CN212379812U - Input device based on finger sensor - Google Patents

Abstract

The utility model relates to an input device based on finger sensor, it includes: at least one finger sensor configured to detect a degree of flexion of a user's finger; a processor configured to determine input information based on a degree of bending of the finger. The method has good recognition accuracy and use friendliness, and can be used for users to define input characters corresponding to different finger joints of fingers. The input device can be applied to various virtual reality and augmented reality scenes and has universality.

Description

Input device based on finger sensor

Technical Field

The utility model relates to an input device, more specifically say, relate to an input device based on finger sensor.

Background

At present, the mainstream human-computer interaction mode is the traditional keyboard mouse and touch screen input, and with the continuous development of AR and VR technologies, information input methods in the field are researched and applied. However, the existing technical solutions have disadvantages in terms of user friendliness and versatility and convenience of the input device, and they are also difficult to satisfy the user's requirement for customizing the input operation.

SUMMERY OF THE UTILITY MODEL

An object of the utility model is to provide an input device.

Therefore, the utility model provides the following technical scheme.

A finger sensor based input device comprising: at least one finger sensor configured to detect a degree of flexion of a user's finger; a processor configured to determine input information based on a degree of bending of the finger.

Optionally, the input device further comprises a customization unit configured to adopt the definition of the correspondence of the degree of bending and the input character by the user.

Optionally, the processor is configured to: respectively accepting corresponding characters of a first grid, a second grid and a third grid of a Sudoku grid based on the first finger being determined to be the first bending degree, the second bending degree and the third bending degree; based on the determination that the second finger is the first degree of curvature, the second degree of curvature, and the third degree of curvature, accepting corresponding characters of a fourth grid, a fifth grid, and a sixth grid of the Sudoku grid, respectively; and accepting corresponding characters of a seventh, eighth and ninth pane of the nine-palace pane, respectively, based on determining that the third finger is the first degree of curvature, the second degree of curvature and the third degree of curvature.

Optionally, the number of the finger sensors is 5, and the finger sensors are configured to detect the bending degrees of five fingers of the user respectively.

Optionally, the processor is configured to determine the current input finger from the finger with the largest current degree of curvature.

Optionally, the processor is configured to determine the degree of flexion based on a time to pause after the user's finger is bent exceeding a threshold.

Optionally, the input device further comprises a timer configured to detect a time of a pause after the user's finger is bent.

Optionally, the input device further comprises a transceiver configured to communicate with an external device.

Optionally, the input device is a handheld device.

Optionally, the glove device further comprises a timer and a transceiver, wherein the number of the finger sensors is 5, and the finger sensors are respectively arranged at the positions of the thumb, the index finger, the middle finger, the ring finger and the little finger of the user, and the processor, the timer and the transceiver are respectively arranged at the position of the palm root of the glove device.

The utility model provides a mode that utilizes finger sensor to combine the crooked degree of finger and dwell time simulation squared figure to input realizes an input solution. The method has good recognition accuracy and use friendliness, and can be used for a user to define input characters corresponding to different finger joints of the finger. The input device can be applied to various virtual reality and augmented reality scenes and has universality. Such an input device can be made as a glove device with good portability. In addition, the input device is low in manufacturing cost and convenient to popularize.

Drawings

Fig. 1 shows a block diagram of a finger sensor-based input device according to a first embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 2 illustrates a correspondence between a degree of finger bending and an input character, according to some embodiments.

FIG. 3 illustrates a schematic structural diagram of a glove device according to some embodiments.

Detailed Description

In the following description, specific details are set forth in order to provide a thorough understanding of the present invention. It will be apparent, however, to one skilled in the art that the embodiments of the invention may be practiced without these specific details. In the present invention, specific numerical references such as "first element", "second device", and the like may be made. However, specific numerical references should not be construed as necessarily subject to their literal order, but rather construed as "first element" as opposed to "second element".

The specific details set forth are exemplary and may be varied while remaining within the spirit and scope of the present invention. The term "coupled" is defined to mean either directly connected to a component or indirectly connected to the component via another component. Furthermore, as used herein, the terms "about" and "substantially" for any numerical value or range indicate appropriate tolerances without affecting the practice of the invention.

Preferred embodiments suitable for implementing the methods, systems and devices of the present invention are described below with reference to the accompanying drawings. Although the embodiments are described with respect to a single combination of elements, it is to be understood that the invention includes all possible combinations of the disclosed elements. Thus, if one embodiment includes elements A, B and C, while a second embodiment includes elements B and D, the invention should also be considered to include other remaining combinations of A, B, C or D, even if not explicitly disclosed.

