Device and system and method for interacting with target in operation area

This application claims the benefit of Taiwan Patent Application No. 099132897, filed on Sep. 28, 2010, in the Taiwan Intellectual Property Office, the disclosures of which are incorporated herein in their entirety by reference.

The present invention relates to a system implementing interaction by a motion, and more particularly to a device and system and method for interacting with a target in an operation area.

For a long time, the plane-motion mouse device is operated on a table to control the computer cursor to select an icon or item. In the selection operation, the user should move the cursor to touch the icon by itself before carrying out the following operation of starting the icon function. That is to say, to successfully select the icon, the cursor touching the icon is a necessary condition. However, two operation considerations for achieving the necessary condition, motions of the cursor and the icon to be selected are completely and passively under the control of the user operation.

Please refer to FIG. 1 , which is a schematic diagram showing a conventional operation process 10 for selecting an icon A 1 by a cursor B 1 . In FIG. 1 , the operation process 10 includes configurations 101 , 102 and 103 . In the configuration 101 , the action point B 1 U of the cursor B 1 is moved to the edge of the icon A 1 . In the configuration 102 , the action point B 1 U of the cursor B 1 is moved to the inside of the icon A 1 . In the configuration 103 , when the action point B 1 U of the cursor B 1 remains in the icon A 1 , an instruction can be utilized to select the icon A 1 . In general, in the operation as shown in FIG. 1 , a two-dimensional plane mouse device is used to operate the cursor for selecting the icon A 1 . In general, the operation method will not perplex the user, because the plane mouse device is held and operated by the user's palm and wrist. When the plane mouse is working on the table, the palm and the wrist of holding and operating the mouse are supported by the arm sustained by the table, and thus an intuitive and coordinating cooperation among the eyes, the palm, the wrist and the arm makes the cursor B 1 easily move to the icon A 1 for completing the icon selection, which perplexes nothing to the user.

A technical scheme in the prior art disclosed in U.S. Patent Application Publication No. 2009/0249257 A1 provides a cursor navigation assistance. Please refer to FIG. 2 , which is a schematic diagram showing a conventional operation configuration 201 , for selecting an icon A 1 by a cursor B 1 , disclosed in U.S. Patent Application Publication No. 2009/0249257 A1. In FIG. 2 , the operation configuration 201 includes the icon A 1 , the cursor B 1 and an interaction enabling area 25 . For instance, the interaction enabling area 25 may enclose the icon A 1 . When the cursor B 1 is moved to touch the interaction enabling area 25 , the cursor B 1 is automatically locked within the center region of the icon A 1 in order to select the icon A 1 . In FIG. 2 , to utilize the cursor B 1 for making a click and selection to the icon A 1 , the cursor B 1 is moved to contact the interaction enabling region 25 to enable the interaction between the cursor B 1 and the icon A 1 . However, because the interaction enabling area 25 is preset, the effect thereof is similar to enlarging the area of the icon A 1 . In the application that the air mouse device is operated with a three-dimensional motion to control the cursor B 1 for selecting the icon A 1 , the operation is equivalent to selecting an icon with a larger area by clicking. Therefore, when the air mouse device is operated with a three-dimensional motion, the scheme of the operation configuration 201 cannot reliably improve the problem resulting from the unavoidable hand motion including the unconscious motion or the thoughtless shake.

At present, the micro-gyroscope and the micro-accelerometer have been relatively widely applied to the computer field because of the progress of the micro-electro-mechanical technique, so that the three-dimensional air mouse device able to be kept off the table and operated in the air is developed in response thereto. The three-dimensional air mouse device or the so called air mouse device is operated with completely separating from the table and controls the cursor by the hand-held motion only to carry out the operation of selecting the icon on the screen. Because of exempting from the constraint of moving on the table, the air mouse device possesses very good motion freedom and convenience in operation. However, the hand also loses the support when operating the air mouse off the table, which results in the unnecessary motions of the hand of the user. For instance, either the thoughtless shake or the subconscious habit motion can cause an unexpected motion to the cursor and result in the operation deviation when selecting the icon. That is to say, the operation of positioning the cursor on the icon may have the situations of exceeding or fail to reach the limit, and more particularly the operation situation is happened when the area of the icon is smaller and the hand-held mouse in the air is used to position the cursor to the icon. Therefore, a lousy operation of repeating to aim the icon is unavoidable, and the good intention and the advantage of freely operating in the air are given at a great discount.

It is therefore an object of the present invention to provide an assignable interactive-operation starting distance, an assignable interactive area, an function of automatically starting an interactive operation, and a device, system and method for interacting with a target in an operation area to meet the abovementioned operation demand, and the user can define the interactive-operation starting distance by himself/herself to start the interactive-operation function for the system. The system provides a novel interactive-operation function to automatically start interaction between the cursor and the icon, so that the air mouse device is conveniently operated in the three-dimensional motion to control the cursor for making a click and selection to the icon.

