US-12621562-B2 - Camera power state controls

US12621562B2US 12621562 B2US12621562 B2US 12621562B2US-12621562-B2

Abstract

An example device comprises: a camera; and a processor. The processor is to receive successive images from the camera. The processor is further to, in response to determining both that: there is a hand in a particular configuration in the successive images; and the hand in the particular configuration in the successive images is moving towards the camera: turn off the camera.

Inventors

ALAN MAN PAN TAM
Hui Leng Lim
Ann Alejandro VILLEGAS
Yun David Tang
King Sui Kei

Assignees

HEWLETT-PACKARD DEVELOPMENT COMPANY, L.P.

Dates

Publication Date: 20260505
Application Date: 20210611

Claims (20)

1 . A device comprising: a camera to: capture successive images while in an on-state, and discontinue capturing the successive images while in an off-state; and a processor communicatively coupled to the camera, wherein the processor is to: detect a hand in the successive images captured by the camera, analyze, in response to detecting the hand in the successive images, the successive images to determine whether the hand is in a particular configuration, detect, in response to determining presence of the hand in the particular configuration, whether movement of the hand is towards the camera, and ignore the successive images that include: the hand moving in a direction other than towards the camera; or the hand in a configuration other than a particular configuration; and trigger, in response to detecting the movement of the hand towards the camera, a transition of the camera from the on-state to the off-state.
2 . The device of claim 1 , wherein the particular configuration of the hand comprises: a particular portion of the hand facing the camera; or a palm of the hand facing the camera.
3 . The device of claim 1 , wherein the processor is further to determine that the hand is moving towards the camera by: determining that the hand is getting larger, with time, in the successive images.
4 . The device of claim 1 , wherein the processor is further to: in response to determining from the successive images that the hand in the particular configuration is moving towards the camera, and further in response to determining from the successive images that a size of the hand in the particular configuration exceeds a threshold area of a field-of-view of the camera: turn off the camera.
5 . The device of claim 1 , wherein the processor is further to, in response to turning off the camera: update a user interface to indicate that the camera is off.
6 . The device of claim 1 , wherein the processor is further to ignore the successive images that include the hand moving in a direction other than towards the camera.
7 . The device of claim 1 , wherein the processor is further to ignore the successive images that include the hand in a configuration other than a particular configuration.
8 . The device of claim 1 , wherein the processor is further to ignore movement in the successive images other than movement of the hand.
9 . A method comprising: receiving, by a computing device, successive images from an imaging device that captures the successive images while in an on-state and discontinues capturing of the successive images while in an off-state; down-sampling, by the computing device, a subset of the successive images to generate successive down-sampled images; detecting, by the computing device, a hand in the successive down-sampled images; analyzing, by the computing device in response to detecting the hand in the successive down-sampled images, the successive down-sampled images to determine whether the hand is in a particular configuration in the successive down-sampled images; detecting, by the computing device in response to determining presence of the hand in the particular configuration, whether the hand is moving towards the imaging device; ignore movement in the successive images other than movement of the hand; and triggering, by the computing device in response to detecting hand moving towards the imaging device towards the imaging device, a transition of the imaging device from the on-state to the off-state.
10 . The method of claim 9 , wherein down-sampling the subset of the successive images to generate the successive down-sampled images comprises: converting the subset of the successive images to a resolution lower than an initial resolution of the successive images.
11 . The method of claim 9 , wherein down-sampling the subset of the successive images to generate the successive down-sampled images comprises: periodically down-sampling a particular number of the successive images.
12 . The method of claim 9 , wherein down-sampling the subset of the successive images to generate the successive down-sampled images comprises: skipping down-sampling the successive images in a further subset of the successive images.
13 . The method of claim 9 , further comprising: placing a bounding box around the hand in the particular configuration in the successive down-sampled images; and determining that the bounding box around the hand increases with time, in the successive down-sampled images.
14 . The method of claim 9 , further comprising ignoring the successive images that include: the hand moving in a direction other than towards the imaging device; or the hand in a configuration other than a particular configuration.
15 . A non-transitory computer-readable medium comprising instructions that, when executed by a processor of a computing device, cause the processor to: receive a video stream from a camera that captures successive frames of the video stream while in an on-state and discontinues capturing of the successive frames while in an off-state; analyze, in response to receiving the video stream, the successive frames to detect a hand in the successive frames; identify, in the successive frames in response to detecting the hand, changes in a size of the hand and changes in a position of the hand; ignore the successive frames of the video stream that include: the hand moving in a direction other than towards the camera; or the hand in a configuration other than a particular configuration; and trigger, based on the changes in the size of the hand and the position of the hand, a transition of the camera from the on-state to the off-state.
16 . The non-transitory computer-readable medium of claim 15 , wherein the instructions are further to cause the processor to trigger the camera to discontinue capturing the successive frames by transitioning the camera from the on-state to the off-state.
17 . The non-transitory computer-readable medium of claim 15 , wherein the instructions are further to cause the processor to: ignore movement in the successive frames other than movement of the hand.
18 . The non-transitory computer-readable medium of claim 15 , wherein the instructions are further to cause the processor to ignore the successive frames of the video stream that include: the hand moving in a direction other than towards the camera.
19 . The non-transitory computer-readable medium of claim 15 , wherein the instructions are further to cause the processor to analyze the successive frames of the video stream to determine changes in the position of the hand and the size of the hand across the successive frames using a deep neural network, a machine learning algorithm, color conversion, skin modeling, or thresholding.
20 . The non-transitory computer-readable medium of claim 15 , wherein the instructions are further to cause the processor to ignore the successive frames of the video stream that include the hand in a configuration other than a particular configuration.

