STYLUS CONTROL FEATURE FOR LOCKING/UNLOCKING TOUCH SENSITIVE DEVICES

• US 20140253461A1
• Filed: 03/11/2013
• Published: 09/11/2014
• Est. Priority Date: 03/11/2013
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Barnes & Noble College Booksellers LLC (Barnes & Noble Education, Inc.)
• Original Assignee: Nook Digital, LLC (f/k/a Barnesandnoble.com LLC) (Bahwan CyberTek Pvt Ltd.)
• Inventors: Hicks, Kourtny M., Brewer, Dale J.
• Granted Patent: US 9,600,053 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 345/173
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 1/3215 Monitoring of peripheral devices
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 21/31 User authentication
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 3/03545 Pens or stylus

Abstract

Techniques are disclosed for locking and/or unlocking a touch sensitive device using one or more stylus control features. For example, the stylus control feature may be a twistable top button knob. In some instances, the twistable top button knob may be rotated and/or depressed to lock a related device. In some other instances, the twistable top button knob may be used to unlock a related device using a unique rotation sequence, thereby providing a security mechanism. For example, the unlocking sequence may require a user to rotate the twistable top button knob in a first direction to a first reference point, in a second direction to a second reference point, and back in the first direction to a third reference point. The stylus may also include a feedback indicator, such as a multi-colored light-emitting diode (LED), that indicates the lock status of a related device, for example.

Claims

1. A stylus comprising:

an elongated body portion having a stylus tip for interacting with an electronic touch sensitive device; and

a control feature for providing user input to the device, wherein the user input comprises at least one of locking input that causes the device to transition from an unlock mode to a lock mode and/or unlocking input that causes the device to transition from a lock mode to an unlock mode.

2. The stylus of claim 1 where the control feature comprises a twistable button knob that can be rotated and/or pressed to provide the locking and/or unlocking input.

3. The stylus of claim 1 wherein the unlocking input and/or the locking input is user-configurable.

4. The stylus of claim 1 wherein the unlocking input and/or the locking input is configurable from the stylus itself.

5. The stylus of claim 1 wherein the unlocking input requires a unique pattern, sequence, and/or passkey.

6. The stylus of claim 5 wherein the body portion and/or control feature include reference points for assisting with entering the unlocking input.

7. The stylus of claim 1 further comprising a feedback indicator for indicating that the device is locked, the device is unlocked, the unlocking input is being configured, the unlocking input has been set, an improper unlocking input has been entered, and/or a proper unlocking input has been entered.

8. The stylus of claim 7 wherein the feedback indicator includes a multi-colored light-emitting diode (LED), a speaker, and/or a motor attached to an eccentric weight.

9. A system comprising the stylus of claim 1 and a touch sensitive device configured to receive input from the stylus.

10. The system of claim 9 wherein the stylus is configured to determine if the unlocking input is sufficient to transition the touch sensitive device from lock mode to unlock mode.

11. A device comprising:

a touch sensitive area for receiving input from a stylus via at least one of direct or proximate contact between the stylus and touch sensitive area; and

a user interface executable on the device and configured to receive stylus-based user input, the user input comprising at least one of unlocking input that causes the device to transition from a lock mode to an unlock mode and/or locking input that causes the device to transition from an unlock mode to a lock mode.

12. The device of claim 11 wherein at least one of the unlocking and/or locking inputs are associated with rotating and/or depressing a control feature on the stylus.

13. The device of claim 12 wherein the control feature is rotatable and the unlocking input represents control feature action including:

rotation in a first direction to a first reference point;

rotation in a second direction opposite the first direction to a second reference point; and

rotation in the first direction to a third reference point.

14. The device of claim 11 wherein the user interface is configured to determine if the unlocking input is sufficient to transition the device from lock mode to unlock mode.

15. The device of claim 11 wherein the user interface is configured to provide a feedback indicator signal that allows the stylus to indicate that the touch sensitive device is locked, the device is unlocked, the unique unlocking input is being configured, the unique unlocking input has been set, an improper unique unlocking input has been entered, and/or a proper unique unlocking input has been entered.

16. The device of claim 11 wherein the device is a smart phone, eReader, or tablet computer.

17. A computer program product comprising a plurality of instructions non-transiently encoded thereon to facilitate operation of an electronic device according to the following process, the process comprising:

receive, from a stylus-based control feature, an unlocking input that causes a touch sensitive device to transition from a lock mode to an unlock mode; and

transition the touch sensitive device from the lock mode to the unlock mode, in response to the unlocking input.

18. The computer program product of claim 17, the process further comprising:

receive, from a stylus-based control feature, a locking input that causes the touch sensitive device to transition from the unlock mode to the lock mode; and

transition the touch sensitive device from the unlock mode to the lock mode, in response to the locking input.

19. The computer program product of claim 17, the process further comprising:

provide a feedback indicator signal to indicate that the device is locked, the device is unlocked, the input is being configured, the input has been set, an improper input has been entered, and/or a proper input has been entered.

20. The computer program product of claim 17 wherein the stylus-based control feature is rotatable and the unlocking input represents control feature action including rotation in a first direction to a first reference point, and rotation in a second direction opposite the first direction to a second reference point.