SELECTING A SENSOR FOR USER INPUT

• US 20130021290A1
• Filed: 07/22/2011
• Published: 01/24/2013
• Est. Priority Date: 07/22/2011
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Lenovo PC International Limited (Lenovo Group Ltd.)
• Original Assignee: Lenovo Singapore Pte Limited (Lenovo Group Ltd.)
• Inventors: Zawacki, Jennifer Greenwood, Dubs, Justin Tyler, Jakes, Philip John, Ulrich, Sean Michael
• Granted Patent: US 9,552,093 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 345/174
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 3/04166 Details of scanning methods, e.g. sampling time, grouping of sub areas or time sharing with display driving Synchronisation with the driving of the display or the backlighting unit to avoid interferences generated internally G06F3/04184

Abstract

An apparatus and method are presented for selecting a surface for user input. The apparatus includes an information handling device having at least two surfaces and at least two sensors, as least one of the sensors being associated with one or more of the surfaces, a determination module, and a selection module. The determination module determines a current surface that is likely facing a user. The selection module selects one or more sensors associated with the current surface for user input.

Claims

1. An apparatus comprising:

an information handling device having at least two surfaces and at least two sensors, at least one of the sensors being associated with one or more of the surfaces;

a determination module determining a current surface that is likely facing a user; and

a selection module selecting one or more sensors associated with the current surface for user input.

2. The apparatus of claim 1, wherein the determination module determining the current surface further comprises the determination module determining the current surface based at least in part on output from one or more information handling device input components.

3. The apparatus of claim 2, wherein the determination module determines that a particular surface is the current surface in response to determining that a majority of input components indicate that the particular surface is likely facing the user.

4. The apparatus of claim 2, wherein the information handling device further comprises an accelerometer input component, the determination module further comprising an accelerometer module referencing accelerometer output from the accelerometer input component, the determination module determining the current surface based at least in part on the accelerometer output.

5. The apparatus of claim 2, further comprising a sensor module determining an amount of area touched on a first sensor and a second sensor, the determination module determining the current surface based at least in part on the amount of area touched on the first sensor and the second sensor.

6. The apparatus of claim 2, wherein the information handling device further comprises a camera input component, the determination module further comprising a camera module referencing camera output from the camera input component, the determination module determining the current surface based at least in part on the camera output.

7. The apparatus of claim 2, wherein the information handling device further comprises a microphone input component, the determination module further comprising a microphone module referencing microphone output from the microphone input component, the determination module determining the current surface based at least in part on the microphone output.

8. The apparatus of claim 1, wherein one or more sensors comprises a capacitive touchscreen.

9. The apparatus of claim 1, wherein a first sensor is on a first surface of the information handling device and a second sensor is on a second surface of the information handling device different than the first surface.

10. The apparatus of claim 1, further comprising an activation module activating user input on one or more sensors associated with the current surface and a deactivation module deactivating user input on one or more sensors associated with one or more other surfaces.

11. A method comprising:

determining, between at least two surfaces of an information handling device, a current surface that is likely facing a user, the information handling device including at least two sensors, at least one of the sensors being associated with one or more of the surfaces; and

a selection module selecting one or more sensors associated with the current surface for user input.

12. The method of claim 11, wherein determining the current surface further comprises determining the current surface based at least in part on input of one or more information handling device input components.

13. The method of claim 12, further comprising associating a predetermined weight with each of the input components, wherein determining the current surface based on the input of the one or more input components further comprises determining the current surface based at least in part on the output from the one or more input components according to the predetermined weight of the one or more input components.

14. The method of claim 12, further comprising referencing accelerometer output of an accelerometer input component of the information handling device and determining the current surface based at least in part on the accelerometer output.

15. The method of claim 12, further comprising determining an amount of area touched on a first sensor and a second sensor and determining the current surface based at least in part on the amount of area touched on the first sensor and the second sensor.

16. The method of claim 12, further comprising referencing camera output of a camera input component of the information handling device and determining the current surface based at least in part on the camera output.

17. The method of claim 11, further comprising deactivating user input on one or more sensors associated with one or more other surfaces.

18. A computer program product comprising a storage device storing machine readable code executed by a processor to perform the operations of:

determining, between at least two surfaces of an information handling device, a current surface that is likely facing a user, the information handling device including at least two sensors, at least one of the sensors being associated with one or more of the surfaces; and

a selection module selecting one or more sensors associated with the current surface for user input.

19. The computer program product of claim 18, further comprising referencing accelerometer output of an accelerometer input component of the information handling device and determining the current surface based at least in part on the accelerometer output.

20. The computer program product of claim 18, further comprising:

determining an amount of area touched on a first sensor and a second sensor and determining the current surface based at least in part on the amount of area touched on the first sensor and the second sensor; and

referencing camera output of a camera input component of the information handling device and determining the current surface based at least in part on the camera output.