Visual feedback for highlight-driven gesture user interfaces

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-10503373-B2
Application number	US-201213420275-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Mar 14, 2012
Priority date	Mar 14, 2012
Publication date	Dec 10, 2019
Grant date	Dec 10, 2019

Abstract

Disclosed are approaches for user interface control. In one embodiment, a method can include: indicating a highlight of a first object of a plurality of objects displayed on a display screen; accepting a signal deriving from a first gesture input of a user indicating a neutral position relative to the highlighted first object; accepting a signal deriving from a second gesture input of the user indicating a directional position at least a predetermined distance from the neutral position; and indicating, in response to the second gesture input, a movement of the highlight from the first object to a second object adjacent to the first object, and where the directional position of the second gesture input correlates to a position on the display screen of the second object relative to the first object.

First claim

We claim:

1. A method of controlling a user interface, the method comprising:
highlighting a first object on a display screen, wherein the first object is one of a plurality of objects displayed on the display screen;
accepting, by a computing device, a signal deriving from a first gesture input of a user, wherein the first gesture input, provided by a body part of the user without making any direct contact with the display screen, indicates a neutral position of the body part relative to the highlighted first object on the display screen;
providing on the display screen, in response to the first gesture input of the user, a graphical representation at a first position, the first position having a predetermined relationship with the position of the highlighted first object;
accepting, by the computing device, a signal deriving from a second gesture input of the user, wherein the second gesture input, caused by movement of the body part through a gesture distance from the neutral position along a gesture direction from the neutral position, indicates a directional position;
moving the graphical representation, in response to the second gesture input, to a second position on the display screen indicative of the directional position;
detecting whether the movement of the graphical representation to the second position crosses a circular ring threshold, centered at the neutral position corresponding to the screen position of the highlighted first object and characterized by a predetermined radius, the circular ring threshold being independent of positioning of any of the plurality of objects other than the highlighted first object; and
in response to detecting that the movement of the graphical representation to the second position does cross the circular ring threshold at a point on the display screen between the first object and a second object adjacent to the first object in the plurality of objects, highlighting the second object, wherein the directional position of the second gesture input correlates to a position on the display screen of the second object relative to the first object.

2. The method of claim 1 , wherein the highlight comprises a dimension, the method further comprising:
determining the movement of the highlight by using at least the directional position, the neutral position, and the dimension of the highlight.

3. The method of claim 1 , further comprising:
accepting, by the computing device a signal deriving from a third gesture input of the user, wherein the third gesture input indicates selection of the highlighted second object.

4. The method of claim 3 , wherein the third gesture input comprises a hand of the user in a grasp state.

5. The method of claim 1 , wherein the first gesture input comprises a hand of the user in a flat upright state.

6. The method of claim 5 , wherein the second gesture input comprises the flat upright state hand of the user being moved according to the directional position.

7. The method of claim 1 , further comprising:
performing an initialization procedure prior to accepting the signal deriving from the first gesture input of the user.

8. The method of claim 1 , wherein each of the plurality of objects represents media content that is playable on the display screen.

9. The method of claim 1 , wherein:
the movement of the highlight is performed at a first predetermined speed if the directional position lies between inner and outer concentric rings envisaged around the neutral position; and
the movement of the highlight is performed at a second predetermined speed if the directional position exceeds the outer concentric ring, wherein the second predetermined speed is greater than the first predetermined speed.

10. An apparatus configured to control a user interface, the apparatus comprising:
one or more processors; and
a computer-readable non-transitory storage medium having one or more instructions stored thereon for execution by the one or more processors, and when executed being operable to perform:
highlighting a first object on a display screen, wherein the first object is one of a plurality of objects displayed on the display screen;
accepting, by a computing device, a signal deriving from a first gesture input of a user, wherein the first gesture input, provided by a body part of the user without making any direct contact with the display screen, indicates a neutral position of the body part relative to the highlighted first object on the display screen;
providing on the display screen, in response to the first gesture input of the user, a graphical representation at a first position coupled to the highlighted first object;
accepting, by the computing device, a signal deriving from a second gesture input of the user, wherein the second gesture input, caused by movement of the body part through a gesture distance from the neutral position along a gesture direction from the neutral position, indicates a directional position;
moving the graphical representation, in response to the second gesture input, to a second position on the display screen indicative of the directional position;
detecting whether the movement of the graphical representation to the second position crosses a circular ring threshold, centered at the neutral position corresponding to the screen position of the highlighted first object, and characterized by a predetermined radius, the circular ring threshold being independent of positioning of any of the plurality of objects other than the highlighted first object; and
in response to detecting that the movement of the graphical representation to the second position does cross the circular ring threshold at a point on the display screen between the first object and a second object adjacent to the first object in the plurality of objects, highlighting the second object, wherein the directional position of the second gesture input correlates to a position on the display screen of the second object relative to the first object.

11. The apparatus of claim 10 , wherein the highlight comprises a dimension, the one or more instructions when executed being further operable to perform:
determining the movement of the highlight by using at least the directional position, the neutral position, and the dimension of the highlight.

12. The apparatus of claim 10 , the one or more instructions when executed being further operable to perform:
accepting, by the computing device, a signal deriving from a third gesture input of the user, wherein the third gesture input indicates selection of the highlighted second object.

13. The apparatus of claim 12 , wherein the third gesture input comprises a hand of the user in a grasp state.

14. The apparatus of claim 10 , wherein the first gesture input comprises a hand of the user in a flat upright state, and wherein the second gesture input comprises the flat upright state hand of the user being moved according to the directional position.

15. The apparatus of claim 10 , the one or more instructions when executed being further operable to perform:
performing an initialization procedure prior to accepting the signal deriving from the first gesture input of the user.

16. The apparatus of claim 10 , wherein each of the plurality of objects represents media content that is playable on the display screen.

17. The apparatus of claim 1 , wherein:
the movement of the highlight is performed at a first predetermined speed if the directional position lies between inner and outer concentric rings envisaged around the neutral position; and
the movement of the highlight

Assignees

• Schwesig Carsten
• Demerchant Marvin
• Friedlander Steven
• Johnson Brian
• Yeh Sebrina
• Yi Hyehoon
• Young David
• Sony Interactive Entertainment LLC

Inventors

• Schwesig Carsten
• Demerchant Marvin
• Friedlander Steven
• Johnson Brian
• Yeh Sebrina
• Yi Hyehoon
• Young David

Classifications

• G06F3/017

  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

• G06F3/0304

  Detection arrangements using opto-electronic means (constructional details of pointing devices not related to the detection arrangement using opto-electronic means G06F3/033; optical digitisers G06F3/042) · CPC title

• G06F3/0482

  Interaction with lists of selectable items, e.g. menus · CPC title

• G06F3/04842 Primary

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