Optical flow based tilt sensor
AssigneeQUALCOMM Incorporated
InventorEvan HILDRETH
Life of this patent
Estimating the term…
Abstract
A method is described for determining a description of motion of a moving mobile camera to determine a user input to an application. The method may involve capturing a series of images from a moving mobile camera and comparing stationary features present in the series of images. Optical flow analysis may be performed on the series of images to determine a description of motion of the moving mobile camera. Based on the determined motion, a user input to an application may be determined and the application may respond to the user input, for example, by updating a user interface of the application.
Claims27
1-20. (canceled)
A method comprising:
- accessing images captured from an image sensor positioned on a device;
- identifying a first feature that is present in the images captured from the image sensor;
- identifying a second feature that is present in the images captured from the image sensor, the second feature being different than and spaced apart from the first feature;
- and
- determining a description of motion of the device in a depth direction based on changes in distance between the first feature and the second feature in the images captured from the image sensor, the depth direction being a direction of movement substantially toward or substantially away from the first feature and the second feature.
A device comprising:
- at least one processor;
- memory storing instructions that, when executed by the at least one processor, cause the device to:
- access digital representations of a scene from a sensor coupled to the device;
- identify a first feature that is present in the digital representations from the sensor;
- identify a second feature that is present in the digital representations from the sensor, the second feature being different than and spaced apart from the first feature;
- and
- determine a description of motion of the device in a depth direction based on changes in distance between the first feature and the second feature in the digital representations from the sensor, the depth direction being a direction of movement substantially toward or substantially away from the first feature and the second feature.
A computer readable medium comprising a device having instructions stored thereon to:
- access images captured from an image sensor positioned on an apparatus;
- identify a first feature that is present in the images captured from the image sensor;
- identify a second feature that is present in the images captured from the image sensor, the second feature being different than and spaced apart from the first feature;
- and
- determine a description of motion of the apparatus in a depth direction based on changes in distance between the first feature and the second feature in the images captured from the image sensor, the depth direction being a direction of movement substantially toward or substantially away from the first feature and the second feature.
A device comprising:
- means for accessing images captured from an image sensor positioned on the device;
- means for identifying a first feature that is present in the images captured from the image sensor;
- means for identifying a second feature that is present in the images captured from the image sensor, the second feature being different than and spaced apart from the first feature;
- and
- means for determining a description of motion of the device in a depth direction based on changes in distance between the first feature and the second feature in the images captured from the image sensor, the depth direction being a direction of movement substantially toward or substantially away from the first feature and the second feature.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.