Collaborative gesture-based input language

A method comprising:

• receiving, by a server and from a plurality of computing devices, data representative of a group of gestures detected by the plurality of computing devices;
• receiving, by the server, data representative of one or more shortcuts associated with the group of gestures from the plurality of computing devices, wherein each of the shortcuts corresponds to an action performed by at least one of the plurality of computing devices;
• aggregating, by the server and based at least in part on detected similarities between at least one of 1) the group of gestures and 2) the one or more shortcuts associated with the group of gestures, the data representative of the group of gestures and the data representative of the associated shortcuts received from the plurality of computing devices into a plurality of gesture clusters organized into a generational hierarchy of parent and child gesture clusters such that each child gesture cluster of the generational hierarchy includes a plurality of gestures each determined to have features that are less than a first threshold amount different than corresponding features of gestures in a corresponding parent gesture cluster of the generational hierarchy;
• defining, by the server, a gesture-shortcut language based at least in part on the aggregated data, wherein the gesture-shortcut language includes at least a portion of the aggregated data representative of the group of gestures and associated shortcuts;
• receiving, by the server, data representative of a gesture detected at a presence-sensitive screen of a computing device from one of the plurality of computing devices;
• comparing the data representative of the detected gesture to data representative of a parent gesture cluster from the plurality of gesture clusters;
• repeating a selection of a child gesture cluster for each generation of gesture clusters until features of gestures included in the respective child gesture cluster are less than a second threshold amount different from corresponding features of the detected gesture;
• identifying at least one shortcut associated with the selected child gesture cluster;
• and
• transmitting data representative of the at least one shortcut associated with the selected child gesture cluster to the computing device.

A non-transitory computer-readable storage medium encoded with instructions that, when executed, cause one or more processors of a computing device to perform operations comprising:

• storing, by the computing device and in a data repository of the computing device, at least a portion of an aggregated group of gesture-shortcut associations;
• receiving data representative of a gesture detected by a presence-sensitive screen of the computing device;
• identifying, by the computing device and based at least in part on the data representative of the gesture, a first candidate shortcut by at least accessing the portion of the aggregated group of gesture-shortcut associations stored in the data repository;
• sending, by the computing device, the data representative of the gesture to a server;
• receiving, by the computing device and from the server, an indication of a second candidate shortcut associated with the gesture;
• selecting one of the first candidate shortcut and the second candidate shortcut as a shortcut associated with the gesture, wherein the shortcut associated with the gesture corresponds to an action to be performed by the computing device;
• and
• outputting, by the computing device, for display, data representative of the shortcut associated with the gesture.

A non-transitory computer-readable storage medium encoded with instructions that, when executed, cause one or more processors of a computing device to perform operations comprising:

• receiving data representative of group of gestures detected by a plurality of computing devices;
• receiving data representative of one or more shortcuts associated with the group of gestures, wherein each of the shortcuts corresponds to an action performed by at least one of the plurality of computing devices;
• aggregating, based at least in part on detected similarities between at least one of 1) the group of gestures and 2) the one or more shortcuts associated with the group of gestures, the data representative of the group of gestures and the data representative of the associated shortcuts received from the plurality of computing devices into a plurality of gesture clusters organized into a generational hierarchy of parent and child gesture clusters such that each child gesture cluster of the generational hierarchy includes a plurality of gestures each determined to have features that are less than a first threshold amount different than corresponding features of gestures in a corresponding parent gesture cluster of the generational hierarchy;
• receiving data representative of a gesture detected at a presence-sensitive screen of a computing device from one of the plurality of computing devices;
• comparing the data representative of the detected gesture to data representative of a parent gesture cluster from the plurality of gesture clusters;
• repeating a selection of a child gesture cluster for each generation of gesture clusters until features of gestures included in the respective child gesture cluster are less than a second threshold amount different from corresponding features of the detected gesture;
• identifying at least one shortcut associated with the selected child gesture cluster;
• and
• transmitting data representative of the at least one shortcut associated with the selected child gesture cluster to the computing device.

A device comprising:

• at least one processor;
• a network interface configured to receive data representative of a group of gestures detected by a plurality of computing devices and receive data representative of one or more shortcuts associated with the group of gestures, wherein each of the shortcuts corresponds to an action performed by at least one of the plurality of computing devices;
• a language development module operable by the at least one processor to aggregate, based at least in part on detected similarities between at least one of 1) the group of gestures and 2) the one or more shortcuts associated with the group of gestures, the data representative of the group of gestures and the data representative of the associated shortcuts received from the plurality of computing devices into a plurality of gesture clusters organized into a generational hierarchy of parent and child gesture clusters such that each child gesture cluster of the generational hierarchy includes a plurality of gestures each determined to have features that are less than a first threshold amount different than corresponding features of gestures in a corresponding parent gesture cluster of the generational hierarchy;
• and
• a gesture recognition module;
• wherein the network interface is further configure to receive data representative of a gesture detected at a presence-sensitive screen of a computing device from one of the plurality of computing devices,
• wherein the gesture recognition module is operable by the at least one processor to compare the data representative of the detected gesture to data representative of a parent gesture cluster from the plurality of gesture clusters, repeat a selection of a child gesture cluster for each generation of gesture clusters until features of gestures included in the respective child gesture cluster are less than a second threshold amount different from corresponding features of the detected gesture, and identify at least one shortcut associated with the selected child gesture cluster, and
• wherein the network interface is further configure to transmit data representative of at least one shortcut associated with a selected child gesture cluster to the computing device.