Apple Patents for Multi-Touch and Teaching Gestures
On July 3rd, the US Patent and Trademark Office published a patent application from Apple computer for "Gesture Learning."
Through this patent, Apple seeks to protect a method for teaching hundreds of gestures that are used or will be used to control multi-touch sensitive devices. This "Gesture Learning" patent follows last year's "Multi-Touch Gesture Dictionary" patent that I wrote about earlier this year in "Gesture Patents Point Way to Full-Body Interfaces."
Image from Gesture Learning Patent that
shows interface for teaching Gestures
What I find so intriguing about these two patent filings is that Apple is creating a rich gesture-based movement language for controlling computers, mobile phones, music players and other devices. And Apple is also devising a computer-based system for teaching users how to master what will inevitably become a sophisticated gestural language with many options and possibilities.
My question for choreographers and dancers is whether you believe that Apple has entered into territory traditionally thought of as the domain of dancers and movement experts? And what will happen as new patent applications eventually go well beyond seeking to protect hand gestures and attempt to protect full-body movements generated by the arms, legs and torso? Are we just talking about ways to control computer interfaces or do these Apple filings have much greater importance--in particular to the dance community?
Background: Gesture Learning Patent
According to this patent application:
A multi-touch gesture can be as simple as using one or two fingers to trace out a particular trajectory or pattern, or as intricate as using all the fingers of both hands in a complex sequence of movements reminiscent of American Sign Language. Each motion of hands and fingers, whether complex or not, conveys a specific meaning or action that is acted upon by the computer or electronic device at the behest of the user. The number of multi-touch gestures can be quite large because of the wide range of possible motions by fingers and hands. It is conceivable that an entirely new gesture language might evolve that would allow users to convey complex meaning and commands to computers and electronic devices by moving their hands and fingers in particular patterns.
The fingers used and paths that a gesture may take
An individual multi-touch gesture, according to patent, includes two phases. The first phase, the "chord," consists of the hand parts used (e.g, a specified number of fingers and a thumb used in a particular configuration). The second phase consists of the motion of the specific hand parts. "This motion may take the form of lateral motions such as rotation, translation, scaling (expansion and contraction)...in some embodiments, this may comprise moving the hand parts around on the multi-touch surface. In such embodiments, the second phase of the gesture may also comprise vertical motions (relative to the multi-touch surface) such as tapping, double-tapping, etc."
With each hand able to execute twenty-five or more chords, and with each chord having thirteen or more motions associated therewith, there may be over three hundred possible gestures for each hand. Many more gestures are possible if both hands are used together.
New Interactive Application for Learning Gestures
In the summary section of the Gesture Learning patent application, you will find a detailed section describing the possible configuration of a graphical user interface for teaching this embodied language:
A flow chart of the gesture learning software application
The present invention can relate, for example, to a method for teaching gestures. The method can include presenting a display having two display areas, one of which can be a multi-touch monitor window. The multi-touch monitor window can be used to display interactive feedback to a user indicating what gesture the user is performing. The multi-touch monitor window can be overlaid on the first display area or can be a separate window, such as a side-by-side arrangement...
The interactive feedback can take a variety of forms. For example, the interactive feedback can comprise an animated hand together with one or more motion indicators. The animated hand can be a line drawings, a three-dimensional rendering, a translucent shadow of a hand, or other representation. The motion indicators can include motion trails or other representations, which can also be color-coded. The interactive feedback may also be superimposed with an animated display of a correctly performed gesture so that the user can see the difference, if any, between the gesture he performs and the idealized gesture.
Related Apple Patents
- Multi-Event Input System
- Multi-Touch Input Discrimination
Blog Posts About Apple's Recent Multi-Touch Patent Applications
- Unwired View: "Apple wants to teach us Multi-Touch gesture language"
- Mac Rumors: "Patents Reveal Ongoing Touch and Multi-Touch Research"
- iLounge: "Apple patents outline further multi-touch research"
- Rhythmism: "New Apple touch patents show body part sensing, fingernail input"
- PC Joint: "How Apple will implement Multi-Touch in Macbook, iMac and other devices" - from 2007.
Posted by
Doug Fox on July 7, 2008 5:20 AM
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2 Comments
I came across a review of a book about patents that relates to the topic of your post. The review was written by Timothy B. Lee, of Ars Technica:
Patent Failure: How Judges, Bureaucrats, and Lawyers Put Innovators at Risk (James Bessenand Michael Meurer, Princeton University Press)
I do not think that technology companies and patent lawyers have given a moment's thought about the impact on the right of dancers to create movement. I'm sure they haven't considered how the patents might inadvertently disrupt the creative process of dancers, especially those who integrate technology into their work.
I'm wondering if there isn't something that we can do to raise awareness about this issue? Maybe create a "cause" on facebook?
Lynn,
Thanks for your comment.
Along the lines of potential challenges for choreographers and dancers resulting from patents granted for gestures might be following:
What happens if dancer copyrights a dance piece that uses gestures covered by a patent? My guess is that it really wouldn't be an issue.
But it's difficult to know what conflicts gestural patents might lead to...
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