Multi-region touchpad

• US 9,886,108 B2
• Filed: 07/22/2013
• Issued: 02/06/2018
• Est. Priority Date: 07/22/2013
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Hewlett-Packard Development Company, L.P. (HP Inc.)
• Original Assignee: Hewlett-Packard Development Company, L.P. (HP Inc.)
• Inventors: Wolff, Stacy L, Lee, Ilchan, Harper, Christine I, Wilson, Evan Joel, McCarthy, John P, Burks, Rick (Ricky) Thomas
• Primary Examiner(s): Patel, Sanjiv D
• Application Number:
  US14/898,827
• Publication Number:
  US 20160124532A1
• Time in Patent Office: 1,660 Days
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 2203/04809 Textured surface identifying touch areas, e.g. overlay structure for a virtual keyboard
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 3/03547 Touch pads, in which fingers can move on a surface
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 3/038 Control and interface arrangements therefor, e.g. drivers or device-embedded control circuitry
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 3/0482 Interaction with lists of selectable items, e.g. menus
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 3/0484 for the control of specific functions or operations, e.g. selecting or manipulating an object, an image or a displayed text element, setting a parameter value or selecting a range
• 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: G06F 3/0489 using dedicated keyboard keys or combinations thereof
• CPC Class Codes: H04M 2250/22 including a touch pad, a touch sensor or a touch detector digitizers for touch screens G06F3/041

Abstract

Examples of a multi-region touchpad are disclosed. In one example implementation, a multi-region touchpad may include a multi-region touchpad sensor having a region and a secondary region to receive an input corresponding to a movement against the multi-region touchpad sensor and a touchpad controller. The touchpad controller may process the received input, and may transmit touch position indicative of the received input to a touchpad driver of a computing device communicatively coupled to the touchpad device. Further, the touchpad driver may cause an operating system of the computing device to treat a touch with a touch position beginning in the primary region and extending into the secondary region as a continuous touch. Similarly, the touchpad driver may cause the operating system to treat a touch with a touch position beginning in the secondary region as a navigational command to cause the operating system to perform a navigational function.

Claims

1. A method comprising:

displaying a cursor in a display;

receiving, by a multi-region touchpad having a first touch region, a second touch region, and a third touch region, an input, the first touch region to accept touch input for controlling movement of the cursor in the display, and the second and third touch regions to accept touch inputs for triggering display of respective different menus;

in response to detecting that the received input detected by a touch sensor begins in the first touch region and continues into the second touch, treating the received input as a touch input in the first touch region and causing movement of the cursor in the display according to a corresponding movement of the received input in the multi-region touchpad; and

in response to detecting that the received input detected by the touch sensor begins in the second touch region and continues into the first touch region, causing display of a first menu of the different menus, wherein the multi-region touchpad sensor includes a third region, wherein the primary region is positioned adjacent to and between the secondary region an different from the first menu, and wherein the primary region is of a first texture and the secondary region is of a second texture different from the first texture.

2. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

in response to detecting that the received input begins in the second touch region and continues into the first touch region, sending a keyboard shortcut command to an operating system, the keyboard shortcut command causing the operating system to trigger the display of the first menu.

3. The method of claim 1, wherein causing the display of the first menu comprises causing the display of the first menu that includes icons representing recently used applications of a computing device that includes the display.

4. The method of claim 1, wherein the first touch region is positioned adjacent to and between the second touch region and the third touch region, and wherein the first touch region differs in texture from the second touch region and the third touch region.

5. The method of claim 1, wherein the first touch region is positioned adjacent to and between the second touch region and the third touch region, and wherein a first raised boundary on the mufti-region touchpad is located between the first touch region and the second touch region, and a second raised boundary on the multi-region touchpad is located between the first touch region and the third touch region.

6. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

in response to detecting that the received input detected by the touch sensor begins in the third touch region and continues into the first touch region, causing display of a second menu of the different menus,

wherein causing the display of the second menu comprises causing the display of the second menu that includes icons representing frequently used functions of a computing device that includes the display.

7. A non-transitory storage medium storing instructions that upon execution cause a computing device:

cause display of a cursor in a display;

receive an input detected by a multi-region touchpad sensor having a primary region and a secondary region, the primary region to accept touch input for controlling movement of the cursor in the display, and the secondary region to accept a touch input for triggering display of a menu;

in response to detecting that the received input detected by the multi-region touchpad sensor begins in the primary region and continues into the secondary region, treat the received input as a touch input in the primary region and cause movement of the cursor in the display according to a corresponding movement of the received input across the multi-region touchpad sensor; and

in response to detecting that the received input detected by the multi-region touch sensor begins in the secondary region and continues into the primary region, cause display of the menu, wherein the multi-region touchpad sensor includes a third region, wherein the primary region is positioned adjacent to and between the secondary region and the third region, the third region to accept a touch input for triggering display of a second menu different from the first menu, and wherein the primary region is of a first texture and the secondary region is of a second texture different from the first texture.

8. The non-transitory storage medium of claim 7, wherein the menu includes a list of icons representing recently used applications.

9. The non-transitory storage medium of claim 7, wherein a first raised boundary on the multi-region touchpad sensor is located between the primary region and the secondary region, and a second raised boundary on the multi-region touchpad sensor is located between the primary region and the third region.

10. The non-transitory storage medium of claim 7, wherein the instructions upon execution cause the computing device to:

in response to detecting that the received input detected by the multi-region touchpad sensor begins in the third region and continues into the primary region, cause display of the second menu that includes icons representing frequently used functions of the computing device.

11. A computing system comprising:

a processor;

a display to display a cursor;

a multi-region touchpad having a primary region and a secondary region and to receive an input, the primary region to accept touch input for controlling movement of the cursor in the display, and the secondary region to accept a touch input for triggering display of a; and

a non-transitory storage medium storing instructions executable on the processor to;

in response to detecting that the received input detected by the multi-region touchpad begins in the primary region and continues into the secondary region, treat the received input as a continuous touch input in the primary region and cause movement of the cursor in the display according to a corresponding movement of the received input across the multi-region touchpad; and

in response to detecting that the received input detected by the multi-region touch begins in the secondary region and continues into the primary region, cause display of the menu, wherein the multi-region touchpad sensor includes a third region, wherein the primary region is positioned adjacent to and between the secondary region and the third region, the third region to accept a touch input for triggering display of a second menu different from the first menu, and wherein the primary region is of a first texture and the secondary region is of a second texture different from the first texture.

12. The computing system of claim 11, further comprising an operating system responsive to the received input beginning in the primary region and continuing into the secondary region to position the cursor on a graphical user interface in the display.

13. The computing system of claim 11, wherein the continuous touch input is disregarded in response to the received input beginning in the primary region and extending into the secondary region for more than a predetermined period of time.

14. The computing system of claim 13, wherein the predetermined period of time is about one second.

15. The computing system of claim 11, wherein the menu displays a list of icons representing recently used applications in the computing system.

16. The computing system of claim 11, wherein the primary region is positioned adjacent to and between the secondary region and a third region, the third region to accept a touch input for triggering display of a second menu different from the first menu, and wherein a first raised boundary on the multi-region touchpad is located between the primary region and the secondary region, and a second raised boundary on the multi-region touchpad sensor is located between the primary region and the third region.