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Google Patents Glove For "Seeing With Your Hand"

Posted by samzenpus on from the touching-is-believing dept.

theodp writes "Is Google Couch Search about to go Beta? GeekWire reports that Google co-founder Sergey Brin is among the inventors listed on a patent issued to the search giant this week for 'Seeing With Your Hand', using a glove with sensors for viewing a room or controlling a computer with gestures. From the patent: 'When a small object is lost, for example, underneath a couch, humans naturally put their hands under the couch to locate the lost object by touch. While gathering information by touch is in some cases an acceptable substitute for seeing, in many situations it may be desirable to 'see' the inaccessible environment to better gather information.'"

35 of 58 comments (clear)

  1. No one is going to wear a glove to control a PC by assemblerex · · Score: 3, Informative

    Imagine people waving their single gloved hand, like so many Michael Jacksons.

    This is about patenting and limiting gestural control competition.

    1. Re:No one is going to wear a glove to control a PC by game+kid · · Score: 3, Funny

      Imagine people waving their single gloved hand, like so many Michael Jacksons.

      Between that and the inevitable Power Glove comparisons, you could say that...it's so bad.

      --
      You can hold down the "B" button for continuous firing.
    2. Re:No one is going to wear a glove to control a PC by game+kid · · Score: 1

      (OK, actually looking at the patent's pic now, it's not so inevitable. Less massive-looking, for one. But still. :) )

      --
      You can hold down the "B" button for continuous firing.
    3. Re:No one is going to wear a glove to control a PC by hedwards · · Score: 1

      The irony there is that the Power Glove was indeed, bad, so bad that it was more or less a flop.

    4. Re:No one is going to wear a glove to control a PC by DJRumpy · · Score: 1

      Wouldn't prior art on this be the control interface in Minority Report? They used all natural gestures to navigate, discard, collect, etc.

    5. Re:No one is going to wear a glove to control a PC by WidgetGuy · · Score: 1

      "Hi, Mrs. Vader! Is Darth up yet? Can he come out to play?"

      --
      One "Aw, Shit!" is worth 100 "Ata boys!"
    6. Re:No one is going to wear a glove to control a PC by pyrosine · · Score: 1

      I'm fairly sure this counts as prior art

    7. Re:No one is going to wear a glove to control a PC by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1

      Google has never used a patent offensively, and has very publicly complained about the broken patent system. This, like their other recent patent moves, is defensive.

    8. Re:No one is going to wear a glove to control a PC by zill · · Score: 3, Informative

      This patents is for the algorithm and the hardware that actually makes it possible. Minority Report contained neither of those things.

  2. Prior Art by Netshroud · · Score: 2

    Anyone else read Emily Eyefinger as a kid??

    1. Re:Prior art by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1

      There is nothing new under the sun. Including this comment:

      What has been will be again, what has been done will be done again; there is nothing new under the sun.

      -- Ecclesiastes 1:9

      There's an appropriately older quote by Buddha, but I can't find it as quickly.

      (Ideas weren't new in the 60s either.)

    2. Re:Prior art by 50000BTU_barbecue · · Score: 1
      "(Ideas weren't new in the 60s either.)"

      I never said that. I said technology can be traced back to the 1960s.

      --
      Mostly random stuff.
  3. Please don't be evil by ehud42 · · Score: 2

    Sparkfun just posted an article about a clever device for visually impaired people to use to navigate with their hand. Google better leave them alone!

    --
    I'm in my right mind and I have the answer to everything!
    1. Re:Please don't be evil by gl4ss · · Score: 2

      real question is did google actually build their version?
      another go:
      http://grathio.com/2011/08/meet-the-tacit-project-its-sonar-for-the-blind/

      atting tactile feedback to a pointing device.. that's like adding haptics to some whatever augmented reality application. surely done?

      --
      world was created 5 seconds before this post as it is.
    2. Re:Please don't be evil by Osgeld · · Score: 1

      sparkfun did not invent that

      "This project, by Steve Hoefer of Grathio Labs,"

      so why would google go after them for publishing an article that has appeared on a few websites already just to drag ass to sparkfun weeks later? And would we really be that worse off without them anyway. All they do is gouge noobies and slap a copyright on preexisting designs, often direct from the datasheet.

    3. Re:Please don't be evil by Riceballsan · · Score: 2

      Well lets list all of the companies google has sued for patent infringement in the past. Pretty much all I've ever seen google sue is patent trolls.

