Keypad control

• US 10,061,509 B2
• Filed: 10/09/2014
• Issued: 08/28/2018
• Est. Priority Date: 10/09/2014
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Lenovo PC International Limited (Lenovo Group Ltd.)
• Original Assignee: Lenovo Singapore Pte Limited (Lenovo Group Ltd.)
• Inventors: Mese, John Carl, VanBlon, Russell Speight, Peterson, Nathan J., Weksler, Arnold S.
• Primary Examiner(s): Rayan, Mihir K
• Application Number:
  US14/510,962
• Publication Number:
  US 20160103605A1
• Time in Patent Office: 1,419 Days
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 2203/04804 Transparency, e.g. transparent or translucent windows
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 3/013 Eye tracking input arrangements G06F3/015 takes precedence
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 3/017 Gesture based interaction, e.g. based on a set of recognized hand gestures interaction based on gestures traced on a digitiser G06F3/04883
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 3/0304 Detection arrangements using opto-electronic means constructional details of pointing devices not related to the detection arrangement using opto-electronic means G06F3/033; optical digitisers G06F3/042
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 3/044 by capacitive means
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 3/04886 by partitioning the display area of the touch-screen or the surface of the digitising tablet into independently controllable areas, e.g. virtual keyboards or menus

Abstract

An apparatus can include a processor; memory accessibly by the processor; a display operatively coupled to the processor; an object detector operatively coupled to the processor; and display circuitry that controls transparency of a rendered keyboard based at least in part on input sensed via the object detector.

Claims

1. An apparatus comprising:

a processor;

memory accessibly by the processor;

a display operatively coupled to the processor;

an object detector operatively coupled to the processor; and

display circuitry that renders content to the display, that renders a keyboard to the display at a first transparency level, that, based at least in part on input sensed via the object detector and the existence of at least a portion of the content underneath an area of the rendered keyboard, increases transparency of the area of the rendered keyboard from the first transparency level to a second transparency level to unobscure the at least a portion of the content wherein another area of the rendered keyboard is maintained at the first transparency level, where the at least a portion of the content no longer exists in the area of the keyboard, that decreases transparency of the area of the keyboard, and, based at least in part on input sensed via the object detector that indicates that an object is approaching the rendered keyboard, that decreases transparency of the area of the rendered keyboard.

2. The apparatus of claim 1 wherein the display comprises a touchscreen display and wherein the object detector comprises touch sensing circuitry of the touchscreen display.

3. The apparatus of claim 1 wherein the object detector comprises a camera.

4. The apparatus of claim 1 wherein the object detector comprises an emitter and a detector.

5. The apparatus of claim 4 wherein the emitter comprises an electromagnetic energy emitter and wherein the detector comprises an electromagnetic energy detector.

6. The apparatus of claim 1 wherein the object detector comprises eye tracking circuitry.

7. The apparatus of claim 1 wherein the display circuitry controls transparency of the rendered keyboard via alpha compositing.

8. The apparatus of claim 1 wherein the display circuitry controls transparency of the rendered keyboard via screen dooring.

9. The apparatus of claim 1 wherein the display circuitry selectively renders the keyboard to the display responsive to receipt of a keyboard display command.

10. The apparatus of claim 1 wherein the first transparency level of the keyboard depends on at least one characteristic of content rendered to the display.

11. The apparatus of claim 1 wherein the display circuitry comprises circuitry that, based at least in part on input sensed via the object detector that indicates that an object is moving away from the rendered keyboard, increases transparency of the area of the rendered keyboard.

12. A method comprising:

rendering content to an area of a display;

rendering a keyboard at a first transparency level to the display wherein an area of the keyboard that is less than a total area of the keyboard overlays at least a portion of the area of the content;

detecting an object that is moving away from the keyboard rendered to the display;

responsive to the detecting and existence of the content in the area of the keyboard, rendering the area of the keyboard at a second transparency level that is greater than the first transparency level while maintaining another area of the keyboard at the first transparency level; and

responsive to the content no longer existing in the area of the keyboard, rendering the area of the keyboard at a transparency level that is less than the second transparency level.

13. The method of claim 12 wherein the content comprises at least one member selected from a group consisting of text, graphics, images and video.

14. The method of claim 12 further comprising tracking eye movement with respect to at least a portion of the content and controlling the transparency level for at least a portion of the keyboard based at least in part on the tracking eye movement.

15. The method of claim 14 wherein the controlling comprises increasing the transparency level for at least a portion of the area of the keyboard that is less than a total area of the keyboard that overlays an area of the content.

16. One or more non-transitory computer-readable storage media comprising processor-executable instructions to instruct a computing device wherein the instructions comprise instructions to:

render content to an area of a display;

render a keyboard at a first transparency level to the display wherein an area of the keyboard that is less than a total area of the keyboard overlays at least a portion of the area of the content;

detect an object that is moving away from the keyboard rendered display;

responsive to the detection of an object and existence of content in the area of the keyboard, render the area of the keyboard at a second transparency level that is greater than the first transparency level wherein another area of the keyboard is maintained at the first transparency level; and

where the content no longer exists in the area of the keyboard, decrease transparency of the area of keyboard.

17. The one or more non-transitory computer-readable storage media of claim 16 further comprising instructions to implement a time-based decay function after expiration of a time period wherein the time-based decay function increases the transparency of the rendered keyboard with respect to time.