Gesture-initiated symbol entry

• US 8,954,894 B2
• Filed: 11/15/2008
• Issued: 02/10/2015
• Est. Priority Date: 11/15/2008
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Adobe Inc.
• Original Assignee: Adobe Systems Incorporated (Adobe Inc.)
• Inventors: Lorenz, Jon
• Primary Examiner(s): Pham, Linh K
• Application Number:
  US12/271,867
• Publication Number:
  US 20140033135A1
• Time in Patent Office: 2,278 Days
• Field of Search: 715/863, 345/179
• US Class Current: 715/863
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 3/017 Gesture based interaction, e.g. based on a set of recognized hand gestures interaction based on gestures traced on a digitiser G06F3/04883
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 3/03549 Trackballs G06F3/03541 takes precedence
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 3/0486 Drag-and-drop
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 3/04883 for inputting data by handwriting, e.g. gesture or text
• 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
• CPC Class Codes: H04M 1/724 User interfaces specially adapted for cordless or mobile telephones
• CPC Class Codes: H04M 2250/22 including a touch pad, a touch sensor or a touch detector digitizers for touch screens G06F3/041

Abstract

Apparatus, systems, and methods may operate to receive a symbol recognition process gesture indicating a starting point of symbol entry, to recognize a series of symbols as they are received subsequent to receiving the symbol recognition process gesture, and to instantiate the series of symbols as a symbol set upon receiving an indication that reception of the series of symbols is complete. Instantiating can serve to indicate an ending point of the symbol entry, and to provide the symbol set as a source of input to a process associated with an icon into which the symbol set has been moved, such as by dragging and dropping, or flicking. Additional apparatus, systems, and methods are disclosed.

Claims

1. A processor-implemented method comprising:

receiving a symbol recognition process gesture indicating a starting point of symbol entry;

subsequent to the receiving of the symbol recognition process gesture, recognizing a series of symbols as they are received by searching for data representing an alphanumeric character that matches a received symbol in the series of symbols; and

instantiating the series of symbols as a symbol set comprising a string of alphanumeric characters matching the series of symbols upon receiving an indication that the string of alphanumeric characters has been moved from a first location into an icon at a second location where the icon represents a first application of a plurality of applications, wherein the instantiating serves to indicate an ending point of the symbol entry, and to provide the symbol set comprising the string of alphanumeric characters as a source of input to the first application represented by the icon.

2. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

soliciting entry of a user-created gesture by a device having a touch screen; and

storing the user-created gesture as the symbol recognition process gesture.

3. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

receiving a gesture entered by a user;

comparing the gesture entered by the user with the symbol recognition process gesture; and

proceeding to the recognizing when the gesture entered by the user substantially matches the symbol recognition process gesture.

4. The method of claim 1, wherein the receiving of the symbol recognition process gesture comprises:

receiving the symbol recognition process gesture at a touch surface.

5. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

receiving the series of symbols at a touch surface.

6. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

receiving the series of symbols, one at a time, in sequence.

7. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

displaying the series of symbols in sequence, as they are received within a display area, the display area including a graphical user interface.

8. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

attaching a meta-data tag including at least some of the series of symbols to the process.

9. A processor-implemented method comprising:

initiating symbol entry upon recognizing a symbol recognition process gesture;

recognizing a series of symbols as they are received subsequent to the recognition of the symbol recognition process gesture, wherein recognizing a symbol in the series of symbols is achieved by searching for data representing an alphanumeric character matching the symbol; and

executing an application of a plurality of applications in response to receiving the series of symbols as an instantiated symbol set comprising a string of alphanumeric characters matching the series of symbols that has been dragged into an icon associated with the application of the plurality of applications, wherein the symbol set comprising the string of alphanumeric characters serves as input to the application represented by the icon that received the symbol set.

10. The method of claim 9, wherein the receiving of the symbol recognition process gesture comprises:

receiving the symbol recognition process gesture as a three-dimensional gesture in space.