It is therefore an aspect of the present invention to provide a system for interacting with a target in an operation area having a selection tool. The system includes an operating device. The operating device senses a motion to decide whether the motion has a specific motion. If the decision is positive, then according to a distance between the selection tool and the target to judge whether the selection tool is located upon the target.

It is therefore another aspect of the present invention to provide a device for interacting with a target in an operation area having a selection tool. The device includes a processing unit. The processing unit senses a motion to decide whether the motion has a specific motion, and sends out an instruction to determine a distance between the selection tool and the target so as to judge whether the selection tool is located upon the target.

It is therefore still another aspect of the present invention to provide a method for interacting with a target in an operation area having a selection tool. The method includes the following steps. A motion is sensed to decide whether the motion has a specific motion. When the decision is positive, it is confirmed that the selection tool is located upon the target.

The foregoing and other features and advantages of the present invention will be more clearly understood through the following descriptions with reference to the drawings, wherein:

FIG. 1 is a schematic diagram showing a conventional operation process for selecting an icon by a cursor;

FIG. 2 is a schematic diagram showing a conventional operation configuration, for selecting an icon by a cursor, disclosed in U.S. Patent Application Publication No. 2009/0249257 A1.

FIG. 3 is a schematic diagram showing a control system according to one embodiment of the present invention;

FIG. 4 is a schematic diagram showing a first configuration of the control system according to one embodiment of the present invention;

FIG. 5 is a schematic diagram showing a second configuration of the control system according to one embodiment of the present invention;

FIG. 6 is a schematic diagram showing a third configuration of the control system according to one embodiment of the present invention;

FIG. 7( a ) and FIG. 7( b ) are schematic diagrams respectively showing a fourth configuration and a fifth configuration of the control system according to one embodiment of the present invention;

FIG. 8 is a schematic diagram showing an interaction operation flow of the control system according to one embodiment of the present invention; and

FIG. 9 is a schematic diagram showing a structure of a control device according to one embodiment of the present invention.

The present invention will now be described more specifically with reference to the following embodiments. It is to be noted that the following descriptions of preferred embodiments of this invention are presented herein for the purposes of illustration and description only; it is not intended to be exhaustive or to be limited to the precise form disclosed.

Please refer to FIG. 3 , which is a schematic diagram showing a control system 30 according to one embodiment of the present invention. As shown, the control system 30 includes a display operating system 31 and an interacting system 32 . The display operating system 31 includes a processing device 311 and an operation area 312 . The operation area 312 has a target A 3 and a selection tool B 3 , which are displayed therein. The display operating system 31 controls the display of the operation area 312 . For instance, the display operating system 31 controls the target A 3 and the selection tool B 3 to be displayed in the operation area 312 . For instance, the selection tool B 3 may be a cursor or a pointer, and the target A 3 may be an icon. The selection tool B 3 may be controlled by the processing device 311 to move in the operation area 312 . The operation area 312 may be a display area or a display operation area.

The display operating system 31 includes the operation area 312 and the target A 3 . The interacting system 32 includes an operating device 33 and may interactively operate with the display operating system 31 . In one embodiment, the operating device 33 senses a motion MT 1 to make a decision R 1 about whether the motion MT 1 has a specific motion MT 1 A, and confirms that the selection tool B 3 is located upon the target A 3 when the decision R 1 is positive. In one embodiment, the operating device 33 senses the motion MT 1 to make the decision R 1 about whether the motion MT 1 has the specific motion MT 1 A, and confirms that the selection tool B 3 is located upon the target A 3 according to a distance D 3 between the selection tool B 3 and the target A 3 when the decision R 1 is positive. For instance, the specific motion MT 1 A may be a specific angular motion or a motion component.

In one embodiment, the operating device 33 includes a control device 34 and a processing device 311 coupled to the control device 34 . The control device 34 senses the motion MT 1 to generate a signal S 1 , and analyzes the signal S 1 to decide whether the signal S 1 has a signal component S 1 A for making the decision R 1 . When the decision R 1 is positive, the control device 34 generates an instruction H 1 . When the decision R 1 is negative, the control device 34 continues to sense the motion MT 1 , wherein the signal component S 1 A is related to the specific motion MT 1 A. For instance, the control device 34 has the motion MT 1 , the signal component S 1 A represents the specific motion MT 1 A, and the specific motion MT 1 A is one selected from a group consisting of a roll motion, a yaw motion and a pitch motion.

