USING A PHYSICAL OBJECT AND ITS POSITION ON A SURFACE TO CONTROL AN ENABLEMENT STATE OF A SURFACE BASED COMPUTING DEVICE
First Claim
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1. A method for controlling an enablement state of a surface based computing device comprising:
- identifying a physical object external to a surface based computing device, which is able to be placed on a surface of the surface based computing device;
the surface based computing device detecting a change in a positioning of the physical object relative to the surface; and
responsive to the positioning change, changing an enablement state of the surface based computing device, whereby positioning of the physical object refers to a presence or absence of the object on the surface as well as which side of an N-sided object is downward facing.
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Abstract
The present invention can include a solution for toggling an enablement state of a surface based computing device using a physical object. In the solution, a physical object external to a surface based computing device can be identified, which is able to be placed on a surface of the surface based computing device. The surface based computing device can detect a change in a positioning of the physical object relative to the surface. Responsive to the change of positioning, an enablement state of the surface based computing device can be changed.
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Citations
20 Claims
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1. A method for controlling an enablement state of a surface based computing device comprising:
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identifying a physical object external to a surface based computing device, which is able to be placed on a surface of the surface based computing device; the surface based computing device detecting a change in a positioning of the physical object relative to the surface; and responsive to the positioning change, changing an enablement state of the surface based computing device, whereby positioning of the physical object refers to a presence or absence of the object on the surface as well as which side of an N-sided object is downward facing. - View Dependent Claims (2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10)
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11. A surface based computing device comprising:
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an enablement engine of a surface based computing device, wherein said enablement engine is a software engine controlling an enablement state of the surface based computing device, said enablement state comprising at least an active state and an inactive state, wherein state information is preserved when the enablement engine changes from the active state to the inactive state so that when the state is changed back from the inactive state to the active state using the enablement engine, state information is restored; and an enablement token detector configured to detect a positioning of a physical object relative to a surface of the surface based computing device, wherein different detected positionings of the physical object correspond to different enablement states, wherein when the enablement token detector detects a change in the positioning of the physical object, a command is automatically conveyed to the enablement engine to change an enablement state of the surface based computing device to match an enablement state indicated by the physical token, whereby positioning of the physical object refers to a presence or absence of the object on the surface as well as which side of an N-sided object is downward facing. - View Dependent Claims (12, 13, 14, 15)
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16. A physical token for controlling an enablement state of a surface based computing device comprising:
at least one unique characteristic that is configured to be detected by a surface based computing device when the physical token is placed on a surface of the surface based computing device, wherein a positioning of the physical token relative to the surface corresponds to different enablement states for the surface based computing device, wherein the different enablement states comprise at least an active state and an inactive state, wherein state information is preserved when the surface based computing device changes from the active state to the inactive state so that when surface based computing device changes back from the inactive state to the active state, state information is restored. - View Dependent Claims (17, 18, 19, 20)
Specification