KEYPAD CONTROL

• US 20160103605A1
• Filed: 10/09/2014
• Published: 04/14/2016
• Est. Priority Date: 10/09/2014
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Lenovo PC International Limited (Lenovo Group Ltd.)
• Original Assignee: Lenovo Singapore Pte Limited (Lenovo Group Ltd.)
• Inventors: Mese, John Carl, VanBlon, Russell Speight, Peterson, Nathan J., Weksler, Arnold S.
• Granted Patent: US 10,061,509 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 1/1
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 2203/04804 Transparency, e.g. transparent or translucent windows
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 3/013 Eye tracking input arrangements G06F3/015 takes precedence
• 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 3/0304 Detection arrangements using opto-electronic means constructional details of pointing devices not related to the detection arrangement using opto-electronic means G06F3/033; optical digitisers G06F3/042
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 3/044 by capacitive means
• 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

An apparatus can include a processor; memory accessibly by the processor; a display operatively coupled to the processor; an object detector operatively coupled to the processor; and display circuitry that controls transparency of a rendered keyboard based at least in part on input sensed via the object detector.

Claims

1. An apparatus comprising:

a processor;

memory accessibly by the processor;

a display operatively coupled to the processor;

an object detector operatively coupled to the processor; and

display circuitry that controls transparency of a rendered keyboard based at least in part on input sensed via the object detector.

2. The apparatus of claim 1 wherein the display comprises a touchscreen display and wherein the object detector comprises touch sensing circuitry of the touchscreen display.

3. The apparatus of claim 1 wherein the object detector comprises a camera.

4. The apparatus of claim 1 wherein the object detector comprises an emitter and a detector.

5. The apparatus of claim 4 wherein the emitter comprises an electromagnetic energy emitter and wherein the detector comprises an electromagnetic energy detector.

6. The apparatus of claim 1 wherein the object detector comprises eye tracking circuitry.

7. The apparatus of claim 1 wherein the display circuitry decreases transparency of the rendered keyboard based at least in part on input sensed by the object detector wherein the input corresponds to detection of an object.

8. The apparatus of claim 1 wherein the display circuitry controls transparency of the rendered keyboard via alpha compositing.

9. The apparatus of claim 1 wherein the display circuitry controls transparency of the rendered keyboard via screen dooring.

10. The apparatus of claim 1 wherein the display circuitry selectively renders the keyboard to an area of the display responsive to receipt of a keyboard display command.

11. The apparatus of claim 1 wherein the rendered keyboard comprises an initial transparency wherein the initial transparency of the keyboard depends on at least one characteristic of content rendered to the display.

12. A method comprising:

rendering a keyboard at a first transparency level to a display;

detecting an object; and

responsive to the detecting, rendering the keyboard at a second transparency level that differs from the first transparency level.

13. The method of claim 12 wherein the detecting comprises detecting the object moving toward the display and wherein the second transparency level is less than the first transparency level.

14. The method of claim 12 wherein the detecting comprises detecting the object moving away from the display and wherein the second transparency level is greater than the first transparency level.

15. The method of claim 12 comprising rendering content to an area of the display wherein an area of the keyboard overlays at least a portion of the area of the content.

16. The method of claim 15 wherein the content comprises at least one member selected from a group consisting of text, graphics, images and video.

17. The method of claim 15 further comprising tracking eye movement with respect to at least a portion of the content and controlling the transparency level for at least a portion of the keyboard based at least in part on the tracking eye movement.

18. The method of claim 17 wherein the controlling comprises increasing the transparency level for an area of the keyboard that overlays an area of the content.

19. One or more computer-readable storage media comprising processor-executable instructions to instruct a computing device wherein the instructions comprise instructions to:

render a keyboard at a first transparency level to a display;

detect an object; and

responsive to the detection of an object, render the keyboard at a second transparency level that differs from the first transparency level.

20. The one or more computer-readable storage media of claim 19 further comprising instructions to implement a time-based decay function after expiration of a time period wherein the time-based decay function increases the transparency of the rendered keyboard with respect to time.