SEATTLE, WA — August 16, 2017. Facebook was granted a patent on Tuesday for gesture-based control technology that allows a person to precisely control a computer system without wearing an instrumented glove or any other tracking device.
Many start-ups and technology companies already incorporate gesture controls into some of their products, perhaps the most widely known being the Microsoft’s Xbox Kinect motion sensor. Facebook, however, could bring about a new era in its own platform.
According to the patent filing released Tuesday, the potential new technology would include two cameras that would observe and record images of a user’s hands. “The configuration and movements of the hands and fingers, or hand gestures, can be used as input. A computer can generate a display that responds to these gestures. The generated display can include objects or shapes that can be moved, modified or otherwise manipulated by a user’s hands, “ the patent says.
Major technology companies are pressing deeper into the emerging fields of AR, where computer projections and hands-free technology blur the line between human and computer interaction. It’s unclear if or when Facebook plans to use this patent in production devices.