In one embodiment, the processing device 311 causes the control system 30 to enter a first state in response to the instruction H 1 . In the first state, the processing device 311 determines the distance D 3 between the selection tool B 3 and the target A 3 . When the distance D 3 is shorter than a threshold distance DA preset by the processing device 311 , the processing device 311 confirms that the selection tool B 3 is located upon the target A 3 . For instance, the processing device 311 presets the threshold distance DA by presetting a quantized distance DAK corresponding to the threshold distance DA, and determine the distance D 3 to obtain a quantized distance D 3 K; when the quantized distance D 3 K is shorter than the quantized distance DAK, the processing device 311 confirms that the selection tool B 3 is located upon the target A 3 . For instance, the control device 34 transmits the instruction H 1 to the processing device 311 . In one embodiment, when the distance D 3 is shorter than the threshold distance DA, the processing device 311 judges that the selection tool B 3 is located upon the target A 3 .

In one embodiment, when the decision R 1 is negative, the control device 34 makes a decision R 2 about whether the signal S 1 has a signal component S 1 B. When the decision R 2 is positive, the control device 34 generates an instruction H 2 according to the signal S 1 , wherein the signal component S 1 B is related to a specific motion MT 1 B, or the signal component S 1 B represents the specific motion MT 1 B. For instance, the control device 34 presets each of the decision R 1 and the decision R 2 to be negative, the specific motion MT 1 A and the specific motion MT 1 B are perpendicular to each other, and the control device 34 transmits the instruction H 2 to the processing device 311 . The processing device 311 causes the selection tool B 3 to make a movement G 1 towards the target A 3 in response to the instruction H 2 . If the decision R 2 is positive, the motion MT 1 may cause the selection tool B 3 to make the movement G 1 based on a first sensing sensitivity. For instance, the specific motion MT 1 B is one selected from a group consisting of a roll motion, a yaw motion and a pitch motion, and may be a specific angular motion or a motion component.

In one embodiment, the motion MT 1 includes a sub-motion MT 11 , a sub-motion MT 12 and the specific motion MT 1 B. The sub-motion MT 12 may have the specific motion MT 1 A, the sub-motion MT 11 may have a specific motion MT 1 C, and the specific motion MT 1 C and the specific motion MT 1 A are perpendicular to each other. For instance, the specific motion MT 1 C may be a specific angular motion or a motion component. When the selection tool B 3 is located at a position P 31 in the operation area 312 , the control device 34 determines an initial posture of the sub-motion MT 11 in response to an input and presets each of the decision R 1 and the decision R 2 to be negative, wherein the input may be a user input or a control command from the processing device 311 . For instance, the position P 31 is located outside the target A 3 ; the selection tool B 3 has an action point B 3 U; and when the action point B 3 U is located at the position P 31 , the control device 34 determines the initial posture of the sub-motion MT 11 . The control device 34 causes the decision R 1 to be negative in response to the sub-motion MT 11 so as to cause the selection tool B 3 to move towards the target A 3 from the position P 31 . When the selection tool B 3 moves from the position P 31 to a position P 32 , the control device 34 causes the decision R 1 to be positive in response to the sub-motion MT 12 so as to generate the instruction H 1 .

In one embodiment, when the action point B 3 U of the selection tool B 3 is located at the position P 32 , the control system 30 enter the first state in response to the instruction H 1 . In the first state, the processing device 311 determines the distance D 3 between the selection tool B 3 and the target A 3 to obtain the quantized distance D 3 K. For instance, the distance D 3 is a distance between the action point B 3 U of the selection tool B 3 and a reference position A 3 P of the target A 3 ; preferably, the reference position A 3 P may be the centroid of the target A 3 ; when the action point B 3 U of the selection tool B 3 is located at the position P 32 , the distance D 3 may be a distance between the position P 32 and the centroid of the target A 3 .

In the first state, when the distance D 3 is shorter than the threshold distance DA, the processing device 311 may make a first process, wherein the first process may include at least one selected from a group consisting of a first operation, a second operation and a third operation. The first operation is that of locking the selection tool B 3 at a predetermined position A 3 Q of the target A 3 for a predetermined time period. For instance, the predetermined position A 3 Q is located within a center region A 3 M of the target A 3 , and the action point B 3 U of the selection tool B 3 is locked at the predetermined position A 3 Q. The second operation is that of confirming that the selection tool B 3 selects the target A 3 . The third operation is that of leaving the first state. For instance, in the first state, when the quantized distance D 3 K is shorter than the quantized distance DAK, the processing device 311 may make the first process.

