System and method for packing multi-touch gestures onto a hand
First Claim
1. A method for doubling the number of distinct multi-touch gestures that can be mapped onto a hand, the method comprising the following steps:
- waiting for multiple fingers to touch a surface apparatus;
classifying the combination of fingers that initially touch the surface as a particular chord;
measuring the geometric arrangement of the fingers;
testing whether this geometric arrangement matches that of a neutral, relaxed hand, or of a hand whose fingers have been spread deliberately;
if the finger arrangement tests neutral, selecting a neutral set of gesture functions or commands for the classified chord;
if the finger arrangement tests spread, selecting a spread set of gesture functions or commands for the classified chord that are intuitively related to the neutral set;
generating function or command signals to a host computer from the selected set in response to subsequent finger motions;
and, clearing the selected set and restarting the above steps after liftoff of all the fingers.
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Accused Products
Abstract
A multi-touch system is disclosed that compares finger arrangements at the beginning of multi-touch gestures and discriminates between neutral- and spread-hand performances. Gestures by the neutral- and spread-hand versions of each chord are then mapped to separate, but intuitively related cursor functions or sets of commands. Less-frequently performed functions and commands are typically assigned to the spread-hand chord, since spreading the hand from neutral takes deliberate effort. With these neutral and spread distinctions, a two-handed gesture set can be packed into a one-handed touch surface, or for two-handed touch surfaces, twice as many intuitively customizable gesture command sets can be accomodated.
879 Citations
14 Claims
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1. A method for doubling the number of distinct multi-touch gestures that can be mapped onto a hand, the method comprising the following steps:
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waiting for multiple fingers to touch a surface apparatus; classifying the combination of fingers that initially touch the surface as a particular chord; measuring the geometric arrangement of the fingers; testing whether this geometric arrangement matches that of a neutral, relaxed hand, or of a hand whose fingers have been spread deliberately; if the finger arrangement tests neutral, selecting a neutral set of gesture functions or commands for the classified chord; if the finger arrangement tests spread, selecting a spread set of gesture functions or commands for the classified chord that are intuitively related to the neutral set; generating function or command signals to a host computer from the selected set in response to subsequent finger motions; and, clearing the selected set and restarting the above steps after liftoff of all the fingers. - View Dependent Claims (2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13, 14)
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Specification