Dual mode digitizer

• US 20080180412A1
• Filed: 01/31/2007
• Published: 07/31/2008
• Est. Priority Date: 01/31/2007
• Status: Abandoned Application

• Current Assignee: Microsoft Technology Licensing LLC (Microsoft Corporation)
• Original Assignee: Microsoft Corporation
• Inventors: Tsang, Michael H.
• Application Number:
  US11/700,332
• Publication Number:
  US 20080180412A1
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 345/179
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 3/038 Control and interface arrangements therefor, e.g. drivers or device-embedded control circuitry

Abstract

A dual-mode device driver functions either as a mouse or as a digitizer. A switch associated with the input device alternates the mode of operation between the two. The switch may be implemented in hardware or with software.

Claims

1. A computer-readable medium having computer-executable instructions for supporting a digitizer, comprising:

initializing a dual-mode device driver, the dual-mode device driver including a first control component associated with a digitizer mode, and a second control component associated with a mouse mode;

associating a current operating mode with either the first control component or the second control component based on information about in which operating mode the digitizer is currently configured;

detecting activity by the digitizer; and

reporting the activity using the control component associated with the current operating mode.

2. The computer-readable medium recited in claim 1, wherein the dual-mode device driver is configured to issue messages compatible with a Human Input Device (HID) standard.

3. The computer-readable medium recited in claim 1, wherein the dual-mode device driver comprises a HID collection, and wherein the first and second control components are children of the HID collection.

4. The computer-readable medium recited in claim 1, wherein the first control component is operative to process a significantly greater degree of input device information pertaining to position accuracy than the second control component.

5. The computer-readable medium recited in claim 1, wherein the dual-mode device driver comprises a first report descriptor that describes the first control component, and a second report descriptor that describes the second control component.

6. The computer-readable medium recited in claim 1, wherein the instructions further comprise:

detecting a change in the operating mode; and

modifying the current operating mode to reflect the change in the operating mode.

7. The computer-readable medium recited in claim 6, wherein detecting the change in the operating mode comprises receiving an instruction to switch operating modes over a public interface exposed by the dual-mode driver.

8. The computer-readable medium recited in claim 6, wherein detecting the change in the operating mode comprises sensing a signal triggered by a hardware switch associated with the digitizer.

9. The computer-readable medium recited in claim 1, wherein initializing the dual-mode driver further comprises:

creating a HID collection;

creating an instance of a mouse device as a first child of the HID collection; and

creating an instance of a digitizer device as a second child of the HID collection.

10. The computer-readable medium recited in claim 1, wherein initializing the dual-mode driver comprises reading a registry entry to identify a default operating mode for the dual-mode driver.

11. The computer-readable medium recited in claim 1, wherein the dual-mode driver performs alignment calibration adjustment between the first and second control components.

16. The computer-implemented method recited in claim 12, wherein the first human input device control is associated with the digitizer mode, and the second human input device control is associated with the mouse mode.

12. A computer-implemented method for inputting data to a host computing system, comprising:

detecting activity on a human input device, the activity comprising a movement of a stylus, the activity including position information comprising coordinates for the movement and additional information;

determining a current operating mode, the current operating mode being chosen from a group comprising at least a mouse mode and a digitizer mode; and

reporting the activity using a first human input device control associated with the current operating mode, the first human input device control being a child of a collection having at least two children, at least another child being a second human input device control, the collection being associated with a common driver for the human input device.

13. The computer-implemented method recited in claim 12, wherein the human input device comprises a digitizer.

14. The computer-implemented method recited in claim 12, wherein the common driver is compatible with a Human Input Device (HID) standard.

15. The computer-implemented method recited in claim 12, wherein the first human input device control is operative to process a significantly greater degree of input device information pertaining to position accuracy than the second human input device control.

17. The computer-implemented method recited in claim 12, wherein the common driver comprises a first report descriptor that describes the first human input device control, and a second report descriptor that describes the second human input control.

18. The computer-implemented method recited in claim 12, wherein the common driver performs alignment calibration adjustment between the first and second human input device controls.

19. A computer-readable medium having computer-executable components, comprising:

a dual-mode driver configured to issue reports to a host computing system, the reports being related to activity on a human input device coupled to the host computing system, the dual-mode driver including at least two report descriptors, each report descriptor being associated with a human input device control, a first human input device control being operative to report activity by the human input device as mouse activity, a second human input device control being operative to report activity by the human input device as digitizer activity, the dual-mode driver being further configured to detect and set a current operating mode, the current operating mode being associated with a selected one of either the first or second human input device control.

20. The computer-readable medium recited in claim 19, wherein:

the dual-mode driver is compatible with a Human Input Device (HID) standard; and

further wherein the dual-mode driver is configured to perform alignment calibration adjustment between the first and second human input device controls.