Virtual touchpad for a touch device

• US 9,542,097 B2
• Filed: 01/13/2010
• Issued: 01/10/2017
• Est. Priority Date: 01/13/2010
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Lenovo PC International Limited (Lenovo Group Ltd.)
• Original Assignee: Lenovo Singapore Pte Limited (Lenovo Group Ltd.)
• Inventors: Ganey, Harriss C., Johnson, Jay W., Locker, Howard J., Stewart, Aaron M.
• Primary Examiner(s): Mengistu, Amare
• Assistant Examiner(s): Nadkarni, Sarvesh J
• Application Number:
  US12/686,823
• Publication Number:
  US 20110169749A1
• Time in Patent Office: 2,554 Days
• Field of Search: 345/173
• US Class Current: 1/1
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 1/1626 with a single-body enclosure integrating a flat display, e.g. Personal Digital Assistants [PDAs]
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 3/0416 Control or interface arrangements specially adapted for digitisers
• 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, method, and computer program product are disclosed to provide a virtual touchpad for a touch device. A placement module places a virtual touchpad at a dynamic location within a touch sensitive area of a touch device. A touch input module positions a pointer on a screen of the touch device in response to a touch input on the virtual touchpad.

Claims

1. An apparatus comprising:

a processor;

a memory that stores code executable by the processor to;

overlay, in response to a predefined singular touch input at a first location on the touch-sensitive screen, a virtual touchpad at a dynamic location within the touch-sensitive screen, wherein overlaying the virtual touchpad comprises displaying the virtual touchpad over a currently displayed area of the touch-sensitive screen;

detect a spatial relationship between a user and the touch device;

select the dynamic location based on the spatial relationship, wherein

the spatial relationship comprises a location of the most recent touch input of the user'"'"'s thumb on the touch-sensitive screen; and

the dynamic location comprises a location within the touch sensitive area on the front side of the touch device away from the location of the most recent touch input of the user'"'"'s thumb on the touch-sensitive screen;

display a scaled copy of the touch-sensitive screen on the virtual touchpad, wherein the touch-sensitive screen displays one or more graphical elements and the scaled copy of the touch-sensitive screen includes a scaled copy of each graphical element displayed on the touch-sensitive screen, the scaled copy of each graphical element being displayed at a location within the virtual touchpad corresponding to its location within the touch-sensitive screen;

move the virtual touchpad to the second location within the touch-sensitive screen in response to a subsequent predefined singular touch input at a second location outside of the virtual touchpad and different from the first location;

position a pointer on the touch-sensitive screen in response to a touch input on the virtual touchpad;

displays a scaled copy of the pointer within the virtual touchpad; and

remove the virtual touchpad from the location in response to a period of inactivity within the virtual touchpad.

2. The apparatus of claim 1, wherein the processor further scales movement of the pointer relative to the touch input on the virtual touchpad based on a size ratio between the virtual touchpad and at least a portion of the screen of the touch device, the virtual touchpad comprising a subset of the touch sensitive area of the touch device.

3. The apparatus of claim 1, wherein the currently displayed area of the touch-sensitive screen located under the virtual touchpad is partially viewable through the virtual touchpad and wherein a user may interact with the entire screen through the scaled copy on the virtual touchpad.

4. The apparatus of claim 1, wherein the spatial relationship further comprises an orientation of the touch device.

5. The apparatus of claim 1, wherein the touch device comprises a slate-sized touch device capable of being held in a single hand of a user and receiving touch input from a thumb of the single hand of the user, the touch-sensitive screen having a size that is larger than a reaching distance of the thumb, the processor placing the virtual touchpad within the reaching distance of the thumb.

6. The apparatus of claim 1, wherein the processor further displays a closed touchpad indicator along a periphery area of the front screen in response to removing the virtual touchpad.

