Input simulation system for touch based devices

• US 8,269,725 B2
• Filed: 06/28/2006
• Issued: 09/18/2012
• Est. Priority Date: 06/28/2006
• Status: Expired due to Fees

• Current Assignee: Microsoft Technology Licensing LLC (Microsoft Corporation)
• Original Assignee: Microsoft Corporation
• Inventors: Hall, Cornelius J., Durojaiye, Olumuyiwa, Mehrotra, Sumit
• Primary Examiner(s): Nguyen, Kevin M
• Assistant Examiner(s): Lee, Jr., Kenneth B
• Application Number:
  US11/426,998
• Publication Number:
  US 20080001923A1
• Time in Patent Office: 2,274 Days
• Field of Search: 345173-179, 178 1801- 1811, 178 1901- 1907
• US Class Current: 345/173
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 3/0416 Control or interface arrangements specially adapted for digitisers
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 9/545 where tasks reside in different layers, e.g. user- and kernel-space

Abstract

Performance of automated touch data injection into a stack of software objects is provided. Previously stored data from a touch data file is received and transformed based upon a touch property. The transformed retrieved data is then injected into a lowermost layer of a stack of software objects. A computer-readable medium tool allows a user, such as a software developer, to create data that can consistently be employed to simulate the operation of movement of a user'"'"'s finger across a touch input area. A buffer management module retrieves data from a touch data file. A data transformation module transforms the retrieved data based upon a touch property. A device management module injects transformed retrieved data into a human interface layer of a device.

Claims

1. A computer-readable storage medium configured to store computer-readable instructions for injecting touch data, that when executed by a computer, cause the computer to perform:

retrieving data from a touch data file, the retrieved data being captured without measurement of a plurality of touch properties, the retrieved data representing a movement of at least one of a mouse, keyboard, trackball, joystick, keypad or stylus on a display screen;

transforming the retrieved data by utilizing one or more of the plurality of touch properties to convert the movement represented by the retrieved data to simulate a corresponding touch and movement of a finger on a touch aware device; and

injecting the transformed retrieved data into a lowermost layer of a stack of software objects.

2. The computer-readable storage medium of claim 1, wherein the retrieved data is converted into touch data by the transforming.

3. The computer-readable storage medium of claim 2, wherein injecting the transformed retrieved data includes injecting the transformed retrieved data through a virtual driver.

4. The computer-readable storage medium of claim 2, wherein retrieving data includes:

retrieving data stored in the touch data file as electronic ink data; and

converting the electronic ink data to the touch data.

5. The computer-readable storage medium of claim 2, wherein the stack of software objects includes a human interface device layer, a real time touch analysis layer, and user mode application.

6. The computer-readable storage medium of claim 1, wherein at least one of the plurality of touch properties is a confidence value indicating whether at least a portion of the retrieved data or the transformed retrieved data corresponds to the movement by the finger.

7. The computer-readable storage medium of claim 1, wherein at least one of the plurality of touch properties is a pressure value corresponding to an amount of force applied to a touch input area of a touch aware device.

8. The computer-readable storage medium of claim 1, wherein transforming the retrieved data includes transforming the retrieved data based upon a second of the plurality of touch properties.

9. The computer-readable storage medium of claim 1, wherein the retrieved data is a stream of data points.

10. The computer-readable storage medium of claim 1, wherein the computer-readable instructions further cause the computer to perform:

capturing the retrieved data from a digitizer driver; and

storing the captured retrieved data in the touch data file.

11. The computer-readable storage medium of claim 1, wherein transforming the retrieved data includes rotating the retrieved data, scaling the retrieved data, or both.

12. The computer-readable storage medium of claim 1, wherein transforming the retrieved data includes determining a speed for injecting the transformed retrieved data.

13. One or more computer-readable storage media storing computer-readable instructions for communicating with a human interface device, the computer-readable instructions for injecting touch data into the human interface device, the one or more computer-readable media comprising:

a device management module configured to inject transformed retrieved data into a human interface device;

a buffer management module configured to retrieve data from a touch data file, the retrieved data representing a movement of at least one of a mouse, keyboard, trackball, joystick, keypad or stylus on a display screen; and

a data transformation module configured to transform the retrieved data by utilizing one or more of a plurality of touch properties to convert the movement represented by the retrieved data to simulate a corresponding movement and touch of a finger on a touch aware device.

14. The one or more computer-readable storage media of claim 13, wherein the retrieved data is transformed into raw touch data that is injected into the human interface device through a virtual driver.

15. The one or more computer-readable storage media of claim 13, wherein the device management module is further configured to capture the retrieved data from a digitizer driver of the human interface device and the buffer management module is further configured to store the captured retrieved data in the touch data file.

16. The one or more computer-readable storage media of claim 13, wherein the data transformation module is further configured to transform the retrieved data based upon an additional of the plurality of touch properties.

17. The one or more computer-readable storage media of claim 13, wherein the retrieved data is a stream of data points from a computer input device.

18. The one or more computer-readable storage media of claim 13, wherein the data transformation module is further configured to determine a speed for injecting the transformed retrieved data.

19. A software architecture stored on one or more computer-readable storage media of a computing device, the one or more computer-readable storage media for processing data representative of a request to inject transformed retrieved data into a lowermost layer of a stack of a software object, comprising:

a digitizer driver to capture mouse movement data corresponding to a stream of mouse data points associated with a movement of a mouse on a display screen;

a buffer management module to store the mouse movement data in a touch data file and to retrieve at least a portion of the mouse movement data from the touch data file;

a first component configured to transform the at least a portion of the mouse movement data retrieved from the touch data file into touch data by utilizing one or more touch properties to convert the at least a portion of the mouse movement data into a corresponding touch and movement of a finger of a user of a touch aware device, at least one of the one or more touch properties including a confidence level indicating whether the at least a portion of the mouse movement data corresponds to the movement by the finger;

a second component configured to inject the at least a portion of the mouse movement data transformed by the first component into a lowermost layer of a stack of a software object; and

at least one application program interface to access the first and second components.

20. The software architecture of claim 19, wherein the computing device interprets the movement of the mouse as the movement of the finger on the touch aware device without the touch aware device being present on the computing device.