COMPUTING DEVICE HAVING USER-INPUT ACCESSORY

• US 20170123622A1
• Filed: 10/28/2015
• Published: 05/04/2017
• Est. Priority Date: 10/28/2015
• Status: Active Application

• Current Assignee: Microsoft Technology Licensing LLC (Microsoft Corporation)
• Original Assignee: Microsoft Technology Licensing LLC (Microsoft Corporation)
• Inventors: Koenders, Oscar
• Application Number:
  US14/925,272
• Publication Number:
  US 20170123622A1
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 3/0416 Control or interface arrangements specially adapted for digitisers
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 3/0488 using a touch-screen or digitiser, e.g. input of commands through traced gestures
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 9/445 Program loading or initiating bootstrapping G06F9/4401; security arrangements for program loading or initiating G06F21/57
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 9/451 Execution arrangements for user interfaces
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 8/005 Discovery of network devices, e.g. terminals

Abstract

An application can be launched and operated in conjunction with a user-interface accessory (UIA). A launching engine can, using a wireless interrogator, detect an identifier of the UIA. The launching engine can determine and execute a software application corresponding to the UIA identifier. An interaction engine can, using the wireless interrogator, detect an identifier of an object. The interaction engine can detect a force exerted against a sensing surface of a force sensor by the object. The interaction engine can provide to the software application information of the second identifier and the detected force. Some examples include presenting a user interface based on the identifier of the UIA, determining a representation of the object using the identifier of the object, and presenting the representation arranged based on spatial data of the object. Some examples include presenting a user interface specific to the identifier of the UIA.

Claims

1. A device comprising:

a wireless interrogator configured to;

wirelessly detect a first identifier associated with a tagged user-input accessory in operational proximity to the wireless interrogator; and

wirelessly detect a second identifier associated with a tagged object in operational proximity to the wireless interrogator;

a force sensor having a sensing surface;

one or more computer-readable media having stored thereon a plurality of modules; and

one or more processing units operably coupled to the wireless interrogator, the force sensor, and at least one of the computer-readable media, the processing unit adapted to execute modules of the plurality of modules comprising;

a launching engine configured to;

determine a software application corresponding to the first identifier; and

execute the determined software application; and

an interaction engine configured to;

detect a force exerted against the sensing surface by the object; and

provide to the software application information of the second identifier and information of the detected force.

2. A device as recited in claim 1, wherein the force sensor is configured to detect spatially-varying forces across the sensing surface.

3. A device as recited in claim 2, wherein the interaction engine is further configured to:

determine a location of the object based at least in part on the detected spatially-varying forces; and

provide, to the software application, information of the determined location.

4. A device as recited in claim 2, wherein the interaction engine is further configured to:

determine a shape of the object based at least in part on the detected spatially-varying forces; and

provide, to the software application, information of the determined shape.

5. A device as recited in claim 2, wherein the force sensor comprises a plurality of sensing elements distributed across the sensing surface.

6. A device as recited in claim 1, wherein the one or more computer-readable media have stored thereon one or more mappings of identifiers to respective software applications and the launching engine is further configured to determine the software application corresponding to the first identifier using the one or more mappings.

7. A device as recited in claim 1, further comprising a communications interface, wherein the launching engine is further configured to determine the software application corresponding to the first identifier by transmitting the first identifier via the communications interface and receiving an indication of the software application via the communications interface.

8. A device as recited in claim 1, wherein the wireless interrogator comprises a radio-frequency identification (RFID) reader configured to wirelessly detect the identifiers of RFID-tagged ones of the tagged objects.

9. A device as recited in claim 1, further comprising a mounting feature configured to retain the user-input accessory in operational relationship with the sensing surface.

10. A computer-implemented method comprising:

presenting for display a user interface having at least one content element or presentation element determined based at least in part on an identifier of a user-input accessory;

determining a representation of an object, the representation based at least in part on an identifier of the object; and

presenting for display the representation of the object arranged in the user interface based at least in part on spatial data of the object, wherein the spatial data of the object comprises at least location data of the object or shape data of the object.

11. A computer-implemented method as recited in claim 10, further comprising:

determining that the spatial data of the object correspond to a spatial target; and

in response, presenting for display a success indicator.

12. A computer-implemented method as recited in claim 11, further comprising presenting for display a goal representation arranged in the user interface based at least in part on the spatial target.

13. A computer-implemented method as recited in claim 10, wherein:

the presenting the representation of the object comprises presenting the representation of the object in a three-dimensional virtual environment of the user interface;

a geometry of the representation of the object in a first dimension is determined based at least in part on the spatial data of the object; and

a geometry of the representation of the object in a second, different dimension is determined based at least in part on the identifier of the object.

14. A computer-implemented method as recited in claim 10, further comprising:

determining that a second object is in a selected spatial relationship with the object based at least in part on the spatial data of the object and spatial data of the second object;

determining a representation of the second object, the representation based at least in part on an identifier of the second object; and

presenting for display the representation of the second object arranged in the user interface based at least in part on the spatial data of the object and the spatial data of the second object, wherein the spatial data of the second object comprises at least location data of the second object or shape data of the second object.

15. A computer-implemented method as recited in claim 10, wherein the presenting the user interface comprises presenting a plurality of content elements in an arrangement based at least in part on the identifier of the user-input accessory.

16. A computer-implemented method as recited in claim 10, further comprising receiving the spatial data of the object from a force sensor having a plurality of sensing elements distributed across a sensing surface.

17. A computer-readable medium having thereon computer-executable instructions, the computer-executable instructions upon execution configuring a computer to perform operations comprising:

detecting a first user-input accessory and, in response, presenting for display a first user interface of an application, the first user interface having at least one content element or presentation element determined based at least in part on a first identifier corresponding to the first user-input accessory; and

detecting a second, different user-input accessory and, in response, presenting for display a second, different user interface of the application, the second user interface having at least one content element or presentation element determined based at least in part on a second identifier corresponding to the second user-input accessory.

18. A computer-readable medium as recited in claim 17, wherein the first user interface includes one or more user-interface controls and the second user interface includes the one or more user-interface controls and one or more additional user-interface controls.

19. A computer-readable medium as recited in claim 17, wherein the first user interface includes one or more user-interface controls presented in a disabled state and the second user interface includes the one or more user-interface controls presented in an enabled state.

20. A computer-readable medium as recited in claim 17, wherein the first user interface includes one or more content elements presented in a first arrangement and the second user interface includes the one or more content elements presented in a second, different arrangement.