Google Inc.

Eiji Hayashi

Ivan Poupyrev

Leonardo Giusti

Patrick M Amihood

Jaime Lien

Vignesh Sachidanandam

Brandon Charles Barbello

Andrew C Felch

Nicholas Edward Gillian

Bryan Allen

Blake Charles Jacquot

Jin Yamanaka

Techniques and apparatuses are described that facilitate ambient computing using a radar system. Compared to other smart devices that rely on a physical user interface, a smart device with a radar system can support ambient computing by providing an eye-free interaction and less cognitively demanding gesture-based user interface. The radar system can be designed to address a variety of challenges associated with ambient computing, including power consumption, environmental variations, background noise, size, and user privacy. The radar system uses an ambient-computing machine-learned module to quickly recognize gestures performed by a user up to at least two meters away. The ambient-computing machine-learned module is trained to filter background noise and have a sufficiently low false positive rate to enhance the user experience.

Facilitating ambient computing using a radar system

This document describes techniques and systems that enable a smartphone-based radar system for determining user intention in a lower-power mode. The techniques and systems use a radar field to enable the smartphone to accurately determine the presence or absence of a user and further determine the intention of the user to interact with the smartphone. Using these techniques, the smartphone can account for the user's nonverbal communication cues to determine and maintain an awareness of users in its environment, and only respond to direct interactions once a user has demonstrated an intention to interact, which preserves battery power. The smartphone may determine the user's intention by recognizing various cues from the user, such as a change in position relative to the smartphone, a change in posture, or by an explicit action, such as a gesture.

Smartphone-based radar system for determining user intention in a lower-power mode

This document describes techniques and systems that enable a mobile device-based radar system for applying different power modes to a multi-mode interface. The techniques and systems include a user device having a radar system, and an interaction manager. The radar system generates a radar field, provides radar data, and operates at one of various different radar-power states. The user device analyzes the radar data to detect a presence or movement of a user within the radar field. Responsive to the detection, the radar system changes from a first radar-power state to a second radar-power state. Based on this change, the interaction manager selects a power mode, for a multi-mode interface, that corresponds to the second radar-power state, and applies the selected power mode to the multi-mode interface to provide a corresponding display via a display device.

Mobile device-based radar system for applying different power modes to a multi-mode interface

This document describes techniques and systems that enable a mobile device-based radar system () for providing a multi-mode interface (). A radar field () is used to enable a user device () to accurately determine a presence or threshold movement of a user near the user device. The user device provides a multi-mode interface having at least first and second modes and providing a black display or a low-luminosity display in the first mode. The user device detects, based on radar data and during the first mode, a presence or threshold movement by the user relative to the user device and responsively changes the multi-mode interface from the first mode to the second mode. Responsive to the change to the second mode, the user device provides visual feedback corresponding to the implicit interaction by adjusting one or more display parameters of the black display or the low-luminosity display.

Mobile device-based radar system for providing a multi-mode interface

Techniques and devices for seamless authentication using radar are described. In some implementations, a radar field is provided through a radar-based authentication system. The radar-based authentication system can sense reflections from an object in the radar field and analyze the reflections to determine whether the object is a person. In response to determining that the object is a person, the radar-based authentication system can sense an identifying characteristic associated with the person. Based on the identifying characteristic, the radar-based authentication system can determine that the person is an authorized user.

Seamless authentication using radar

This document describes techniques and systems that enable a radar-image shaper for radar-based applications. A radar field enables an electronic device to accurately determine a characteristic disposition (e.g., a location, orientation, velocity, or direction) of an object in the radar field. The characteristic disposition is determined by detecting a radar cross-section (or radar signature) of a radar-image shaper that is included in the object. The shape of the radar-image shaper produces a known signature when illuminated by the radar field. Using these techniques, the electronic device can determine a characteristic disposition of the object, which allows the object to be used to interact with the electronic device using gestures and other position-based techniques. Because the radar-image shaper enables a passive object to control applications on the electronic device, users have an interaction method with a rich library of gestures and controls that does not require additional components or a battery.

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Cupertino, CA, United States of America

Eiji Hayashi