Detecting primary hover point for multi-hover point device

• US 10,025,489 B2
• Filed: 09/16/2013
• Issued: 07/17/2018
• Est. Priority Date: 09/16/2013
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Microsoft Technology Licensing LLC (Microsoft Corporation)
• Original Assignee: Microsoft Technology Licensing LLC (Microsoft Corporation)
• Inventors: Dai, Lynn, Hwang, Dan
• Primary Examiner(s): CHOWDHURY, AFROZA Y
• Application Number:
  US14/027,341
• Publication Number:
  US 20150077338A1
• Time in Patent Office: 1,765 Days
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 2203/04808 Several contacts: gestures triggering a specific function, e.g. scrolling, zooming, right-click, when the user establishes several contacts with the surface simultaneously; e.g. using several fingers or a combination of fingers and pen
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 3/0488 using a touch-screen or digitiser, e.g. input of commands through traced gestures
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 3/04883 for inputting data by handwriting, e.g. gesture or text

Abstract

Example apparatus and methods concern establishing, managing, or dis-establishing a primary hover-point for a hover-sensitive input/output interface. One example apparatus includes a proximity detector that detects an object in a hover-space associated with the input/output interface. The apparatus produces characterization data concerning the object. The characterization data may identify where the object is located, how the object is moving, what the object is doing, or other attributes of the object. The apparatus may assign a hover point designation to the object as a function of the characterization data. The apparatus selectively controls input actions associated with the object based on the hover point designation. The apparatus may accept input actions associated with a primary hover point and ignore actions associated with a non-primary hover point.

Claims

1. A method, comprising:

establishing a primary hover point designation for a first member of a set of objects, where members of the set of objects are at least partially present in a hover-space associated with an input/output interface associated with an apparatus, the first member being a finger of a user or an object held in a hand of the user;

while the members of the set of objects are at least partially present in the hover-space, establishing non-primary hover point designations for each member of the set of objects that is not the primary hover point designation; and

selectively controlling how the input/output interface processes actions performed by members of the set of objects based, at least in part, on the primary hover point designation and not the non-primary hover point designations.

2. The method of claim 1, where establishing the primary hover point designation is a function of which member of the set of objects entered the hover-space first.

3. The method of claim 1, where establishing the primary hover point designation is a function of which member of the set of objects has spent the longest amount of time in the hover-space.

4. The method of claim 1, where establishing the primary hover point designation is a function of which member of the set of objects is closest to the input/output interface.

5. The method of claim 1, where establishing the primary hover point designation is a function of which member of the set of objects is positioned within a threshold distance of a calibration point associated with the input/output interface.

6. The method of claim 1, where establishing the primary hover point designation is a function of which member of the set of objects makes a pre-determined gesture.

7. The method of claim 1, where establishing the primary hover point designation is a function of which member of the set of objects exhibits an identifying characteristic.

8. The method of claim 1, where selectively controlling how the input/output interface processes actions comprises controlling the input/output interface to accept inputs from the first member and to reject inputs from the second member.

9. The method of claim 1, where selectively controlling how the input/output interface processes actions comprises controlling the input/output interface to accept inputs from the first member before accepting inputs from the second member.

10. The method of claim 1, comprising:

wherein the primary hover point designation is a finger; and

wherein the non-primary hover point designations are other fingers that are not the finger with the primary hover point designation.

11. The method of claim 1, comprising:

removing the primary hover point designation for the first member, and

establishing the primary hover point designation for a different member of the set of objects.

12. The method of claim 11,

where removing the primary hover point designation is a function of the first member leaving the hover-space or the first member making a second pre-determined gesture, and

where establishing the primary hover point designation for the different member is a function of the different member entering the hover-space, the different member being closer to the input/output interface than any other member of the set of objects, the different member making the pre-determined gesture, or the different member being positioned within a threshold distance of the calibration point.

13. The method of claim 1, comprising detecting the set of objects in the hover-space in response to receiving a signal from an active detection system provided by the apparatus, or in response to receiving a signal from a passive detection system provided by the apparatus.

14. The method of claim 1, comprising:

receiving an inbound message through an application programming interface (API) provided by a process running on the apparatus, and

as a function of the inbound message;

selectively reconfiguring how the primary hover point designation is established, or

selectively reconfiguring how the non-primary hover point designations are established.

15. A computer-readable storage medium storing computer-executable instructions that when executed by a computer cause the computer to perform a method, the method comprising:

detecting a set of objects in a hover-space in response to receiving a signal from a proximity detection system associated with a hover sensitive input/output interface associated with an apparatus;

establishing a primary hover point designation for a first member of the set of objects by updating a computer memory in the apparatus, where members of the set of objects are at least partially present in the hover-space, and where establishing the primary hover point designation is a function of which member of the set of objects entered the hover-space first, the first member being a finger of a user or an object held in a hand of the user;

while the members of the set of objects are at least partially present in the hover-space, establishing non-primary hover point designations for each member of the set of objects that is not the primary hover point designation;

selectively controlling how the input/output interface processes actions performed by members of the set of objects based, at least in part, on the primary hover point designation and not the non-primary hover point designations, where selectively controlling how the input/output interface processes actions comprises controlling the input/output interface to accept inputs from the primary hover point designation and to reject inputs from the non-primary hover point designations;

receiving an inbound message through an application programming interface (API) provided by a process running on the apparatus, and

as a function of the inbound message;

selectively reconfiguring how the primary hover point designation is established.

16. An apparatus, comprising:

a hover-sensitive input/output interface;

a proximity detector configured to detect set of objects in a hover-space associated with the hover-sensitive input/output interface, wherein an object of the set of objects is a finger of a user or an object held in a hand of the user;

a first logic configured to produce characterization data concerning the object, where the characterization data describes when the object entered the hover-space, where the object entered the hover-space, where the object is located in the hover-space, a direction of travel of the object, a velocity of travel of the object, an orientation of the object, a size of the object, an activity level of the object, or an identifying mark associated with the object; and

a second logic configured to establish and maintain a relationship between the object and a primary hover point designation given to the object for the input/output interface and non-primary hover point designation given to a second object of the set of objects given while the set of objects are in the hover-space based, at least in part, on the characterization data, where the relationship controls how the input/output interface will interpret actions performed in the hover-space by the object by selectively controlling how the input/output interface processes actions performed by the object based, at least in part, on the primary hover point and not the non-primary hover point designation for the second object, where selectively controlling how the input/output interface processes actions comprises controlling the input/output interface to accept inputs from the object and to reject inputs from the second object or any other object that is not the object.

17. The apparatus of claim 16, where establishing the hover point is a function of identifying:

whether the object was the first of a plurality of objects in the hover-space to enter the hover-space,

whether the object has been in the hover-space longer than any other objects in the hover-space,

whether the object is the closest object to the input/output interface in the hover-space,

whether the object has made a pre-determined gesture,

whether the object is positioned within a threshold distance of a calibration point, or

whether the object has a pre-determined identifier.

18. The apparatus of claim 17, comprising a third logic configured to control how the input/output interface handles input actions from the object as a function of the relationship.

19. The apparatus of claim 18, where the third logic is configured:

to control the input/output interface to selectively accept input actions from the object when the relationship identifies the object as being associated with the primary hover point, and

to control the input/output interface to selectively ignore input actions from the object when the relationship identifies the object as no longer being associated with the primary hover point.

20. The apparatus of claim 19, comprising a fourth logic that reconfigures how the second logic establishes the relationship, where the fourth logic reconfigures the second logic in response to a message received from a user or an application through a messaging interface.