Method, apparatus and computer program product for providing keyboard assistance to a software application user
First Claim
1. A method for providing keyboard assistance to a user of a software application, the method comprising the steps of:
- detecting a pressed keyboard key concurrently with the application being active, wherein the application has certain hot key combinations;
selecting ones of the keyboard keys responsive to the key pressed, the selected keys corresponding to ones of the hot key combinations that include the pressed key; and
sending at least one signal for differentiating the selected keys on the keyboard, wherein the application is operable to have a number of contexts and certain ones of the hot key combinations are valid for certain ones of the contexts and not valid for other ones of the contexts, andwherein the method comprises the step of;
detecting the context of the application, wherein the selecting is responsive to the detected context and the selected keys correspond to ones of the hot key combinations that include the pressed key and that are valid for the detected context.
2 Assignments
0 Petitions
Accused Products
Abstract
A software application has certain keyboard hot key combinations. If the application is active the pressing of a key is detected for the application. A number of keyboard keys are selected responsive to the key pressed. The selected keys correspond to hot key combinations that include the pressed key. The keyboard is signaled to differentiate the selected keys. Further, the application is operable to have a number of contexts, where certain ones of the hot key combinations are only valid for certain of the contexts. For example, where the application includes a word processing function one of the application contexts is a circumstance in which text is selected. Accordingly, the method includes detecting the context of the application and the selecting is responsive to that context. In this situation the selected keys correspond to hot key combinations that include the pressed key and that are valid for the detected context.
-
Citations
15 Claims
-
1. A method for providing keyboard assistance to a user of a software application, the method comprising the steps of:
-
detecting a pressed keyboard key concurrently with the application being active, wherein the application has certain hot key combinations; selecting ones of the keyboard keys responsive to the key pressed, the selected keys corresponding to ones of the hot key combinations that include the pressed key; and sending at least one signal for differentiating the selected keys on the keyboard, wherein the application is operable to have a number of contexts and certain ones of the hot key combinations are valid for certain ones of the contexts and not valid for other ones of the contexts, and wherein the method comprises the step of; detecting the context of the application, wherein the selecting is responsive to the detected context and the selected keys correspond to ones of the hot key combinations that include the pressed key and that are valid for the detected context. - View Dependent Claims (2, 3, 4, 5)
-
-
6. An apparatus for providing keyboard assistance to a user of a software application, the apparatus comprising;
-
a processor; a memory having instructions operable with the processor to perform; detecting a pressed keyboard key concurrently with the application being active, wherein the application has certain hot key combinations; selecting ones of the keyboard keys responsive to the key pressed, the selected keys corresponding to ones of the hot key combinations that include the pressed key; and sending at least one signal for differentiating the selected keys on the keyboard, wherein the application is operable to have a number of contexts and certain ones of the hot key combinations are valid for certain ones of the contexts and not valid for other ones of the contexts, and wherein the instructions in the memory are further operable with the processor to perform; detecting the context of the application, wherein the selecting is responsive to the detected context and the selected keys correspond to ones of the hot key combinations that include the pressed key and that are valid for the detected context. - View Dependent Claims (7, 8, 9, 10)
-
-
11. A computer program product for providing keyboard assistance to a user of a software application, the computer program product comprising:
-
instructions for detecting a pressed keyboard key concurrently with the application being active, wherein application has certain hot key combinations; instructions for selecting ones of the keyboard keys responsive to the key pressed, the selected keys corresponding to ones of the hot key combinations that include the pressed key; and instructions for sending at least one signal for differentiating the selected keys on the keyboard, wherein the application is operable to have a number of contexts and certain ones of the hot key combinations are valid for certain ones of the contexts and not valid for other ones of the contexts, and wherein the computer program product comprises; instructions for detecting the context of the application, wherein the selecting is responsive to the detected context and the selected keys correspond to ones of the hot key combinations that include the pressed key and that are valid for the detected context. - View Dependent Claims (12, 13, 14, 15)
-
Specification