Self-revelation aids for interfaces

• US 10,162,511 B2
• Filed: 06/01/2012
• Issued: 12/25/2018
• Est. Priority Date: 01/21/2008
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Microsoft Technology Licensing LLC (Microsoft Corporation)
• Original Assignee: Microsoft Technology Licensing LLC (Microsoft Corporation)
• Inventors: Hinckley, Kenneth P., Zhao, Shengdong, Cutrell, Edward B., Sarin, Raman K., Baudisch, Patrick M., Yust, Darryl
• Primary Examiner(s): Patel, Manglesh M
• Application Number:
  US13/486,180
• Publication Number:
  US 20120240043A1
• Time in Patent Office: 2,398 Days
• Field of Search: 715705, 715711, 715200
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 3/04883 for inputting data by handwriting, e.g. gesture or text
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 9/453 Help systems

Abstract

Systems and/or methods are provided that facilitates revealing assistance information associated with a user interface. An interface can obtain input information related to interactions between the interface and a user. In addition, the interface can output assistance information in situ with the user interface. Further, a decision component that determines the in situ assistance information output by the interface based at least in part on the obtained input information.

Claims

1. A computer-implemented method for providing gesture-based input to an application user interface, comprising:

associating a floating tool palette with the application user interface, the floating tool palette including at least one gestural tip that presents gesture functionality associated with the application user interface based at least in part on a period of time between a current interaction of a user with a particular element of the application user interface and a previous interaction of the user with the particular element, wherein the at least one gestural tip illustrates movement of a particular gesture sequence, and wherein the at least one gestural tip comprises a video or an animation of the particular gesture sequence;

capturing at least one gesture input in response to presentation of the at least one gestural tip, wherein the at least one gesture input is associated with the at least one gestural tip included in the floating tool palette; and

based at least in part on the captured at least one gesture input, forwarding event data to an application associated with the application user interface.

2. The method of claim 1, further comprising generating the event data based at least in part on the captured at least one gesture input.

3. The method of claim 1, wherein the floating tool palette comprises a translucent overlay placed on the application user interface.

4. The method of claim 3, further comprising displaying the floating tool palette as opaque when a user input hovers over the floating tool palette.

5. The method of claim 1, further comprising providing the floating tool palette based at least in part on a user preference persisted in a data store.

6. The method of claim 1, wherein the at least one gestural tip presents gesture functionality based at least partly on at least one detected non-gesture input to the floating tool palette.

7. The method of claim 1, further comprising providing the floating tool palette with a subset of the gestural tips the floating tool palette is configured to display.

8. The method of claim 1, wherein at least one of:

the at least one gesture input comprises at least one of a gesture start point, a gesture end point, a path of a gesture movement, or a speed of motion of a gesture movement;

or

the at least one gesture input includes a scrolling gesture, and wherein the event data includes scrolling event data.

9. One or more computer-readable storage media storing instructions that, when executed by at least one processor, instruct the at least one processor to perform actions comprising:

providing a tool palette for a user interface of an application, the tool palette including gestural tips that are provided based at least partly on a period of time between a current interaction of a user with a particular element of the application user interface and a previous interaction of the user with the particular element, wherein each of the gestural tips illustrates movement of a respective gesture sequence, and wherein each of the gestural tips comprises a video or an animation of the respective gesture sequence;

capturing at least one gesture associated with the gestural tips in response to presentation of at least one of the gestural tips, wherein the at least one gesture is input at least partly to the tool palette; and

forwarding event data to the application, the event data generated based at least partly on the captured at least one gesture.

10. The one or more computer-readable storage media of claim 9, wherein the tool palette comprises a translucent overlay to the user interface.

11. The one or more computer-readable storage media of claim 10, wherein the actions further comprise solidifying the tool palette when an input hovers over the tool palette.

12. The one or more computer-readable storage media of claim 9, wherein the tool palette provides support for one or more gesture-based commands in the user interface of the application, wherein the application was not originally implemented to support gesture-based commands.

13. The one or more computer-readable storage media of claim 9, wherein the at least one gesture is initiated within the tool palette and is terminated outside the tool palette.

14. A system comprising:

at least one processor;

an intelligence component comprising instructions executed by the at least one processor to infer an unfamiliarity of a user with an element of a user interface for an application, the inferring based at least partly on a period of time between a current interaction of the user with the element and a previous interaction of the user with the element;

a decision component comprising instructions executed by the at least one processor to provide a tool palette that includes gestural tips for the user interface, the gestural tips based at least partly on the inferring, wherein each of the gestural tips illustrates movement of a respective gesture sequence, and wherein each of the gesture tips comprises a video or an animation of the respective gesture sequence; and

an interface component comprising instructions executed by the at least one processor to;

capture at least one gesture associated with the gestural tips in response to presentation of at least one of the gestural tips, wherein the at least one gesture is input at least partly to the tool palette;

generate event data based at least partly on the captured at least one gesture; and

forward the generated event data to the application.

15. The system of claim 14, wherein the tool palette comprises a translucent overlay to the user interface.

16. The system of claim 15, wherein the interface component further operates to solidify the tool palette as a user input hovers over the tool palette.

17. The system of claim 14, wherein the tool palette provides support for one or more gesture-based commands in the user interface of the application, wherein the application was not originally implemented to support the one or more gesture-based commands.

18. The system of claim 14, wherein the at least one gesture is initiated within the tool palette and is terminated outside the tool palette.

19. The system of claim 14, wherein the at least one gesture includes a scrolling gesture, and wherein the event data includes scrolling event data.