"Tilt-and-Scroll" Technology for
Smartphones and Other Handheld Devices
RotoView pioneered
"tilt-and-scroll" view navigation for smartphones, tablets, GPS,
gaming devices, digital cameras, eBook readers, and other small handheld
electronic devices. As these devices become even more popular, manufacturers
and their customers are confronted by increasingly complex navigation schemes.
Users demand that more and more information (maps, spreadsheets, web pages,
action games) be packed into the tiny displays found on these devices, yet a
key problem remains: How can the user easily navigate through a large amount of
information using that tiny display? Better yet, how can we navigate that small
screen intuitively, and preferably, with a single hand?
The RotoView®
Solution
The patented RotoView technology solves this problem by
allowing the user to "tilt" their way around the display. During
RotoView's Navigation mode, the user can navigate a large stored virtual
display by changing the device's orientation or with various movements. In
particular, it allows user to navigate a large display in all directions.
Similarly, it can control the changing background view of a game application
based upon tilt and movements.
RotoView complements touch
screens
While RotoView solutions can
perform virtually all view navigation functions in modern personal media
devices, it works particularly well with touch screen devices, as demonstrated
in the following presentation. RotoView can be enabled during times when the
user prefers to navigate with only one hand. At any time the user can continue
to navigate using the touch screen.
How It
Works
RotoView uses the data from
a built-in accelerometer (or other orientation and movement sensors) to control
the view navigation of a smart media device. To navigate, the hand-held device
is entered into the Navigation mode where the user may rotate (tilt) the device
to the left and then rotate to the right to see beyond the boundaries of the
display. The user can navigate in all directions, depending upon how the user
tilts or moves the device. The overall navigation is based upon our powerful
Non-linear Dynamic Response (NLDR) algorithms which do
not require an exact correlation between orientation changes and the actual
navigation of the display. At any time, the user can exit Navigation mode to
fix the display (the Fixed mode), then resume Navigation mode and continue to
rotate the device to view the remainder of the stored picture.
While in Navigation mode, response to the
re-orientations of the device may change dynamically. For example, at the start
of the navigation the response is fairly coarse in order to bring the display
to the general area. After few seconds within Navigation mode, the response
automatically becomes more refined, to allow exact placement of the display.
RotoView technology may use hand gestures to activate and exit the Navigation
mode, thus eliminating the need for mechanical switches or two hand operation
with touch screens. (Please see RotoView
theory of operations for more detailed information.)
RotoView Proof-of-Concept
App
RotoView technology can be easily integrated
with all current smartphones and modern personal media devices that include a
tri-axis accelerometer for landscape/portrait display selection. To demonstrate
the importance and benefits of the RotoView patents for potential licensees, we
have created a RotoView proof-of-concept app which is
available as
a free app. It is also a useful productivity tool for your iPhone,
providing unique view navigation for your stored pictures.
Although RotoView provides the fundamental
function of view navigation which is relevant to every scrollable view (web,
page, game, photo, etc.), the RotoView app is currently able to navigate only
the photos stored in your smartphone. Once we are able to convince the
smartphone manufacturers to employ our technology within the smartphone's OS,
RotoView navigation will be integrated with web browsing and with any program
that utilizes scrollable views.
The following link provides a detailed preview
of the free RotoView App.
RotoView Action
The Time Response
Graph editor allows you to experiment or design different navigation
profiles.
RotoView
"tilt-and-scroll" proof of concept app.
The RotoView app follows our earlier
RotoView PC Evaluation
System (p/n INN-8778) which was deployed in 2003 to convince manufacturers
to adapt our technology. The new RotoView app
will enable you to evaluate the technology and the advanced know-how
accumulated by INNOVENTIONS.
For further questions, please contact us at
1-281-879-6226, fax 1-281-879-6415, e-mail sales@innoventions.com.
"Everyone is on the move. And a Houston, Texas-based firm
believes it has the tilt-to-navigate technology that manufacturers need to
enable products for the PDA and smart phone market. They’ve actually had
the technology for some time – but the market and the pricing are finally
coming together to make a better business case for their tilt-to-navigate
technology."
