DATA ENTRY-ENHANCING TOUCH SCREEN SURFACE

• US 20100315348A1
• Filed: 06/11/2009
• Published: 12/16/2010
• Est. Priority Date: 06/11/2009
• Status: Abandoned Application

• Current Assignee: Motorola Mobility LLC (Lenovo Group Ltd.)
• Original Assignee: Motorola, Inc. (Motorola Solutions, Inc.)
• Inventors: WOJACK, Jason P., JELLICOE, Roger J.
• Application Number:
  US12/482,872
• Publication Number:
  US 20100315348A1
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 345/173
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 1/1632 External expansion units, e.g. docking stations
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 2203/04809 Textured surface identifying touch areas, e.g. overlay structure for a virtual keyboard
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 3/0393 Accessories for touch pads or touch screens, e.g. mechanical guides added to touch screens for drawing straight lines, hard keys overlaying touch screens or touch pads
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 3/041 Digitisers, e.g. for touch screens or touch pads, characterised by the transducing means
• 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

Touch screen data entry accuracy can be improved utilizing a touch screen interface coupled with a computing device and a data entry-enhancing touch screen surface. The touch screen interface can include a sensory system that can be configured to detect input sensations predefined input areas displayed within a graphical user interface (GUI). The data entry-enhancing touch screen surface can include one or more focused entry depressions that can be configured to centrally direct an activation device into a user-desired input area. Each focused entry depression can be spatially aligned with a predefined input area of the GUI. The activation of additional predefined input areas of the GUI that are within close proximity to the user-desired input area can be reduced.

Claims

1. A system for improving touch screen data entry accuracy comprising:

a touch screen interface coupled with a computing device having a sensory system configured to detect touch input sensations from at least one predefined input area of a graphical user interface (GUI) rendered by the touch screen interface; and

a data entry-enhancing touch screen surface having at least one deviation from the surface for focusing touch entry to direct a touch input, wherein each deviation is spatially aligned with a predefined input area of the GUI.

2. The system of claim 1, wherein the data entry-enhancing touch screen surface is integrated within the touch screen interface, wherein the touch screen surface is a planar surface, and wherein the deviation is one of a projection and depression from the planar surface.

3. The system of claim 1, wherein each deviation is spatially aligned to a user selectable GUI element when the GUI is in a first application state, and wherein at least one application state exists where the deviation does not spatially align to a user selectable GUI element.

4. The system of claim 1, the data entry-enhancing touch screen surface comprising said deviation is selectively removable cover for a screen integrated into the computing device.

5. The system of claim 4, wherein the touch screen cover comprises at least one touch sensor electronically coupled to the device.

6. The system of claim 4, further comprising:

at least one popple actuation coupling configured to be activated only when said screen cover is attached to the computing device, which is used to programmatically detect a presence or absence of said touch screen cover.

7. The system of claim 1, wherein the deviation is convex, and wherein the deviation magnifies graphically rendered content of the predefined input area of the GUI to which it is spatially aligned.

8. The system of claim 1, wherein the sensory system of the touch screen interface utilizes at least one of resistive feedback sensing, capacitive sensing, optical imaging sensing.

9. The system of claim 5, further comprising:

at least one popple actuation coupling configured to be activated only when said screen cover is attached to the computing device, wherein input detected by the touch sensor of the touch screen cover is ignored by computing program products executing on the device when a popple of the popple actuation coupling is disabled and are processed as input when said popple is enabled.

10. The system of claim 1, wherein said at least one deviation comprises at least nine deviations, each deviation being spatially aligned with a different digit presented in the GUI.

11. A data entry-enhancing touch screen surface comprising:

at least one deviation from the touch screen surface for directing user touch input to spatially aligned regions of a graphical user interface (GUI) presented within a touch screen interface, wherein each deviation is spatially aligned with a predefined input area of the GUI, wherein each deviation biases touch input towards a corresponding predefined input area, wherein a software application running on a computing device that controls presented GUI comprises at least two application states, wherein in one application state, the deviations are spatially aligned with user selectable buttons rendered on the GUI, wherein in another of the application states, the deviations are not spatially aligned with user selectable buttons rendered on the GUI.

12. The data entry-enhancing touch screen surface of claim 11, wherein said at least one deviation comprises at least ten different deviations, each deviation being spatially aligned with a different user selectable buttons, wherein each of said user selectable buttons comprises a different rendered digit from one to ten.

13. The data entry-enhancing touch screen surface of claim 11, wherein said data entry-enhancing touch screen surface comprises a selectively removable cover for a screen integrated into a computing device.

14. The data entry-enhancing touch screen surface of claim 13, wherein said selectively removable touch screen cover comprises at least one touch sensor, selectively enabled only when the touch screen cover is positioned over the screen of the computing device.

15. The data entry-enhancing touch screen surface of claim 11, wherein said deviations comprise at least twelve deviations, each being a convex deviation inset into the touch screen surface, wherein said twelve deviations aligned in four vertical rows, each row comprising three vertically aligned deviations.

16. The data entry touch screen of claim 11, wherein said touch screen surface is one of a planar surface, a curved surface, and a cornered surface.

17. A method for focusing touch screen input of a computing device running an application using deviations in a touch surface comprising:

when in a first application state, visually rendering, via programmatic instructions executed by a processor, a plurality of GUI elements within a touch screen interface, wherein each of the plurality of GUI elements is spatially aligned with a deviation in a touch input surface, wherein a touch of the deviation is interpreted as input selecting the corresponding GUI element when in the first application state;

detecting an application event that causes a change from the first application state to a second application state;

automatically adjusting a graphical user interface from the first application state to the second application state responsive to detecting the application event, wherein in a second application state, the GUI elements associated with the first application state are changed, wherein when in the second application state, a touch of each deviation is interpreted differently than a similar touch would have been interpreted when in the first application.

18. The method of claim 17, further comprising:

when in the second application state, visually rendering a second plurality of GUI elements within the touch screen interface, wherein each of the second plurality of GUI elements is spatially aligned with a deviation.

19. The method of claim 17, further comprising;

when in the second application state, visually rendering a second plurality of GUI elements, wherein the second plurality of GUI elements are not spatially aligned with deviations.

20. The method of claim 18, wherein each of the deviations are depressions of a removable cover able to be positioned over of a touch screen device, said method further comprising:

detecting a change of usage state of the removable cover, responsive to the detected change of usage state, firing the application event that causes a change from the first application state to the second application state.