Apple Inc.

David J Meyer

Julian K Shutzberg

Daniel J Brewer

Chase B Lortie

David M Teitelbaum

Ali Ercan

John Z Zhong

Sunggu Kang

James E Pedder

Christopher D Mckenzie

Paul A Lacey

Yirong Tang

Tian Qiu

Lorenzo Soto Doblado

Bharat C Dandu

Wei-Kang Hsu

Suppressing a hand gesture upon detecting peripheral events on a peripheral device includes determining a first hand pose for a first hand a second hand pose for a second hand in response to a detected peripheral device peripheral event, determining, based on the first hand pose and the second hand pose, at least one hand of the first hand and the second hand in a peripheral use mode, detecting an input gesture from a hand of the at least one hand determined to be in the peripheral use mode, and rejecting the input gesture by a user input pipeline in accordance with the determination that the hand is in the peripheral use mode. The presence of a peripheral device is confirmed by activating a computer vision system in response to determining that a peripheral use condition is satisfied.

Suppression of hand gestures upon detection of peripheral events on a peripheral device

Various implementations assess user interactions to trigger user interface responses. Some implementations associate user gaze with user interface elements using one or more criteria that enable interpreting the user's gaze in ways that are consistent with user intentions and/or expectations. In some implementations, a user's gaze is associated with a user interface element when the user gazes at the user interface element. When the gaze leaves the user interface element (e.g., intentionally or unintentionally), the association may be maintained or discontinued using one or more criteria to be consistent with user intentions and/or expectations. In some implementations, this involves determining whether to continue associating a user's gaze with a user interface element so that the gaze-to-element association is maintained in certain circumstances (e.g., blinks and saccades) but discontinued in other circumstances (e.g., when the user is fixating outside of a zone around the element for more than a threshold time/number of frames).

Optimizations in associating user gaze with user interface elements

Various implementations disclosed herein include devices, systems, and methods that interpret user activity as user interactions with user interface (UI) elements positioned within a three-dimensional (3D) space such as an extended reality (XR) environment. Some implementations enable user interactions with virtual elements displayed in 3D environments that utilize alternative input modalities, e.g., XR environments that interpret user activity as either direct interactions or indirect interactions with virtual elements.

Input recognition based on distinguishing direct and indirect user interactions

Various implementations disclosed interpret direct touch-based gestures, such as drag and scroll gestures, made by a user virtually touching one position of a user interface and moving their hand to another position of the user interface. For example, such gestures may be made relative to a user interface presented in an extended reality (XR) environment. In some implementations, a user movement is interpreted using one or more techniques that avoid unexpected gain or loss of user-interface-associated motion. Some implementations determine which segments of a movement to associate with user interface content based on characteristics of the movement. Some implementations determine that a break occurs when a user movement leaves a break volume that is adjusted dynamically.

Interpreting user movement as direct touch user interface interactions

Various implementations identify user input based on the intended display frame rate and the adjusted user data. For example, an example process may include obtaining user data associated with an activity of a user via a sensor in a physical environment. The process may further include obtaining an intended display frame rate corresponding to one or more portions of a user interface being presented within an extended reality (XR) environment, where the intended display frame rate includes an irregular timing between frames. The process may further include adjusting the user data based on the irregular timing of the intended display frame rate. The process may further include identifying user input to the user interface based on the intended display frame rate and the adjusted user data.

Adjusting user data based on a display frame rate

Various implementations disclosed herein include devices, systems, and methods that associate user activities with user interface (UI) elements within a 3D environment. Some implementations do so in ways that account for inaccuracies (i.e., fuzziness) in sensor-based detection of the user activities, e.g., inaccuracy in sensor data-based gaze tracking or sensor data-based hand/joint position. Some implementations use a sampling technique to associate user activity in a 3D environment with an appropriate portion of a UI positioned within a 3D environment. For example, a sampling technique may be used to identify sample locations within the 3D environment (e.g., sample locations around a gaze direction) to evaluate and ultimately select from to associate with a user activity, e.g., associating a particular UI button with a gaze direction.

Fuzzy hit testing

An electronic device includes one or more transparent strain sensors configured to detect strain based on an amount of force applied to the electronic device, a component in the electronic device, and/or an input surface of the electronic device. The one or more transparent strain sensors may be included in or positioned below an input surface that is configured to receive touch inputs from a user. The area below the input surface can be visible to a user when the user is viewing the input surface. The one or more transparent strain sensors are formed with a nanostructure, including a nanomesh or nanowires.

Growing community of inventors

Menlo Park, CA, United States of America

David J Meyer