SWITCHING AN INTERFACE MODE USING AN INPUT GESTURE

• US 20150169218A1
• Filed: 12/12/2013
• Published: 06/18/2015
• Est. Priority Date: 12/12/2013
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Lenovo PC International Limited (Lenovo Group Ltd.)
• Original Assignee: Lenovo Singapore Pte Limited (Lenovo Group Ltd.)
• Inventors: Cromer, Daryl, Locker, Howard
• Granted Patent: US 9,727,235 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 1/1
• 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 3/044 by capacitive means
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 3/04883 for inputting data by handwriting, e.g. gesture or text
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 3/04886 by partitioning the display area of the touch-screen or the surface of the digitising tablet into independently controllable areas, e.g. virtual keyboards or menus

Abstract

A method, apparatus, and program product are disclosed for presenting an interactive interface on an electronic display of an information handling device, the interactive interface comprising a plurality of modes, receiving an input gesture from a user, the input gesture detected along a surface of the information handling device by a gesture detector, and changing a mode of the interactive interface in response to the received input gesture.

Claims

1. A method comprising:

presenting an interactive interface on an electronic display of an information handling device, the interactive interface comprising a plurality of modes;

receiving an input gesture from a user, the input gesture detected along a surface of the information handling device by a gesture detector; and

changing a mode of the interactive interface in response to the received input gesture.

2. The method of claim 1, wherein the interactive interface comprises a virtual keyboard, the virtual keyboard comprising a plurality of keyboard modes.

3. The method of claim 1, wherein the input gesture comprises one or more of a touch gesture and a hover gesture.

4. The method of claim 1, wherein the input gesture comprises a sliding gesture along an edge of the information handling device such that a sliding gesture in a first direction changes a first mode to a second mode and a sliding gesture in a second direction changes the second mode to the first mode, the first direction being opposite the second direction.

5. The method of claim 4, wherein a sliding gesture in a first direction changes a second mode to a third mode and a sliding gesture in a second direction changes the third mode to the second mode, the first direction being opposite the second direction.

6. The method of claim 1, wherein the input gesture comprises a tapping gesture, wherein a tap along a first edge of the information handling device changes a first mode to a second mode and a tap along a second edge of the information handling device changes the second mode to the first mode, the first edge being opposite the second edge.

7. The method of claim 6, wherein a tap along a first edge of the information handling device changes a second mode to a third mode and a tap along a second edge of the information handling device changes the third mode to the second mode, the first edge being opposite the second edge.

8. The method of claim 1, wherein the input gesture changes a mode of the interactive interface from a last mode to a first mode and from a first mode to a last mode.

9. The method of claim 1, wherein the input gesture is detected along a border of the electronic display, the input gesture comprising one or more of a touch gesture and a hover gesture.

10. The method of claim 1, further comprising adjusting a mode-changing configuration in response to detecting modification of an orientation of the information handling device.

11. The method of claim 1, wherein the gesture detector comprises a capacitive sensor, the capacitive sensor being operatively coupled to one or more of an edge of the information handling device and a border of the electronic display.

12. The method of claim 1, further comprising one of enabling and disabling detection of the input gesture, wherein the gesture detector is selectively turned on and off.

13. The method of claim 1, further comprising defining one or more input gestures as mode-changing input gestures.

14. An apparatus comprising:

a gesture detector;

a processor;

a display operatively coupled to the processor; and

a memory storing machine readable code executable by the processor, the machine readable code comprising;

a display module that presents an interactive interface on the display, the interactive interface comprising a plurality of modes;

a gesture module that receives an input gesture from a user, the input gesture detected along a surface of an information handling device by the gesture detector; and

a mode module that changes a mode of the interactive interface in response to the received input gesture.

15. The apparatus of claim 14, wherein the interactive interface comprises a virtual keyboard, the virtual keyboard comprising a plurality of keyboard modes.

16. The apparatus of claim 14, wherein the input gesture comprises a sliding gesture along an edge of the information handling device such that a sliding gesture in a first direction changes a first mode to a second mode and a sliding gesture in a second direction changes the second mode to the first mode, the first direction being opposite the second direction.

17. The apparatus of claim 14, wherein the input gesture comprises a tapping gesture, wherein a tap along a first edge of the information handling device changes a first mode to a second mode and a tap along a second edge of the information handling device changes the second mode to the first mode, the first edge being opposite the second edge.

18. The apparatus of claim 14, wherein the input gesture is detected along a border of the electronic display, the input gesture comprising one or more of a touch gesture and a hover gesture

19. The apparatus of claim 14, further comprising a detector enabling module configured to one of enable and disable detection of the input gesture, wherein the gesture detector is selectively turned on and off.

20. A program product comprising a computer readable storage medium storing machine readable code executable by a processor to perform:

presenting an interactive interface on an electronic display of an information handling device, the interactive interface comprising a plurality of modes;

receiving an input gesture from a user, the input gesture detected along a surface of the information handling device by a gesture detector; and

changing a mode of the interactive interface in response to the received input gesture.