Description

BACKGROUND Computing devices, such as laptops, have imaging devices, such as cameras. Such cameras may be used in video conferencing applications, and the like, which may sometimes be challenging to turn off. BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS Reference will now be made, by way of example only, to the accompanying drawings in which: FIG. 1 is a schematic view of an example computing device to control a power state of a camera. FIG. 2 is a schematic view of an example computing device to control a power state of an imaging device. FIG. 3 is a flow diagram of an example method to control a power state of an imaging device. FIG. 4 is a schematic view of another example computing device to control a power state of a camera. FIG. 5A, FIG. 5B, FIG. 5C and FIG. 5D depicts a sequence that illustrates camera state power control. DETAILED DESCRIPTION Computing devices, such as laptops, have imaging devices, such as cameras, which generate successive images, for example in video streams. Such cameras may be used in video conferencing applications, and the like. However, manual activation of an input device at the computing device is generally used to turn off a camera to turn off a video stream. In some instances, the input device may be used to activate a stop video icon, and the like, rendered at a display screen, and activation of the stop video icon may generally turn off the camera. However, multiple windows (e.g. overlaying each other) may be present at the display screen, which could hide such a stop video icon, making it challenging to quickly activate the stop video icon. In other instances, different video conferencing applications may be used at a computing device, which may have different respective locations or sizes or shapes of respective stop video icons, which again may make activation of the respective stop video icons challenging. Hence, provided herein are computing devices (e.g. hereafter devices, in the plural, or a device in the singular) that include a camera, or an imaging device, and a processor. The camera, and the like, may be used to generate successive images in a video stream, for example, for a video conferencing application being implemented at a device. The processor may receive the successive images from the camera and determine both that there is a hand in a particular configuration in the successive images, and that the hand in the particular configuration in the successive images is moving towards the camera. In response, the processor may turn off the camera. As such, a simple and quick process for turning off the camera is provided that generally obviates use of an input device to turn off the camera or activation of a stop video icon to turn off the camera. In particular, an operator of the device may hold their hand in a particular configuration relative to the camera, such as holding their hand with a palm facing the camera, and move their hand in particular configuration towards the camera to turn off the camera. Alternatively, any suitable sequence of motions of a hand may be used to control a camera to any suitable power state. An aspect of the present specification provides a device comprising: a camera; and a processor to: receive successive images from the camera; and in response to determining both that: there is a hand in a particular configuration in the successive images; and the hand in the particular configuration in the successive images is moving towards the camera: turn off the camera. Another aspect of the present specification provides a method comprising: receiving, at a computing device, successive images from an imaging device; down-sampling a subset of the successive images to generate successive down-sampled images; determining that there is a hand in a particular configuration in the successive down-sampled images; and in response to determining the hand is moving towards the imaging device: turning off the imaging device. Another aspect of the present specification provides a non-transitory computer-readable medium comprising instructions that, when executed by a processor of a computing device, cause the processor to: receive a video stream from a camera; determine that successive frames of the video stream include respective images of a hand; and control a power state of the camera based on a sequence of motions associated with the hand and a size of the hand. Attention is next directed to FIG. 1 which depicts a block diagram of an example computing device 100 that is generally to control a power state of a camera. The computing device 100 (hereafter the device 100) may include, but is not limited to, a laptop device, a notebook device, a tablet device, a portable device, combinations thereof (e.g., a laptop device with a foldable keyboard to transform the laptop device into a tablet device), or any suitable device or computing device which include a camera which may be used in a video conferencing application, and the like. While only certain compone