Patent ID: 7605804

Claim:
A system for positioning an element on a visual display, comprising: a memory communicatively coupled to a processor, wherein the memory comprises computer-executable instructions for positioning the element on the visual display, wherein execution of the instructions by the processor results in operation of modules comprising: a touch detection module that detects a touch upon a touch-sensitive surface of a visual display; a position module that derives a position of the touch; an orientation module that derives an angular orientation of the touch; and an offset module that uses the position of the touch and the angular orientation of the touch to derive an offset for an element of a user interface, wherein the element is a pointer, wherein the offset positions the pointer in a location separated by both x-axis and y-axis values from the position of the detected touch sufficient to make the pointer fully visible a spaced distance from the finger; and an anchor detection module that detects anchoring a hand of a user, wherein detecting of anchoring of the hand of the user comprises detecting contact with the touch-sensitive visual display by a heel portion of the hand of the user, and wherein the anchoring is recognized as an indicator to switch between two modes, including: a relative cursor positioning mode, wherein the offset positions the pointer in the location separated by both x-axis and y-axis values from the position of the detected touch sufficient to make the pointer fully visible a spaced distance from the finger; and an absolute positioning mode, wherein a central location within the position of the detected touch is used as a pointer location.