IP Library Granted Patent US 12675168
Granted Patent B2
US 12675168 · App. 18/514,760 · Granted Jul 7, 2026

Radial gesture navigation

Inventors: Ty Blachly (Los Angeles, CA); Nathan Boyd (Los Angeles, CA); Donald Giovannini (Venice, CA); Krish Jayaram (Santa Monica, CA); Evan Spiegel (Los Angeles, CA); William Wu (Marina del Rey, CA)
Assignee: Snap Inc.
G06F3/017G06F3/041
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Quick Facts
Patent No.
US 12675168
App. No.
18/514,760
Granted
Jul 7, 2026
Kind
B2
Abstract

Systems and methods for radial gesture navigation are provided. In example embodiments, user input data is received from a user device. The user input data indicates a continuous physical user interaction associated with a display screen of the user device. An initial point and a current point are detected from the user input data. A radius distance for a circle that includes the current point and is centered about the initial point is determined. An action is selected from among multiple actions based on the radius distance being within a particular range among successive ranges along a straight line that starts at the initial point and extends through the circle. Each range among the successive ranges corresponds to a particular action among the multiple actions. The selected action is performed in response to detecting a completion of the continuous physical user interaction.

Claims (53)

1 . A system comprising:

one or more hardware processors configured to perform operations comprising:

determining that an individual point at a first location represents a hold gesture based on a duration of time associated with the individual point corresponding to a hold time threshold;

activating a radial slide mode and causing presentation of a visual indication, without displaying a button corresponding to an action, to indicate that a radial slide mode is active in response to determining that the individual point represents the hold gesture;

in response to determining that the individual point represents the hold gesture, selecting the action from a plurality of actions based on a radial slide gesture, the action being selected without presenting the button on a display;

detecting, while sending live media data to other user devices and while the hold gesture is maintained at the first location, a second gesture corresponding to a second plurality of continuous touch positions starting a second location that is different from the first location along one of a first direction or a second direction that is different from the first direction; and

adjusting one of a zoom-in level of the live media data based on a distance of the second gesture in the first direction or a zoom-out level of the live media data based on a distance of the second gesture in the second direction while the hold gesture is maintained at the first location.

2 . The system of claim 1 , the operations comprising:

receiving user input data comprising a series of points in time corresponding to physical user input, the series of points including the individual point and the user input data comprising temporal data representing a timestamp for each point in the series of points; and

determining, based on the user input data, that a first collection of points in the series of points is associated with a distance that changes at a steady rate with time, the first collection of points corresponding to the radial slide gesture.

3 . The system of claim 1 , wherein the operations further comprise generating a graph of distance versus time, wherein the visual indication comprises a change in background color of a user interface, the radial slide mode enabling a user to perform actions associated with the button anywhere on the display without presenting the button.

4 . The system of claim 1 , wherein the operations further comprise:

capturing the live media data from a camera sensor;

displaying the live media data on a touchscreen;

detecting a first gesture on the touchscreen while displaying the live media data, the first gesture corresponding to a first plurality of continuous touch positions along a first direction after the hold gesture; and

sending a live stream of the live media data to other user devices in response to a first distance of the first plurality of continuous touch positions along the first direction performed by the first gesture exceeding a threshold.

5 . The system of claim 1 , wherein the selection of the action is independent of an angle of a line formed by a first collection of points and a reference line on a touchscreen, and wherein the visual indication comprises a textual description indicating successful completion of the hold gesture.

6 . The system of claim 1 , wherein the operations further comprise:

determining that a finger of a user has been lifted from a touchscreen; and

causing presentation of a user interface displaying a visual indication of the selected action.

7 . The system of claim 1 , wherein the operations further comprise:

receiving an indication of a designated user interface element, wherein each of multiple actions is associated with the designated user interface element.

8 . The system of claim 7 , wherein the operations further comprise:

determining the designated user interface element based on a first gesture.

