Patent ID: 7903084

Claim:
A motion controlled handheld device comprising: a display having a viewable surface and operable to generate a current image; a gesture database maintaining a plurality of gestures, each gesture defined by a motion of the device with respect to a first position of the device; a gesture mapping database comprising a mapping of each of the gestures to an associated command; a motion detection module operable to detect motion of the device within three dimensions and to identify components of the motion in relation to the viewable surface; a display control module having a first mode of motion input operation and a second mode of motion input operation; the display control module operable in the first mode of motion input_operation to monitor the motion of the device, to determine a location of the device resulting from the motion, and to modify the current image based on the resulting location of the device as compared to an initial location of the device prior to the motion of the device; the display control module operable in the second mode of motion input operation to monitor the motion of the device, to track movement of the handheld device using the motion detection module, the tracked movement identifying a path traveled by the device, to compare the path with the gestures to identify a matching gesture, to identify one of the commands associated with the matching gesture, and to modify the current image based on the identified command; a mode selection module operable to detect a mode selection trigger and to switch between the first mode of motion input operation and the second mode of motion input operation in response to detecting the mode selection trigger; wherein the mode selection trigger comprises a change in a state of the device; and wherein the change in the state of the device occurs when the device switches from a first application to a second application.