When the target A 3 is selected, the control device 34 obtains a user input to instruct the processing device 311 to start a function associated with the target A 3 . In the first state, when the distance D 3 is one of distances equal to and longer than the threshold distance DA, the processing device 311 may proceed to a second process, wherein the second process may include at least one selected from a group consisting of a fourth operation, a fifth operation and a sixth operation. The fourth operation is that of providing a feedback signal FB 1 to the control device 34 . The fifth operation is that of causing the selection tool B 3 to further make a movement G 2 towards the target A 3 in response to the instruction H 1 , wherein the motion MT 1 causes the selection tool B 3 to make the movement G 2 based on a second sensing sensitivity. For instance, the first sensing sensitivity is one of sensitivities the same as and different from the second sensing sensitivity. The sixth operation is that of leaving the first state. For instance, in the first state, when the quantized distance D 3 K is one of distances equal to and longer than the quantized distance DAK, the processing device 311 may make the second process.

As shown in FIG. 3 , in one embodiment, the control device 34 is a device for interacting with the target A 3 in the operation area 312 . The control device 34 includes a processing unit 36 . The processing unit 36 senses the motion MT 1 to decide whether the motion MT 1 has the specific motion MT 1 A, and sends out the instruction H 1 to determine the distance D 3 between the selection tool B 3 and the target A 3 so as to confirm whether the selection tool B 3 is located upon the target A 3 . The processing unit 36 includes a sensing unit 341 and a control unit 342 coupled to the sensing unit 341 . In one embodiment, the sensing unit 341 sensing the motion MT 1 to generate the signal S 1 including a sub-signal S 11 and a sub-signal S 12 . The sensing unit 341 includes a gyroscope 3411 and an accelerometer 3412 . The gyroscope 3411 senses the motion MT 1 to generate the sub-signal S 11 , and the accelerometer 3412 senses the motion MT 1 to generate the sub-signal S 12 .

In one embodiment, the control unit 342 coupled to the gyroscope 3411 and the accelerometer 3412 analyzes the signal S 1 to make the decision R 1 about whether the signal S 1 has the signal component S 1 A related to the specific motion MT 1 A. When the decision R 1 is positive, the control unit 342 generates the instruction H 1 . When the decision is negative, the control unit 342 makes the decision R 2 about whether the signal S 1 has a signal component S 1 B related to the specific motion MT 1 B. When the decision R 2 is positive, the control unit 342 generates the instruction H 2 according to the signal S 1 , wherein the specific motion MT 1 A is one selected from a group consisting of a roll motion, a yaw motion and a pitch motion, and the specific motion MT 1 A and the specific motion MT 1 B are perpendicular to each other. For instance, the control unit 342 presets the quantized distance DAK, presets each of the decision R 1 and the decision R 2 to be negative in response to an input, and then begins to decide whether the motion MT 1 includes the specific motion MT 1 A, wherein the input may be a user input or a control command from the processing device 311 . In one embodiment, in order to assign the decision R 1 , the control unit 342 analyzes the signal S 1 to determine if the signal S 1 is including the signal component S 1 A; in order to assign the decision R 2 , the control unit 342 determines if the signal S 1 is including the signal component S 1 B when the decision R 1 is negative.

In one embodiment, the instruction H 2 causes the selection tool B 3 to make the movement G 1 towards the target A 3 , wherein the motion MT 1 causes the selection tool B 3 to make the movement G 1 based on the first sensing sensitivity when the decision R 2 is positive. The instruction H 1 causes the distance D 3 to be determined for making a third process, wherein the third process is one selected from a group consisting of a seventh operation and an eighth operation. The seventh operation is that the selection tool B 3 automatically comes into contact with the target A 3 when the distance D 3 is shorter than the threshold distance DA. The eighth operation is that the selection tool B 3 further makes the movement G 2 towards the target A 3 when the distance D 3 is one of distances equal to and longer than the threshold distance DA, wherein the motion MT 1 causes the selection tool B 3 to make the movement G 2 based on the second sensing sensitivity, and the first sensing sensitivity is one of sensitivities the same as and different from the second sensing sensitivity. In one embodiment, when the decision R 1 is positive, the control unit 342 arranges an effective signal component ratio between the sub-signal S 11 and the sub-signal S 12 to generate a signal S 2 , and generates an instruction H 3 according to the signal S 2 , wherein the instruction H 3 instructs the selection tool B 3 to move or further move towards the target A 3 .

In one embodiment implemented according to FIG. 3 , the control device 34 is a device for interacting with the target A 3 in the operation area 312 . The control device 34 includes the processing unit 36 . The processing unit 36 senses the motion MT 1 and decides whether the motion MT 1 includes the specific motion MT 1 A; that is, the processing unit 36 senses the motion MT 1 to decide whether the motion MT 1 has the specific motion MT 1 A. The processing unit 36 further sends out the instruction H 1 to determine the distance D 3 between the selection tool B 3 and the target A 3 so as to decide whether the selection tool B 3 is located upon the target A 3 .

