Receiving input at a computing device

• US 8,743,069 B2
• Filed: 08/23/2012
• Issued: 06/03/2014
• Est. Priority Date: 09/01/2011
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Google LLC (Alphabet Inc.)
• Original Assignee: Google Inc. (Alphabet Inc.)
• Inventors: Morton, Michael S., Ashear, Joseph M., Faller, Jeremy
• Primary Examiner(s): HERNANDEZ, JESUS J
• Application Number:
  US13/593,117
• Publication Number:
  US 20130057489A1
• Time in Patent Office: 649 Days
• Field of Search: None
• US Class Current: 345/173
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 1/169 the I/O peripheral being an integrated pointing device, e.g. trackball in the palm rest area, mini-joystick integrated between keyboard keys, touch pads or touch stripes G06F1/1643 takes precedence; constructional details of pointing devices G06F3/033
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 1/1694 the I/O peripheral being a single or a set of motion sensors for pointer control or gesture input obtained by sensing movements of the portable computer
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 2200/1636 Sensing arrangement for detection of a tap gesture on the housing
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 2203/04105 Pressure sensors for measuring the pressure or force exerted on the touch surface without providing the touch position
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 3/04883 for inputting data by handwriting, e.g. gesture or text

Abstract

This document describes technologies for interpreting physical contact with a non-touchscreen portion of a computing device'"'"'s housing (e.g., the computing device'"'"'s case) as input. For example, a user tapping his/her index finger against the back of a computing device, such as a smartphone or a tablet computing device, can be interpreted as input and can cause an operation to be performed by the computing device, such as turning the page of an electronic book that is being displayed by the computing device.

Claims

1. A computer-implemented method comprising:

receiving, at a mobile computing device, first input on a touchscreen of the computing device, wherein the mobile computing device has a housing with at least i) a first side that includes the touchscreen and ii) a second side with a non-touch sensitive surface;

in response to receiving the first input, causing a first operation to be performed by the mobile computing device;

determining, in response to performing the first operation, a group of operations that includes the first operation;

detecting, using one or more motion sensors that are located inside the housing of the mobile computing device, motion of the mobile computing device;

determining, based on the detected motion of the mobile computing device, whether a user tapped the non-touch sensitive surface of the second side of the housing of the mobile computing device, wherein the user is determined to have tapped the non-touch sensitive surface responsive to the mobile computing device detecting a contact with the non-touch sensitive surface of the second side of the housing of the mobile computing device, the contact having at least a threshold level of force as detected by the one or more motion sensors, wherein the threshold level of force indicates a distinction between a tap and other contact with the mobile computing device that is below the threshold level of force;

selecting, by the mobile computing device and in response to determining that the user tapped the non-touch sensitive surface of the second side of the housing, a second operation from the group of operations; and

causing the second operation to be performed.

2. The computer-implemented method of claim 1, further comprising determining whether the non-touch sensitive surface of the second side of the housing that the user tapped is a back portion of the mobile computing device that is opposite the touchscreen of the mobile computing device;

and

wherein the second operation is additionally selected in response to the determination of whether the back of the mobile computing device was contacted.

3. The computer-implemented method of claim 2, further comprising identifying a location on the back portion of the mobile computing device where the user tapped the housing based on the received input;

and

wherein the second operation is additionally selected based on the identified location at which the user tapped the back of the mobile computing device.

4. The computer-implemented method of claim 3, wherein the location where the user tapped the housing indicates user intent to navigate forward or backward through a document comprising a plurality of pages;

and

wherein the second operation comprises moving a display of the document on the mobile computing device forward or backward through the plurality of pages.

5. The computer-implemented method of claim 3, wherein the location where the user tapped the housing is identified using the one or more motion sensors positioned in the mobile computing device.

6. The computer-implemented method of claim 5, wherein the one or more motion sensors comprise one or more accelerometers;

and

wherein the location is identified based on an amount of torque measured in association with the received input by the one or more accelerometers relative to locations of the one or more accelerometers in the mobile computing device.

7. The computer-implemented method of claim 5, wherein the one or more motion sensors comprise one or more gyroscopes;

and

wherein the location is identified based on an amount of rotation and a direction of rotation in association with the received input that is measured by the one or more gyroscopes relative to locations of the one or more gyroscopes in the mobile computing device.

8. The computer-implemented method of claim 3, wherein the location where the user tapped the housing is identified using a plurality of microphones positioned in the housing of the mobile computing device;

and

wherein the location is identified based on a correlation of audio signals received by the plurality of microphones relative to locations of the plurality of microphones in the housing of the mobile computing device.

9. The computer-implemented method of claim 1, wherein the user tapped the second side of the housing of the mobile computing device with one or more of the user'"'"'s fingers or thumbs.

