June 7, 2011 at 20:59List of patented gestures
It may seem crazy to someone, but IT companies began patenting physical gestures almost twenty years ago. In the era of touchscreens, Kinect and other interfaces, human gestures have become an object of intellectual property. Here is a list of ten US patents that restrict your right to move your hands freely, because some movements are property of others.
1. Slider unlock. Of course, the patent for this gesture belongs to Apple, which any iPhone owner will confirm to you. The patent describes a method for unlocking a mobile device by simply moving a finger across the screen in a straight line. Here, in fact, the gesture itself is not patented, but its specific application in the interface, so other manufacturers (for example, Android devices) do not have the right to implement the same unlock principle in the interface (well, they came up with something similar that supposedly does not violate the patent).
2. Multi-touch gestures for touchscreens . Critics say that Apple slightly went too far with this patent because some of the gestures are more like a Bolshoi ballerina dancing and hardly anyone is able to move their fingers like that. An application for this patent was filed in 2011., and Apple is trying to book in it almost all the possible movements of the multi-touch interface.
3. Writing characters without lifting the pen from the paper . If you do this, then violate the Xerox patent . This came as a surprise to Palm ten years ago when it launched the Palm Pilot handheld computer and immediately received a giant lawsuit from Xerox . As a result, Palm filed a patent for drawing characters in a few movements .
4. Move the icons on the smartphone using gestures . This wording is contained in the Samsung patent , but they did not specify which gestures they mean. However, sooner or later Samsung will surely sue someone.
5. Any set of personalized gestures to control Kinect . Microsoft owns a patent for what it calls “gesture profiles” for managing a game console. These are customized profiles that users can create by assigning a command to any gesture, even the most unusual and invented in a rush of creativity. Through this patent, Microsoft may prohibit other companies from using a similar system.
6. Poking (flicking) a pen somewhere . Strange, but Microsoft also owns a patent for the “system and method for determining whether a flick gesture has occurred”. Is the idea of poking a finger or a pen somewhere so innovative and worth patenting?
7. Shaking the mobile phone . Have you ever been angry at a broken phone and shook it so that it reboots? Thus, you probably infringed the Intellectual Ventures patent .
8. Movement of 3D objects in a virtual environment - the corresponding patent belongs to Lucent. Unfortunately, we can no longer recreate interfaces from many science fiction novels without violating someone else's intellectual property.
9. Movement with two hands . This is a rather strange GestureTek patent . If you want to create a device that recognizes "bimanual gestures" (as stated in the patent), you must pay royalties to this company.
10. Typing without taking your fingers off the keyboard. You might have heard of the Swype keyboard, which allows you to type with the movement of your finger from one letter to another. Well, the corresponding patent belongs to the company of the same name.
Interestingly, one of the pioneers in the field of gesture control interfaces, Nintendo, does not have a single patent for this or that gesture. Instead, they focused on patenting hardware solutions. For example, Nintendo owns a patent for any controller with an accelerometer , but not for ways to control it.
1. Slider unlock. Of course, the patent for this gesture belongs to Apple, which any iPhone owner will confirm to you. The patent describes a method for unlocking a mobile device by simply moving a finger across the screen in a straight line. Here, in fact, the gesture itself is not patented, but its specific application in the interface, so other manufacturers (for example, Android devices) do not have the right to implement the same unlock principle in the interface (well, they came up with something similar that supposedly does not violate the patent).
2. Multi-touch gestures for touchscreens . Critics say that Apple slightly went too far with this patent because some of the gestures are more like a Bolshoi ballerina dancing and hardly anyone is able to move their fingers like that. An application for this patent was filed in 2011., and Apple is trying to book in it almost all the possible movements of the multi-touch interface.
3. Writing characters without lifting the pen from the paper . If you do this, then violate the Xerox patent . This came as a surprise to Palm ten years ago when it launched the Palm Pilot handheld computer and immediately received a giant lawsuit from Xerox . As a result, Palm filed a patent for drawing characters in a few movements .
4. Move the icons on the smartphone using gestures . This wording is contained in the Samsung patent , but they did not specify which gestures they mean. However, sooner or later Samsung will surely sue someone.
5. Any set of personalized gestures to control Kinect . Microsoft owns a patent for what it calls “gesture profiles” for managing a game console. These are customized profiles that users can create by assigning a command to any gesture, even the most unusual and invented in a rush of creativity. Through this patent, Microsoft may prohibit other companies from using a similar system.
6. Poking (flicking) a pen somewhere . Strange, but Microsoft also owns a patent for the “system and method for determining whether a flick gesture has occurred”. Is the idea of poking a finger or a pen somewhere so innovative and worth patenting?
7. Shaking the mobile phone . Have you ever been angry at a broken phone and shook it so that it reboots? Thus, you probably infringed the Intellectual Ventures patent .
8. Movement of 3D objects in a virtual environment - the corresponding patent belongs to Lucent. Unfortunately, we can no longer recreate interfaces from many science fiction novels without violating someone else's intellectual property.
9. Movement with two hands . This is a rather strange GestureTek patent . If you want to create a device that recognizes "bimanual gestures" (as stated in the patent), you must pay royalties to this company.
10. Typing without taking your fingers off the keyboard. You might have heard of the Swype keyboard, which allows you to type with the movement of your finger from one letter to another. Well, the corresponding patent belongs to the company of the same name.
Interestingly, one of the pioneers in the field of gesture control interfaces, Nintendo, does not have a single patent for this or that gesture. Instead, they focused on patenting hardware solutions. For example, Nintendo owns a patent for any controller with an accelerometer , but not for ways to control it.
