Wearable Touch Pad Gesture Recognition via Zone Partitioning
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Solution Overview
Problem
Wearable devices, such as smart eyewear, face limitations in user-friendly interactions due to their small form factor, making conventional input methods like text entry challenging and impractical.
Innovation Solution
The method involves partitioning the side touch pad into multiple zones and using a gesture recognition application to map gestures to alphabetic characters, leveraging the wider dimension of the touch pad for efficient gesture-based text entry by dividing characters into triplets and using zone-specific and zone-agnostic gestures.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Adaptability or versatility
If a standard QWERTY keyboard is placed on the touch pad, then all characters can be accessed, but the small form factor of wearable devices makes this impractical
Solution Approach 1:
The patent segments the limited touch pad area into multiple functional zones (first zone, second zone, third zone) and divides characters into triplets. Each zone handles specific character groups, allowing comprehensive character access across the small surface area through spatial partitioning rather than attempting to fit a complete keyboard layout.
Solution Approach 2:
The patent introduces a temporal dimension to the input process by using multi-gesture sequences. Instead of requiring all characters to be accessible simultaneously across the touch pad surface, the system uses time-based gesture sequences (first gesture, second gesture, third gesture) to navigate through character triplets, effectively adding a time dimension to compensate for the limited spatial dimension.
2Ease of operation
If voice recognition is used for input, then text entry is enabled, but private information cannot be relayed in the presence of others
Solution Approach 1:
The system uses the wearable device's own touch pad and gesture recognition capabilities to perform text entry, eliminating the need for external voice recognition systems. The device serves itself by leveraging its integrated touch interface and processing power, providing private text input functionality without requiring external assistance that could compromise privacy.
3Ease of operation
If supplementary devices like one-handed keyboard are used, then text input is enabled, but the unobtrusive advantage of wearable devices is undermined
Solution Approach 1:
The patent merges the text input functionality directly into the wearable device by utilizing its built-in touch pad and gesture recognition application. The gesture recognition app is integrated within the wearable device itself, combining the input mechanism and processing capability into a single unified system, thereby eliminating the need for separate supplementary devices and maintaining the unobtrusive nature of the wearable.
Data Source
AI summary
In one embodiment of the present invention, a gesture recognition application enables interactive entry via a touch pad. In operation, the gesture recognition application partitions the touch pad into multiple zones. Upon detecting a gesture via the touch pad, the gesture recognition application determines whether the gesture is zone-specific. If the gesture is zone-specific, then the gesture recognition application determines the zone based on the location of the gesture and then selects an input group based on the zone and the type of gesture. If the gesture is zone-agnostic, then the gesture recognition application selects an input group based on the type of gesture, irrespective of the location of the gesture. Advantageously, by providing zone-specific gesture recognition, the gesture recognition application increases the usability of touch pads with form factors that limit the type of gestures that can be efficiently performed via the touch pad.