METHOD FOR DISPLAYING AND UPDATING A VIEW OF A GRAPHICAL SCENE IN RESPONSE TO COMMANDS VIA A TOUCH-SENSITIVE DEVICE

• US 20100321319A1
• Filed: 06/16/2010
• Published: 12/23/2010
• Est. Priority Date: 06/17/2009
• Status: Abandoned Application

• Current Assignee: Thierry Hefti
• Original Assignee: Thierry Hefti
• Inventors: HEFTI, Thierry
• Application Number:
  US12/817,117
• Publication Number:
  US 20100321319A1
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 345/173
• 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 2203/04808 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

Abstract

A man-machine interface using a touch-sensitive device as an interface to a computer device is presented, wherein simple gestures made by a user are interpreted by the computer device as commands to be performed in respect to at least a part of a virtual environment shown on the display. Each sequence of gestures begins with an initial touch on the touch-sensitive device and may involve a number of subsequent gestures. A command thus given is applied to the part of the virtual environment on the display. The action of the command continues until the gesture is ended by the user removing contact from the touch-sensitive device, thus ending the command.

Claims

1. A method for displaying a current view of a graphical scene on a display by a computer device comprising a touch-sensitive device, said method comprising the following steps:

detecting at least one pressure point on the touch-sensitive device and determining a set of coordinates for said pressure point,

detecting at least one displacement of the pressure point while pressure is maintained on the touch-sensitive device and determining at least one further set of coordinates along a locus described by said displacement,

calculating at least a direction attribute based on the plurality of sets of coordinates,

updating the current view by moving at least part of the current view according to at least the direction attribute,

continuing to update the current view by moving at least part of the current view according to at least the direction attribute until the pressure is released from the touch-sensitive device.

2. The method according to claim 1, wherein said graphical scene comprises at least one graphical object on a graphical background, said graphical object being detached from said graphical background, wherein said update of the current view comprises the following step:

re-drawing the graphical background to reflect a move of the graphical object relative to the graphical background while keeping the graphical object substantially static with respect to the display.

3. The method according to claim 1, wherein said graphical scene comprises at least one graphical object on a graphical background, said graphical object being detached from said graphical background, wherein said update of the current view comprises the following steps:

drawing said graphical object in a new position with respect to the graphical background, said graphical background remaining substantially static,

if the new position of the thus drawn graphical object is within a predetermined distance from an edge of the display, then re-drawing the graphical background.

4. The method according to claim 3, wherein a plurality of pressure points are detected, each of said plurality of pressure points being mapped to a plurality of graphical objects, said plurality of displacements giving a plurality of direction attributes, each of said direction attributes being applied to its corresponding graphical object.

5. The method according to claim 1, wherein it comprises the step of calculating at least a speed attribute based on the plurality of sets of coordinates.

6. The method according to claim 5, wherein the method comprises the step of determining at least one stop of the displacement when the pressure remains substantially at the same position, the calculation of the speed attribute taking into account a distance defined by the displacement up to the stop.

7. The method according to claim 5, wherein the calculation of the speed attribute takes into account a variation of a distance of the displacement by time unit.

8. The method according to claim 5, wherein the set of coordinates comprises most recent coordinates which are the last acquired coordinates along the locus of the displacement, and further comprises the step of updating said direction attribute and/or said speed attribute are based on the most recent set of coordinates.

9. The method according to claim 5, wherein said method further comprises the following steps:

detecting a second pressure point on the touch-sensitive device and determining a set of coordinates for said second pressure point,

detecting at least one displacement of said second pressure point while pressure is maintained on the touch-sensitive device and determining at least one further set of coordinates along a locus described by said displacement of said second pressure point,

calculating at least a direction attribute based on the plurality of sets of coordinates related to said second pressure point,

updating the current view by moving at least part of the current view according to a combination of at least the plurality of direction attributes,

continuing to update the current view by moving at least part of the current view according to the combination of at least the plurality of direction attributes until the plurality of pressure points are released from the touch-sensitive device.