Mobile devices with motion gesture recognition

A portable electronic device for sensing motion gestures, the portable electronic device comprising:

• a plurality of motion sensors providing sensed data based on movement of the portable electronic device in space, the motion sensors providing six-axis motion sensing and including at least three rotational motion sensors and at least three accelerometers;
• a display screen;
• and
• one or more processors, wherein at least one of the processors:
• receives motion data derived from the sensed data provided by the motion sensors;
• determines a particular operating mode that is active while the movement of the portable electronic device occurs, wherein the particular operating mode is one of a plurality of different operating modes available in the operation of the portable electronic device;
• recognizes one or more motion gestures from the motion data, wherein the one or more motion gestures are recognized from a set of a plurality of motion gestures that are available for recognition in the active operating mode of the portable electronic device, and wherein each of the different operating modes of the portable electronic device, when active, has a different set of motion gestures available for recognition;
• and
• changes one or more states of the portable electronic device based on the one or more recognized motion gestures, including changing output of the display screen.

A method for recognizing a gesture performed by a user using a motion sensing device, the method comprising:

• receiving motion sensor data in device coordinates indicative of motion of the device, the motion sensor data received from a plurality of motion sensors of the motion sensing device, the motion sensors including a plurality of rotational motion sensors and a plurality of linear motion sensors;
• transforming the motion sensor data in the device coordinates to motion sensor data in world coordinates, the motion sensor data in the device coordinates describing motion of the device relative to a frame of reference of the device, and the motion sensor data in the world coordinates describing motion of the device relative to a frame of reference external to the device;
• and
• detecting a gesture from the motion sensor data in the world coordinates.

A system for detecting gestures, the system including:

• a plurality of motion sensors providing motion sensor data, the motion sensors including a plurality of rotational motion sensors and a plurality of linear motion sensors;
• at least one feature detector, each feature detector operative to detect an associated data feature derived from the motion sensor data, each data feature being a characteristic of the motion sensor data, each feature detector outputting one or more feature values describing the detected data feature;
• and
• at least one gesture detector, each gesture detector operative to detect a gesture associated with the gesture detector based on the one or more feature values.

A handheld electronic device operable in a plurality of motion-responsive operating modes, wherein at least one recognizable motion gesture corresponds to each motion-responsive operating mode, the electronic device comprising:

• a set of motion sensors sensing rotational rate around at least three axes and linear acceleration along at least three axes;
• a display;
• and
• processing logic that, based on motion data derived from at least one of the motion sensors in response to a physical movement of the electronic device and a then-active operating mode of the device, is capable of recognizing at least one gesture corresponding to the physical movement and changing at least one operating mode of the device.