Apple has filed for yet another gesture-based user interface that could apply to future Macs.
In the patent filing, Apple notes that many different types of user interface devices and methods are currently available, including keyboards, mice, joysticks and touchscreens. Computer interfaces based on three-dimensional (3D) sensing of parts of the user’s body have also been proposed.
Apple is looking into a gesture recognition system using depth-perceptive sensors. A 3D sensor provides position information, which is used to identify gestures created by a body part of interest. The gestures are recognized based on a shape of a body part and its position and orientation over an interval. The gesture is classified for determining an input into a Mac.
Per the patent filing, a gesture based user interface includes a movement monitor configured to monitor a user’s hand and to provide a signal based on movements of the hand. A processor is configured to provide at least one interface state in which a cursor is confined to movement within a single dimension region responsive to the signal from the movement monitor, and to actuate different commands responsive to the signal from the movement monitor and the location of the cursor in the single dimension region.
