MULTI-TOUCH INTERFACE GESTURES FOR KEYBOARD AND/OR MOUSE INPUTS

• US 20120054671A1
• Filed: 08/30/2010
• Published: 03/01/2012
• Est. Priority Date: 08/30/2010
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: VMware, Inc. (Broadcom, Inc.)
• Original Assignee: VMware, Inc. (Broadcom, Inc.)
• Inventors: THOMPSON, Robert Lee, HUA, Xueliang, ZHANG, Zheng, CASARES, Juan, SHAO, Wenlong, ZHANG, Li-Zhu
• Granted Patent: US 9,465,457 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 715/784
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 2203/0383 Remote input, i.e. interface arrangements in which the signals generated by a pointing device are transmitted to a PC at a remote location, e.g. to a PC in a LAN
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 2203/04805 Virtual magnifying lens, i.e. window or frame movable on top of displayed information to enlarge it for better reading or selection
• 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 3/038 Control and interface arrangements therefor, e.g. drivers or device-embedded control circuitry
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 3/04883 for inputting data by handwriting, e.g. gesture or text

Abstract

A computing device includes a touch screen displaying a graphical user interface (GUI) and a processing unit programmed to recognize gestures made on the touch screen and execute, in response thereto, a process associated with the gestures. The gestures include at least one of: a tap that causes an animation to be overlaid on the GUI at a location of the tap and, if a cursor is overlaid on the GUI, also causes the cursor to be moved to the location of the tap, a press-and-hold that causes a cursor overlaid on the GUI to be moved to a location of the press-and-hold, a press-and-hold in combination with a tap that causes a mouse right-click command to be executed, a press-and-hold that exceeds a predetermined amount of time in combination with a drag that causes a resizing of the GUI, a simultaneous three-tap that causes a keyboard to be launched and overlaid on the GUI to not obscure the portion of the GUI on top of which the simultaneous three-tap gesture was made, and a two-finger sweep that causes content within the GUI to be scrolled.

Claims

1. A computing device comprising:

a touch screen displaying a graphical user interface (GUI); and

a processing unit programmed to recognize gestures made on the touch screen and execute, in response thereto, a process associated with the gestures,

wherein the gestures include at least one of;

a tap that causes an animation to be overlaid on the GUI at a location of the tap;

a press-and-hold that causes a cursor overlaid on the GUI to be moved to a location of the press-and-hold;

a press-and-hold in combination with a tap that causes a mouse right-click command to be executed;

a press-and-hold that exceeds a predetermined amount of time in combination with a drag that causes a resizing of the GUI;

a simultaneous three-tap that causes a keyboard to be launched and overlaid on the GUI to not obscure the portion of the GUI on top of which the simultaneous three-tap gesture was made; and

a two-finger sweep that causes content within the GUI to be scrolled.

2. The device of claim 1, wherein the press-and-hold also causes the animation to be overlaid on the GUI at the location of the press-and-hold.

3. The device of claim 2, wherein the animation is a pulse animation.

4. The device of claim 1, wherein the press-and-hold that exceeds the predetermined amount of time causes a loupe to be overlaid at a location of the press-and-hold, and the loupe is replaced with another animation when the press-and-hold is released.

5. The device of claim 1, wherein the touch screen further displays a virtual touch pad for controlling a cursor that is overlaid on the GUI.

6. A computing device comprising:

a touch screen displaying a graphical user interface (GUI), a cursor overlaid on the GUI, and a virtual touch pad; and

a processing unit programmed to recognize gestures made on the touch screen and execute, in response thereto, a process associated with the gestures, wherein the gestures made on top of virtual touch pad are used to control movements of the cursor within the GUI.

7. The device of claim 6, wherein the virtual touch pad is overlaid on the GUI.

8. The device of claim 7, wherein the virtual touch pad is semi-transparent so that portions of the GUI beneath the virtual touch pad are visible.

9. The device of claim 7, wherein the virtual touch pad is movable to overlie different portions of the GUI.

10. The device of claim 6, wherein the virtual touch pad includes a mouse navigation portion, a left click button, and a right click button.

11. A client computing device interacting with a server for a remoting session, comprising:

a touch screen displaying an image of a user interface generated by the server; and

a processing unit programmed to recognize gestures made on the touch screen and execute, in response thereto, a process associated with the gestures that is executed locally on the client and not at the server,

wherein the gestures include at least one of;

a tap that causes an animation to be overlaid on the image at a location of the tap;

a press-and-hold that causes a cursor overlaid on the image to be moved to a location of the press-and-hold;

a press-and-hold in combination with a tap that causes a mouse right-click command to be transmitted to the server;

a press-and-hold that exceeds a predetermined amount of time in combination with a drag that causes a window resizing command to be transmitted to the server;

a simultaneous three-tap that causes a keyboard to be launched and overlaid on the image to not obscure the portion of the image on top of which the simultaneous three-tap gesture was made; and

a two-finger sweep that causes a mouse scroll command to be transmitted to the server.

12. The device of claim 11, wherein the gestures are made within boundaries of the image.

13. The device of claim 11, wherein the press-and-hold also causes the animation to be overlaid on the image at the location of the press-and-hold.

14. The device of claim 13, wherein the animation is a pulse animation.

15. The device of claim 11, wherein the press-and-hold that exceeds the predetermined amount of time causes a loupe to be overlaid at a location of the press-and-hold, and the loupe is replaced with another animation when the press-and-hold is released.

16. A client computing device interacting with a server for a remoting session, comprising:

a touch screen displaying an image of a user interface generated by the server, a cursor overlaid on the image, and a virtual touch pad; and

a processing unit programmed to recognize gestures made on the touch screen and execute, in response thereto, a process associated with the gestures, wherein the gestures made on top of virtual touch pad are used to control movements of the cursor.

17. The device of claim 16, wherein the virtual touch pad is overlaid on the image.

18. The device of claim 17, wherein the virtual touch pad is semi-transparent so that portions of the image beneath the virtual touch pad are visible.

19. The device of claim 17, wherein the virtual touch pad is movable to overlie different portions of the image.

20. The device of claim 16, wherein the virtual touch pad includes a mouse navigation portion, a left click button, and a right click button.

21. A multi-display system comprising:

a first display unit; and

a second display unit coupled to the first display unit to supply display signals to the first display unit, the second display unit including a touch screen and a processing unit programmed to recognize gestures made on the touch screen and execute a process associated with the gestures to launch UI elements to be displayed on the touch screen of the second display unit but not on the first display unit.

22. The system of claim 21, wherein the gestures include at least one of:

a tap that causes an animation to be displayed at a location of the tap;

a press-and-hold that causes a cursor to be moved to a location of the press-and-hold;

a press-and-hold in combination with a tap that causes a mouse right-click command to be executed;

a press-and-hold that exceeds a predetermined amount of time in combination with a drag that causes a window resizing;

a simultaneous three-tap that causes a keyboard to be launched; and

a two-finger sweep that causes a mouse scroll command to be executed.

23. The device of claim 21, wherein a virtual touch pad for controlling a cursor displayed on the touch screen is displayed on the touch screen of the first display unit but not on the second display unit.