Please refer to FIG. 4 , which is a schematic diagram showing a first configuration 51 of the control system 30 according to one embodiment of the present invention. As shown, the control system 30 has a state K 41 and a state K 42 . For the descriptive purpose, the first configuration 51 shows the control device 34 when being in the state K 41 , the control device 34 when being in the state K 42 , and the operation area 312 . There are the target A 3 , the selection tool B 3 when being in the state K 41 , and the selection tool B 3 when being in the state K 42 , descriptively displayed in the operation area 312 . For instance, the target A 3 is located at a relatively fixed position in the operation area 312 , and the control device 34 controls the selection tool B 3 to move in the operation area 312 .

As shown in FIG. 4 , in one embodiment, the control device 34 may be a hand-held control device, such as a remote controller, an air mouse device or a mobile phone. In the state K 41 , the control device 34 is located at any initial operation position PC 1 . The control device 34 is moved to a first motion position PC 2 with a first motion, which causes the control system 30 to enter the state K 42 , wherein the first motion of the control device 34 is a yaw motion, a pitch motion, or a resultant motion of the yaw and the pitch motions. For instance, the first motion is the specific motion MT 1 C, which is a yaw motion component of the motion MT 1 , a pitch motion component of the motion MT 1 , or a resultant motion component of the yaw and the pitch motion components. For instance, the change in the angle θ y around the y axis is used to express a yaw motion, and the change in the angle θ x around the x axis is used to express a pitch motion.

A movement of the selection tool B 3 corresponds to a motion of the control device 34 . In the state K 41 , the selection tool B 3 is located at any position P 31 on the operation area 312 or in the operation area 312 . For instance, the operation area 312 is located on a screen (not shown), and the action point B 3 U of the selection tool B 3 is located at the position P 31 in the state K 41 . When the control device 34 having the first motion causes the control system 30 to enter the state K 42 , the selection tool B 3 is controlled by the first motion and moves to a position P 32 in the operation area 312 with a horizontal motion, a vertical motion or a horizontal and vertical motion, wherein the first motion of the control device 34 is a yaw motion, a pitch motion, or a resultant motion of the yaw and the pitch motions. At this time, the selection tool B 3 is in the state K 42 . For instance, the action point B 3 U of the selection tool B 3 is located at the position P 32 in the state K 42 , wherein the position P 32 is a first operation point.

Please refer to FIG. 5 , which is a schematic diagram showing a second configuration 52 of the control system 30 according to one embodiment of the present invention. As shown, the control system 30 has the state K 41 , the state K 42 and a state K 43 . For the descriptive purpose, the second configuration 52 shows the control device 34 in the states K 42 and K 43 , and the operation area 312 . There are the target A 3 , the selection tool B 3 in the states K 41 , K 42 and K 43 , descriptively displayed in the operation area 312 . The control device 34 controls the selection tool B 3 to move in the operation area 312 .

As shown in FIG. 5 , in one embodiment, when the user wants the control system 30 to enter the state K 42 , the user can make an operation of a roll motion. In the mean time, the control device 34 receives the roll motion, and the gyroscope 3411 , the accelerometer 3412 or both thereof in the control device 34 can sense the roll motion so as to generate an associated roll signal related to the roll motion. The associated roll signal is used to start an interaction operation function, which performs the operation of causing the selection tool B 3 to fall upon the target A 3 , such as causing the cursor to fall upon the icon. For instance, the roll motion is the specific motion MT 1 A, which is a roll motion component of the motion MT 1 , and the associated roll signal is the signal component S 1 A of the signal S 1 . The control device 34 sends out the instruction H 1 according to the associated roll signal to the processing device 311 . The instruction H 1 instructs the processing device 311 to start the interaction operation function. For instance, the processing device 311 has the interaction operation function, and the change in the angle θz′ around the z′ axis is used to express a roll motion.

In FIG. 5 , there is the distance D 3 between the selection tool B 3 and the target A 3 . The screen is coupled to an electronic device, such as a personal computer. When the electronic device receives the instruction H 1 , the electronic device causes the control system 30 to enter the state K 42 and the first state as the aforementioned in response to the instruction H 1 and causes the processing device 311 to determine the distance D 3 , wherein the state K 42 is an initial state of the first state. In the state K 42 , the selection tool B 3 is located at the position P 32 , the distance D 3 between the position P 32 and the single target A 3 is a distance d 31 , and the position P 32 in the operation area 312 becomes an interaction starting point between the selection tool B 3 and the target A 3 . At this time, the processing device 311 starts the interaction operation function causing the selection tool B 3 to select the target A 3 , the distance D 3 between the selection tool B 3 and some specific point in the target A 3 is the distance d 31 , and the distance d 31 is the interaction starting distance.

