For all of the innovation and practicality of the multi-touch user interface for the iPhone, MacBook Pro and MacBook Air, the current gestures may still seem a bit limited. After all there are but so many gestures that you can currently use including zoom, rotate, scroll/browse, pinch, pan around, …etc.
Yet a recent patent application details Apple’s quest for expanding the amount hand gestures that its multi-touch displays can recognize, that could really take things to the next level.
The new patent application to come out of Cupertino, dubbed “gesture learning” showcases Apple’s development of a language of sorts, based on gesture inputs consisting of hundreds of words.
In order to detail the possibilities of gesture language, Apple has split single gestures into two phases. The first of which includes the specific finger combinations called “chords.” The second phase utilizes the movement of the fingers and when combined with the first phase a full multi-touch gesture is made.
According to Apple:
Each of a user’s hands acting alone can execute twenty-five or more chords. For example, five fingers that can be independently raised or lowered give rise to thirty-one combinations. Additional chords may be distinguished by whether only the fingertips are in contact with the surface or whether the length of the finger is flattened against the surface. Further chords may be distinguished based on whether the fingertips are placed on the surface close together or spread apart. As noted above, modifier keys (e.g., the Ctrl, Alt, Shift, and Cmd keys of a keyboard) may be used to distinguish different chords. Modifier keys may also include buttons, touch-sensitive or force-sensitive areas, or other toggles located on the device.
And then:
Many chords can have at least thirteen different motions associated with them. For example, a two-finger chord (for example, the index and middle fingers) could have specific meaning or action assigned to the lateral motions that include rotation, translation, and scaling. Rotation (clockwise and counter-clockwise) of the two-finger chord gives rise to two unique meanings or actions. Translation (left, right, up, down, and four diagonals) gives rise to at least eight unique meanings or actions. Scaling (contraction or expansion) also gives rise to two meanings or actions. The vertical motion of a chord may comprise lifting the fingers of the chord off the multi-touch surface almost immediately after they had touched down, (e.g., tapping the multi-touch surface with the chord) or multiple taps, etc.
So essentially, 25 chords x 13 movements = one whole hell of a lot of to learn (325). It will certainly be interesting to see multi-touch gestures of this magnitude in action and the effect that it will have on the user experience.