10. The computer-implemented method of claim 1, wherein the second operation is the same as the first operation.

11. The computer-implemented method of claim 1, wherein the second operation is different from the first operation.

12. The computer-implemented method of claim 1, wherein the mobile computing device comprises a smartphone or a tablet computing device.

13. The computer-implemented method of claim 1, further comprising providing, by the mobile computing device, output that indicates that the user tapping the second side of the housing was received as second input by the mobile computing device.

14. The computer-implemented method of claim 13, wherein the output includes one or more of:

changing a display of the mobile computing device for at least a threshold period of time and providing an audio signal through one or more speakers of the mobile computing device.

15. The computer-implemented method of claim 1, further comprising:

detecting a level of force with which the user tapped the non-touch sensitive surface of the second side of the housing of the mobile computing device; and

identifying a type of tap based on a comparison of the level of force with one or more of a plurality of second threshold levels of force;

wherein the second operation is selected further based on the identified type of tap for the second input.

16. The computer-implemented method of claim 1, further comprising:

detecting, using the one or more motion sensors, a second motion of the mobile computing device;

determining, based on input from the one or more motion sensors, a level of force associated with the second motion of the mobile computing device;

determining, based on the level of force associated with the second motion of the mobile computing device being less than the threshold level of force and greater than a second threshold level of force, that the user has ambiguously contacted the non-touch sensitive surface of the second side of the housing of the mobile computing device; and

in response to determining that the user has ambiguously contacted the non-touch sensitive surface, causing a preview operation to be performed by the mobile computing device that previews another operation of the mobile computing device.

17. The computer-implemented method of claim 16, wherein the other operation is a preview of the first operation that was previously performed on the mobile computing device.

20. The computer-implemented method of claim 1, wherein the group of operations comprises a sequence of operations that were previously performed by the mobile computing device in response to user input;

the method further comprising;

identifying patterns of user input on the mobile computing device based on analysis of the user'"'"'s historical behavior on the mobile computing device;

determining whether the sequence of operations matches one or more of the identified patterns of user input;

wherein the second operation is selected from the group of operations further based on a particular pattern of user input from the identified patterns that is determined to match the sequence of previous operations, the second operation being a next operation in the particular pattern that has not yet been performed by the user as part of the sequence of operations.

21. The computer-implemented method of claim 1, wherein determining whether the user tapped the non-touch sensitive surface of the second side of the housing of the mobile computing device comprises processing signals received from the one or more motion sensors that are located inside the housing of the mobile computing device, without processing signals from other sensors that are located outside the housing of the mobile computing device.

22. The computer-implemented method of claim 1, wherein the second operation is selected based at least in part on an amount of time that has elapsed or a number of operations that have been performed since the first operation was performed by the mobile computing device.

18. A mobile computing device comprising:

a touchscreen;

a housing with at least i) a first side that includes the touchscreen and ii) a second side with a non-touch sensitive surface;

one or more sensors that are located inside the housing and that are configured to detect movement of the mobile computing device;

an input subsystem that is programmed to receive first input on the touchscreen of the computing device;

a contact detection module that is programmed to determine whether a user has tapped the non-touch sensitive surface of the second side of the housing based, at least in part, on movement of the mobile computing device as detected by the one or more sensors, wherein the movement of the mobile computing device is determined to correspond to a threshold level of force as detected by the one or more sensors, the threshold level of force indicating a distinction between a tap and other contact with the mobile computing device that is below the threshold level of force;

a previous operation tracker that is programmed to manage a group of operations that includes the first operation;

an operation selection module that is programmed to select i) a first operation to perform in response to the first input and ii) a second operation from among the group of operations, wherein the first operation was added to the group of operations by the previous operation tracker after the first operation was performed; and

a contact interpreter to cause the selected second operation to be performed.

19. A computer program product embodied in a computer-readable storage device storing instructions that, when executed, cause one or more processors of a computer system to perform operations comprising:

receiving first input on a touchscreen of the computer system, wherein the computer system has a housing with at least i) a first side that includes the touchscreen and ii) a second side with a non-touch sensitive surface;

in response to receiving the first input, causing a first operation to be performed by the computer system;

determining, in response to performing the first operation, a group of operations that includes the first operation;

detecting, using one or more motion sensors that are located inside the housing of the computer system, motion of the computer system;

determining, based on the detected motion of the computer system, whether a user tapped the non-touch sensitive surface of the second side of the housing of the computer system, wherein the user is determined to have tapped the non-touch sensitive surface responsive to the computer system detecting a contact with the non-touch sensitive surface of the second side of the housing of the mobile computing device, the contact having at least a threshold level of force as detected by the one or motion sensors, wherein the threshold level of force indicates a distinction between a tap and other contact with the mobile computing device that is below the threshold level of force;

selecting, in response to determining that the user tapped the non-touch sensitive surface of the second side of the housing, a second operation from the group of operations; and

causing the second operation to be performed.