In one embodiment, the processing device 311 decides whether the distance D 3 is shorter than an interaction threshold distance DA 2 . When the distance D 3 is shorter than the interaction threshold distance DA 2 , the processing device 311 automatically moves the selection tool B 3 onto the target A 3 and confirms that the selection tool B 3 is located upon the target A 3 . When the distance D 3 is one of distances equal to and longer than the interaction threshold distance DA 2 , the motion of the control device 34 may cause the selection tool B 3 to continue to move towards the target A 3 . As shown in FIG. 5 , when the control device 34 is moved to a second motion position PC 3 , the control device 34 causes the selection tool B 3 to move to the position P 33 and causes the control system 30 to enter the state K 43 . When the control system 30 is in the state K 43 , the distance D 3 between the selection tool B 3 and the target A 3 is equal to the interaction threshold distance DA 2 . When the distance D 3 continues to become shorter in response to the motion of the control device 34 and is shorter than the interaction threshold distance DA 2 , the selection tool B 3 can be automatically moved onto the target A 3 to cause the processing device 311 to confirm that the selection tool is located upon the target A 3 , thereby achieving the interaction selection operation between the selection tool B 3 and the target A 3 . In one embodiment, the control device 34 sends out the instruction H 1 according to the associated roll signal, and the specific point in the target may be the centroid of the area of the target A.

Please refer to FIG. 6 , which is a schematic diagram showing a third configuration 53 of the control system 30 according to one embodiment of the present invention. As shown, the control system 30 has the state K 41 , the state K 42 and a state K 43 . For the descriptive purpose, the third configuration 53 shows the control device 34 when being in the state K 41 , the control device 34 when being in the state K 42 , the control device 34 when being in the state K 43 , and the operation area 312 . There are a plurality of targets A 41 , A 42 , A 43 , A 44 , A 45 , A 46 , A 47 , A 48 and A 49 , the selection tool B 3 when being in the state K 41 , and the selection tool B 3 when being in the state K 42 , descriptively displayed in the operation area 312 . For instance, the plurality of targets A 41 , A 42 , . . . , and A 49 form an target array A 4 .

The plurality of targets A 41 , A 42 , . . . , and A 49 are arranged to be separable from each other and do not adjoin each other. The operation features of the third configuration 53 are similar to those of the first configuration 51 and to those of the second configuration 52 . The main operation features of the third configuration 53 are described as follows. There are distances D 44 , D 45 , D 47 and D 48 between the selection tool B 3 and the respective targets A 44 , A 45 , A 47 and A 48 . The processing device 311 causes the control system 30 to enter the first state in response to the instruction H 1 . In the first state, the processing device 311 determines the distances D 44 , D 45 , D 47 and D 48 . When the control system 30 is in the state K 42 and a roll motion is made to start an interaction starting point between the selection tool B 3 and the plurality of targets A 41 , A 42 , . . . , and A 49 , the processing device 311 determines interaction starting distances d 44 , d 45 , d 47 and d 48 between the interaction starting point and the respective targets A 44 , A 45 , A 47 and A 48 , wherein the targets A 44 , A 45 , A 47 and A 48 surround the interaction starting point.

For instance, the targets A 44 , A 45 , A 47 and A 48 have centroids W 44 , W 45 , W 47 and W 48 , respectively. The interaction starting distances d 44 , d 45 , d 47 and d 48 are distances between the interaction starting point and the respective centroids W 44 , W 45 , W 47 and W 48 . Afterwards, when the selection tool B 3 moves in response to the motion of the control device 34 , the distances D 44 , D 45 , D 47 and D 48 continue to vary respectively from the interaction starting distances d 44 , d 45 , d 47 and d 48 . When the shortest distance (such as D 45 ) in the distances D 44 , D 45 , D 47 and D 48 is shorter than an interaction threshold distance DA 3 , the selection tool B 3 can be fallen upon the target A 45 to cause the processing device 311 to confirm that the selection tool is located upon the target A 3 ; that is, the selection tool B 3 is automatically moved onto the target A 3 for achieving the interaction selection operation between the selection tool B 3 and the target A 45 . Preferably, the processing device 311 presets the interaction threshold distance DA 3 .

Please refer to FIG. 7( a ) and FIG. 7( b ), which are schematic diagrams respectively showing a fourth configuration 54 and a fifth configuration 55 of the control system 30 according to one embodiment of the present invention. As shown in FIG. 7( a ), the fourth configuration 54 shows the operation area 312 . There are a plurality of targets A 51 , A 52 , A 53 , A 54 , A 55 , A 56 , A 57 , A 58 , A 59 , A 5 A, A 5 B, A 5 C, A 5 D, A 5 E, A 5 F and A 5 G, and the selection tool B 3 when being in the state K 42 , displayed in the operation area 312 , wherein the plurality of targets A 51 , A 52 , . . . , and A 5 G form an target array A 5 . Any two neighboring targets of the plurality of targets A 51 , A 52 , . . . , and A 5 G are arranged to adjoin each other and have no gap therebetween.

