"Tilt-and-Scroll" Technology for Smartphones and Other Handheld
Devices
RotoView
pioneered "tilt-and-scroll" display 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
RotoView
tilt-based browsers can perform all view navigation functions in modern
personal media devices and 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 other
times the user can continue to navigate using the touch screen. When using
RotoView to navigate the display, the user can touch to select "cut-and-paste"
areas without concern that the view will inadvertently move.
How It
Works
RotoView uses the data from a
built-in accelerometer or gyroscope (or other
forms of 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
already include a tri-axis accelerometer or gyroscopes. To demonstrate the
importance and benefits of the RotoView patents and technology, 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. A more user friendly app
that navigates web pages and maps is under
development and will be available soon. Once our technology is adapted by
all smartphone's OS, RotoView navigation will be fully integrated with web
browsing and with any program that utilizes scrollable views.
If you are looking at the
RotoView app in order to evaluate the RotoView
patents, please note that this app currently demonstrates
only a few of the claimed inventions of the
RotoView IP. For more information please see our roadmap page or contact us for explicit
details.
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."
