Do you remember the great movie Minority Report with all the finger browsing?

It's becoming reality thanks to Nokia, Planar and Canesta.

A very promising patent was found which holds the secret to the real touch experience. On the computer side, Bill Gates seems to only focus on the speech recognition, he left out something really cool and interactive.

Your phone learning your gestures definitely sounds like a dream, but Nokia's engineers transformed every possibility into a reality, check the patents:

Nokia used AMLCD technology which has optical sensors that identify and recognize finger gestures automatically.

Apple's multi touch is nothing compared to this. Here are some of the gestures:

• Clockwise, counter clockwise circular rotations - browsing, scrolling listing applications
• Subsequent typing by a single finger (Tap1-Tap2…) - activate device/phone, run/execute pre-selected option
• Finger stays motionless (over certain time treshold) above some object/icon - select object/icon
• Finger stays above some item/object/icon, followed by slow movement - select object till end of the move
• Crossed perpendicular lines (X mark) - Delete
• Perpendicular moving breach (Check mark) - Accept/Verify
• Enclosed Curve around group of items - Select enclosed items

Two finger based Gestures/Commands

• Linear approaching/digression (fingers approach, then move apart, and vice versa) - Zoom In/Out, size adjustment
• Simultaneous touching of an icon/object by two fingers - Select the icon/object ready for size adjustment
• Simultaneous tapping by two fingers (Tap 1&2, Tap 1&2, repeated) - High level importance Acceptance & Verification
• One finger stays above an icon/object then object specific menu appears; the other finger performs circular rotations and toggles through the menu options, lifting simultaneously both fingers up selects and executes menu option

Compound Gestures/Commands

• COPY=SELECT + Check mark inside (performed in vicinity of selected item)
• CUT= SELECT + X mark inside
• PASTE is based on COPY assuming that an indicator of the clipboard content is visible on screen after COPY, then one TAP on clipboard may create PASTE command and paste content at the pointer of pre-selected item/icon

Object oriented commands:

• Select: - Picking up gesture - Finger 1 at a display corner or some reserved area, Finger 2 moves slowly under a displayed object to be selected
• Copy: - when selected, click by single finger on the object
• Paste: - fast double click by a single finger
• Move: - move slowly two fingers located on moving objects
• Delete: - double (fast) click by two fingers on previously selected object
• Switch: - switching (on/off) is based on change in directions of fingers movement or, alternatively, on a change in finger acceleration

Gesture/browsing oriented commands:

• Select object attributed to the pointer position: Open/closed hand
• Forward/Backward Browsing: anticlockwise/clockwise cyclic rotation by a single finger
• Zoom in/Out: expand/close two fingers
• Run/Execute pre-selected icon/command: make a circle with your thumb and pointing finger (an OK sign)

The fingers have to be 10-20cm from the screen, ultrasonic transducers help by emitting sound waves, and those that get reflected are classified as the user's fingers' motions.

Nokia has already presented the 5th generation with touch UI, but this was not announced, perhaps it will make it to the next generations.

SOURCE: UNWIRED VIEW