The operation features of the fourth configuration 54 are similar to those of the third configuration 53 , and the main operation features of the fourth configuration 54 are described as follows. The targets A 55 , A 56 , A 57 , A 59 , A 5 B, A 5 D, A 5 E and A 5 F have centroids W 55 , W 56 , W 57 , W 59 , W 5 B, W 5 D, W 5 E and W 5 F, respectively. There are distances D 55 , D 56 , D 57 , D 59 , D 5 B, D 5 D, D 5 E and D 5 F between the action point B 3 U of the selection tool B 3 and the respective centroids W 55 , W 56 , W 57 , W 59 , W 5 B, W 5 D, W 5 E and W 5 F. The processing device 311 causes the control system 30 to enter the first state in response to the instruction H 1 . When the control system 30 enters the first state, the action point B 3 U of the selection tool B 3 is located in the target A 55 and located at the position in the operation area 312 . The targets A 55 , A 56 , A 57 , A 59 , A 5 B, A 5 D, A 5 E and A 5 F surround an interaction starting point. In the first state, the processing device 311 determines the distances D 55 , D 56 , D 57 , D 59 , D 5 B, D 5 D, D 5 E and D 5 F.

When the selection tool B 3 moves in response to the motion of the control device 34 , the distances D 55 , D 56 , D 57 , D 59 , D 5 B, D 5 D, D 5 E and D 5 F continue to vary respectively. When the shortest distance (such as D 5 B) in the distances D 55 , D 56 , D 57 , D 59 , D 5 B, D 5 D, D 5 E and D 5 F is shorter than an interaction threshold distance DA 4 , the selection tool B 3 can be located upon the target A 5 B so as to achieve the interaction selection operation between the selection tool B 3 and the target A 5 B. As shown in the fifth configuration 55 of FIG. 7 , when the selection tool B 3 selects the target A 5 B, the target A 5 B can be displayed with the conditions that the color of the target A 5 B is changed into inverse video and the area of the target A 5 B is enlarged.

In one embodiment implemented according to FIG. 4 , FIG. 5 , FIG. 6 , FIG. 7( a ) and FIG. 7( b ), when the selection tool B 3 selects one desired target, the user may start a function associated with the desired target by an operation, wherein the operation is one selected from a group consisting of: pushing a pushbutton (not shown) on the control device 34 ; and making a gesture, such as a swing, a shake or a roll motion with a direction reverse to the direction of the previous roll motion of the roll motion.

Please refer to FIG. 8 , which is a schematic diagram showing an interaction operation flow of the control system 30 according to one embodiment of the present invention. As shown, in Step 602 , the selection tool B 3 is controlled to move by a motion sensing. For instance, the motion sensing is a three-dimensional motion sensing. In Step 604 , whether a roll motion signal is detected is decided to obtain a first decision result, wherein the roll motion signal may be a signal component of the signal S 1 . Under a condition that the first decision result is positive, the flow proceeds to Step 606 . Under a condition that the first decision result is negative, the flow goes back to Step 602 .

In Step 606 , a first, a second, a third and a fourth sub-steps thereof may be performed as follows. In the first sub-step, an interaction function is started to cause the selection tool B 3 to be located upon the desired target. In the second sub-step, the sensitivity of the motion sensing is adjusted (increased/reduced). For instance, the gyroscope 3411 , the accelerometer 3412 or both thereof of the control device 34 makes the motion sensing, wherein the gyroscope 3411 senses the motion MT 1 to generate the sub-signal S 11 , and the accelerometer 3412 senses the motion MT 1 to generate the sub-signal S 12 . In the third sub-step, the effective signal component ratio between the sub-signal S 11 and the sub-signal S 12 is arranged to generate the signal S 2 , and the selection tool B 3 is controlled to further move towards the desired target according to the signal S 2 . In the fourth sub-step, a light signal or a sound signal is sent out to notify that a target can be selected. In one embodiment, the abovementioned second, third and fourth sub-steps may be selectively performed.

In Step 608 , the selection tool B 3 is caused to select the desired target by the interaction function. In Step 610 , whether a function associated with the desired target is started is decided to obtain a second decision result; for instance, a gesture or a motion is used to start the function. Under a condition that the second decision result is positive, the flow proceeds to Step 612 . Under a condition that the second decision result is negative, the flow goes back to Step 602 . In Step 612 , the function associated with the desired target is performed.

