Abstract: A sensing floor to locate people and devices is described. In an embodiment, the sensing floor (or sensing surface), is formed from a flexible substrate on which a number of distributed sensing elements and connections between sensing elements are formed in a conductive material. In an example, these elements and connections may be printed onto the flexible substrate. The sensing floor operates in one or more modes in order to detect people in proximity to the floor. In passive mode, the floor detects signals from the environment, such as electric hum, which are coupled into a sensing element when a person stands on the sensing element. In active mode, one sensing element transmits a signal which is detected in another sensing element when a person bridges those two elements. In hybrid mode, the floor switches between passive and active mode, for example, on detection of a person in passive mode.

Abstract: Generating computer models of 3D objects is described. In one example, depth images of an object captured by a substantially static depth camera are used to generate the model, which is stored in a memory device in a three-dimensional volume. Portions of the depth image determined to relate to the background are removed to leave a foreground depth image. The position and orientation of the object in the foreground depth image is tracked by comparison to a preceding depth image, and the foreground depth image is integrated into the volume by using the position and orientation to determine where to add data derived from the foreground depth image into the volume. In examples, the object is hand-rotated by a user before the depth camera. Hands that occlude the object are integrated out of the model as they do not move in sync with the object due to re-gripping.

Abstract: Speckle sensing for motion tracking is described, for example, to track a user's finger or head in an environment to control a graphical user interface, to track a hand-held device, to track digits of a hand for gesture-based control, and to track 3D motion of other objects or parts of objects in a real-world environment. In various examples a stream of images of a speckle pattern from at least one coherent light source illuminating the object, or which is generated by a light source at the object to be tracked, is used to compute an estimate of 3D position of the object. In various examples the estimate is transformed using information about position and/or orientation of the object from another source. In various examples the other source is a time of flight system, a structured light system, a stereo system, a sensor at the object, or other sources.

Abstract: Aspects of the subject disclosure are directed towards saving resources such as energy, computing, and communication by capturing evaluation (e.g., low-resolution) images periodically or otherwise, such as in a continuous mobile vision system, and processing each evaluation to determine whether a likely event is present that warrants capturing another (e.g., higher-resolution) image for further image processing. In one aspect, only the region or regions of interest of the high-resolution image is provided to an image processing algorithm for further image processing. Also described is the use of infrared sensing, such as to determine whether an image/event location/region of interest includes thermal data indicative of human features.

Abstract: The subject disclosure is directed towards a wearable interactive device, such as a wearable identity badge. When a user moves the device, such as to position a display (e.g., part) of the device a sensed distance at a sensed horizontal and vertical angle, the device outputs content that is based on the position. Context data also may be used in determining the content to output, as well as any other sensed data that may be available.

Abstract: An infrared source is configured to illuminate the underside of one or more objects on or above a touchable surface of a touch panel. Infrared light reflected from the underside of the object(s) is detected by an infrared sensor integrated in the touch panel below the touchable surface.

Abstract: An instruction-storage machine holds instructions that, when executed by a logic machine, cause the logic machine to find a human subject in depth data acquired with one or more depth cameras and to compute an aspect of the human subject from the depth data. The instructions further cause the logic machine to determine, based on the computed aspect, whether the human subject is complying with or deviating from a predefined rule, and to issue notification if the human subject is deviating from the rule. In another example, the instructions cause the logic machine to identify a trend based on the computed aspect and to report the identified trend.

Abstract: An instruction-storage machine holds instructions that, when executed by a logic machine, cause the logic machine to find a human subject in depth data acquired with one or more depth cameras arranged to image an environment, and to compute an aspect of the human subject from the depth data. Based on the computed aspect, the logic machine determines a change to be made in the environment and actuates appropriate hardware in the environment to make the change.

Abstract: Embodiments related to the use of depth imaging to augment speech recognition are disclosed. For example, one disclosed embodiment provides, on a computing device, a method including receiving depth information of a physical space from a depth camera, receiving audio information from one or more microphones, identifying a set of one or more possible spoken words from the audio information, determining a speech input for the computing device based upon comparing the set of one or more possible spoken words from the audio information and the depth information, and taking an action on the computing device based upon the speech input determined.

Abstract: Mobile camera localization using depth maps is described for robotics, immersive gaming, augmented reality and other applications. In an embodiment a mobile depth camera is tracked in an environment at the same time as a 3D model of the environment is formed using the sensed depth data. In an embodiment, when camera tracking fails, this is detected and the camera is relocalized either by using previously gathered keyframes or in other ways. In an embodiment, loop closures are detected in which the mobile camera revisits a location, by comparing features of a current depth map with the 3D model in real time. In embodiments the detected loop closures are used to improve the consistency and accuracy of the 3D model of the environment.

Abstract: Embodiments for a depth sensing camera with a wide field of view are disclosed. In one example, a depth sensing camera comprises an illumination light projection subsystem, an image detection subsystem configured to acquire image data having a wide angle field of view, a logic subsystem configured to execute instructions, and a data-holding subsystem comprising stored instructions executable by the logic subsystem to control projection of illumination light and to determine depth values from image data acquired via the image sensor. The image detection subsystem comprises an image sensor and one or more lenses.

