SYMBOL-BASED DIGITAL INK ANALYSIS

• US 20140337804A1
• Filed: 05/10/2013
• Published: 11/13/2014
• Est. Priority Date: 05/10/2013
• Status: Abandoned Application

• Current Assignee: Microsoft Technology Licensing LLC (Microsoft Corporation)
• Original Assignee: Microsoft Corporation
• Inventors: Hwang, Daniel J., Dai, Juan, Shen, Wenqi, Viswanathan, Sharath, Li, Pu
• Application Number:
  US13/891,958
• Publication Number:
  US 20140337804A1
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 715/863
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 3/017 Gesture based interaction, e.g. based on a set of recognized hand gestures interaction based on gestures traced on a digitiser G06F3/04883
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 3/04883 for inputting data by handwriting, e.g. gesture or text
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 40/171 by use of digital ink
• CPC Class Codes: G06V 30/1423 the instrument generating sequences of position coordinates corresponding to handwriting preprocessing or recognising digital ink G06V30/32
• CPC Class Codes: G06V 30/347 Sampling; Contour coding; Stroke extraction
• CPC Class Codes: G06V 30/36 Matching; Classification

Abstract

Techniques are described for automatically performing application-specific actions based on global pre-defined symbols entered using digital ink. For example, a computing device supporting digital ink input can receive digital ink content from a user (e.g., via a digitizer and/or touchscreen), process the digital ink input to recognize text and/or graphical content, determine whether global pre-defined symbols are present in the recognized text and/or graphical content, and perform application-specific actions associated with the global pre-defined symbols that are present. The application-specific actions can be associated with built-in and/or third-party applications.

Claims

1. A method, implemented at least in part by a computing device, for automatically performing application-specific actions based on global pre-defined symbols entered using digital ink, the method comprising:

receiving, by the computing device, digital ink content that is input in a digital ink mode;

processing, by the computing device, the received digital ink content;

based on results of the processing, determining, by the computing device, whether the digital ink content comprises a global pre-defined symbol, wherein the global pre-defined symbol is one of a plurality of global pre-defined symbols and associated application-specific actions; and

when the digital ink content comprises the global pre-defined symbol, performing, by the computing device, an application-specific action associated with the global pre-defined symbol.

2. The method of claim 1 wherein processing the received digital ink content comprises performing digital ink recognition.

3. The method of claim 1 wherein the global pre-defined symbol is a globally recognized symbol across built-in and third-party applications of the computing device.

4. The method of claim 1 wherein the global pre-defined symbol is a global system-defined symbol and wherein the application-specific action is a system-defined application-specific action associated with a built-in application.

5. The method of claim 1 wherein the global pre-defined symbol is defined by a user, and wherein the application-specific action is defined by the user.

6. The method of claim 1 wherein the global pre-defined symbol is a first symbol present in the received digital ink content.

7. The method of claim 1 wherein the digital ink content consists of the global pre-defined symbol and additional content, wherein the application-specific action uses the additional content.

8. The method of claim 1 wherein performing the application-specific action associated with the global pre-defined symbol comprises:

launching or switching to an application identified by the application-specific action; and

passing one or more parameters to the application to accomplish the application-specific action.

9. The method of claim 1 wherein the global pre-defined symbol is associated with an application-specific action for sending an email, using a built-in email application, to one or more contacts identified in the digital ink content.

10. A computing device comprising:

a processing unit;

memory; and

an input device supporting digital ink;

the computing device configured to perform operations for automatically performing application-specific actions based on global pre-defined symbols entered using digital ink, the operations comprising;

receiving, via the input device supporting digital ink, digital ink content that is input in a digital ink mode;

processing the received digital ink content;

based on results of the processing, determining whether the digital ink content comprises a global pre-defined symbol, wherein the global pre-defined symbol is one of a plurality of global pre-defined symbols and associated application-specific actions; and

when the digital ink content comprises the global pre-defined symbol, performing an application-specific action associated with the global pre-defined symbol.

11. The computing device of claim 10 wherein processing the received digital ink content comprises performing digital ink recognition.

12. The computing device of claim 10 wherein the global pre-defined symbol is a globally recognized symbol across built-in and third-party applications of the computing device.

13. The computing device of claim 10 wherein the digital ink content consists of the global pre-defined symbol and additional content, wherein the application-specific action uses the additional content.

14. The computing device of claim 10 wherein performing the application-specific action associated with the global pre-defined symbol comprises:

launching or switching to an application identified by the application-specific action; and

passing one or more parameters to the application to accomplish the application-specific action.

15. The computing device of claim 10 wherein the global pre-defined symbol is associated with an application-specific action for sending an email, using a built-in email application, to one or more contacts identified in the digital ink content.

16. The computing device of claim 10 wherein the input device supporting digital ink comprises a digitizer, and wherein the digital ink content is received from a user using a stylus.

17. A computer-readable storage medium storing computer-executable instructions for causing a computing device to perform a method for automatically performing application-specific actions based on global pre-defined symbols entered using digital ink, the method comprising:

receiving digital ink content that is input in a digital ink mode;

processing the received digital ink content, wherein the processing comprises performing digital ink recognition;

based on results of the processing, determining whether the digital ink content comprises a global pre-defined symbol, wherein the global pre-defined symbol is one of a plurality of global pre-defined symbols and associated application-specific actions; and

when the digital ink content comprises the global pre-defined symbol, performing an application-specific action associated with the pre-defined symbol;

wherein the global pre-defined symbol is a globally recognized symbol across built-in and third-party applications of the computing device; and

wherein the global pre-defined symbol is a global system-defined symbol that is associated with an application-specific action for a built-in application.

18. The computer-readable storage medium of claim 17 wherein the digital ink content consists of the global pre-defined symbol and additional content, wherein the application-specific action uses the additional content.

19. The computer-readable storage medium of claim 17 wherein performing the application-specific action associated with the global pre-defined symbol comprises:

launching or switching to the built-in application; and

passing one or more parameters to the built-in application to accomplish the application-specific action, wherein the one or more parameters are obtained from the digital ink content.

20. The computer-readable storage medium of claim 17 wherein the built-in application is an email application, and wherein the global pre-defined symbol is associated with an application-specific action for sending an email to one or more contacts identified in the digital ink content.