In one embodiment implemented according to FIG. 8 , when a roll motion is detected, the sensing sensitivity of the three-dimensional motion sensing module may be adjusted. For instance, the sensing sensitivity of the gyroscope or the accelerometer may be reduced by adjusting, so that the user may operate the selection tool to approach the target by a larger action of the control device until the interaction function for causing the selection tool to be located upon the target is started, thereby achieving the selection operation between the selection tool and the target. Otherwise, the sensing sensitivity may be increased by adjusting, so that the user may cause the selection tool to quickly approach the target by a small-range motion of the control device so as to achieve the selection operation between the selection tool and the target; this operation way is particularly fit for the user whose hand motion is aptly controlled by itself.

In one embodiment implemented according to FIG. 8 , the gyroscope and the accelerometer in the three-dimensional motion sensing module output the first sub-signal and the second sub-signal, respectively. When a roll motion is detected, an effective signal component ratio between the first sub-signal and the second sub-signal S 12 is arranged to generate an arranged signal. For instance, in the first extreme condition, the input ratio which the first sub-signal is input to the arranged signal may be set to 0; that is, after that, the three-dimensional motion sensing module only can detect the roll motion of the control device; that is, starting from this time, only the wrist rotation operation can effectively control the selection tool to move, so that the swing motion (yaw/pitch motion) with the horizontal/vertical rotation of the arm in the original condition is transitioned into a motion which only has a wrist rotation. That is to say, in the operation, the user experiences an analogous slowdown motion, which a quick swing motion of the arm is transitioned into a wrist motion to start the interaction operation function between the selection tool and the target, so as to ease the user to precisely control the selection tool to move towards the target until the interaction operation function is finished. Otherwise, in the second extreme condition, the input ratio which the second sub-signal is input to the arranged signal may be set to 0; in other words, the sensing function of the accelerometer is turned off; at this time, the user utilizes the control device 34 to sense the motion only by the gyroscope. In the second extreme condition, the operation way for the interaction operation function between the selection tool and the target from the starting time to the ending time is kept to be consistent with that prior to starting the interaction operation function, so that the user can locate the selection tool upon the target in one single operation.

Please refer to FIG. 9 , which is a schematic diagram showing a structure of the control device 34 according to one embodiment of the present invention. As shown, the control device 34 includes the processing unit 36 . The processing unit 36 includes the sensing unit 341 and the control unit 342 coupled to the sensing unit 341 . In one embodiment, the sensing unit 341 sensing the motion MT 1 to generate the signal S 1 , wherein the signal S 1 includes the sub-signal S 11 and the sub-signal S 12 . The sensing unit 341 includes the gyroscope 3411 and the accelerometer 3412 . The gyroscope 3411 senses the motion MT 1 to generate the sub-signal S 11 , and the accelerometer 3412 senses the motion MT 1 to generate the sub-signal S 12 .

The control unit 342 includes a microcontroller 81 , a pushbutton 82 , a light emitting unit 83 , a speaking unit 84 , a vibrating unit 85 and a communication interface 86 . The microcontroller 81 is coupled to the gyroscope 3411 , the accelerometer 3412 , the pushbutton 82 , the light emitting unit 83 , the speaking unit 84 , the vibrating unit 85 and the communication interface 86 . The communication interface 86 may includes at least one selected from a group consisting of a radio frequency module, a Bluetooth module and a universal series bus module. The microcontroller 81 receives the signal S 1 , determines the signal S 2 , the decision R 1 , the decision R 2 and the instructions H 1 , H 2 and H 3 separately in response to the signal S 1 , and transmits the respective instructions H 1 , H 2 and H 3 to the processing device 311 through the communication interface 86 .

The communication interface 86 receives the feedback signal FB 1 from the processing device 311 , and forwards the feedback signal FB 1 to the microcontroller 81 . The microcontroller 81 may generate an instruction H 4 according to the feedback signal FB 1 , and transmits the instruction H 4 to the processing device 311 through the communication interface 86 for controlling the interaction operation between the selection tool B 3 and the target A 3 . The microcontroller 81 may drive at least one selected from a group consisting of the light emitting unit 83 , the speaking unit 84 and the vibrating unit 85 . As described in the aforementioned, when the selection tool B 3 selects the desired target, the user may utilizes the control device 34 to start a function associated with the desired target by an operation, wherein the operation is one selected from a group consisting of: pushing the pushbutton 82 on the control device 34 ; and making a gesture, such as a swing, a shake or a roll motion with a direction reverse to the direction of the previous roll motion of the roll motion.

While the invention has been described in terms of what is presently considered to be the most practical and preferred embodiments, it is to be understood that the invention needs not be limited to the disclosed embodiments. On the contrary, it is intended to cover various modifications and similar arrangements included within the spirit and scope of the appended claims, which are to be accorded with the broadest interpretation so as to encompass all such modifications and similar structures.