Control of the operating system on a computing device via finger angle using a high dimensional touchpad (HDTP) touch user interface
View Patent ↗A high dimensional touchpad (HDTP) controls a variety of computer windows systems and applications by detecting a user's finger movement in the left-right, forward-backward, roll, pitch, yaw, and downward pressure directions. One or more of the detected finger movements are then used to control specific computer applications including focusing a user's attention to one of several web pages, gesture recognition, magnification control, 3D-polyhedral menu selection, Internet browsers, navigation applications, games, media players, spreadsheets, and controlling the functions of mobile devices.
1. A method for controlling an operating system of a computing device, the method comprising:
configuring a user interface touchpad to be responsive to at least one angle of contact with at least one finger, the finger belonging to a human user of a computing device and the user interface touchpad in communication with an operating system of the computing device;
measuring at least one change in one angle of the position of the finger with respect to the surface of the touchpad and producing measured data;
performing real-time calculations on the measured data to produce a measured-angle value; and
using the measured-angle value to control the value of at least one user interface parameter of the operating system;
wherein at least one aspect of the operation of the operating system changes responsive to the angle of the position of the finger with respect to the surface of the touchpad.
2. The method of claim 1 , wherein the at least one finger angle comprises the pitch of the finger with respect to the touchpad.
3. The method of claim 1 , wherein the at least one finger angle comprises the roll of the finger with respect to the touchpad.
4. The method of claim 1 , wherein the at least one finger angle comprises the yaw of the finger with respect to the touchpad.
5. The method of claim 1 , wherein the user interface touchpad is configured to be responsive to contact with at least two fingers of the human user.
6. The method of claim 5 , wherein the user interface touchpad is configured to be responsive to at least tapping by at least two fingers of the human user.
7. The method of claim 5 , wherein the user interface touchpad is configured to be responsive to at least dragging by at least two fingers of the human user.
8. The method of claim 5 , wherein the user interface touchpad is configured to be responsive to at least one angle of contact with at least two fingers of the human user.
9. The method of claim 8 , wherein the at least one finger angle comprises tilting the finger up or down with respect to the touchpad.
10. The method of claim 8 , wherein the at least one finger angle comprises the roll of the finger with respect to the touchpad.
11. A method for controlling an operating system of computing device, the method comprising:
configuring a user interface touchpad to be responsive to at least one angle of contact with at least one finger, the finger belonging to a human user of a computing device and the user interface touchpad in communication with an operating system of the computing device;
measuring at least one change in at least one angle of the position of the finger with respect to the surface of the touchpad to produce measured data;
performing real-time calculations on the measured data to produce a measured-angle value; and
using the measured-angle value to control the value of at least one user interface parameter of the operating system;
wherein at least one aspect of a displayed user interface to the operating system changes responsive to the angle of the position of the finger with respect to the surface of the touchpad.
12. The method of claim 11 , wherein the at least one aspect of the displayed user interface comprises a graphically rendered 3D rotation of a graphically rendered 3D desktop, the 3D desktop comprising a plurality of individual traditional computer desktop surfaces.
13. The method of claim 12 , wherein a specific individual computer desktop is selected from the plurality of individual traditional computer desktop surfaces by first using the finger angle to rotate the graphically rendered 3D desktop so that desired specific desktop surface is displayed frontmost, and then releasing the finger from contact with the user interface touchpad.
14. The method of claim 12 wherein the graphically rendered 3D desktop is distinctively visually indexed.
15. The method of claim 11 , wherein the at least one finger angle comprises the pitch of the finger with respect to the touchpad.
16. The method of claim 11 , wherein the at least one finger angle comprises the roll of the finger with respect to the touchpad.
17. The method of claim 11 , wherein the at least one aspect of the displayed user interface comprises a graphically rendered cascade of a plurality of individual graphically rendered application windows.
18. The method of claim 17 , wherein a specific individual application window is selected from the cascade of a plurality of individual graphically rendered application windows by first using the finger angle to scroll through the graphically rendered cascade of a plurality of individual graphically rendered application windows so that desired specific individual application window is displayed frontmost, and then releasing the finger from contact with the user interface touchpad.
19. The method of claim 18 , wherein the at least one finger angle comprises the pitch of the finger with respect to the touchpad, and wherein increasing the pitch angle scrolls through the graphically rendered cascade in a first direction and decreasing the pitch angle scrolls through the graphically rendered cascade in the opposite direction to the first direction.
20. The method of claim 11 , wherein the user interface touchpad is operated as a touchscreen.