Thumb Scroll UI for VR Hand Gesture Control
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Solution Overview
Problem
Implementing precise and subtle user interface controls in virtual reality (VR), augmented reality (AR), and mixed reality (MR) environments is challenging due to reliance on user gestures and hand movements, leading to a less-than-optimal user experience.
Innovation Solution
A system that includes a viewing device and a sensor device to capture hand gestures within a three-dimensional space, activating a graphical thumb scroll element when a user's hand is within a defined zone, determining scroll speed and direction based on the gesture, and changing graphical content accordingly, providing precise control over UI elements like windows and menus.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Measurement precision
If traditional keyboard and mouse controls are used in VR/AR environments, then precise UI control can be achieved, but the device complexity and difficulty of implementation increase significantly
Solution Approach 1:
The patent replaces traditional mechanical input devices (keyboard and mouse) with gesture-based hand tracking. The system captures hand movements through sensors and translates them into UI control commands, eliminating the need for physical mechanical interfaces while maintaining control precision in VR/AR environments.
Solution Approach 2:
The patent introduces a virtual thumb scroll element as an intermediary between the user's hand gestures and the UI control system. This virtual element acts as a mediator that translates natural hand movements into precise scrolling and selection actions, bridging the gap between gesture input and UI response.
2Ease of operation
If gesture-based controls are used in VR/AR environments, then ease of operation improves, but measurement precision and control accuracy deteriorate
Solution Approach 1:
The virtual thumb scroll element serves as an intermediary that enhances gesture precision. It provides visual feedback and defined interaction zones that help users accurately target UI elements, thereby improving measurement precision while maintaining the ease of gesture-based operation.
Solution Approach 2:
The system provides visual feedback by displaying the virtual thumb scroll element and its interaction zone to the user. This feedback mechanism allows users to see their hand's position relative to the target area, improving control accuracy while maintaining natural gesture-based operation.
3Measurement precision
If virtual thumb scroll elements with defined zones are implemented, then control precision improves, but the complexity of the user interface increases
Solution Approach 1:
The patent applies local quality by creating a defined interaction zone specifically around the virtual thumb scroll element. This localized approach concentrates the complexity only where needed (at the scroll element) rather than throughout the entire interface, maintaining overall interface simplicity while achieving high precision hand location detection.
Data Source
AI summary
Methods and apparatuses are described for providing a thumb scroll user interface element in a computerized visual environment. A viewing device displays a graphical user interface within a three-dimensional space that includes surface planes each associated with a graphical thumb scroll element. A sensor device captures a location of the user's hand within the three-dimensional space and a gesture of the user's hand. A computing device detects that the location is within a defined zone around one of the graphical thumb scroll elements and activates the thumb scroll element associated with the defined zone. The computing device identifies the gesture, determines a scroll speed based upon a speed of the identified gesture, and determines a scroll direction based upon a direction of the identified gesture. The computing device changes characteristics of graphical content in the surface plane based upon at least one of: the scroll speed or the scroll direction.