Apple patents method for mapping pinch gestures to screen locations
This patent describes a way to process hand-tracking data to determine where a user is pointing when they pinch their fingers. It calculates a specific point, called a pinch centroid, by measuring the hand's position and angle to accurately move on-screen elements.
In the filing’s own words
Processing gesture input includes obtaining hand tracking data for a hand from one or more sensors, wherein the hand performs a pinch in the hand tracking data, determining a hand position and a hand orientation for the hand from the hand tracking data, applying a predefined offset from the hand position based on the hand orientation to determine a pinch centroid, and determining an input location based on the pinch centroid. The pinch centroid is used in an indirect motion mapping pipeline to determine characteristics of user input based on user motion.
What exactly they claim (claim 1)
1. A method comprising: obtaining sensor data of a hand performing a pinch; determining location information for one or more hand joints and one or more finger joints; determining a hand position and a hand orientation for the hand from the sensor data based on a location of one or more hand joints; applying an offset comprising a predefined distance from a hand location corresponding to the hand position and in a direction away from the hand location based on the hand orientation to determine a pinch centroid; and causing movement of a user interface component based on a location of the pinch centroid.
Facts
- Company
- Apple (Apple Inc.)
- Official title
- Indirect motion mapping pipeline and pinch centroid
- Patent number
- US12754615B2
- Application number
- 18675796
- Filed
- May 28, 2024
- Granted
- Oct 6, 2026
- Inventors
- 6
- Claims
- 20
Classified under
G06F 3/017 Physics & computingMore from Apple in AR, VR & displays
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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.