Patent ID: 7456849

Claim:
A computer-implemented method for interacting with an object through spiral interaction, comprising: providing an interactable object within a display; selecting the interactable object, wherein the selected interactable object is movable within the display while being selected by a pointer; monitoring pointer movements associated with the interactable object that is being selected by the pointer, wherein monitoring pointer movements includes sampling the pointer movements to determine pointer positions during a period of time; determining when the pointer movements associated with the interactable object that is being selected by the pointer indicate a spiral input, wherein determining when the pointer movements associated with the interactable object that is being selected by the pointer indicate a spiral input includes, determining straight lines that connect consecutive pointer positions, obtaining a reference angular degree, wherein the reference angular degree is the same for each pointer position, determining an angular degree from the determined straight line to the reference angular degree for each of the pointer positions, determining a change in angular degree from the determined angular degrees for each of the pointer positions, indicating a spiral input when the change in angular degree between consecutive pointer positions exceeds a change in angular degree threshold; and zooming the interactable object that is being selected by the pointer within the display when the spiral input is indicated.