Efficient selection of characters and commands based on movement-inputs at a user-inerface

• US 8,316,319 B1
• Filed: 05/16/2011
• Issued: 11/20/2012
• Est. Priority Date: 05/16/2011
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Google LLC (Alphabet Inc.)
• Original Assignee: Google Inc. (Alphabet Inc.)
• Inventors: Patel, Nirmal, Starner, Thad Eugene
• Primary Examiner(s): Bashore, William
• Assistant Examiner(s): Hur, Ece
• Application Number:
  US13/108,739
• Time in Patent Office: 554 Days
• Field of Search: 710/38, 710/36, 715/810
• US Class Current: 715/810
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 3/04883 for inputting data by handwriting, e.g. gesture or text

Abstract

An example method involves: providing a user-interface having a plurality of input regions, where one of the input regions is a home region, where each of the input regions is associated with a primary character from a set of primary characters, and where at least one of the input regions is associated with a subset of secondary characters from a set of secondary characters; receiving data indicating an input-movement from the home region to a second input region from the plurality of input regions that is associated with a subset of secondary characters; receiving data indicating an input-movement from the second input region to the home region; selecting, in response to the input-movement from the second input region to the home region, a character from the subset of secondary characters associated with the second input region; and causing the selected character to be displayed on a graphical display.

Claims

1. A system comprising:

a non-transitory computer readable medium; and

program instructions stored on the non-transitory computer readable medium and executable by at least one processor to cause a computing device to;

provide (a) a graphical display for display on a display device, and (b) a user-interface for receiving touch inputs on a user-interface device that is separate from the display device, and wherein the user-interface comprises a plurality of input regions, wherein one of the input regions is a home region that is an extended home region of a size that is different from a size of each of the other input regions, wherein each of the input regions is associated with a primary character from a set of primary characters, and wherein at least one of the input regions is a second input region associated with a subset of secondary characters from a set of secondary characters;

receive data indicating a first continuous input, the first continuous input comprising input-movement (c) from the home region to the second input region from the plurality of input regions that is associated with a subset of secondary characters and (d) from the second input region to the home region;

receive data indicating a second continuous input, the second continuous input comprising input-movement within the home region, wherein the input-movement within the home region comprises an input-movement (e) from a first portion of the home region to a second portion of the home region and (f) from the second portion of the home region to the first portion of the home region;

select, in response to the input-movement from the second input region to the home region, a character from the subset of secondary characters associated with the second input region;

select, in response to the input movement from the second portion of the home region to the first portion of the home region, a character from a subset of secondary characters associated with the home region; and

cause (g) the selected characters to be displayed on the graphical display and (h) a visual depiction of each input region to be displayed on the graphical display, wherein the visual depiction of the home region and each other input region is the same size.

2. The system of claim 1, wherein the user-interface corresponds to a keypad having buttons arranged in a three-by-four grid, wherein each of the plurality of input regions corresponds to a button of the keypad, wherein the set of primary characters comprises “

0”

through “

9”

, “

*”

, and “

#”

, and wherein the set of secondary characters comprises “

a”

through “

z”

.

3. The system of claim 1, wherein the data indicating the input-movement from the second input region to the home region comprises data indicating the input-movement from the second input region, through one or more input regions from the plurality of input regions, to the home region.

4. The system of claim 1, further comprising further comprising program instructions stored on the non-transitory computer readable medium and executable by at least one processor to cause a computing device to:

receive data indicating an input-movement from the home region to a third input region from the plurality of input regions;

detect an input-movement from the third input region away from the user-interface; and

select, in response to the input-movement from the third input region away from the user-interface, the primary character associated with the third input region.

5. The system of claim 1, further comprising program instructions stored on the non-transitory computer readable medium and executable by at least one processor to cause a computing device to:

receive data indicating an input-movement from the home region to a third input region from the plurality of input regions, wherein the third input region is associated with a computing command;

select, in response to the input-movement from the third input region to the home region, the computing command; and

cause the computing command to be executed.

6. The system of claim 1, further comprising program instructions stored on the non-transitory computer readable medium and executable by at least one processor to cause a computing device to:

after selecting the character, provide an indication that the character has been selected, wherein providing the indication that the character has been selected comprises at least one of (i) causing a visual indication to be displayed on the graphical display, (ii) causing a tactile indication to be provided at the user-interface, and (iii) causing an audible indication to be played by a speaker.

7. The system of claim 1, further comprising program instructions stored on the non-transitory computer readable medium and executable by at least one processor to cause a computing device to:

after receiving at least one of (i) the data indicating the input-movement from the home region to the second input region (ii) the data indicating the input-movement from the second input region to the home region, (iii) the data indicating the input-movement from the first portion of the home region to the second portion of the home region, and (iv) the data indicating the input-movement from the second portion of the home region to the first portion of the home region, provide an indication that data indicating an input-movement has been received, wherein providing the indication that data indicating an input-movement has been received comprises at least one of (i) causing a visual indication to be displayed on the graphical display, (ii) causing a tactile indication to be provided at the user-interface, and (iii) causing an audible indication to be played by a speaker.

