Establishing an input region for sensor input

• US 9,019,218 B2
• Filed: 04/02/2012
• Issued: 04/28/2015
• Est. Priority Date: 04/02/2012
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Lenovo PC International Limited (Lenovo Group Ltd.)
• Original Assignee: Lenovo Singapore Pte Limited (Lenovo Group Ltd.)
• Inventors: Nicholson, John Weldon, Hunt, John Miles, Karakaya, Elif, Ito, Hiroshi
• Primary Examiner(s): Lee, Gene W
• Application Number:
  US13/437,610
• Publication Number:
  US 20130257750A1
• Time in Patent Office: 1,121 Days
• Field of Search: 345156-184, 715/863
• US Class Current: 345/173
• 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 3/04886 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

Abstract

An apparatus for establishing an input region for sensor input includes a storage device storing machine-readable code and a processor executing the machine-readable code. The machine-readable code includes a recognizing module recognizes a control gesture sensed by a sensor. The machine-readable code includes an establishing module establishes an input region for sensor input in response to the recognition module recognizing the control gesture. The input region includes a confined region of a total sensing area sensed by the sensor.

Claims

1. An apparatus comprising:

a storage device storing machine-readable code;

a processor executing the machine-readable code, the machine-readable code comprising;

a recognizing module recognizing a control gesture sensed by a sensor, the control gesture for defining an input region, the control gesture comprising one of tracing the input region and touching corner of the input region;

an establishing module establishing the input region for sensor input in response to the recognition module recognizing the control gesture, wherein the input region is a sub-region of the total sensing area sensed by the sensor; and

an enforcing module that ignores sensor input that is outside of the input region, the enforcing module enforcing the input region until a deactivation gesture is sensed.

2. The apparatus of claim 1, wherein the sub-region is a different shape than the total sensing area.

3. The apparatus of claim 1, the enforcing module translating a plurality of gestures sensed within the input region into respective input events.

4. The apparatus of claim 1, wherein the control gesture indicates one or more of a size, a shape, and a position of the input region.

5. The apparatus of claim 1, wherein the sensor comprises a motion sensor and wherein the control gesture comprises a predetermined movement.

6. The apparatus of claim 1, wherein the sensor comprises a touch sensor and wherein the control gesture comprises a predetermined contact with the touch sensor.

7. The apparatus of claim 1, further comprising a signaling module detecting a gesture that begins within the input region and passes outside of the input region.

8. The apparatus of claim 1, wherein the establishing module establishes the input region with a margin extending a region indicated by the control gesture.

9. The apparatus of claim 1, further comprising a configuring module presenting a configuration utility, wherein the establishing module establishes the input region in response to input through the configuration utility.

10. The apparatus of claim 1, further comprising a deactivating module deactivating the input region in response to recognizing a deactivation control gesture that is inside the input region.

11. The apparatus of claim 10, further comprising a reactivating module reactivating the input region in response to recognizing a reactivating control gesture.

12. A method comprising:

recognizing a control gesture sensed by a sensor, the control gesture for defining an input region;

establishing the input region for sensor input in response to recognizing the control gesture, wherein the input region is a sub-region of a total sensing area sensed by the sensor;

enforcing the input region until a deactivation gesture is sensed, the control gesture comprising one of tracing the input region and touching corners of the input region; and

ignoring sensor input that is outside of the input region.

13. The method of claim 12, wherein the sub-region is a different shape than the total sensed area.

14. The method of claim 12, further comprising translating a plurality of gestures sensed within the input region into input events.

15. The method of claim 12, wherein the sensor comprises a motion sensor and wherein the control gesture comprises a predetermined movement.

16. The method of claim 12, wherein the sensor comprises a touch sensor and wherein the control gesture comprises a predetermined contact with the touch sensor.

17. The method of claim 12, further comprising:

entering into a sensor pause mode in response to recognizing a pausing control gesture;

ignoring non-control gestures during the sensor pause mode; and

exiting the sensor pause mode in response to recognizing an unpausing control gesture.

18. A computer program product comprising a tangible storage device storing machine readable code executed by a processor to perform the operations of:

recognizing a control gesture sensed by a sensor, the control gesture for defining an input region that is a sub-region of a total sensing area sensed by the sensor;

establishing the input region for sensor input in response to recognizing the control gesture, the control gesture comprising one of tracing the input region and touching corners of the input region;

enforcing the input region until a deactivation gesture is sensed; and

ignoring sensor input that is outside of the input region.

19. The computer program product of claim 18, the sub-region being a different shape than the total sensing area.

20. The computer program product of claim 18, wherein the operations further comprise translating a plurality of gestures sensed within the input region into input events.