As shown in fig. 1, a first embodiment of the present invention provides a finger sensor based input device comprising 5 finger sensors 101, 102, 103, 104 and 105, a processor 200 and optionally a timer 301 and a transceiver 402. The finger sensors are each coupled to the processor 200, as are the timer 301 and the transceiver 402.

Specifically, 5 finger sensors are respectively disposed at corresponding positions of 5 fingers for detecting the degree of bending of the positions of the user's thumb, index finger, middle finger, ring finger, and little finger. The finger sensors 101, 102, 103, 104, and 105 provide the detected information of the degree of bending to the processor 200. The processor 200 then determines the character the user desires to input directly from the degree of curvature of the currently input finger. The timer 301 may detect the time of a pause after the user's finger is bent. The transceiver 402 communicates with other external devices for communicating user input information generated by the processor 200 and external control or setting instructions. When communicating with an external device, the communication scheme can adopt wireless, Bluetooth, infrared and other modes.

The finger sensor is used for detecting the bending degree of the finger of the user, and the bending sensor for detecting the bending degree of the elastic body can be selected from commercially available bending sensors. By way of example, the degree of finger flexion detected by the finger sensor generally includes 0-30 degrees, 30-60 degrees, and 60-90 degrees, as shown in FIG. 2. Taking the glove input device worn on the right hand of the user as an example, the glove input device main body is a flexible body, which is convenient for the user to carry and has comfort when wearing. The glove input device can be flexibly bent along with the action of fingers of a user, and the five finger parts of the glove input device are respectively provided with a finger sensor for detecting the bending degree of each finger. As an example, each finger portion has 1-3 knuckles, as shown in FIG. 2, A represents a first knuckle, B represents a second knuckle, and C represents a third knuckle, each corresponding to a different input character. When the bending degree is 0-30 degrees, the third knuckle (C in figure 2) of the current input finger of the glove input device is in an input state, and the processor receives an input character corresponding to the third knuckle. When the degree of bending is 30-60 degrees, the second knuckle (B in fig. 2) of the current input finger is in the input state, and when the degree of bending is 60-90 degrees, the first knuckle (a in fig. 2) is in the input state.

In the following description, the index finger is taken as an example, the finger bending degree of 0-30 degrees indicates the first knuckle of the index finger of the glove, the corresponding input characters are, for example, "7, P, Q, R, S", the finger bending degree of 30-60 degrees indicates the second knuckle of the index finger of the glove, the corresponding input characters are "4, G, H, I", the finger bending degree of 60-90 degrees indicates the third knuckle of the index finger of the glove, and the corresponding input characters are "1, @,/,". In this way, the processor 200 can determine which group the user desires to input the character is specific to according to the degree of bending of the index finger. In addition to recognizing the input characters, the processor 200 may determine an operation instruction desired by the user according to the degree of bending of the finger.

The correspondence between the degree of curvature of the thumb, middle finger, ring finger and little finger of the glove (right hand) input device and the input characters is given further below. The thumb corresponds to the input command "ok" only, the first knuckle of the middle finger corresponds to the character "8, T, U, V", the second knuckle corresponds to the character "5, J, K, L", and the third knuckle corresponds to the character "2, a, B, C". The ring finger corresponds to the first knuckle to the character "9, W, X, Y, Z", the second knuckle to the character "6, M, N, O", and the third knuckle to the character "3, D, E, F". The first knuckle of the little finger corresponds to the character "0", the second knuckle corresponds to the character "line feed", and the third knuckle corresponds to the operation instruction "pay".

The user can also define the corresponding relationship between the finger bending degree (or finger knuckle) and the input character through a self-defining unit (not shown in the figure), or change the original default setting. The user-defined corresponding relation is applied to the processor 200 by the user-defined unit, and the processor 200 directly determines the user input characters according to the defined corresponding relation when detecting input subsequently. In this way, the input device provides a good use experience for the user.

In some embodiments of the present invention, the glove input device directly adopts a squared figure input mode for versatility. Specifically, the processor 200 accepts corresponding characters of a first, second, and third pane of the nine-square pane, respectively, based on determining that the first finger is the first degree of flexion, the second degree of flexion, and the third degree of flexion; based on the determination that the second finger is the first degree of curvature, the second degree of curvature, and the third degree of curvature, accepting corresponding characters of a fourth grid, a fifth grid, and a sixth grid of the Sudoku grid, respectively; corresponding characters of a seventh, eighth and ninth pane of the nine-palace pane are accepted, respectively, based on determining that the third finger is the first degree of curvature, the second degree of curvature and the third degree of curvature. The nine-square input mode is widely applied to various occasions, and the glove input equipment provided by the utility model has good universality.

