Apparatus and method for detecting and executing positional and gesture commands corresponding to movement of handheld computing device

A method for processing an input command for a handheld computing device, comprising the steps of:

• measuring movement of the device over an interval of time with a motion sensor mounted to the device to generate a signal;
• analyzing the signal measured over the interval of time to determine a series of position commands that correspond to a series of orientations of the entire handheld computing device;
• analyzing the signal measured over the interval of time to determine a gesture command that corresponds to the movement of the device from a first orientation to a second orientation;
• processing the gesture command to control the device as of said first orientation;
• processing a series of position commands to control the device;
• and
• ensuring a gesture command is not treated as a position command by returning the device to a state corresponding to said first orientation before proceeding to a state following the state corresponding to said second orientation, so as to avoid erroneous interpretation of any portion of the signal corresponding to a gesture command as a position command.

A method for processing an input command for a handheld computing device, comprising the steps of:

• measuring movement of the entire handheld computing device over an interval of time with a motion sensor mounted to the device to generate a signal;
• analyzing the signal measured over the interval of time to determine a series of position commands that correspond to a series of orientations of the device;
• analyzing the signal measured over the interval of time to determine a gesture command that corresponds to the movement of the device from a first orientation to a second orientation;
• wherein the determined gesture command is one of a predefined set of gesture commands;
• when the signal measured over the interval of time is determined not to be any of the predefined set of gesture commands, processing the series of position commands to control the device;
• and
• when the signal measured over the interval of time is determined to be one of the predefined set of gesture commands, preventing execution of the position commands and processing the gesture command to control the device as of said first orientation.

A handheld computing device, comprising:

• an enclosure;
• a motion sensor system, coupled with said enclosure, configured to detect the angular orientation of the entire handheld computing device;
• and
• a memory containing:
• a database of gesture commands;
• a procedure for analyzing the signal measured over the interval of time to determine a series of position commands that correspond to a series of orientations of the device;
• a procedure for analyzing the signal measured over the interval of time to determine a gesture command that corresponds to the movement of the entire handheld computing device from a first orientation to a second orientation;
• wherein the determined gesture command is one of a predefined set of gesture commands stored in the database of gesture commands;
• a procedure for processing the gesture command to control the device;
• and
• a procedure for processing the series of position commands to control the device.

A handheld computing device, comprising:

• an enclosure;
• a motion sensor system, coupled with said enclosure, configured to detect the angular orientation of the device;
• and
• a memory containing:
• a database of gesture commands;
• a procedure for analyzing the signal measured over the interval of time to determine a series of position commands that correspond to a series of orientations of the device;
• a procedure for analyzing the signal measured over the interval of time to determine a gesture command that corresponds to the movement of the device from a first orientation to a second orientation;
• wherein the determined gesture command is one of a predefined set of gesture commands stored in the database of gesture commands;
• a procedure for processing the gesture command to control the device;
• and
• a procedure for processing the series of position commands to control the device;
• wherein configured to be mounted on a superior dorsal aspect of a hand to allow wrist and forearm rotational movement about three orthogonal axes.

A handheld computing device, comprising:

• an enclosure;
• a motion sensor coupled with the enclosure to generate a signal after measuring movement of the entire handheld computing device over an interval of time;
• a memory containing:
• a predefined set of gesture commands;
• a procedure for analyzing the signal measured over the interval of time to determine a series of position commands that correspond to a series of orientations of the device;
• a procedure for analyzing the signal measured over the interval of time to determine a gesture command that corresponds to the movement of the device from a first orientation to a second orientation;
• wherein the determined gesture command is one of the predefined set of gesture commands;
• a procedure for processing the series of position commands to control the device when the signal measured over the interval of time is determined not to be any of the predefined set of gesture commands;
• and
• a procedure for preventing execution of the position commands and processing the gesture command to control the device as of said first orientation when the signal measured over the interval of time is determined to be one of the predefined set of gesture commands.

A handheld computing device, comprising:

• an enclosure;
• a motion sensor coupled with the enclosure to generate a signal after measuring movement of the device over an interval of time;
• a memory containing:
• a predefined set of gesture commands;
• a procedure for analyzing the signal measured over the interval of time to determine a series of position commands that correspond to a series of orientations of the device;
• a procedure for analyzing the signal measured over the interval of time to determine a gesture command that corresponds to the movement of the device from a first orientation to a second orientation;
• wherein the determined gesture command is one of the predefined set of gesture commands;
• a procedure for processing the series of position commands to control the device when the signal measured over the interval of time is determined not to be any of the predefined set of gesture commands;
• and
• a procedure for preventing execution of the position commands and processing the gesture command to control the device as of said first orientation when the signal measured over the interval of time is determined to be one of the predefined set of gesture commands;
• and
• a configuration that allows the handheld device to be mounted on a superior dorsal aspect of a hand to allow wrist and forearm rotational movement about three orthogonal axes.

A computer program product for use in conjunction with a handheld computing device, the computing device including a motion sensor to generate a signal after measuring movement of the entire handheld computing device over an interval of time, the computer program product comprising a computer readable storage medium and a computer program mechanism embedded therein, the computer program mechanism comprising:

• a first signal analyzing module for analyzing the signal measured over the interval of time to determine a series of position commands that correspond to a series of orientations of the device;
• a second signal analyzing module for analyzing the signal measured over the interval of time to determine whether a portion of the signal that corresponds to the movement of the entire handheld computing device from a first orientation to a second orientation matches one of a predefined set of gesture command signal formats;
• a position command processing module for processing the series of position commands to control the device when the signal measured over the interval of time is determined not to be any of the predefined set of gesture commands;
• and
• a state data recall procedure for preventing execution of the position commands and processing the gesture command to control the device as of said first orientation when the signal measured over the interval of time is determined to be one of the predefined set of gesture commands.