7. A method comprising:

overlaying a virtual touchpad, in response to a predefined singular touch input at a first location on a front screen of a touch device, at a dynamic location within a touch sensitive area on the front screen of the touch device, wherein overlaying the virtual touchpad comprises displaying the virtual touchpad over a currently displayed area of the touch sensitive area of the front screen, the touch sensitive area of the front screen receiving touch input and displaying visual images;

detecting a spatial relationship between a user and the touch device;

selecting the dynamic location based on the spatial relationship, wherein

the spatial relationship comprises a location of the most recent touch input of the user'"'"'s thumb on the front screen; and

the dynamic location comprises a location within the touch sensitive area on the front side of the touch device away from the location of the most recent touch input of the user'"'"'s thumb on the front screen;

displaying a scaled copy of the front screen on the virtual touchpad, wherein the front screen displays one or more graphical elements and the scaled copy of the front screen includes a scaled copy of each graphical element displayed on the front screen, the scaled copy of each graphical element being displayed at a location within the virtual touchpad corresponding to its location within the front screen;

moving the virtual touchpad, in response to a subsequent predefined singular touch input at a second location outside of the virtual touchpad and different from the first location, to the second location within the touch sensitive area;

positioning a pointer on a screen of the touch device in response to a touch input on the virtual touchpad;

displaying a scaled copy of the pointer within the virtual touchpad; and

removing the virtual touchpad from the location in response to a period of inactivity within the virtual touchpad.

8. The method of claim 7, further comprising scaling movement of the pointer relative to the touch input on the virtual touchpad based on a size ratio between the virtual touchpad and at least a portion of the screen of the touch device, the virtual touchpad comprising a subset of the touch sensitive area of the touch device.

9. The method of claim 7, further comprising displaying a closed touchpad indicator along a periphery area of the front screen in response to removing the virtual touchpad.

10. The method of claim 7, wherein the currently displayed area of the touch sensitive area of the front screen located under the virtual touchpad is partially viewable through the virtual touchpad, the virtual touchpad allowing a user to interact with the entire front screen through the scaled copy on the virtual touchpad.

11. The method of claim 7, wherein the spatial relationship further comprises an orientation of the touch device.

12. The method of claim 7, wherein the touch device comprises a slate-sized touch device capable of being held in a single hand of a user and receiving touch input from a thumb of the single hand of the user, the touch sensitive area having a size that is larger than a reaching distance of the thumb, wherein placing the virtual touchpad comprises placing the virtual touchpad within the reaching distance of the thumb.

13. A computer program product comprising a non-transitory computer readable storage medium storing computer usable program code executable on a computer to perform operations, the operations comprising:

overlaying a virtual touchpad, in response to a predefined singular touch input at a first location on a front screen of a touch device, at a dynamic location within a touch sensitive area on the front screen of the touch device wherein overlaying the virtual touchpad comprises displaying the virtual touchpad over a currently displayed area of the touch sensitive area of the front screen, the touch sensitive area of the front screen receiving touch input and displaying visual images;

detecting a spatial relationship between a user and the touch device,

selecting the dynamic location based on the spatial relationship, wherein

the spatial relationship comprises a location of the most recent touch input of the user'"'"'s thumb on the front screen; and

the dynamic location comprises a location within the touch sensitive area on the front side of the touch device away from the location of the most recent touch input of the user'"'"'s thumb on the front screen;

displaying a scaled copy of the front screen on the virtual touchpad, wherein the front screen displays one or more graphical elements and the scaled copy of the front screen includes a scaled copy of each graphical element displayed on the front screen, the scaled copy of each graphical element being displayed at a location within the virtual touchpad corresponding to its location within the front screen;

moving the virtual touchpad, in response to a subsequent predefined singular touch input at a second location outside of the virtual touchpad and different from the first location, to the second location within the touch sensitive area;

positioning a pointer on a screen of the touch device in response to a touch input on the virtual touchpad;

scaling movement of the pointer relative to the touch input on the virtual touchpad based on a size ratio between the virtual touchpad and at least a portion of the screen of the touch device, the virtual touchpad comprising a subset of the touch sensitive area of the touch device;

displaying a scaled copy of the pointer within the virtual touchpad; and

removing the virtual touchpad from the location in response to a period of inactivity within the virtual touchpad; and

displaying a closed touchpad indicator along a periphery area of the front screen in response to removing the virtual touchpad, wherein the touch device comprises a slate-sized touch device capable of being held in a single hand of a user and receiving touch input from a thumb of the single hand of the user, the touch sensitive area having a size that is larger than a reaching distance of the thumb, wherein placing the virtual touchpad comprises placing the virtual touchpad within the reaching distance of the thumb.

14. The computer program product of claim 13, wherein the currently displayed area of the touch sensitive area of the front screen located under the virtual touchpad is partially viewable through the virtual touchpad, the virtual touchpad allowing a user to interact with the entire front screen through the scaled copy on the virtual touchpad.