US 12,039,103 B2
Systems and methods of determining interaction intent in three-dimensional (3D) sensory space
Pohung Chen, Fremont, CA (US); and David S. Holz, San Francisco, CA (US)
Assigned to Ultrahaptics IP Two Limited, Bristol (GB)
Filed by Ultrahaptics IP Two Limited, Bristol (GB)
Filed on Dec. 19, 2022, as Appl. No. 18/084,516.
Application 18/084,516 is a continuation of application No. 16/851,058, filed on Apr. 16, 2020, granted, now 11,537,208.
Application 16/851,058 is a continuation of application No. 14/616,612, filed on Feb. 6, 2015, granted, now 10,627,904, issued on Apr. 21, 2020.
Claims priority of provisional application 61/937,410, filed on Feb. 7, 2014.
Prior Publication US 2023/0121570 A1, Apr. 20, 2023
This patent is subject to a terminal disclaimer.
Int. Cl. G06F 3/01 (2006.01); G06F 3/03 (2006.01); G06F 3/0346 (2013.01); G06F 3/04815 (2022.01); G06V 40/20 (2022.01)
CPC G06F 3/016 (2013.01) [G06F 3/017 (2013.01); G06F 3/0304 (2013.01); G06F 3/0346 (2013.01); G06F 3/04815 (2013.01); G06V 40/28 (2022.01)] 20 Claims
OG exemplary drawing
 
1. A method of determining intent for an interaction between a hand in a three-dimensional (3D) sensory space and a movable virtual object in a virtual space that the hand interacts with, the method including:
defining at distal ends of fingers of a hand that serves as a control object, a plurality of feeler zones for display upon establishing one or more points of virtual contacts between the distal ends of fingers of the hand and corresponding locations anywhere on any surface of a virtual object, each feeler zone, of the feeler zones, representing a virtual location in the virtual space that corresponds to a location tangent to a particular finger of the hand in the 3D sensory space, as tracked by a camera based sensor; and
responsive to detecting a hand-gesture made by fingers or the hand, manipulating the virtual object according to forces applied to the movable virtual object at the one or more points of virtual contacts established at the feeler zones at the distal ends of fingers of a hand with the corresponding locations anywhere on any surface of the virtual object.