Virtual Input Tools

• US 20100245260A1
• Filed: 03/26/2009
• Published: 09/30/2010
• Est. Priority Date: 03/26/2009
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Apple Inc.
• Original Assignee: Apple Inc.
• Inventors: Louch, John O.
• Granted Patent: US 8,427,438 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 345/173
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 3/038 Control and interface arrangements therefor, e.g. drivers or device-embedded control circuitry
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 3/0481 based on specific properties of the displayed interaction object or a metaphor-based environment, e.g. interaction with desktop elements like windows or icons, or assisted by a cursor's changing behaviour or appearance
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 3/0482 Interaction with lists of selectable items, e.g. menus
• 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

A virtual input device, e.g., a virtual representation of a physical input device, is disclosed. In one aspect, virtual coordinates of the virtual input device correlate to real coordinates on the physical input device. Dimensions of the physical input device are proportional to dimensions of the virtual input device, and interactive objects are presented in the virtual input device.

Claims

1. A computer-implemented method comprising:

identifying an input device;

identifying real coordinates of positions on the input device that receive user input;

generating a virtual representation of the input device;

correlating the real coordinates to corresponding virtual coordinates in the virtual representation of the input device; and

presenting the virtual representation of the input device in an interface.

2. The method of claim 1, where dimensions of the input device are proportional to dimensions of the virtual representation of the input device.

3. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

identifying one or more objects for display in the interface;

generating virtual representations of each of the one or more objects; and

presenting the virtual representations of each of the one or more objects in the virtual representation of the input device.

4. The method of claim 3, further comprising:

receiving a first input through the input device;

identifying first real coordinates on the input device that identify a position on the input device where the first input was received;

mapping the first real coordinates to corresponding first virtual coordinates in the virtual representation of the input device; and

modifying the virtual representation of the input device or a virtual representation of a first object, based on the first virtual coordinates.

5. The method of claim 4, where the modifying includes modifying the virtual representation of the input device by indicating a selection of a virtual representation of a second object.

6. The method of claim 4, where the modifying includes modifying the virtual representation of the first object by indicating a selection of the virtual representation of the first object.

7. The method of claim 3, further comprising:

for each of the one or more objects, generating text related to each object; and

combining the text and the virtual representations of each of the one or more objects in the virtual representation of the input device, for display in the interface.

8. The method of claim 3, where the virtual representations of each of the one or more objects include three-dimensional representations.

9. The method of claim 1, where the virtual representation of the input device is presented in the interface in response to a first predetermined user input.

10. The method of claim 1, where the virtual representation of the input device is removed from display in the interface in response to a second predetermined user input.

11. The method of claim 1, where the virtual representation of the input device includes a control object that removes the virtual representation of the input device from display in the interface.

12. A system comprising:

an input device;

a data processing apparatus; and

a data store, in which is stored;

a virtual representation of the input device, wherein dimensions of the input device are proportional to dimensions of the virtual representation of the input device, and real coordinates of the input device correspond to virtual coordinates in the virtual representation of the input device.

13. The system of claim 12, wherein the virtual representation of the input device further includes virtual representations of one or more interactive objects.

14. A computer-readable medium having instructions stored thereon, which, when executed by a processor, cause the processor to perform operations comprising:

identifying an input device;

identifying real coordinates of positions on the input device that receive user input;

generating a virtual representation of the input device;

correlating the real coordinates to corresponding virtual coordinates in the virtual representation of the input device; and

presenting the virtual representation of the input device in an interface.

15. The computer-readable medium of claim 14, where dimensions of the input device are proportional to dimensions of the virtual representation of the input device.

16. The computer-readable medium of claim 14, further comprising instructions to cause the processor to perform operations including:

identifying one or more objects for display in the interface;

generating virtual representations of each of the one or more objects; and

presenting the virtual representations of each of the one or more objects in the virtual representation of the input device.

17. The computer-readable medium of claim 16, further comprising instructions to cause the processor to perform operations including:

receiving a first input through the input device;

identifying first real coordinates on the input device that identify a position on the input device where the first input was received;

mapping the first real coordinates to corresponding first virtual coordinates in the virtual representation of the input device; and

modifying the virtual representation of the input device or a virtual representation of a first object, based on the first virtual coordinates.

18. The computer-readable medium of claim 17, where the modifying includes modifying the virtual representation of the input device by indicating a selection of a virtual representation of a second object.

19. The computer-readable medium of claim 17, where the modifying includes modifying the virtual representation of the first object by indicating a selection of the virtual representation of the first object.

20. The computer-readable medium of claim 16, further comprising instructions to cause the processor to perform operations including:

for each of the one or more objects, generating text related to each object; and

combining the text and the virtual representations of each of the one or more objects in the virtual representation of the input device, for display in the interface.

21. The computer-readable medium of claim 16, where the virtual representations of each of the one or more objects include three-dimensional representations.

22. The computer-readable medium of claim 14, where the virtual representation of the input device is presented in the interface in response to a first predetermined user input.

23. The computer-readable medium of claim 14, where the virtual representation of the input device is removed from display in the interface in response to a second predetermined user input.

24. The computer-readable medium of claim 14, where the virtual representation of the input device includes a control object that removes the virtual representation of the input device from display in the interface.

25. A computer-implemented method comprising:

generating a virtual representation of an input device, the virtual representation of the input device having dimensions that are proportional to dimensions of the input device according to a predetermined ratio;

identifying real coordinates of positions on the input device that receive user input;

identifying virtual coordinates of corresponding positions on the virtual representation of the input device based on the predetermined ratio;

correlating the real coordinates to the virtual coordinates in the virtual representation of the input device; and

presenting the virtual representation of the input device in an interface.

26. A computer-implemented method comprising:

receiving input through an input device;

identifying real coordinates of positions on the input device that received the input;

mapping the real coordinates to virtual coordinates of corresponding positions on a virtual representation of the input device displayed in an interface;

identifying a virtual object displayed in the virtual representation of the input device that corresponds to the identified virtual coordinates; and

activating an object that corresponds to the virtual object for display in the interface.

27. The method of claim 26, wherein the object is a portion of a document and activating the object for display includes displaying the portion of the document in the interface.

28. The method of claim 26, wherein the object is a file directory and activating the object for display includes displaying contents of the file directory in the interface.

29. The method of claim 26, wherein the object is a software application and activating the object for display includes displaying one or more application windows of the software application in the interface.

30. The method of claim 29, wherein the one or more application windows are displayed as virtual objects in the virtual representation of the input device.