Modifying Input Delivery to Applications

• US 20140368435A1
• Filed: 06/13/2013
• Published: 12/18/2014
• Est. Priority Date: 06/13/2013
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Microsoft Technology Licensing LLC (Microsoft Corporation)
• Original Assignee: Microsoft Corporation
• Inventors: Abzarian, David, Yamamoto, Hirofumi, Snitkovskiy, Alex G., Mendonca, Rouella J., Tang, Alice, Simidjiyski, Youlian, Gurumoorthy, Ramachandran, Zielinski, Kelli Marie
• Granted Patent: US 10,088,914 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 345/168
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 3/0233 Character input methods
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 3/0237 using prediction or retrieval techniques

Abstract

In some examples, input received from an input device, such as a keyboard, is modified by a component associated with an operating system before the input is delivered to an application. For instance, a component associated with the operating system may become registered for modifying input. In some situations, the input is modified based at least in part on metadata associated with the input device. For example, a location of a fingertip on a touch-sensitive display may be used to modify the input before delivery to an application.

Claims

1. A method comprising:

receiving, by a computing device, input from an input device for delivery to an application of the computing device, the input including at least one or more characters entered at the input device;

prior to delivering the input to the application, modifying, by a component associated with an operating system of the computing device, at least a part of the input; and

delivering, by the computing device, the modified input to the application.

2. The method as recited in claim 1, wherein the receiving and the delivering are performed by a module of the operating system and the module is associated with a higher trust level than the component.

3. The method as recited in claim 2, wherein the module is associated with a kernel mode and the component is associated with a user mode.

4. The method as recited in claim 1, further comprising registering the component in response to identifying at least one attribute associated with the input device.

5. The method as recited in claim 1, further comprising registering the component in response to identifying at least one attribute associated with a user or a session.

6. The method as recited in claim 1, further comprising providing the input to the component in response to a blocking call.

7. The method as recited in claim 1, wherein modifying at least part of the input comprises at least one of correcting an error in the input, providing a suggestion associated with the input, removing one or more input characters from the input, replacing one or more input characters of the input, and adding one or more input characters to the input.

8. The method as recited in claim 1, further comprising receiving, by the computing device, metadata associated with the input device and the modifying at least part of the input is based on the metadata associated with the input device.

9. The method as recited in claim 8, wherein the metadata associated with the input is associated with at least one of a probability of an input value, a position of at least one finger, and a size of the input device.

10. The method as recited in claim 1, further comprising registering the component, the registering including:

registering one or more additional components for modifying the input from the input device; and

assigning a priority to the component and to each of the one or more additional components.

11. A system comprising:

a processor;

a device driver operable by the processor to receive input from an input device, the input including at least one or more characters entered at the input device;

an input modification module operable by the processor to modify the input prior to delivery of the input to an application of the system, the input modification module being associated with an operating system of the system;

an input receiver module of the operating system, the input receiver module being operable by the processor to provide the input from the device driver to the input modification module and to provide the modified input from the input modification module to the application; and

the application, being operable by the processor to receive the modified input.

12. The system as recited in claim 11, wherein the input receiver module is associated with a higher trust level than the input modification module.

13. The system as recited in claim 11, wherein the input receiver module is associated with a kernel mode and the input modification module is associated with a user mode.

14. The system as recited in claim 11, wherein modifying the input comprises at least one of correcting an error in the input, providing a suggestion, providing a suggestion associated with the input, removing one or more input characters from the input, replacing one or more input characters of the input, and adding one or more input characters to the input.

15. The system as recited in claim 11, wherein the input modification module modifies the input based at least on metadata associated with the input device, the metadata associated with at least one of a probability of an input value, a position of at least one finger, and a size of the input device.

16. The system as recited in claim 11, further comprising one or more additional input modification modules, wherein the input receiver module is configured to assign a priority to the input modification module and to each of the one or more additional input modification modules.

17. A computer-readable medium storing computer-executable instructions that, when executed, cause one or more processors to perform acts comprising:

receiving, by a computing device, input from an input device for delivery to an application of the computing device, the input including at least one or more characters entered at the input device;

modifying, by a component associated with an operating system of the computing device, at least a part of the input prior to delivering the input to the application based at least on metadata associated with the input device; and

in response to receiving, by the computing device, the modified input within a threshold amount of time, delivering, by the computing device, the modified input to the application; and

in response to not receiving, by the computing device, the modified input within a threshold amount of time, delivering, by the computing device, the input to the application.

18. The computer-readable medium as recited in claim 17, wherein the receiving and the delivering are performed by a module of the operating system and the module is associated with a higher trust level than the component.

19. The computer-readable medium as recited in claim 17, wherein modifying at least part of the input comprises at least one of correcting an error in the input, providing a suggestion associated with the input, removing one or more input characters from the input, replacing one or more input characters of the input, and adding one or more input characters to the input.

20. The computer-readable medium as recited in claim 17, wherein the metadata associated with the input device is associated with at least one of a probability of an input value, a position of at least one finger, and a size of the input device.