Google’s Hand-Gesture Patent Transforms Hands Into Mouse

Watch out Taylor Swift, you’re no longer the only one trying to capitalize on “heart” hand gestures. US Patent 8,558,759, “Hand gestures to signify what is important”, was granted to Google on October 15, 2013. The patent relates to hand-gesture functionality, so that a “wearable computing device, which could include a head-mounted display (HMD) and a video camera, may recognize known hand gestures and carry out particular actions in response.” Although the “device” is not named, it is likely that the patent is connected with the Google Glass product (Glass). Currently, any interaction with what the user sees occurs after the Glass takes a photo. The patented hand gesture methods would allow users to simultaneously capture, manipulate, and catalogue images and may also supersede the bulky touchpad attached to the Glass. The patent and its attached drawings give us an idea of what could be in store for future versions of the Glass.

1. Fingers could be used a lasso tool, tracing what is in front of the viewer in order to crop a desired image.
2. Thumb and forefingers in the shape of an “L” could be used to select rectangular images by dragging or framing.
3. A heart-shaped hand gesture could be used to “like”, save, or share items that the user sees.

If gesture recognition becomes a reality, Glass could recognize images selected by the user and pull up additional information including history, comments or other images. In addition to saving images, users could also share, message, and send the images to their contacts. Summary by: Elena Iosef