Three-Dimensional Gestures

• US 20140028572A1
• Filed: 07/25/2012
• Published: 01/30/2014
• Est. Priority Date: 07/25/2012
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Meta Platforms, Inc. (f/k/a Facebook, Inc.)
• Original Assignee: Meta Platforms, Inc. (f/k/a Facebook, Inc.)
• Inventors: St. Clair, Luke
• Granted Patent: US 9,535,596 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 345/173
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 2203/04101 2.5D-digitiser, i.e. digitiser detecting the X/Y position of the input means, finger or stylus, also when it does not touch, but is proximate to the digitiser's interaction surface and also measures the distance of the input means within a short range in the Z direction, possibly with a separate measurement setup
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 2203/04808 Several contacts: gestures triggering a specific function, e.g. scrolling, zooming, right-click, when the user establishes several contacts with the surface simultaneously; e.g. using several fingers or a combination of fingers and pen
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 3/017 Gesture based interaction, e.g. based on a set of recognized hand gestures interaction based on gestures traced on a digitiser G06F3/04883
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 3/04842 Selection of displayed objects or displayed text elements G06F3/0482 takes precedence
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 3/04847 Interaction techniques to control parameter settings, e.g. interaction with sliders or dials
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 3/0486 Drag-and-drop
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 3/0488 using a touch-screen or digitiser, e.g. input of commands through traced gestures
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 3/04883 for inputting data by handwriting, e.g. gesture or text

Abstract

In one embodiment, a method includes identifying a three-dimensional gesture made by a user of a computing device with respect to one or more surfaces of the computing device, the three-dimensional gesture comprising a trajectory in three dimensions, a first portion of the trajectory comprising a touch of one or more of the surfaces, a second portion of the trajectory comprising a series of points in space distant from the surfaces; determining a user input based on the three-dimensional gesture; and executing one or more actions based on the user input.

Claims

1. A method comprising:

identifying, by a computing device, a three-dimensional gesture made by a user of the computing device with respect to one or more surfaces of the computing device, the three-dimensional gesture comprising a trajectory in three dimensions, a first portion of the trajectory comprising a touch of one or more of the surfaces, a second portion of the trajectory comprising a series of points in space distant from the surfaces;

determining, by the computing device, a user input based on the three-dimensional gesture; and

executing, by the computing device, one or more actions based on the user input.

2. The method of claim 1, wherein the three-dimensional gesture is identified using a proximity sensor, camera, or touch sensor of the computing device.

3. The method of claim 1, wherein:

the three-dimensional gesture comprises a pulling gesture on and then away from one of the surfaces at a first location of the one of the surfaces; and

the actions comprise;

selecting a user interface (UI) object within a display of the computing device at a first point within the display corresponding to the first location; and

adjusting a user-controllable parameter of an application on the computing device indicated by the UI object based on a distance of an end point of the pulling gesture away from the one of the surfaces.

4. The method of claim 3, wherein the user-controllable parameter is a speaker volume or a display brightness.

5. The method of claim 1, wherein the three-dimensional gesture comprises:

a pinching gesture on one of the surfaces at a first location of the one of the surfaces;

a pulling gesture away from the one of the surfaces at the first location;

a movement distant from and across the one of the surfaces toward a second location of the one of the surfaces; and

a dropping gesture on the one of the surfaces at the second location.

6. The method of claim 5, wherein the actions comprise dragging and dropping a user interface (UI) object within a display of the computing device from a first point within the display corresponding to the first location to a second point within the display corresponding to the second location.

7. The method of claim 5, wherein the first point is within a first window of a first application on the computing device and the second point is within a second window of a second application on the computing device.

8. The method of claim 1, wherein:

the three-dimensional gesture is a fly-away gesture; and

the actions comprise;

selecting a scrollable user interface (UI) object at or near a starting point of the fly-away gesture; and

scrolling the scrollable UI object at a speed based at least in part on a velocity of the fly-away gesture.

9. The method of claim 1, wherein the computing device is a mobile computing device.

10. One or more computer-readable non-transitory storage media embodying software that is operable when executed to:

identify a three-dimensional gesture made by a user of a computing device with respect to one or more surfaces of the computing device, the three-dimensional gesture comprising a trajectory in three dimensions, a first portion of the trajectory comprising a touch of one or more of the surfaces, a second portion of the trajectory comprising a series of points in space distant from the surfaces;

determine a user input based on the three-dimensional gesture; and

execute one or more actions based on the user input.

11. The media of claim 10, wherein the three-dimensional gesture is identified using a proximity sensor, camera, or touch sensor of the computing device.

12. The media of claim 10, wherein:

the three-dimensional gesture comprises a pulling gesture on and then away from one of the surfaces at a first location of the one of the surfaces; and

the actions comprise;

selecting a user interface (UI) object within a display of the computing device at a first point within the display corresponding to the first location; and

adjusting a user-controllable parameter of an application on the computing device indicated by the UI object based on a distance of an end point of the pulling gesture away from the one of the surfaces.

13. The media of claim 12, wherein the user-controllable parameter is a speaker volume or a display brightness.

14. The media of claim 10, wherein the three-dimensional gesture comprises:

a pinching gesture on one of the surfaces at a first location of the one of the surfaces;

a pulling gesture away from the one of the surfaces at the first location;

a movement distant from and across the one of the surfaces toward a second location of the one of the surfaces; and

a dropping gesture on the one of the surfaces at the second location.

15. The media of claim 14, wherein the actions comprise dragging and dropping a user interface (UI) object within a display of the computing device from a first point within the display corresponding to the first location to a second point within the display corresponding to the second location.

16. The media of claim 14, wherein the first point is within a first window of a first application on the computing device and the second point is within a second window of a second application on the computing device.

17. The media of claim 10, wherein:

the three-dimensional gesture is a fly-away gesture; and

the actions comprise;

selecting a scrollable user interface (UI) object at or near a starting point of the fly-away gesture; and

scrolling the scrollable UI object at a speed based at least in part on a velocity of the fly-away gesture.

18. The media of claim 10, wherein the computing device is a mobile computing device.

19. A device comprising:

one or more processors; and

one or more computer-readable non-transitory storage media coupled to the processors and embodying software that is operable when executed by the processors to;

identify a three-dimensional gesture made by a user of the device with respect to one or more surfaces of the device, the three-dimensional gesture comprising a trajectory in three dimensions, a first portion of the trajectory comprising a touch of one or more of the surfaces, a second portion of the trajectory comprising a series of points in space distant from the surfaces;

determine a user input based on the three-dimensional gesture; and

execute one or more actions based on the user input.

20. The device of claim 19, wherein the three-dimensional gesture is identified using a proximity sensor, camera, or touch sensor of the device.