Interpreting ambiguous inputs on a touch-screen

• US 8,237,665 B2
• Filed: 03/11/2008
• Issued: 08/07/2012
• Est. Priority Date: 03/11/2008
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Microsoft Technology Licensing LLC (Microsoft Corporation)
• Original Assignee: Microsoft Corporation
• Inventors: Duncan, Richard J., Keely, Leroy B., Perry, David A., Alphin, Thomas H., Devaraj, Chris, Matthews, David A., Dodge, Steven P.
• Primary Examiner(s): ABDULSELAM, ABBAS I
• Application Number:
  US12/046,277
• Publication Number:
  US 20090231285A1
• Time in Patent Office: 1,610 Days
• Field of Search: 345/157, 345/158, 345169-173, 715/255, 715/851, 715/857, 715/864, 178/18.01
• US Class Current: 345/173
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 3/03543 Mice or pucks G06F3/03541 takes precedence
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 3/0488 using a touch-screen or digitiser, e.g. input of commands through traced gestures
• 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 for interpreting ambiguous click events in relation to click targets on a touch-screen display disposed at respective click target locations includes detecting a touch at a touch location and determining whether the touch location corresponds to a click target location. The method also includes searching for nearby click target locations in a predetermined click region and, upon locating a first click target location within the predetermined click region, associating the touch with the first click target location to identify a click event. A computing device for facilitating accurate touch input targeting with respect to a touch-screen display includes a display component, a touch detection component, a targeting component that associates a touch with a click target, and an event detection component that associates the touch with one of a right click event, a left click event, or a drag event.

Claims

1. One or more tangible computer-readable media having machine-useable instructions embodied thereon that when executed by a computing device having a processor and a memory, cause the computing device to perform method of interpreting an ambiguous click event in relation to one or more click targets on a touch-screen display, the method comprising:

displaying one or more click targets on a touch-screen display, wherein the click targets are displayed at respective click target locations;

detecting, at the computing device, a touch at a first touch-screen location;

searching for a first one of said click target locations within a predetermined click region of the first touch-screen location;

upon locating a first one of said click target locations within the predetermined click region, searching for a second one of said click target locations within the predetermined click region; and

if a second one of said click target locations is not located within the predetermined click region, associating the touch with a first click target corresponding to the first one of said click target locations.

2. The one or more tangible computer-readable media of claim 1, wherein upon locating a second one of said click target locations within the predetermined click region, further comprising providing a magnifier, wherein said magnifier comprises a user interface having an enlarged view of the predetermined click region.

3. The one or more tangible computer-readable media of claim 1, wherein the touch comprises a user'"'"'s finger making contact with the touch-screen.

4. The one or more tangible computer-readable media of claim 1, wherein the touch comprises a stylus making contact with the touch-screen.

5. The one or more tangible computer-readable media of claim 1, wherein searching for a first one of said click target locations comprises:

determining whether the first touch-screen location is a click target location; and

if the first touch-screen location is not a click target location, searching one or more pixels above the first touch-screen location.

6. The one or more tangible computer-readable media of claim 5, wherein if no click target is found at the one or more pixels above the first touch-screen location, searching one or more pixels below the first touch-screen location.

7. The one or more tangible computer-readable media of claim 1, wherein if no click target is located within the click region, determining that the touch should not be associated with a click target.

8. A computing device that facilitates accurate touch input targeting with respect to a touch-screen display, comprising:

a display component that displays one or more click targets associated with an application, wherein each of the one or more click targets corresponds to a click target location;

a touch detection component that senses a touch on a touch-screen display, wherein the touch corresponds to a first touch-screen location;

a targeting component that searches for one or more click targets within a predetermined click region associated with the first touch location; and

a disambiguation component that provides a magnified view of the predetermined click region if more than one click target is found within the predetermined click region.

9. The computing device of claim 8, wherein the touch comprises an ambiguous touch associated with a first touch-screen location that is not a click target location.

10. The computing device of claim 8, wherein the touch comprises an ambiguous touch associated with a first touch-screen location that is one of at least two click target locations, wherein the at least two click target locations are located within the predetermined click region.

11. The computing device of claim 8, wherein the targeting component searches for one or more click targets within a predetermined click region by querying the application.

12. The computing device of claim 11, wherein querying the application comprises using an accessibility framework to determine whether one or more objects located within the predetermined click region is a click target.

13. The computing device of claim 8, wherein the predetermined click region comprises a region of the touch-screen having a predetermined number of test locations therein.

14. The computing device of claim 8, wherein the click region comprises a region of the touch-screen having boundaries that are selected based on characteristics of the touch-screen display and characteristics of the application that generates the click targets.

15. The computing device of claim 8, wherein if only one click target is found within the predetermined click region, the disambiguation component associates the touch with the click target.

16. A method for interpreting a touch in relation to one or more click targets associated with an application, wherein said click targets are displayed on a touch-screen display, the method comprising:

detecting a touch at a first touch-screen location;

querying the application to determine a first click target located within a predetermined click region of the first touch-screen location;

upon determining a first click target located within the predetermined region, querying the application to determine whether a second click target is located within the predetermined click region; and

upon determining that a second click target is located within the predetermined click region, displaying a magnified view of the predetermined click region.

17. The method of claim 16, wherein the predetermined click region comprises a region of the touch-screen having a predetermined number of test locations therein.

18. The method of claim 17, wherein determining a first click target comprises:

determining whether the first touch-screen location is a click target location, wherein a click target location is a location on the touch-screen display corresponding to a click target;

if not, determining whether a first test location is a click target location, wherein the first test location is located one or more pixels above the first touch-screen location;

if not, determining whether a second test location is a click target location, wherein the second test location is located one or more pixels below the first touch-screen location; and

if not, determining whether a third test location is a click target location, wherein the third test location is located one or more pixels above the first test location.

19. The method of claim 18, further comprising determining whether any of the predetermined number of test locations in the test region is a click target location, wherein if none of the predetermined number of test locations in the click region is determined to be a click target location, determining that the touch should not be associated with a click target.

20. The method of claim 17, wherein after a selected amount of time, if no test location in the click region is determined to be a click target location, determining that the touch should not be associated with a click target.

21. A computing device having stored thereon computer-usable instructions that, when executed by the computing device, perform operations comprising:

displaying one or more click targets on a touch-screen display, wherein the click targets are displayed at respective click target locations;

detecting, at the computing device, a touch at a first touch-screen location;

searching for a first one of said click target locations within a predetermined click region of the first touch-screen location;

upon locating a first one of said click target locations within the predetermined click region, searching for a second one of said click target locations within the predetermined click region; and

if a second one of said click target locations is not located within the predetermined click region, associating the touch with a first click target corresponding to the first one of said click target locations.

22. The computing device of claim 21, wherein upon locating a second one of said click target locations within the predetermined click region, further comprising providing a magnifier, wherein said magnifier comprises a user interface having an enlarged view of the predetermined click region.

23. The computing device of claim 21, wherein the touch comprises a user'"'"'s finger making contact with the touch-screen.

24. The computing device of claim 21, wherein the touch comprises a stylus making contact with the touch-screen.

25. The computing device of claim 21, wherein searching for a first one of said click target locations comprises:

determining whether the first touch-screen location is a click target location; and

if the first touch-screen location is not a click target location, searching one or more pixels above the first touch-screen location.

26. The computing device of claim 25, wherein if no click target is found at the one or more pixels above the first touch-screen location, searching one or more pixels below the first touch-screen location.

27. The computing device of claim 21, wherein if no click target is located within the click region, determining that the touch should not be associated with a click target.