When determining that the user is currently inputting a finger, considering that the user sometimes has difficulty in individually bending an individual finger, for example, a middle finger (which is bent to bring a ring finger), the finger with the largest current bending degree may be selected as the currently input finger, and the processor 200 may grasp the bending degree of each finger by communicating with each finger sensor, so that the processor 200 performs such determination. After a valid input is detected and accepted, the processor 200 resumes detecting the next user input.

Further, to avoid the user's finger shaking or malfunctioning to generate an undesirable input, the processor 200 is further configured to determine the degree of finger flexion based on the time for the user's finger to pause after flexion exceeding a time threshold, such as 0.5 seconds. For example, when the user's finger is bent at 0-30 degrees and stays for only 0.3 second, the processor 200 will ignore the input operation. The processor 200 will accept this input operation when the finger is flexed at 30-60 degrees for 0.6 seconds. To determine the time the finger is stopped, the timer 301 is configured to measure the time the user's finger is stopped after flexing. In other embodiments, timer 301 is not required and the timer function is implemented by processor 200.

In some embodiments of the present invention, the 5 finger sensors 1 of the glove input device are respectively coupled to the positions of 5 fingers, i.e. the positions of the thumb, the index finger, the middle finger, the ring finger and the little finger, and the processor 2, the timer 3 and the transceiver 4 are disposed at the position of the palm root of the glove input device, as shown in fig. 3. The transceiver 4 may also provide a general interface such as a USB interface.

Those of skill in the art would appreciate that the various illustrative logical blocks, modules, circuits, and algorithm steps described in connection with the aspects disclosed herein may be implemented as electronic hardware, computer software, or combinations of both. To demonstrate interchangeability of hardware and software, various illustrative components, blocks, modules, circuits, and steps have been described above generally in terms of their functionality. Whether such functionality is implemented as hardware or software depends upon the particular application and design constraints imposed on the overall system. Skilled artisans may implement the described functionality in varying ways for each particular application, but such implementation decisions should not be interpreted as causing a departure from the scope of the present invention.

The above description is only directed to the preferred embodiments of the present invention, and is not intended to limit the scope of the present invention. Various modifications may be made by those skilled in the art without departing from the spirit of the invention and the appended claims.

Claims (8)

1. A finger sensor based input device comprising:

at least one finger sensor configured to detect a degree of flexion of a user's finger; and

a processor configured to determine input information based on a degree of bending of the finger;

characterized in that the input device further comprises: a timer coupled to the processor configured to detect a time of a pause after a user's finger is bent;

wherein the processor is further configured to determine the degree of flexion based on a time to pause after the user's finger is flexed exceeding a threshold.

2. An input device as described in claim 1, wherein the input device further comprises: a custom unit configured to employ a user definition of a correspondence of the degree of curvature to an input character.

3. The input device of claim 1, wherein the processor is further configured to:

respectively accepting corresponding characters of a first grid, a second grid and a third grid of a Sudoku grid based on the first finger being determined to be the first bending degree, the second bending degree and the third bending degree;

based on the determination that the second finger is the first degree of curvature, the second degree of curvature, and the third degree of curvature, accepting corresponding characters of a fourth grid, a fifth grid, and a sixth grid of the Sudoku grid, respectively; and

corresponding characters of a seventh, eighth and ninth pane of the nine-palace pane are accepted, respectively, based on determining that the third finger is the first degree of curvature, the second degree of curvature and the third degree of curvature.

4. The input device as recited in claim 1, wherein the finger sensors are 5 finger sensors that respectively detect a degree of bending of five fingers of the user.

5. An input device as described in claim 4, wherein the processor is further configured to determine a current most curved finger as the current input finger.

6. An input device as described in claim 1, wherein the input device further comprises a transceiver configured to communicate with an external device.

7. An input device as described in claim 1, wherein the input device is a glove input device.

8. An input device as described in claim 7, wherein the glove input device includes the timer and a transceiver; the number of the finger sensors is 5, and the finger sensors are respectively arranged at the positions of a thumb, an index finger, a middle finger, a ring finger and a little finger of a user; the processor, the timer and the transceiver are respectively arranged at the palm root position of the glove input device.

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