Input mode of a device

• US 9,983,785 B2
• Filed: 07/28/2011
• Issued: 05/29/2018
• Est. Priority Date: 07/28/2011
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Hewlett-Packard Development Company, L.P. (HP Inc.)
• Original Assignee: Hewlett-Packard Development Company, L.P. (HP Inc.)
• Inventors: Wong, Glenn A, Solomon, Mark C
• Primary Examiner(s): Edouard, Patrick
• Assistant Examiner(s): Wilson, Douglas M
• Application Number:
  US13/192,990
• Publication Number:
  US 20130027290A1
• Time in Patent Office: 2,497 Days
• Field of Search: None
• 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

A device to detect a directional hand gesture, identify an input mode of the device associated with the directional hand gesture to launch the input mode, modify a user interface rendered on a display component of the device based on the input mode, and modify a setting of the sensor based on whether the input mode includes a virtual keyboard.

Claims

1. A method for managing input for a device comprising:

detecting a directional hand gesture with a sensor of the device;

identifying an input mode of the device associated with the directional hand gesture, where identifying the input mode comprises;

identifying a virtual keyboard interface mode in response to the directional hand gesture including motion across a touch display screen of the device in a first direction, and

identifying a further input mode in response to the directional hand gesture including motion across the touch display screen in a second direction different from the first direction;

launching the identified input mode and modifying a user interface on the touch display screen based on the identified input mode; and

modifying a setting of the sensor based on whether the identified input mode uses a virtual keyboard.

2. The method of claim 1, wherein detecting for the directional hand gesture includes the sensor detecting for contact points on the touch display screen corresponding to motion of at least one of a hand of a user and a pointing device of the user.

3. The method of claim 1, wherein identifying the input mode of the device includes comparing information of the directional hand gesture to predefined information of input modes of the device.

4. The method of claim 1, wherein modifying the setting of the sensor includes increasing a sensitivity of the sensor if the identified input mode is the virtual keyboard interface mode, and decreasing a sensitivity of the sensor if the identified input mode is the further input mode.

5. The method of claim 1, wherein modifying the setting of the sensor includes decreasing a sensitivity of the sensor if the identified input mode does not include the virtual keyboard.

6. The method of claim 1, wherein modifying the user interface includes updating the user interface to not render the virtual keyboard on the touch display screen, in response to the identified input mode being the further input mode.

7. The method of claim 1, wherein modifying the user interface includes updating the user interface to include the virtual keyboard rendered on the touch display screen, in response to the identified input mode being the virtual keyboard interface mode.

15. The method of claim 1, wherein the virtual keyboard interface mode uses the virtual keyboard displayed on the touch display screen, and

wherein the further input mode is a touch interface mode that detects for user touch on the touch display screen, and that does not use the virtual keyboard.

16. The method of claim 1, wherein the virtual keyboard interface mode uses the virtual keyboard having a first layout of keys displayed on the touch display screen, and the further input mode uses a second virtual keyboard having a second, different layout of keys displayed on the touch display screen.

17. The method of claim 16, wherein the second virtual keyboard uses a language different from a language of the virtual keyboard having the first layout of keys.

18. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

detecting touch input on the touch display screen in each of the virtual keyboard interface mode and the further input mode; and

displaying information of an application in the touch display screen, in response to the detected touch input.

8. A device comprising:

a touch display screen;

a sensor to detect a directional hand gesture from a user;

a controller to identify an input mode of the device associated with the directional hand gesture, launch the input mode, and modify a setting of the sensor used by the input mode based on whether the input mode uses a virtual keyboard, where identifying the input mode comprises;

identifying a virtual keyboard interface mode that uses the virtual keyboard in response to the directional hand gesture including motion across the touch display screen in a first direction, and

identifying a further input mode that does not use the virtual keyboard in response to the directional hand gesture including motion across the touch display screen in a second direction different from the first direction; and

wherein the touch display screen is to display a user interface based on the identified input mode.

9. The device of claim 8, wherein the further input mode includes a touch interface mode for detecting user touch on the touch display screen.

10. The device of claim 8, wherein the sensor includes an image depth capture component.

11. The device of claim 8, wherein the sensor includes a touch component to detect the user touching the touch display screen.

12. A non-transitory computer readable medium comprising instructions that if executed cause a controller in a device to:

detect a directional hand gesture with a sensor and identify an input mode of the device associated with the directional hand gesture, where identifying the input mode comprises;

identifying a virtual keyboard interface mode in response to the directional hand gesture including motion across a touch display screen of the device in a first direction, and

identifying a further input mode in response to the directional hand gesture including motion across the touch display screen in a second direction different from the first direction;

launch the identified input mode for the device and modify a user interface rendered on the touch display screen based on the identified input mode; and

modify a sensitivity of the sensor used by the identified input mode based on whether the identified input mode uses a virtual keyboard.

13. The non-transitory computer readable medium of claim 12, wherein detecting the directional hand gesture includes the controller determining whether the directional hand gesture overlaps a virtual keyboard displayed on the touch display screen.

14. The non-transitory computer readable medium of claim 12, wherein identifying the input mode of the device includes accessing at least one of a list, a database, and a table.

19. The non-transitory computer readable medium of claim 12, wherein the virtual keyboard interface mode uses the virtual keyboard displayed on the touch display screen, and

wherein the further input mode is a touch interface mode that detects for user touch on the touch display screen, and that does not use the virtual keyboard.

20. The non-transitory computer readable medium of claim 12, wherein the virtual keyboard interface mode uses the virtual keyboard having a first layout of keys displayed on the touch display screen, and the further input mode uses a second virtual keyboard having a second, different layout of keys displayed on the touch display screen.

21. The non-transitory computer readable medium of claim 20, wherein the second virtual keyboard uses a language different from a language of the virtual keyboard having the first layout of keys.