Passive-accessory mediated gesture interaction with a head-mounted device

Abstract

Physical gestures may be performed by a user to interact with a head-mounted device. These physical gestures can be detected by other devices worn by the user. For example, a fitness tracker worn on a wrist of a user may be used to detect the movement of the wrist as a gesture and then communicate this gesture to the head-mounted device. This accessory-mediated gesture interaction may be interrupted when the accessory device loses power or otherwise stops tracking. In this condition, the disclosed head-mounted device may take-over gesture detection by monitoring distortions to a magnetic field caused by movement of the device. This form of gesture detection can be used when an active device has exhausted its battery. Further, this form of gesture detection can be used for electrically inactive objects that can cause detectable changes to the magnetic field when moved in the magnetic field.