  4. Great, just great! by reboot246 · · Score: 2

    Now the TSA can see your naughty bits when they stick their grubby little hands down your pants.

  5. what I REALLY would like to see with my hands by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 2, Funny

    I really would like to see Miss February with my hands...

  6. Re:Patent This Gesture by Snarky+McButtface · · Score: 1

    I would but I discovered this gesture 25 years ago. If some does file a patent for this gesture, I have proof of prior art.

  7. Re:Patent This Gesture by mwvdlee · · Score: 1

    I would but I discovered this gesture 25 years ago. If some does file a patent for this gesture, I have proof of prior art.

    Really? You have proof of that? I'm (morbidly) curious... what does this proof consist of?

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  8. Oblig. by PPH · · Score: 1

    Nice tits.

    --
    Have gnu, will travel.
  9. Prior art by 50000BTU_barbecue · · Score: 1
    Everything technological can be traced back to the 1960s*, the greatest period in history. There were no limits, everything was possible.

    It's called the Optacon.

    Some video.

    *Go ahead, try me. :)

    --
    Mostly random stuff.
  10. Wrong date by gmuslera · · Score: 1

    Looks like the typical April 1st google joke. In fact, if is true, could be pushed to 11 to make the next year's one.

  11. idle hands by PopeRatzo · · Score: 1

    Why do I get the feeling that one way or another, the real purpose of this technology will involve putting the gloved hand down one's pants?

    --
    You are welcome on my lawn.
    1. Re:idle hands by Taty'sEyes · · Score: 1

      Why do I get the feeling that one way or another, the real purpose of this technology will involve putting the gloved hand down one's pants?

      I had a nearly similar thought, difference being changing the word "one's" to "another's".

      --
      We show geeks how to get their dream girl at EyesOfOdessa.com
  12. Talk to the Hand by tinkerton · · Score: 1

    Next: technology for hearing with your glove.

  13. Hands on control by jovius · · Score: 1

    Once upon a time I took apart a Tac-2 and wired it into a pair of wool gloves, The joystick didn't have microswitches but contacts, so the functionality was easy to modify. The contacts were strategically placed on fingertips of the both hands. The gloves worked quite well actually and felt intuitive.

  14. Obligatory penny arcade by zill · · Score: 2

    You can't choke someone over the internet, until now.

    1. Re:Obligatory penny arcade by syousef · · Score: 1

      You can't choke someone over the internet, until now.

      Of course you can! I've seen Darth Vader do it!

      --
      These posts express my own personal views, not those of my employer
  15. Commuting by Tablizer · · Score: 1

    I'd like to try this during my morning commute. My usual "traffic gestures" would be more than just gestures this time. Cut me off, and you'll go up a few octaves!

    --
    Table-ized A.I.
  16. Heavy Rain by tycoex · · Score: 1

    Something like this maybe? http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PXQN_aGZQ_A

  17. Counter terrorism by Custard+Horse · · Score: 1

    It will look less impressive when a member of SWAT gets his hand stuck under a door immediatley before setting off a breaching charge. Perhaps the regular spy cam would suffice after all?

  18. "Seeing With Your Ears" for hands-free use by smartsight · · Score: 1

    I'll gladly cooperate with Sergey Brin on "Seeing With Your Ears" http://www.seeingwithsound.com/ to "hear" an otherwise inaccessible environment

  19. Smart Fingertip Camera to Help Blind People by smartsight · · Score: 1

    Smart Fingertip Camera to Help Blind People http://www.infoniac.com/hi-tech/smart-fingertip-camera-to-help-blind-people.html At first glance this looks like prior art

  20. Prior Art? by iinventstuff · · Score: 1

    In 1995, I built systems for the USAF / AFRL based on data gloves and Polhemus trackers and I was not the 1st. We used this for 3D environment interactions and had many types of gesture recognition. Reading Google's patent claims, Google positioned the sensor on the finger tip (ours was on the back of the hand) and then applied all prior art to that minor and obvious 'novelty'. This is a minor departure from prior art, but is inline with how the US patent system works: you get a patent in exchange for full disclosure, then others get the opportunity to improve upon your invention and then patent their improvements. As a technologist, I look at this as a cheap copy, but from a patent perspective, they took prior art and built in a new way. If this spawns innovation, then cool, and if not, then it doesn't matter. I predict that, if successful, Google will see a few patent challenges.