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US 11,953,619 B2Granted
Radar-based system for sensing touch and in-the-air interactions
AssigneeSamsung Electronics Co., Ltd.
InventorsSantiago Ortega Avila, Cody Wortham, Sajid Sadi
Life of this patent
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Abstract
Radar-based sensing includes, at an electronic device that includes one or more radar-based transmitters and one or more radar-based receivers, transmitting, from one or more of the radar-based transmitters, radio waves into an area in a vicinity of the electronic device and receiving, at one or more of the radar-based receivers, radio waves reflected off one or more objects in the vicinity of the electronic device. The radio waves, as reflected off the one or more objects, can be processed using a radar imaging module.
Claims20
A method comprising:
- at an electronic device that includes a plurality of radar-based transmitters and one or more radar-based receivers;
- transmitting, from the plurality of radar-based transmitters, radio waves into an area in a vicinity of the electronic device, wherein the transmitting is performed according to a transmission operating mode selected from a plurality of transmission operating modes including:
- a first mode in which each radar-based transmitter transmits in sequence such that the one or more radar-based receivers are activated after transmitting from one of the plurality of radar-based transmitters and before transmitting from another one of the plurality of radar-based transmitters;
- and
- a second mode in which each of the radar-based transmitters transmits simultaneously;
- receiving, at the one or more radar-based receivers, the radio waves reflected off one or more objects in the vicinity of the electronic device;
- and
- processing the radio waves as reflected off the one or more objects using a radar imaging module;
- wherein the electronic device includes a display, and wherein the transmitting includes:
- transmitting, from a first set of the plurality of radar-based transmitters, first radio waves, wherein the first set of the plurality of radar-based transmitters face inward toward a center of the display and transmit a majority of the first radio waves in a direction parallel to the display;
- and
- transmitting, from a second set of the plurality of radar-based transmitters, second radio waves, wherein the second set of the plurality of radar-based transmitters face outward from the display and transmit a majority of the second radio waves in a direction that is perpendicular to the display.
9 more elements
A system, comprising:
- a display;
- a plurality of radar-based transmitters including:
- a first set of the plurality of radar-based transmitters facing inward toward a center of the display and configured to transmit first radio waves, wherein a majority of the first radio waves are transmitted in a direction parallel to the display;
- and
- a second set of the plurality of radar-based transmitters facing outward from the display and configured to transmit second radio waves, wherein a majority of the second radio waves are transmitted in a direction that is perpendicular to the display;
- one or more radar-based receivers;
- one or more processors configured to initiate operations comprising:
- transmitting, from both the first set and the second set of the plurality of radar-based transmitters, radio waves including the first radio waves and the second radio waves into an area in a vicinity of an electronic device;
- receiving, at the one or more radar-based receivers, the radio waves reflected off one or more objects in the vicinity of the electronic device;
- determining a distance of one or more objects based on the radio waves reflected off the one or more objects in the vicinity of the electronic device;
- and
- based on the determined distance of the one or more objects, transmitting the first radio waves from the first set of the plurality of radar-based transmitters, transmitting the second radio waves from the second set of the plurality of radar-based transmitters, or transmitting both the first radio waves from the first set of the plurality of radar-based transmitters and the second radio waves from the second set of the plurality of radar-based transmitters.
9 more elements
A system, comprising:
- a display;
- a first plurality of radar-based transceivers;
- a second plurality of radar-based transceivers;
- wherein each radar-based transceiver includes a radar-based transmitter and a radar-based receiver;
- wherein the first plurality of radar-based transceivers faces inward toward a center of the display and is configured to transmit first radio waves into a first area in a vicinity of an electronic device and receive the first radio waves reflected off of one or more first objects in the first area, wherein the first plurality of radar-based transceivers is configured to detect touch gestures from one or more users;
- wherein the second plurality of radar-based transceivers faces outward from the display and is configured to transmit second radio waves into a second area in the vicinity of the electronic device and receive the second radio waves reflected off of one or more second objects in the second area, wherein the second plurality of radar-based transceivers is configured to detect in-the-air gestures from the one or more users;
- and
- one or more processors configured to process at least one of the first radio waves as reflected or the second radio waves as reflected to determine the touch gestures and the in-the-air gestures;
- wherein the first plurality of radar-based transceivers is configured to transmit a majority of the first radio waves in a direction parallel to the display and the second plurality of radar-based transceivers is configured to transmit a majority of the second radio waves in a direction that is perpendicular to the display.
6 more elements
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.