DISPLACED DOUBLE TAP GESTURE

• US 20150186026A1
• Filed: 08/17/2012
• Published: 07/02/2015
• Est. Priority Date: 08/17/2012
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Google LLC (Alphabet Inc.)
• Original Assignee: Google Inc. (Alphabet Inc.)
• Inventors: Gordon, David R., Jagadeesan, Ram Brijesh
• Granted Patent: US 9,507,513 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 1/1
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 2203/04104 Multi-touch detection in digitiser, i.e. details about the simultaneous detection of a plurality of touching locations, e.g. multiple fingers or pen and finger
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 2203/04806 Zoom, i.e. interaction techniques or interactors for controlling the zooming operation
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 3/016 Input arrangements with force or tactile feedback as computer generated output to the user
• 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 3/041 Digitisers, e.g. for touch screens or touch pads, characterised by the transducing means
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 3/0412 Digitisers structurally integrated in a display
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 3/0416 Control or interface arrangements specially adapted for digitisers
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 3/0484 for the control of specific functions or operations, e.g. selecting or manipulating an object, an image or a displayed text element, setting a parameter value or selecting a range
• 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

On a computing device having a motion sensor interface, a first tap a first point is detected via the motion sensor interface. A second tap is detected via the motion sensor interface at a second point within a fixed time interval of detecting the first tap. In response to determining that the second point is inside a fixed radius of the first point, the first tap and the second tap are processed as an instance of a first gesture. Otherwise, in response to determining that the second point is outside the fixed radius of the first point, the first tap and the second tap are processed as an instance of a second gesture.

Claims

1. A method for processing user input on a computing device having a motion sensor interface, the method comprising:

detecting, via the motion sensor interface, a first tap at a first point, the first tap including a first touchdown event at the first point and a first liftoff event substantially at the first point;

detecting, via the motion sensor interface, a second tap at a second point within a fixed time interval of detecting the first tap, the second first tap including a second touchdown event at the first point and a second liftoff event substantially at the second point;

in response to determining that the second point is inside a fixed radius of the first point, processing the first tap and the second tap as an instance of a first gesture;

otherwise, in response to determining that the second point is outside the fixed radius of the first point, processing the first tap and the second tap as an instance of a second gesture.

2. The method of claim 1, wherein the fixed radius is a first fixed radius;

the method further comprising determining that the second point is within a second fixed radius of the first point.

3. The method of claim 1, wherein a pair of taps detected outside the fixed time interval is interpreted as two separate instances of a third gesture.

4. The method of claim 1, further comprising displaying a digital map on the computing device, wherein processing the first tap and the second tap includes applying an instance of the first gesture or the second gesture to the digital map.

5. The method of claim 4, wherein:

the digital map is displayed at a selected zoom level,

processing an instance of the first gesture includes one of increasing or decreasing the zoom by a predetermined amount, and

processing an instance of the second gesture includes the other one of increasing or decreasing the zoom by the predetermined amount.

6. The method of claim 4, wherein:

the digital map is displayed with a selected orientation different from a default orientation, and

processing an instance of the second gesture includes rotating the digital map to align the digital map with the default orientation.

7. The method of claim 4, wherein applying an instance of the first gesture or the second gesture to the digital map includes providing the first point as a parameter to a respective map manipulation function.

8. The method of claim 4, wherein applying an instance of the second gesture to the digital map includes:

determining a command context defined by interaction with the digital map prior to detecting the first tap, and

selecting a map manipulation function according to the determined command context.

9. The method of claim 1, wherein the motion sensor interface is a touchscreen, and wherein the first point and the second point are on a surface of the touchscreen.

10. The method of claim 1, wherein:

detecting the first tap includes detecting the first touchdown event and the first liftoff event within a fixed liftoff interval of the first touchdown event, and

detecting the second tap includes detecting the second touchdown event and the second liftoff event within the fixed liftoff interval of the second touchdown event.

11. A non-transitory computer-readable medium storing thereon a plurality of instructions for processing input provided via a touchscreen, wherein the plurality of instructions, when executed on one or more processors, causes the one or more processors to:

cause a digital map to be displayed on the touchscreen;

receive an indication of a first tap at a first point on the digital map;

receive an indication of a second tap at a second point on the digital map, wherein each of the first tap and the second tap is associated with a respective touchdown and liftoff event at the first point and the second point, respectively;

in response to determining that the second tap is detected within a fixed time interval of the first tap, select one of a first map function or a second map function, including (i) select the first map function in response to determining that the second point is within a fixed radius of the first point, and (ii) select the second map function in response to determining that the second point is outside the fixed radius of the first point; and

apply the selected one of the first map function and the second map function to the digital map.

12. The computer-readable medium of claim 11, wherein the first map function is a zoom-in function and the second function is a zoom-out function.

13. The computer-readable medium of claim 12, wherein the zoom-in function and the zoom-out function are associated with a same discrete change in zoom level.

14. The computer-readable medium of claim 11, wherein the second function is an orientation alignment function that causes the digital map to be rotated so as to display the digital map with a default orientation.

15. The computer-readable medium of claim 11, wherein:

when the digital map is not oriented according to the default orientation, the second map function is an orientation alignment function that causes the digital map to be rotated so as to align with the default orientation, and

when the digital map is oriented according to the default orientation, the second map function is one of a zoom-in or a zoom-out function.

16. A device comprising:

one or more processors;

a motion sensor interface coupled to the one or more processors and configured to receive user input;

a memory coupled to the one or more processors storing therein a set of instructions of an extended double tap gesture processing module which, when executed on the one or more processors, is configured to;

receive, from the motion sensor interface, an indication of a first tap, including a first touchdown event and a first liftoff event, at a first point,

receive, from the motion sensor interface, an indication of a second tap, including a second touchdown event and a second liftoff event, at a second point,

in response to determining that the indication of the second tap is received within a fixed time interval of the indication of the first tap, process the first tap and the second tap as an instance of one of a plurality of different double tap gestures, including select one of the plurality of double tap gestures based at least on a distance between the first point and the second point.

17. The device of claim 16, wherein the motion sensor interface includes a touchscreen, and wherein the first point and the second point are on a surface of the touchscreen.

18. The device of claim 16, wherein the memory further stores instructions of a map controller configured to (i) render a digital map using map data, (ii) receive an indication of the selected one of the plurality of double tap gestures from the extended double tap gesture processing module, and (iii) apply the selected one of the plurality of double tap gestures to the digital map.

19. The device of claim 18, wherein the map controller is configured to zoom in on the digital map if the extended double tap gesture processing module selects a first one of the plurality of double tap gestures, and zoom out on the digital map if the extended double tap gesture processing module selects a second one of the plurality of double tap gestures.

20. The device of claim 19, wherein the plurality of double tap gestures includes a regular double tap gesture selected when the distance between the first point and the second point is within a first radius, and a displaced double tap gesture selected when the distance between the first point and the second point is outside the first radius but within a second radius.

21. The device of claim 18, wherein the map controller is further configured to:

determine a command context based on previous user interaction with the motion sensor interface;

selecting a map manipulation function corresponding to the selected one of the plurality of double tap gestures according to the determined command context, and

apply the selected map manipulation function to the digital map.

22. The device of claim 21, wherein the map manipulation function is selected from among at least (i) a zoom out function (ii) an orientation alignment function that causes the map controller to rotate the digital map so as to align the digital map with a default orientation.

23. The device of claim 18, further comprising a wireless network interface via which the map controller is configured to receive the map data.