object. As a result, the power consumption of the wireless device corresponding to the absent candidate object may be reduced.
In yet another embodiment, size of the virtual user interface 620 is positively correlated with size of the candidate object 410a.
The control method 300 illustrated by
Operations S301˜S304 of the control method 700 are similar to the operations S301˜S304 of the control method 300, for the sake of brevity, those operations are not addressed herein. Please refer to
In operation S706, as shown in
In operation S707, the processing circuit 110 may determine whether the first notification 810a is captured by the camera 120. If the first notification 810a is captured by the camera 120 within a region surrounded by the outline of the candidate object 410a, the mobile device may conduct operation S708 to match the description of the wireless device 210a with the candidate object 410a.
In the situation that the first notification 810a has not been captured by the camera 120 for a predetermined time period or the operation S708 is finished, the processing circuit 110 may conduct operation S709 to determine whether the mobile device 100 has sent varication commands to all of the wireless devices 210a˜210d. If the mobile device 100 has not yet sent the varication commands to all of the wireless devices 210a˜210d, the processing circuit 110 may again conduct the operation S706.
For example, when the processing circuit 110 conducts the operation S706 for a second time, the processing circuit 110 may instruct the display circuit 140 to emphasize the message box 420b. The processing circuit 110 may also instruct the wireless communication circuit 130 to transfer a second verification command to the wireless device 210b according to the description of the wireless device 210b. As a result, the wireless device 210b would be triggered to generate a second notification 810b.
As shown in
That is, the mobile device 100 sequentially transmits the verification commands to the wireless devices 210a˜210d according to the descriptions of the wireless devices 210a˜210d, so as to trigger the wireless devices 210a˜210d to sequentially generate the notifications.
If the mobile device 100 has sent the varication commands to all of the wireless devices 210a˜210d, the processing circuit 110 may conduct operations similar to the aforesaid operations S307˜S310, for the sake of brevity, those operations are not addressed herein.
It is worth mentioning that since the wireless device 210d is not captured by the camera 120, a fourth notification generated by the wireless device 210d is not captured by the camera 120 either. Therefore, the processing circuit 110 would not match the description of the wireless device 210d with any candidate object, and thereby the mobile device 100 would not transmit any command to manipulate the wireless device 210d according to the description of the wireless device 210d.
Accordingly, the control method 700 prevents the pairing errors by sequentially transmitting verification commands to all of the wireless devices nearby, and sequentially analyzing the locations of the notifications. Moreover, by sequentially emphasizing the message boxes 420a˜420d, the mobile device 100 may prompt the user the relationships between the descriptions of the wireless device 210a˜210d and the candidate objects 410a˜410d, so as to prevent the erroneously manipulation conducted by the user.
As can be seen from the foregoing descriptions, the mobile device 100 and the control methods 300 and 700 collaboratively allow the user to remotely and intuitively control various wireless devices.
Please note that the execution orders of the operations illustrated by
Certain terms are used throughout the description and the claims to refer to particular components. One skilled in the art appreciates that a component may be referred to as different names. This disclosure does not intend to distinguish between components that differ in name but not in function. In the description and in the claims, the term “comprise” is used in an open-ended fashion, and thus should be interpreted to mean “include, but not limited to.” The term “couple” is intended to compass any indirect or direct connection. Accordingly, if this disclosure mentioned that a first device is coupled with a second device, it means that the first device may be directly or indirectly connected to the second device through electrical connections, wireless communications, optical communications, or other signal connections with/without other intermediate devices or connection means.
Although the present invention has been described in considerable detail with reference to certain embodiments thereof, other embodiments are possible. Therefore, the spirit and scope of the appended claims should not be limited to the description of the embodiments contained herein.
It will be apparent to those skilled in the art that various modifications and variations can be made to the structure of the present invention without departing from the scope or spirit of the invention. In view of the foregoing, it is intended that the present invention cover modifications and variations of this invention provided they fall within the scope of the following claims.
This application is a continuation of U.S. application Ser. No. 15/980,731, filed on May 15, 2018, which claims priority of U.S. Provisional Application Ser. No. 62/530,862, filed on Jul. 11, 2017, the entirety of which is incorporated by reference herein in their entireties.
Number | Date | Country | |
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62530862 | Jul 2017 | US |
Number | Date | Country | |
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Parent | 15980731 | May 2018 | US |
Child | 16785671 | US |