Determining a preferred screen orientation based on known hand positions

An executable software product stored on a computer-readable medium containing program instructions for determining a display orientation on a screen of a portable device, the program instructions for:

• detecting by a software component executing on a processor of the portable device, a current hand position of a user on a touch sensitive surface of the portable device, wherein the touch sensitive surface is applied to an entire body of the portable device;
• comparing, by the software component, the current hand position to a plurality of pre-stored hand position templates, each of the hand position templates being associated with a preferred display orientation;
• determining, by the software component, a matching hand position template based on which one of the hand position templates most closely matches the current hand position;
• configuring, by the software component, the display orientation of the screen to match the preferred display orientation associated with the matching hand position template;
• learning, by the software component, hand position patterns of the user by monitoring whether the user changes the display orientation of the screen within a predetermined amount of time after the configuring of the display orientation;
• and
• modifying, by the software component, the preferred display orientation associated with the matching hand position template based on the learned hand position patterns of the user.

A portable device, comprising:

• a memory;
• a display screen;
• a processor coupled to the memory;
• and
• a software component executed by the processor that is configured to:
• detect by a software component executing on a processor of the portable device, a current hand position of a user on a touch sensitive surface of the portable device, wherein the touch sensitive surface is applied to an entire body of the portable device;
• compare, by a software component executed by a processor, the current hand position to a plurality of pre-stored hand position templates, each of the hand position templates being associated with a preferred display orientation;
• determine a matching hand position template based on which one of the hand position templates most closely matches the current hand position;
• configure a display orientation of the screen to match the preferred display orientation associated with the matching hand position template;
• learn hand position patterns of the user by monitoring whether the user changes the display orientation of the screen within a predetermined amount of time after the configuring of the display orientation;
• and
• modify the preferred display orientation associated with the matching hand position template based on the learned hand position patterns of the user.