Three-dimensional gestures

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-10013072-B2
Application number	US-201615347577-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Nov 9, 2016
Priority date	Jul 25, 2012
Publication date	Jul 3, 2018
Grant date	Jul 3, 2018

Abstract

In one embodiment, a method includes identifying a gesture made by a user of the computing device with respect to one or more surfaces of the computing device, the gesture comprising a single trajectory in three dimensions including: an earlier portion in a first direction along at least one of the surfaces; and immediately following the earlier portion of the single trajectory, a later portion in a second direction comprising a second series of points distant from the surfaces, wherein the second direction comprises a deflection from the first direction that follows through on the earlier portion of the single trajectory; determining a user input based at least in part on a speed of the gesture along the earlier portion of the single trajectory and a speed of the gesture along the later portion of the single trajectory; and executing one or more actions based on the user input.

First claim

What is claimed is:

1. A method comprising, by a computing device:
identifying a gesture made by a user of the computing device with respect to one or more surfaces of the computing device, the gesture comprising a single trajectory in three dimensions including:
an earlier portion of the single trajectory in a first direction along at least one of the surfaces, the earlier portion comprising a first series of points touching the at least one of the surfaces; and
immediately following the earlier portion of the single trajectory, a later portion of the single trajectory in a second direction, the later portion comprising a second series of points distant from the surfaces, wherein the second direction comprises a deflection from the first direction that follows through on the earlier portion of the single trajectory;

determining a user input based at least in part on a speed of the gesture along the earlier portion of the single trajectory and a speed of the gesture along the later portion of the single trajectory; and
executing one or more actions based on the user input.

2. The method of claim 1 , wherein the gesture is identified using a proximity sensor, camera, or touch sensor of the computing device.

3. The method of claim 1 , wherein the earlier portion is detected using a first sensor of the computing device and wherein the later portion is detected using a second sensor of the computing device.

4. The method of claim 1 , wherein:
the gesture comprises a pulling gesture on and then away from one of the surfaces at a first location of the one of the surfaces; and
the actions comprise:
selecting a user interface (UI) object within a display of the computing device at a first point within the display corresponding to the first location; and
adjusting a user-controllable parameter of an application on the computing device indicated by the UI object based on a distance of an end point of the pulling gesture away from the one of the surfaces.

5. The method of claim 4 , wherein the user-controllable parameter is a speaker volume or a display brightness.

6. The method of claim 1 , wherein the gesture comprises:
a pinching gesture on one of the surfaces at a first location of the one of the surfaces;
a pulling gesture away from the one of the surfaces at the first location;
a movement distant from and across the one of the surfaces toward a second location of the one of the surfaces; and
a dropping gesture on the one of the surfaces at the second location.

7. The method of claim 6 , wherein the actions comprise dragging and dropping a user interface (UI) object within a display of the computing device from a first point within the display corresponding to the first location to a second point within the display corresponding to the second location.

8. The method of claim 6 , wherein the first point is within a first window of a first application on the computing device and the second point is within a second window of a second application on the computing device.

9. The method of claim 1 , wherein:
the gesture is a fly-away gesture; and
the actions comprise:
selecting a scrollable user interface (UI) object at or near a starting point of the fly-away gesture; and
scrolling the scrollable UI object at a speed based at least in part on a velocity of the fly-away gesture.

10. One or more computer-readable non-transitory storage media embodying software that is operable when executed to:
identify a gesture made by a user of a computing device with respect to one or more surfaces of the computing device, the gesture comprising a single trajectory in three dimensions including:
an earlier portion of the single trajectory in a first direction along at least one of the surfaces, the earlier portion comprising a first series of points touching the at least one of the surfaces; and
immediately following the earlier portion of the single trajectory, a later portion of the single trajectory in a second direction, the later portion comprising a second series of points distant from the surfaces, wherein the second direction comprises a deflection from the first direction that follows through on the earlier portion of the single trajectory;

determining a user input based at least in part on a speed of the gesture along the earlier portion of the single trajectory and a speed of the gesture along the later portion of the single trajectory; and
execute one or more actions based on the user input.

11. The media of claim 10 , wherein the gesture is identified using a proximity sensor, camera, or touch sensor of the computing device.

12. The media of claim 10 , wherein the earlier portion is detected using a first sensor of the computing device and wherein the later portion is detected using a second sensor of the computing device.

13. The media of claim 10 , wherein:
the gesture comprises a pulling gesture on and then away from one of the surfaces at a first location of the one of the surfaces; and
the actions comprise:
selecting a user interface (UI) object within a display of the computing device at a first point within the display corresponding to the first location; and
adjusting a user-controllable parameter of an application on the computing device indicated by the UI object based on a distance of an end point of the pulling gesture away from the one of the surfaces.

14. The media of claim 10 , wherein the gesture comprises:
a pinching gesture on one of the surfaces at a first location of the one of the surfaces;
a pulling gesture away from the one of the surfaces at the first location;
a movement distant from and across the one of the surfaces toward a second location of the one of the surfaces; and
a dropping gesture on the one of the surfaces at the second location.

15. The media of claim 14 , wherein the actions comprise dragging and dropping a user interface (UI) object within a display of the computing device from a first point within the display corresponding to the first location to a second point within the display corresponding to the second location.

16. The media of claim 14 , wherein the first point is within a first window of a first application on the computing device and the second point is within a second window of a second application on the computing device.

17. The media of claim 10 , wherein:
the gesture is a fly-away gesture; and
the actions comprise:
selecting a scrollable user interface (UI) object at or near a starting point of the fly-away gesture; and
scrolling the scrollable UI object at a speed based at least in part on a velocity of the fly-away gesture.

18. A device comprising:
one or more processors; and
one or more computer-readable non-transitory storage media coupled to the processors and embodying software that is operable when executed by the processors to:
identify a gesture made by a user of the device with respect to one or more surfaces of the device, the gesture comprising a single trajectory in three dimensions including:
an earlier portion of the single trajectory in a first direction along at least one of the surfaces, the earlier portion comprising a first series of points touching the at least one of the surfaces; and
immediately following the earlier portion of the single trajectory, a later portion of the single trajectory in a second direction, the later portion comprising a second series of points distant from the surfaces, wherein the second direction comprises a deflection from the first direction that follows through on the earlier portion of the single traject

Assignees

• Facebook Inc

Inventors

• St Clair Luke

Classifications

• G06F3/017 Primary

  Gesture based interaction, e.g. based on a set of recognized hand gestures (interaction based on gestures traced on a digitiser G06F3/04883) · CPC title

• G06F3/0486

  Drag-and-drop · CPC title

• G06F3/04842

  Selection of displayed objects or displayed text elements (G06F3/0482 takes precedence) · CPC title

• G06F3/0488

  using a touch-screen or digitiser, e.g. input of commands through traced gestures · CPC title

• G06F3/04847

  Interaction techniques to control parameter settings, e.g. interaction with sliders or dials · CPC title