METHOD AND APPARATUS FOR SINGLE TOUCH ZOOM USING SPIRAL ROTATION

• US 20110029917A1
• Filed: 07/30/2009
• Published: 02/03/2011
• Est. Priority Date: 07/30/2009
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Neodrón Limited (Atlantic IP Services Limited)
• Original Assignee: Atmel Corporation (Microchip Technology Incorporated)
• Inventors: Um, Joo Yong
• Granted Patent: US 8,490,013 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 715/800
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 2203/04806 Zoom, i.e. interaction techniques or interactors for controlling the zooming operation
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 3/04883 for inputting data by handwriting, e.g. gesture or text

Abstract

A touchscreen display device implements a single touch operation using a spiral rotation gesture on a touchscreen display device to magnify the display of an image. Continued spiral rotations result in continued magnification. A zoom-in or zoom-out operation is implemented by a single touch spiral rotation. In one example, a spiral rotation defining an increasing area has a corresponding action to reduce a display portion of the display screen. Similarly, a spiral rotation defining a decreasing area has a corresponding action to magnify the display portion of the display screen. A floating origin may be used to identify gestures at various positions on a touchscreen display.

Claims

1. A method comprising:

identifying an origin on a display device;

detecting a gesture on the display device at a first location;

determining a first distance from the origin to the first location;

tracking movement of the gesture from the first location to a second location;

determining a second distance from the origin to the second location; and

determining an action associated with the gesture based on the movement of the gesture and a comparison of the first and second distances.

2. The method of claim 1, wherein the action is one of a magnification operation and a reduction operation for an image displayed on the display device.

3. The method of claim 2, further comprising:

magnifying the image when the first distance is greater than the second distance; and

reducing the image when the first distance is less than the second distance.

4. The method of claim 2, wherein, the gesture defines a circular area centered at the origin, the method further comprising:

reducing the image when the movement of the gesture defines an increasing circular area; and

magnifying the image when the movement of the gesture defines a decreasing circular area.

5. The method of claim 4, further comprising:

detecting a spiral rotation when an angle formed by a first radial line from the origin to a start point of the gesture and a second radial line from the origin to an end point of the gesture is greater than a threshold angular value.

6. An apparatus, comprising:

a touch sensor to detect a spiral rotation gesture, the spiral rotation gesture having an associated magnification action; and

a gesture detect unit coupled to the touch sensor and to identify the associated magnification action based on movement of the spiral rotation gesture and initiate application of the associated magnification action.

7. The apparatus of claim 6, wherein the associated magnification action of a first gesture is a zoom-in operation to magnify a size of a display image, and the associated magnification action of a second gesture is a zoom-out operation to reduce the size of the display image for a second gesture.

8. The apparatus of claim 6, wherein the gesture detect unit is to:

measure a first distance from a start point of the spiral rotation gesture to an origin of a display device;

measure a second distance from an end point of the spiral rotation gesture to the origin of the display device,

wherein the first and second distances define the movement of the spiral rotation gesture.

9. The apparatus of claim 8, wherein the gesture detect unit is to compare the first and second distances to identify the associated magnification action.,

10. The apparatus of claim 9, wherein the gesture detect unit is further to:

initiate application of the associated magnification action to increase a size of a display image when the first distance is greater than the second distance; and

initiate application of the associated magnification action to reduce the size of the display image when the second distance is greater than the first distance.

11. The apparatus of claim 9, wherein the gesture detect unit is further to:

select one of a magnification action or a reduction action based on the movement of the spiral rotational gesture.

12. The apparatus of claim 11, wherein the gesture detect unit is further to:

calculate radial measures from the origin to a plurality of points on the spiral rotational gesture;

magnify the image when the radial measures are increasing; and

reduce the image when the radial measures are decreasing.

13. The apparatus of claim 6, wherein the gesture detect unit is to:

determine an origin of the display device;

measure distances from the origin to a plurality of points on the spiral rotational gesture; and

compare the measured distances.

14. The apparatus of claim 13, wherein the origin identifies a point near a center of the display device.

15. The apparatus of claim 14, wherein the origin is a floating origin and the gesture detect unit is further to:

determine coordinates of the floating origin on the display device.

16. The apparatus of claim 14, wherein the gesture detect unit is to:

determine the coordinates of the floating origin as a function of a location and movement of the spiral rotational gesture.

17. The apparatus of claim 6, wherein the gesture detect unit is further to:

Initiate a set up procedure to associate gestures with associated magnification actions;

detect a first gesture;

present a list of associated magnification actions on the display device;

receive a user selection of a first action;

associating the gesture with the first action.

18. A machine-readable medium storing instructions to enable a processor to:

identify an origin on the display device;

detect a gesture on the display device at a first location;

determine a first distance from the origin to the first location;

track movement of the gesture from the first location to a second location;

determine a second distance from the origin to the second location; and

determine an action associated with the gesture based on the movement of the gesture and a comparison of the first and second distances.

20. The machine-readable medium as in claim 18, further comprising instructions to:

identify a spiral rotation when the gesture defines an angular measure above a threshold value, wherein the angular measure is measured from a radial line defined by the first location and the origin.

19. The machine-readable medium further comprising instructions to

determine coordinates for a location on the display device for a floating origin.