MULTI-TOUCH GESTURE DICTIONARY

• US 20070177804A1
• Filed: 01/03/2007
• Published: 08/02/2007
• Est. Priority Date: 01/30/2006
• Status: Abandoned Application

• Current Assignee: Apple Inc.
• Original Assignee: Apple Computer Incorporated (Apple Inc.)
• Inventors: Haggerty, Myra Mary, Westerman, Wayne Carl, Elias, John Greer
• Application Number:
  US11/619,571
• Publication Number:
  US 20070177804A1
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 382/188
• 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 3/04883 for inputting data by handwriting, e.g. gesture or text
• CPC Class Codes: G06V 40/28 Recognition of hand or arm movements, e.g. recognition of deaf sign language static hand signs G06V40/113

Abstract

A multi-touch gesture dictionary is disclosed herein. The gesture dictionary can include a plurality of entries, each corresponding to a particular chord. The dictionary entries can include a variety of motions associated with the chord and the meanings of gestures formed from the chord and the motions. The gesture dictionary may take the form of a dedicated computer application that may be used to look up the meaning of gestures. The gesture dictionary may also take the form of a computer application that may be easily accessed from other applications. The gesture dictionary may also be used to assign user-selected meanings to gestures. Also disclosed herein are computer systems incorporating multi-touch gesture dictionaries. The computer systems can include, desktop computers, tablet computers, notebook computers, handheld computers, personal digital assistants, media players, mobile telephones, and the like.

Claims

1. A method of providing to a user of a device a dictionary of multi-touch gestures usable to interact with the device, each of the gestures comprising a chord and a motion associated with the chord, wherein a chord comprises a predetermined number of hand parts in a predetermined configuration, the method comprising:

identifying a trigger presented by the user, wherein the trigger comprises a user interaction with the device; and

displaying a multi-touch gesture dictionary in response to the presented trigger;

wherein

if the trigger uniquely corresponds to a chord, displaying a multi-touch gesture dictionary comprises displaying a dictionary entry associated with the chord; and

if the trigger does not uniquely correspond to a chord, displaying a multi-touch gesture dictionary comprises displaying a chord index, receiving one or more inputs indicating a selection of at least one chord from the chord index, and displaying a dictionary entry corresponding to the selected at least one chord.

2. The method of claim 1 wherein the trigger comprises one or more hand parts hovering over a multi-touch surface.

3. The method of claim 1 wherein the trigger comprises an audible trigger.

4. The method of claim 3 wherein the audible trigger is a voice command.

5. The method of claim 1 wherein the trigger comprises the activation of one or more buttons.

6. The method of claim 1 wherein the trigger comprises applying a force to one or more force-sensitive areas of the device.

7. The method of claim 1 wherein the trigger comprises applying a touch to one or more touch-sensitive areas of the device.

8. The method of claim 1 wherein the dictionary entry comprises a visual depiction of one or more motions associated with the identified chord and, for each of the one or more motions associated with the identified chord, a meaning of a gesture comprising the identified chord and the motion.

9. The method of claim 1 wherein the chord index comprises a visual depiction of one or more chords.

10. The method of claim 1 wherein the dictionary entry comprises one or more motion icons, each motion icon including a graphical depiction of a motion and a textual description of a corresponding meaning.

11. The method of claim 1 wherein the chord index comprises one or more chord icons, each chord icon including a graphical depiction of a chord.

12. The method of claim 1 wherein the dictionary entry comprises an animation of the one or more motions.

13. The method of claim 1 wherein the chord index comprises an animation of the one or more chords.

14. The method of claim 1 wherein the chord further comprises one or more modifier keys.

15. A computer system having a multi-touch interface and a graphical user interface, wherein the computer system includes a computer memory encoded with executable instructions causing the computer system to:

identify a trigger presented by the user, wherein the trigger comprises a user interaction with the computer system; and

display a multi-touch gesture dictionary in response to the presented trigger;

wherein

if the trigger uniquely corresponds to a particular group of gestures, the computer displays a dictionary entry associated with the particular group of gestures; and

if the trigger does not uniquely correspond to a particular group of gestures, the computer displays a multi-touch gesture dictionary index.

16. The computer system of claim 15 wherein the computer system is selected from the group consisting of a desktop computer, a tablet computer, and a notebook computer.

17. The computer system of claim 15 wherein the computer system comprises at least one of a handheld computer, a personal digital assistant, a media player, and a mobile telephone.

18. The computer system of claim 15 wherein the trigger comprises one or more hand parts hovering over a multi-touch surface.

19. The computer system of claim 15 wherein the trigger comprises an audible trigger.

20. The computer system of claim 19 wherein the audible trigger is a voice command.

21. The computer system of claim 15 wherein the trigger comprises the activation of one or more buttons.

22. The computer system of claim 15 wherein the trigger comprises applying a force to one or more force-sensitive areas of the device.

23. The computer system of claim 15 wherein the trigger comprises applying a touch to one or more touch-sensitive areas of the device.

24. A method of providing to a user of a device a dictionary of multi-touch gestures usable to interact with the device, the method comprising:

identifying a trigger presented by the user, wherein the trigger comprises a user interaction with the device; and

displaying a multi-touch gesture dictionary in response to the presented trigger;

wherein

if the trigger uniquely corresponds to a particular group of gestures, the computer displays a dictionary entry associated with the particular group of gestures; and

if the trigger does not uniquely correspond to a particular group of gestures, the computer displays a multi-touch gesture dictionary index.

25. The method of claim 24 wherein the trigger comprises one or more hand parts hovering over a multi-touch surface.

26. The method of claim 24 wherein the trigger comprises an audible trigger.

27. The method of claim 26 wherein the audible trigger is a voice command.

28. The method of claim 24 wherein the trigger comprises the activation of one or more buttons.

29. The method of claim 24 wherein the trigger comprises applying a force to one or more force-sensitive areas of the device.

30. The method of claim 24 wherein the trigger comprises applying a touch to one or more touch-sensitive areas of the device.

31. A mobile telephone having a multi-touch interface and a graphical user interface, wherein the computer system includes a memory encoded with executable instructions causing the mobile telephone to:

identify a trigger presented by the user, wherein the trigger comprises a user interaction with the mobile telephone; and

display a multi-touch gesture dictionary in response to the presented trigger;

wherein

if the trigger uniquely corresponds to a particular group of gestures, the computer displays a dictionary entry associated with the particular group of gestures; and

if the trigger does not uniquely correspond to a particular group of gestures, the computer displays a multi-touch gesture dictionary index.

32. The computer system of claim 31 wherein the trigger comprises one or more hand parts hovering over a multi-touch surface.

33. The computer system of claim 31 wherein the trigger comprises an audible trigger.

34. The computer system of claim 33 wherein the audible trigger is a voice command.

35. The computer system of claim 31 wherein the trigger comprises the activation of one or more buttons.

36. The computer system of claim 31 wherein the trigger comprises applying a force to one or more force-sensitive areas of the device.

37. The computer system of claim 31 wherein the trigger comprises applying a touch to one or more touch-sensitive areas of the device.