9 . The system of claim 8 , wherein the designated user interface element is not obscured by a visual indication associated with the selected action of the multiple actions.

10 . The system of claim 1 , wherein the radial slide mode enables a user to interact with a digital content item that is being displayed without presenting buttons that visually obscure the digital content item that is being displayed.

11 . The system of claim 1 , wherein the operations further comprise switching between a recording session and a live stream based on a distance associated with a first collection of points of the radial slide gesture.

12 . The system of claim 1 , wherein the operations further comprise:

causing display of a user interface element corresponding to activation of a live stream; and

modifying a display attribute of the user interface element based on a distance between a current position associated with a first gesture and a position of the user interface element on a touchscreen.

13 . The system of claim 1 , wherein the operations further comprise causing presentation of information associated with a live stream, the information comprising connectivity information and an indication that the connectivity information allows the live stream to be sent to other user devices.

14 . The system of claim 1 , wherein the live media data is sent in response to a first gesture corresponding to a first plurality of continuous touch positions along the first direction after the hold gesture and the second gesture is along the second direction.

15 . A non-transitory machine-readable medium storing instructions that, when executed by at least one hardware processor, configure the at least one hardware processor to perform operations comprising:

determining that an individual point at a first location represents a hold gesture based on a duration of time associated with the individual point corresponding to a hold time threshold;

activating a radial slide mode and causing presentation of a visual indication, without displaying a button corresponding to an action, to indicate that a radial slide mode is active in response to determining that the individual point represents the hold gesture;

in response to determining that the individual point represents the hold gesture, selecting the action from a plurality of actions based on a radial slide gesture, the action being selected without presenting the button on a display;

detecting, while sending live media data to other user devices and while the hold gesture is maintained at the first location, a second gesture corresponding to a second plurality of continuous touch positions starting a second location that is different from the first location along one of a first direction or a second direction that is different from the first direction; and

adjusting one of a zoom-in level of the live media data based on a distance of the second gesture in the first direction or a zoom-out level of the live media data based on a distance of the second gesture in the second direction while the hold gesture is maintained at the first location.

16 . A method comprising:

determining that an individual point at a first location represents a hold gesture based on a duration of time associated with the individual point corresponding to a hold time threshold;

activating a radial slide mode and causing presentation of a visual indication, without displaying a button corresponding to an action, to indicate that a radial slide mode is active in response to determining that the individual point represents the hold gesture;

in response to determining that the individual point represents the hold gesture, selecting the action from a plurality of actions based on a radial slide gesture, the action being selected without presenting the button on a display;

detecting, while sending live media data to other user devices and while the hold gesture is maintained at the first location, a second gesture corresponding to a second plurality of continuous touch positions starting a second location that is different from the first location along one of a first direction or a second direction that is different from the first direction; and

adjusting one of a zoom-in level of the live media data based on a distance of the second gesture in the first direction or a zoom-out level of the live media data based on a distance of the second gesture in the second direction while the hold gesture is maintained at the first location.

17 . The method of claim 16 , comprising generating a graph of distance versus time, wherein the visual indication comprises a change in background color of a user interface.

18 . The method of claim 16 , comprising:

capturing the live media data from a camera sensor;

displaying the live media data on a touchscreen;

detecting a first gesture on the touchscreen while displaying the live media data, the first gesture corresponding to a first plurality of continuous touch positions along a first direction after the hold gesture; and

sending a live stream of the live media data to the other user devices in response to a first distance of the first plurality of continuous touch positions along the first direction performed by the first gesture exceeding a threshold.

19 . The method of claim 16 , comprising:

causing presentation of information associated with a live stream, the information comprising connectivity information and an indication that the connectivity information allows the live stream to be sent to other user devices.

20 . The method of claim 16 , wherein the selection of the action is independent of an angle of a line formed by a first collection of points and a reference line on a touchscreen, and wherein the visual indication comprises a textual description indicating successful completion of the hold gesture.