Patent ID: 7379047

Claim:
A method for providing input to a computer system having an interactive display surface by manipulating a physical object disposed adjacent to the interactive display surface, the method comprising the steps of: executing an application on the computer system, the application having at least one attribute changeable while the application is executing; detecting a location and an orientation of the physical object relative to the interactive display surface based upon a characteristic of the physical object when the physical object is disposed adjacent to the interactive display surface, the characteristic including at least one of a shape, a size, and an optical quality as well as at least one of the orientation of the object and the location of the physical object, such that at least one of rotating and translating the physical object changes the attribute; correlating the attribute with the orientation of the physical object; detecting a change in the location of the physical object on the interactive display surface; adjusting a scaling factor based on the change in the location of the physical object on the interactive display surface; changing the attribute in response to at least one of the location and a movement of the physical object relative to the interactive display surface; and applying the scaling factor to changes in the attribute associated with rotation of the physical object.