Touch input data handling

• US 9,013,438 B2
• Filed: 06/02/2014
• Issued: 04/21/2015
• Est. Priority Date: 04/22/2005
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Microsoft Technology Licensing LLC (Microsoft Corporation)
• Original Assignee: Microsoft Technology Licensing LLC (Microsoft Corporation)
• Inventors: Zotov, Alexander J, Dodge, Steven P, Townsend, Reed L, Scott, Bryan D
• Primary Examiner(s): Bolotin, Dmitriy
• Application Number:
  US14/293,528
• Publication Number:
  US 20140285457A1
• Time in Patent Office: 323 Days
• Field of Search: 345173-184, 178/18.01, 178/18.02, 178/18.03
• US Class Current: 345/173
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 3/03545 Pens or stylus
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 3/041 Digitisers, e.g. for touch screens or touch pads, characterised by the transducing means
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 3/0416 Control or interface arrangements specially adapted for digitisers

Abstract

A system for enabling a tablet input object is described. A tablet input object can take various inputs from touch, a mouse, and a pen and sends their information to an application or operating system. Also, a pen message pathway may also be used to handle touch messages, thereby reusing an existing pen message pathway for messages created by something other than a pen.

Claims

1. A computer-readable storage device comprising computer executable instructions that when executed by a computing device cause said computing device to perform the instructions comprising:

receiving at a module a request for one of a number of types of input devices connected to a computer system, said request originating from a requester;

retrieving a pen or touch signature associated with said one type of input device from a storage;

forwarding said pen or touch signature associated with said one type of input device to said requester to control the type of input device functionality available to the requester where the one type of input device is identified as a pen input device or a touch input device by the pen or touch signatures of the respective input devices; and

forwarding touch packets to the requester from said one type of input device in processing streams as mouse events, said touch packets including touch input data or pen input data, a corresponding touch or pen signature, and confidence data providing at least a measure of confidence of said one type of input device that inputs to said one type of input device are intentional or accidental, said confidence data representing high confidence that any number of input contacts were intentional or a user'"'"'s finger or finger nail and low confidence that any number of input contacts were accidental or a user'"'"'s palm,

whereby the requester differentiates data in said touch packets as pen data or touch data based on the pen or touch signatures in received touch packets.

2. The computer-readable storage device of claim 1, said one type of input device including an active digitizer input device.

3. The computer-readable storage device of claim 1, said one type of input device including a passive digitizer input device.

4. The computer-readable storage device of claim 1, said requester including an operating system.

5. The computer-readable storage device of claim 1, said requester including an application.

6. The computer-readable storage device of claim 1, said type of functionality including stylus-related functionality.

7. The computer-readable storage device of claim 1, said type of functionality including touch-related functionality.

8. The computer-readable storage device of claim 7, said type of functionality further including stylus-related functionality.

9. A computer-readable storage device comprising computer executable instructions that when executed by a computing device cause said computing device to perform the instructions comprising:

receiving at a module an indication that an application desires to receive at least one of all touch events and only high confidence touch events provided by a user'"'"'s finger or finger nail at a touch input device; and

forwarding touch packets received from said touch input device for either all touch events or only high confidence touch events via an application window in processing streams as mouse events to said application based on said indication, said touch packets including touch data, a corresponding touch or pen signature, and confidence data including a contact confidence type indicator providing at least a measure of confidence of said touch input device that touch events from said touch input device are intentional or accidental, said confidence data representing high confidence that any number of touch events were intentional or a user'"'"'s finger or finger nail and low confidence that any number of touch events were accidental or a user'"'"'s palm for each touch event,

whereby said application differentiates touch data in said touch packets as pen data or touch data based on the pen or touch signature in received touch packets.

10. The computer-readable storage device of claim 9, said indication including a property having been set.

11. The computer-readable storage device of claim 9, said forwarding of touch packets including forwarding only high confidence touch events and rejecting low confidence touch events representing palm contacts with a digitizer.

12. A computer-readable storage device comprising computer executable instructions that when executed by a computing device cause said computing device to perform the instructions comprising:

receiving from an input device a stream of messages in the form of mouse events containing touch input data or pen input data, a pen or touch signature associated with a type of the input device, and confidence data, wherein the pen or touch signature identifies the input device as a touch input or pen input device and said confidence data provides at least a measure of confidence of said input device that input contact of said input device by a user is intentional or accidental;

determining from a received pen signature which of said messages from said input device are pen messages;

determining from a received touch signature which of said messages from said input device are touch messages; and

handling said touch messages as touch messages, said pen messages as pen messages, and remaining messages as mouse messages and accepting all such messages as input from an intentional input contact based upon the received confidence data, where the confidence data for touch and pen messages comprises high confidence that any number of input contacts were intentional or a user'"'"'s finger or finger nail and low confidence that any number of input contacts were accidental or a user'"'"'s palm for each message.

13. The computer-readable storage device of claim 12, said touch messages being distinguished from said pen messages based on a property of said touch messages.

14. The computer-readable storage device of claim 13, said property being a signature of said touch message.

15. The computer-readable storage device of claim 14, said signature including “

0xFF515700”

as a number for a pen message.

16. The computer-readable storage device of claim 14, said signature including “

0xFF515780”

as a number for a touch message.