8. The system of claim 1, further comprising program instructions stored on the non-transitory computer readable medium and executable by at least one processor to cause a computing device to:

receive data indicating an input-movement from the first portion of the home region to a third portion of the home region;

receive data indicating an input-movement from the third portion of the home region to the first portion of the home region; and

select, in response to the input-movement from the third portion of the home region to the first portion of the home region, the primary character associated with the home region.

9. The system of claim 1, wherein the system further comprises a head-mounted display, wherein the head-mounted display comprises at least one lens element, and wherein the graphical display is integrated into the at least one lens element.

10. The system of claim 9, wherein the user-interface is attached to the head-mounted display.

11. The system of claim 10, wherein the head-mounted display further comprises at least one extending side-arm, and wherein the user-interface is attached to one of the at least one extending side-arm.

12. The system of claim 1, wherein the user-interface comprises an interface height and an interface width, and wherein the graphical display comprises a display height and a display width, wherein a ratio of the interface height and the interface width is not equal to a ratio of the display height and the display width, the system further comprising program instructions stored on the non-transitory computer readable medium and executable by at least one processor to cause a computing device to:

apply a first movement-pixel transformation to input-movements along the height of the user-interface; and

apply a second movement-pixel transformation to input-movements along the width of the user-interface, wherein the second movement-pixel transformation does not equal the first movement-pixel transformation.

13. The system of claim 1, wherein the graphical display and the user-interface are physically integrated in a single pointing device, and wherein the user-interface is embedded in the graphical display.

15. The non-transitory computer readable medium of claim 13, the instructions further comprising:

instructions for receiving data indicating an input-movement from the home region to a third input region from the plurality of input regions, wherein the third input region is associated with a computing command;

instructions for selecting, in response to the input-movement from the third input region to the home region, the computing command; and

instructions for causing the computing command to be executed.

14. A non-transitory computer readable medium having instructions stored thereon, the instructions comprising:

instructions for providing (a) a graphical display for display on a display device, and (b) a user-interface for receiving touch inputs on a user-interface device that is separate from the display device, and wherein the user-interface comprises a plurality of input regions, wherein one of the input regions is a home region that is an extended home region of a size that is different from a size of each of the other input regions, wherein each of the input regions is associated with a primary character from a set of primary characters, and wherein at least one of the input regions is a second input region associated with a subset of secondary characters from a set of secondary characters;

instructions for receiving data indicating a first continuous input, the first continuous input comprising input-movement (c) from the home region to the second input region from the plurality of input regions that is associated with a subset of secondary characters and (d) from the second input region to the home region;

instructions for receiving data indicating a second continuous input, the second continuous input comprising input-movement within the home region, wherein the input-movement within the home region comprises an input-movement (e) from a first portion of the home region to a second portion of the home region and (f) from the second portion of the home region to the first portion of the home region;

instructions for selecting, in response to the input-movement from the second input region to the home region, a character from the subset of secondary characters associated with the second input region;

instructions for selecting, in response to the input movement from the second portion of the home region to the first portion of the home region, a character from a subset of secondary characters associated with the home region; and

instructions for causing (g) the selected characters to be displayed on the graphical display and (h) a visual depiction of each input region to be displayed on the graphical display, wherein the visual depiction of the home region and each other input region is the same size.

16. A method comprising:

providing (a) a graphical display for display on a display device, and (b) a user-interface for receiving touch inputs on a user-interface device that is separate from the display device, and wherein the user-interface comprises a plurality of input regions, wherein one of the input regions is a home region that is an extended home region of a size that is different from a size of each of the other input regions, wherein each of the input regions is associated with a primary character from a set of primary characters, and wherein at least one of the input regions is a second input region associated with a subset of secondary characters from a set of secondary characters;

receiving data indicating a first continuous input, the first continuous input comprising input-movement (c) from the home region to the second input region from the plurality of input regions that is associated with a subset of secondary characters and (d) from the second input region to the home region;

receiving data indicating a second continuous input, the second continuous input comprising input-movement within the home region, wherein the input-movement within the home region comprises an input-movement (e) from a first portion of the home region to a second portion of the home region and (f) from the second portion of the home region to the first portion of the home region;

selecting, in response to the input-movement from the second input region to the home region, a character from the subset of secondary characters associated with the second input region;

selecting, in response to the input movement from the second portion of the home region to the first portion of the home region, a character from a subset of secondary characters associated with the home region; and

causing (g) the selected characters to be displayed on the graphical display and (h) a visual depiction of each input region to be displayed on the graphical display, wherein the visual depiction of the home region and each other input region is the same size.