May 6, 2008

Gesture Patents Point Way to Full-Body Interfaces

I never considered that gestures could be patented until reading about Apple's efforts last year to apply for patents that describe how users interact with its Macs, iPods and iPhones. Will body movements be patented next as more interfaces accept input from heads, arms and legs?

To ask a bit of an improbable question, will dancers be prohibited from certain movement sequences because they are protected by the US Patent and Trademark Office? This is not likely to happen. But what might happen is that the most natural of human gestures and movements may eventually become proprietary instruments of interface designers.

On another front, I would like to create a video contest where dancers were invited to create their own series of gestures and movements that were intended to control new PC and mobile interfaces. I think that dancers would come-up with some highly innovative approaches that had not previously been considered.

In news that I believe I'm the first to write about, Ohad Naharin is already working with Steve Jobs on a new interface that responds to full-body movements. Here's a clip from the research lab:

For the record, I'm just having fun with the idea that Ohad Naharin's Batsheva Dance Company is working with Apple. But I am serious about the premise that choreographers and dancers would have some very innovative and worthwhile approaches to controlling new interfaces. Choreographers are essentially rapid-prototoypers who can create the basics of new movement vocabularies in a few hours.

Apple Multi-Touch Patent Application

The following diagram shows a mockup of a Mac OS X gesture-control panel with multi-touch capabilities from a recent patent application [via MacRumors.com]:

In "Can Apple Patent the Pinch? Experts Say It's Possible" from Wired, a patent lawyer is quoted as follows regarding Apple's multi-touch patent:

"If Apple's patents are granted, the company could absolutely stop others from using similar technology," says Raj Abhyanker, a patent lawyer who used to write patent applications for Apple. "They'd also be in an especially good position to stop others from including certain features. Apple could stop [their use] not only on mobile devices but also desktops."

Samsung Patent for Controlling Mobile Devices

Ubergizmo posted "Samsung Patents Visual Gesture Control" with following image and write-up:

Samsung has recently patented a system of cell phone and mobile device control which responds to a users gestures. It doesn't do this on the display as how the iPhone currently does, but as recognized in the space around the handset courtesy of the handset's front-mounted camera. The pre-loaded software will recognize preset motions, translating them into on-screen control. Take for example, pointing at the display and moving the finger to control a mouse/cursor whilst rotating the wrist with the hand outstretched in order to flip an image or layer.

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2 Comments

vjvincent said:

The initial and broadest patent for full body gestures, as interfaces to control on screen content, via video camera input, for PCs, consoles, toys, mobile phones, etc. was applied for and received by GestureTek back in 1991.
They have licensed it to industry giants like Sony, Microsoft, Hasbro, Reactrix, DoCoMo, etc.
see: www.gesturetek.com for videos and patent info
......however, there are a lot of other technologies to interface with full body interactions with computing devices other than video cameras
.....mind you it is the best, as the user doesn't have to wear, hold or touch anything........

Added: May 6, 2008 6:53 PM | Permalink

Doug Fox said:

Vincent,

Thank you for background about patents for full body gestures and GestureTek.

Added: May 7, 2008 8:12 AM | Permalink

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