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AssigneePyreos Ltd.
InventorsSpyros Brown, Timothy John Chamberlain, Jonathan Ephraim David Hurwitz, Carsten Giebeler
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A switch actuating device for actuating a switch by eight types of non-tactile gestures performed with an object emitting heat includes a gesture sensor with four pixels configured to detect heat emitted by the object. The pixels include thin films made of pyroelectric sensitive material which generate a signal that has signal deflections corresponding to a temporal intensity curve of the heat detected by the thin film of the corresponding pixel. The types of the gestures are determined with a signal processing unit which controls an actuator to actuate the switch when a performance of one of the types of the gestures is determined. The gesture types are determined during an approach phase when the object approaches the gesture sensor, a waiting phase during when the object remains close to the gesture sensor, and a subsequent translational phase when the object moves in one of eight directions.
A switch actuating device for actuating a switch in response to eight types of non-tactile gestures performed with an object emitting heat, the switch operating device comprising:
A method for operating a switch actuating device, the switch actuating device including a gesture sensor having four pixels, each of the four pixels including a thin film being made of a pyroelectric sensitive material, and the four pixels being arranged in respective corners of a convex tetragon relative to one another such that eight types of non-tactile gestures are detectable, the gesture sensor being configured to detect, by each of the thin films of the four pixels, heat emitted by an object when the object performs any one of eight types of non-tactile gestures, and to output a signal per pixel, the signals having signal deflections corresponding to a temporal intensity curve of the heat detected by the thin films of the corresponding pixels, a signal processing unit configured to determine performance of any one of the eight types of the non-tactile gestures based on a temporal succession of the signal deflections resulting from temporal delays of the signal deflections relative to one another, an actuator controlled by the signal processing unit and configured to actuate a switch when the performance of one of the eight types of the non-tactile gestures is determined, the eight types of the non-tactile gestures being defined by an approach phase during which the object approaches the gesture sensor, a subsequent waiting phase during which the object remains close to the gesture sensor, and a subsequent translational phase during which the object moves in one of eight directions, first four of the eight directions being a longitudinal direction, a direction opposite to the longitudinal direction, a transverse direction at a right angle to the longitudinal direction, and a direction opposite to the transverse direction, second four directions of the eight directions being directions respectively rotated by 45° relative to corresponding ones of the first four of the eight directions;
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.