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Apple Awarded Gesture-Control Patent

Posted by Soulskill on from the nothing-is-obvious-to-the-uspto dept.

mpicpp points out a report that Apple has been awarded a broad patent for gesture control of a computer interface (8,933,876). The company inherited the patent after their acquisition of motion-sensor company PrimeSense in 2013. (PrimeSense's technology is used in Microsoft's Kinect gesture control system.) Here's the patent's abstract: A method, including receiving, by a computer executing a non-tactile three dimensional (3D) user interface, a set of multiple 3D coordinates representing a gesture by a hand positioned within a field of view of a sensing device coupled to the computer, the gesture including a first motion in a first direction along a selected axis in space, followed by a second motion in a second direction, opposite to the first direction, along the selected axis. Upon detecting completion of the gesture, the non-tactile 3D user interface is transitioned from a first state to a second state.

3 of 105 comments (clear)

  1. So.... by Lab+Rat+Jason · · Score: 5, Funny

    ... they have a patent for waving?

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    Which has more power: the hammer, or the anvil?
    1. Re:So.... by Em+Adespoton · · Score: 5, Funny

      ... for hand waving. Although it might encompass the "These are not the droids you are looking for" gesture as well.

  2. Re:General direction vs. specific direction by xaotikdesigns · · Score: 5, Funny

    They say 8 inches, but they probably only mean 5 and a half...

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    XDInd