VIRTUAL PRESS NUMBER PAD

• US 20100110020A1
• Filed: 10/31/2008
• Published: 05/06/2010
• Est. Priority Date: 10/31/2008
• Status: Abandoned Application

• Current Assignee: Sprint Communications Company LP (Deutsche Telekom AG)
• Original Assignee: Sprint Communications Company LP (Deutsche Telekom AG)
• Inventors: Wick, Ryan Alan, Reeves, Raymond Emilio
• Application Number:
  US12/262,357
• Publication Number:
  US 20100110020A1
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 345/173
• 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 3/04883 for inputting data by handwriting, e.g. gesture or text

Abstract

The present invention provides methods for associating a gesture, in contact with a touch screen, with a character. More specifically, the present invention links a user'"'"'s movement on a surface of a device to represent a character. A character includes any number, letter, or symbol. For example, an illustrative embodiment of the present invention, a user may swipe a surface on their device such as a cell phone. The present invention recognizes the swipe to represent the number “0,” a swipe in another direction to represent the number “1,” a tap in the middle region to represent the number “2,” etc.

Claims

1. One or more computer-readable storage media having computer-useable instructions embodied thereon for performing a method of configuring a surface of a device into a set of regions, the method comprising:

receiving a request to configure the surface of the device into the set of regions;

determining a configuration from a set of configurations in the device;

when the configuration is selected, identifying on the surface of the device each region in the set of regions;

defining boundaries of each region by associating each region with a set of coordinates; and

using the set of coordinates for each region to detect a gesture on the surface of the device wherein the surface detects the gesture in each region to represent a character.

2. The media of claim 1, wherein the set of regions is selected from a group including three regions.

3. The media of claim 2, further comprising dividing the surface horizontally or vertically into the set of regions to respectively have three parallel horizontal regions or three parallel vertical regions.

4. The media of claim 1, wherein determining the configuration comprises selecting the configuration from a choice of configurations stored in the device.

5. The media of claim 1, wherein the gesture includes one or more movements received within a timeframe.

6. The media of claim 5, wherein the same gesture received in each region results in a different character.

7. The media of claim 1, wherein the character is selected from a group including numbers.

8. One or more computer-readable storage media having computer-useable instructions embodied thereon for performing a method of recognizing touches in association with a character, comprising:

dividing a surface of a device into a set of regions;

receiving one or more touches in contact with the surface of the device;

receiving the one or more touches in a first region of the set of regions wherein the one or more touches occur within a timeframe;

associating the one or more touches with one or more characters wherein one touch in the first region results in a first character, two touches in the first region result in a second character, and three touches in the first region result in a third character; and

performing the same one or more touches in a second region of the set of regions to result in one or more different characters wherein the one touch in the second region results in a fourth character, the two touches in the second region result in a fifth character, and the three touches in the second region result in a sixth character.

9. The media of claim 8, further comprising performing the same one or more touches in a third region of the set of regions to result in one or more other different characters wherein the one touch in the third region results in a seventh character, the two touches in the third region result in an eighth character, and the three touches in the third region result in a ninth character.

10. The media of claim 9, wherein the set of regions is selected from a group including three regions.

11. The media of claim 10, further comprising dividing the surface horizontally or vertically into the set of regions to respectively have three parallel horizontal regions or three parallel vertical regions.

12. The media of claim 9, wherein the character is selected from a group including numbers.

13. One or more computer-readable storage media having computer-useable instructions embodied thereon for performing a method of providing configurations that establish how inputs are received into a computing device, the method comprising:

selecting a configuration from a set of configurations stored in the computing device wherein the set of configurations establishes how a set of gestures are received on the surface of the computing device;

modifying the surface of the computing device to identify distinct regions on the surface when the configuration is selected;

activating software in the computing device so that when one or more touches on the surface are received within a timeframe the one or more touches are recognized respectively as one or more gestures;

mapping the one or more gestures respectively to one or more characters wherein one touch received in one region results in a first character, two touches in the one region result in a second character, and three touches in the one region result in a third character; and

displaying the one or more characters on a display device in the computing device.

15. The media of claim 13, wherein modifying the surface comprises dividing the surface horizontally or vertically into the set of regions to respectively have three parallel horizontal regions or three parallel vertical regions.

16. The media of claim 13, wherein mapping the one or more gestures respectively to the one or more characters includes mapping the one or more gestures to one or more numbers.

17. The media of claim 13, wherein mapping the one or more gestures respectively to the one or more characters includes mapping the one or more gestures to one or more letters.

18. The media of claim 13, wherein mapping the one or more gestures respectively to the one or more characters includes mapping the one or more gestures to one or more symbols.

19. The media of claim 13, wherein a same gesture of the one or more gestures received in each region of the distinct regions result in a different character.

14. The media of claim 14, further comprising converting the one or more gestures into a set of coordinates.