UTILITY OBJECT FOR SPECIALIZED DATA ENTRY

• US 20090132951A1
• Filed: 01/23/2009
• Published: 05/21/2009
• Est. Priority Date: 01/31/2003
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Zhigu Holdings Limited
• Original Assignee: Microsoft Corporation
• Inventors: DODGE, STEVE, MURAYAMA, TAKANOBU, TORSET, TODD A, ZIELINSKI, TOBIAS, Garside, Adrian J, Feldman, Kyril, Chambers, Robert L, Wick, Thomas R
• Granted Patent: US 8,140,994 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 715/780
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 3/048 Interaction techniques based on graphical user interfaces [GUI]
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 3/04883 for inputting data by handwriting, e.g. gesture or text
• 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 object is associated with one or more controls in a software application. An object associated with a control determines the operation of the data entry user interface when the data entry user interface is being employed to enter data into the control. More particularly, the object may communicate interface e characteristics to a component that is responsible for providing the user interface to the user. Such a component may be, for example, a shared software module that renders the user interface on a display, receives input data from the user through the user interface, and routes the entered data to a designated destination. Alternately, the object itself may create a user interface having the specified characteristics.

Claims

1. A computing environment, comprising:

an application having at least one control for receiving input data;

a user interface for entering data into the at least one control; and

a utility object that receives information from the application regarding the at least one control, and controls the user interface in response to the received information.

2. The computing environment recited in claim 1, wherein:

the application has a plurality of controls; and

the utility object receives information from the application regarding each of the plurality of controls.

3. The computing environment recited in claim 1, wherein the application includes a second control, and further comprising a second utility object that receives information from the application regarding the second control and controls the user interface in response to the received information regarding the second control.

4. The computing environment recited in claim 1, further comprising a component shared among the at least one control for controlling the user interface in response to instructions from the utility object.

5. The computing environment recited in claim 4, wherein the shared component receives data from the user interface and routes the data into the at least one control.

6. The computing environment recited in claim 4, further comprising:

a plurality of objects; and

a proxy component corresponding to each of the plurality of objects for relaying instructions from the utility object to the shared component.

7. The computing environment recited in claim 4, further including a proxy component that relays instructions from the utility object to the shared component.

8. The computing environment recited in claim 7, wherein:

the shared component includes a message queue that receives and stores messages; and

the proxy component relays instructions from the utility object to the message queue of the shared component, such that the shared component retrieves and responds to the instructions relayed to the message queue in the order in which the instructions are received at the message queue.