11. The method of claim 9, further comprising:

publishing additional symbols to a graphical user interface as suggestions to complete the series of symbols as the series of symbols are received.

12. The method of claim 9, wherein the application comprises a telephone application, the method further comprising:

associating the symbol set with a name; and

publishing at least one telephone number associated with the name in a graphical user interface.

13. The method of claim 9, wherein the application comprises a network browser, the method further comprising:

initiating a search in the browser using at least a portion of the symbol set as a search string.

14. The method of claim 9, further comprising:

receiving subsequent text at a touch interface; and

transmitting the subsequent text as a text message to an address associated with a name included in the symbol set.

15. The method of claim 9, wherein the application comprises a mapping application, the method further comprising:

publishing a map comprising a location associated with a name included in the symbol set.

16. The method of claim 9, further comprising:

locating a stored image associated with the symbol set; and

displaying the stored image on a display surface.

17. An apparatus comprising:

at least one processor hardware device and at least one memory hardware device connected to the at least one processor hardware device, the at least one memory hardware device configured with instructions representing a quick writing module, which, when executed by the at least one processor hardware device,

cause the apparatus to initiate symbol entry upon recognizing a symbol recognition process gesture, to recognize a series of symbols as they are received subsequent to the receiving of the symbol recognition process gesture, wherein recognizing a symbol in the series of symbols is achieved by searching for data representing an alphanumeric character matching the symbol, and to initiate one of beginning execution or continuing execution of an application of a plurality of applications by the processor hardware device in response to receiving the series of symbols as a symbol set comprising a string of alphanumeric characters matching the series of symbols that has been dragged into an icon associated with the application of the plurality of applications, the symbol set comprising the string of alphanumeric characters serving as input to the application such that the application processes the string of alphanumeric characters to provide output associated with the string of alphanumeric characters.

18. The apparatus of claim 17, further comprising:

a touch surface coupled to the processor, the touch surface to receive at least one of the symbol recognition process gesture or the series of symbols.

19. The apparatus of claim 17, further comprising:

a wireless transceiver communicatively coupled to the processor, the wireless transceiver to transmit at least a portion of the symbol set.

20. The apparatus of claim 17, further comprising:

a memory to store the symbol recognition process gesture; and

a comparison module to compare the symbol recognition process gesture with a gesture received from a touch surface.

21. The apparatus of claim 17, further comprising:

an integral display to display the series of symbols as they are received on a display area, the display area included in a graphical user interface.

22. The apparatus of claim 17, further comprising:

a search engine to search a database stored in the apparatus to locate data associated with at least some of the series of symbols.

23. A non-transitory machine-readable medium comprising instructions, which when executed by one or more machines, cause the one or more machines to perform the following operations:

receive a symbol recognition process gesture indicating a starting point of symbol entry;

subsequent to the receiving of the symbol recognition process gesture, recognize a series of symbols as they are received subsequent to the receiving of the symbol recognition process gesture by searching for data representing an alphanumeric character that matches a received symbol in the series of symbols; and

instantiate the series of symbols as a symbol set comprising a string of alphanumeric characters matching the series of symbols upon receiving an indication that the string of alphanumeric characters has been moved from a first location to an icon in a second location where the icon represents a first application of a plurality of applications, wherein the instantiating serves to indicate an ending point of the symbol entry, and to provide the symbol set comprising the string of alphanumeric characters as a source of input to the first application represented by the icon.

24. The non-transitory machine-readable medium of claim 23, wherein the instructions, when executed by the one or more machines, cause the one or more machines to perform the following operations:

receive the series of symbols, one symbol at a time; and

publish the symbols in order of reception at a designated area of a graphical user interface.

25. The non-transitory machine-readable medium of claim 23, wherein the instructions, when executed by the one or more machines, cause the one or more machines to perform the following operations:

search for at least one of suggestions for completing the series of symbols, files associated with the series of symbols, or applications associated with the series of symbols; and

publish the at least one of the suggestions, names of the files, or icons associated with the applications.