/Patent Tracker
MicrosoftGranted patentPhones & computersInterest 6/10

Microsoft patents touch screens that move controls to match your position

Patent drawing
Patent drawing from the official filing.

Microsoft describes a system for large touch displays that uses a camera to detect where a person is standing and which way they are facing. The screen then places touch controls in a specific zone directly in front of the user, making it easier to reach and interact with the interface without moving around.

Why it mattersThis could make large public or office touchscreens more intuitive by ensuring controls are always within easy reach, regardless of where a user stands.

In the filing’s own words

A method of customizing interactive control for a large-format touch-sensitive display device (LFTSDD) is disclosed. One or more images of a scene in front of the LFTSDD are received via a camera of the LFTSDD. The one or more images are computer-analyzed to recognize a human subject in the scene and a location of the human subject relative to the LFTSDD. A variable interaction zone of a display screen of the LFTSDD is determined based at least on the recognized location of the human subject relative to the LFTSDD. The variable interaction zone is smaller than the display screen and positioned a designated distance in front of the human subject on the display screen based at least on the recognized location of the human subject relative to the LFTSDD. A touch control affordance is visually presented in the variable interaction zone of the display screen of the LFTSDD.

What exactly they claim (claim 1)

1. A method for customizing interactive control of a large-format touch-sensitive display device (LFTSDD), the method comprising: receiving, via a camera of the LFTSDD, one or more images of a scene in front of the LFTSDD; computer-analyzing the one or more images to recognize a human subject in the scene and a location of the human subject relative to the LFTSDD including a direction in which the human subject is facing relative to the LFTSDD; determining a variable interaction zone of a display screen of the LFTSDD based at least on the recognized location of the human subject relative to the LFTSDD and the direction in which the human subject is facing relative to the LFTSDD, the variable interaction zone being smaller than the display screen and positioned a designated distance in front of the human subject on the display screen in the direction in which the human subject is facing relative to the LFTSDD based at least on the recognized location of the human subject relative to the LFTSDD and the direction in which the human subject is facing relative to the LFTSDD; and visually presenting a touch control affordance in the variable interaction zone of the display screen of the LFTSDD at a position in the variable interaction zone that is determined based at least on the direction in which the human subject is facing relative to the LFTSDD, wherein the touch control affordance facilitates the human subject providing touch input at the touch control affordance from the recognized location.

Facts

Company
Microsoft (Microsoft Technology Licensing, LLC)
Official title
Touch-control affordance position customization for a display device
Patent number
US12748525B2
Application number
18833995
Filed
Mar 18, 2022
Granted
Sep 29, 2026
Inventors
3
Claims
14

Classified under

G06F 3/0488 Physics & computingG06F 3/03545 Physics & computingG06F 3/04815 Physics & computingG06T 7/20 Physics & computingG06T 7/70 Physics & computingG06T 2207/20084 Physics & computing
Read the full filing (official PDF) ↗ Open in the Patent Tracker

More from Microsoft in Phones & computers

Summaries are simplified from the filing’s own abstract and first claim. A patent filing is not a product announcement.
Patent data and drawings: U.S. Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO). Nebula is not affiliated with or endorsed by the USPTO.