Abstract: A system that can enable establishment of a self-describing data network is provided. Generally, the innovation provides a mechanism by which self-describing data can be collected, validated and stored in such a way that permits each data element to be inherently self-describing. The manner in which the data is stored can be analogized to a ‘data chemistry’ whereby data is stored in the smallest meaningful bit (e.g., atom) coupled with descriptive metadata (e.g., tags). In a specific example, the data network maintains health-related data where each element includes a core data element wrapped with descriptive metadata. The descriptive metadata (e.g., tags) can be employed to interrelate the data elements for storage as well as to facilitate efficient traversal of the data network as a whole.

Abstract: Three-dimensional environment reconstruction is described. In an example, a 3D model of a real-world environment is generated in a 3D volume made up of voxels stored on a memory device. The model is built from data describing a camera location and orientation, and a depth image with pixels indicating a distance from the camera to a point in the environment. A separate execution thread is assigned to each voxel in a plane of the volume. Each thread uses the camera location and orientation to determine a corresponding depth image location for its associated voxel, determines a factor relating to the distance between the associated voxel and the point in the environment at the corresponding location, and updates a stored value at the associated voxel using the factor. Each thread iterates through an equivalent voxel in the remaining planes of the volume, repeating the process to update the stored value.

Abstract: Use of a 3D environment model in gameplay is described. In an embodiment, a mobile depth camera is used to capture a series of depth images as it is moved around and a dense 3D model of the environment is generated from this series of depth images. This dense 3D model is incorporated within an interactive application, such as a game. The mobile depth camera is then placed in a static position for an interactive phase, which in some examples is gameplay, and the system detects motion of a user within a part of the environment from a second series of depth images captured by the camera. This motion provides a user input to the interactive application, such as a game. In further embodiments, automatic recognition and identification of objects within the 3D model may be performed and these identified objects then change the way that the interactive application operates.

Abstract: Real-time camera tracking using depth maps is described. In an embodiment depth map frames are captured by a mobile depth camera at over 20 frames per second and used to dynamically update in real-time a set of registration parameters which specify how the mobile depth camera has moved. In examples the real-time camera tracking output is used for computer game applications and robotics. In an example, an iterative closest point process is used with projective data association and a point-to-plane error metric in order to compute the updated registration parameters. In an example, a graphics processing unit (GPU) implementation is used to optimize the error metric in real-time. In some embodiments, a dense 3D model of the mobile camera environment is used.

Abstract: An embedded device sensor and actuation web page access system and method for providing a web application (such as a web page) access to sensor data about an embedded device and access to actuation mechanisms (such as vibration) associated with the device. The system and method can use the sensor data to obtain context information about the embedded device and understand what a user of the device is doing at any given moment. The sensor data can be used by the web application to influence how content is served up to the user. In some embodiments, the sensor data is provided to the web server using the headers in HTTP requests. Moreover, actuation commands for actuation mechanisms on the embedded device are provided using the headers of HTTP responses. Embodiments of the system and method provide a website access to sensor data and actuation commands without changing website operation.

Abstract: A tabletop display providing multiple views to users is described. In an embodiment the display comprises a rotatable view-angle restrictive filter and a display system. The display system displays a sequence of images synchronized with the rotation of the filter to provide multiple views according to viewing angle. These multiple views provide a user with a 3D display or with personalized content which is not visible to a user at a sufficiently different viewing angle. In some embodiments, the display comprises a diffuser layer on which the sequence of images are displayed. In further embodiments, the diffuser is switchable between a diffuse state when images are displayed and a transparent state when imaging beyond the surface can be performed. The device may form part of a tabletop comprising with a touch-sensitive surface. Detected touch events and images captured through the surface may be used to modify the images being displayed.

Abstract: An automatic addressing protocol for a shared bus is described. In an embodiment, devices connected in a chain by a shared bus are also connected by an independent electrical connection between each pair of neighboring devices. A protocol is used over the independent electrical connections which is independent of that used on the shared bus. Devices in the chain receive at least one device ID from an upstream neighbor via the independent electrical connection and either use this received ID as their ID or use the received ID to compute their ID. Where the device has a downstream neighbor, a device then transmits at least one device ID to the downstream neighbor via the independent electrical connection and this transmitted ID may be their ID or an ID generated based on their ID, for example, by incrementing the ID by one. The process is repeated by devices along the chain.

Abstract: An infrared source is configured to illuminate the underside of one or more objects on or above a touchable surface of a touch panel. Infrared light reflected from the underside of the object(s) is detected by an infrared sensor integrated in the touch panel below the touchable surface.

Abstract: An infrared source is configured to illuminate the underside of one or more objects on or above a touchable surface of a touch panel. Infrared light reflected from the underside of the object(s) is detected by an infrared sensor integrated in the touch panel below the touchable surface.