System and method for packing multitouch gestures onto a hand

• US 7,705,830 B2
• Filed: 02/10/2006
• Issued: 04/27/2010
• Est. Priority Date: 02/10/2001
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Apple Inc.
• Original Assignee: Apple Inc.
• Inventors: Westerman, Wayne Carl, Elias, John G.
• Primary Examiner(s): Hjerpe; Richard
• Assistant Examiner(s): Sheng; Tom V
• APPLICATION: US 20060125803A1
• Time in patent office: 1537 Days
• Field of Search: 345/168, 345/173, 341/22, 382/126, 382/159, 382/160, 382/161, 382/181, 715/812, 715/863, 715/864, 715/865, 715/866, 715/773, 715/784
• US Class Current: 345/173
• 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 entering handwritten data, e.g. gestures, text

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 accommodated.

Claims

1. A method for interpreting gestures, the method comprising:

classifying a combination of fingers that initially touch a touch sensitive surface as a particular chord; and

testing whether a measured geometric arrangement of the fingers on the touch sensitive surface corresponds to a relaxed hand or deliberately spread fingers of the same hand.

2. The method of claim 1 further comprising:

if the finger arrangement corresponds to a relaxed hand, selecting a first set of gesture functions or commands for the classified chord;

or

if the finger arrangement corresponds to deliberately spread fingers, selecting a second set of gesture functions or commands for the classified chord.

3. The method of claim 2 further comprising:

selecting a function or command from the selected first or second set of gesture functions or commands, wherein the selected function is determined in response to motion of the fingers subsequent to the initial touch; and

sending signals corresponding to the selected function or command to a host computer.

4. The method of claim 1, wherein testing whether the measured geometric arrangement of the fingers corresponds to a relaxed hand or deliberately spread fingers further comprises:

computing a total mismatch between coordinates of the combination of fingers that initially touch a touch sensitive surface and a first template, the first template corresponding to the particular chord and a relaxed hand;

computing a total mismatch between coordinates of the combination of fingers that initially touch a touch sensitive surface and a second template, the second template corresponding to the particular chord and deliberately spread fingers; and

if the total mismatch to the first template is smaller, classifying the finger arrangement as corresponding to a relaxed hand;

or

if the total mismatch to the second template is smaller, classifying the finger arrangement as corresponding to deliberately spread fingers.

5. The method of claim 4 further comprising:

if the finger arrangement corresponds to a relaxed hand, selecting a first set of gesture functions or commands for the classified chord;

or

if the finger arrangement corresponds to deliberately spread fingers, selecting a second set of gesture functions or commands for the classified chord.

6. The method of claim 5 further comprising:

selecting a function or command from the selected first or second set of gesture functions or commands, wherein the selected function is determined in response to motion of the fingers subsequent to the initial touch; and

sending signals corresponding to the selected function or command to a host computer.

7. A computer readable medium having stored therein machine executable instructions for performing a method according to any of claims 1-4.

8. A multi-touch surface apparatus configured to detect and recognize gestures by performing a method according to any one of claims 1-4.

9. An apparatus comprising the multi-touch surface apparatus of claim 8.

10. The apparatus of claim 9 where in the apparatus is a computer.

11. The apparatus of claim 9 wherein the apparatus is a handheld computer.

12. A computer readable medium, having stored therein one or more pairs of templates, wherein one template in each of the one or more pairs comprises coordinates of a particular chord performed by a relaxed hand and the other template in each of the one or more pairs comprises coordinates of the particular chord performed by deliberately spread fingers of the same hand.

13. The computer readable medium of claim 12 wherein the coordinates are relative coordinates.

14. The computer readable medium of claim 12 wherein the coordinates may be adjusted by a scale factor to account for hand size.

15. A method for interpreting gestures, the method comprising:

classifying a combination of fingers including a thumb finger that initially touch a touch sensitive surface as a particular chord; and

testing whether a measured geometric arrangement of the fingers on the touch sensitive surface corresponds to a relaxed hand in accordance with one or more pairs of finger arrangement templates.

16. The method of claim 15 further comprising selecting a set of gesture functions or commands for the classified chord if the finger arrangement corresponds to a relaxed hand.

17. The method of claim 16 further comprising:

selecting a function or command from the selected set of gesture functions or commands, wherein the selected function is determined in response to motion of the fingers subsequent to the initial touch; and

sending signals corresponding to the selected function or command to a host computer.

18. A method for interpreting gestures, the method comprising:

classifying a combination of fingers that initially touch a touch sensitive surface as a particular chord; and

testing whether a measured geometric arrangement of the fingers corresponds to deliberately spread fingers of a hand.

19. The method of claim 18 further comprising selecting a set of gesture functions or commands for the classified chord if the finger arrangement corresponds to deliberately spread fingers.

20. The method of claim 19 further comprising:

selecting a function or command from the selected set of gesture functions or commands, wherein the selected function is determined in response to motion of the fingers subsequent to the initial touch; and

sending signals corresponding to the selected function or command to a host computer.

21. An apparatus for interpreting gestures, the apparatus comprising:

a multi-touch surface;

a neutral/spread hand classifier operatively coupled to the multi-touch surface and configured to determine whether a measured geometric arrangement of fingers touching the multi-touch surface corresponds to a relaxed hand or deliberately spread fingers of the same hand;

a command generation module operatively coupled to the neutral/spread hand classifier and configured to select a first set of gesture functions or commands if the measured geometric arrangement corresponds to the relaxed hand and further configured to select a second set of gesture functions or command if the measured geometric arrangement corresponds to the deliberately spread fingers.