Multi-window keyboard

• US 10,496,275 B2
• Filed: 10/12/2015
• Issued: 12/03/2019
• Est. Priority Date: 10/12/2015
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Microsoft Technology Licensing LLC (Microsoft Corporation)
• Original Assignee: Microsoft Technology Licensing LLC (Microsoft Corporation)
• Inventors: Won, Sung Joon
• Primary Examiner(s): Lowenberger, Aaron
• Application Number:
  US14/880,395
• Publication Number:
  US 20170102870A1
• Time in Patent Office: 1,513 Days
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 2203/04803 Split screen, i.e. subdividing the display area or the window area into separate subareas
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 3/0481 based on specific properties of the displayed interaction object or a metaphor-based environment, e.g. interaction with desktop elements like windows or icons, or assisted by a cursor's changing behaviour or appearance
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 3/0482 Interaction with lists of selectable items, e.g. menus
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 3/04842 Selection of displayed objects or displayed text elements G06F3/0482 takes precedence
• 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 9/451 Execution arrangements for user interfaces

Abstract

Examples of the present disclosure describe systems and methods associated with a multi-window soft input keyboard application. A multi-window soft input keyboard application is displayed. The soft input keyboard application is used to provide application command control for one or more applications. The soft input keyboard application may comprise a first application window that displays two or more user interface elements for services of the soft input keyboard application. In examples, the first application window displays/updates based on the detected foreground application. The user interface elements are usable for application command control of the detected foreground application. An exemplary soft input keyboard application may further comprise a second application window that displays a soft input keyboard. Display of the second application window may update including replacing display of the soft input keyboard based on selection of a user interface element of the first application window. Other examples are also described.

Claims

1. A system comprising:

at least one processor; and

a memory, operatively connected with the processor, that stores computer-executable instructions, which when executed cause the processor to perform operations comprising;

displaying a soft input keyboard application, wherein the soft input keyboard application is a multi-window application command control that comprises;

a first window that displays two or more user interface elements for services of the soft input keyboard application wherein the user interface elements are usable for application command control of a foreground application,

a second window that displays a soft input keyboard, wherein display of the second window updates by replacing display of the soft input keyboard based on selection of a user interface element of the first window;

receiving input into a foreground application via the soft input keyboard application;

based on the received input, updating one or more user interface elements in the first window of the soft input keyboard application;

receiving a selection of a user interface element from the one or more user interface elements in the first window;

based on the received selection of the user interface element, displaying a plurality of representations of documents in the second window of the soft input keyboard;

receiving a selection of one of the plurality representations of documents; and

transferring the received input to a document corresponding to the selected representation of a document via the soft input keyboard application.

2. The system according to claim 1, wherein the soft input keyboard application further comprises:

a third window that displays command controls for the soft input keyboard application, wherein the third window comprises;

an application command control to toggle display of the soft input keyboard.

3. The system according to claim 2, wherein the computer-executable instructions cause the processor to:

receive a selection of another user interface element in the first window;

update display of the second window to display one or more user additional interface elements for application command control that are associated with the selected user interface element, wherein the updating further comprises replacing the soft input keyboard with display of the one or more of the additional user interface elements;

receive, in the third window, selection of the application command control to toggle display of the soft input keyboard; and

in response to receiving the selection in the third window, re-displaying the soft input keyboard in the second window.

4. The system according to claim 1, wherein the computer-executable instructions cause the processor to:

detect a thread executing in the foreground application; and

updating display of the second window to display content retrieved from a service external to the foreground application.

5. The system according to claim 4, wherein the computer-executable instructions cause the processor to:

receive, in the second window, selection of the retrieved content; and

in response to the selection, transmitting the retrieved content to the foreground application; and

in response to the selection, displaying the retrieved content in the foreground application.

6. The system according to claim 1, wherein the computer-executable instructions cause the processor to:

detect a thread executing in the foreground application;

receiving a subsequent selection of another user interface element from the one or more user interface elements in the first window; and

updating display of the second window to display one or more additional user interface elements for application command control that are associated with the subsequently selected user interface element, wherein the updating further comprises replacing the soft input keyboard with display of the one or more of the additional user interface elements.

7. The system according to claim 6, wherein the computer-executable instructions cause the processor to:

receive, in the second window, selection of a user interface element for application command control; and

in response to the selection, inserting content into the foreground application.

8. The system according to claim 1, wherein the computer-executable instructions cause the processor to:

detect insertion of a delimiter for the soft input keyboard application in the foreground application; and

in response to the detected insertion of the delimiter, update display of one or more of the first window and the second window.

9. The system according to claim 8, wherein the update of the display of one or more of the first window and the second window further comprises identifying one or more services associated with the delimiter, and providing content associated with the one or more services in at least one of the first window and the second window.

10. The system according to claim 1, wherein the computer-executable instructions cause the processor to:

detect a current thread executing in the foreground application;

evaluate a context of the current thread using the soft input keyboard application; and

provide a contextual auto-complete of content in the foreground application based on evaluation of the context of the current thread.

11. The system according to claim 1, wherein the computer-executable instructions cause the processor to:

detect a thread executing in the foreground application; and

updating display of the second window to display content retrieved from two or more services that are external to the foreground application, and

wherein the content retrieved from the two or more services comprises recommendation content determined based on evaluation of the thread executing in the foreground application.

12. A system comprising:

at least one processor; and

a memory, operatively connected with the processor, that stores computer-executable instructions, which when executed cause the processor to;

display a soft input keyboard application, wherein the soft input keyboard application is a multi-window application command control that comprises;

a first application window that displays two or more user interface elements for services of the soft input keyboard application, wherein the first application window updates based on a detected foreground application executing

on the system, and wherein the user interface elements are usable for application command control of the detected foreground application,

a second application window that displays a soft input keyboard, wherein display of the second application window updates by replacing display of the soft input keyboard based on selection of a user interface element of the first application window,

receive input into at least one of the detected foreground application and the soft input keyboard application,

transmit, by the soft input keyboard application, user context signal data collected from the system and data associated with the received input to at least one processing device connected with the system over a distributed network,

receive, by the soft input keyboard application, result data including at least one conversation, wherein the result data is based on the transmitted data;

display result data received from the at least one processing device within the second application window, wherein the result data includes representation of the at least one conversation;

receive a selection of the representation of the at least one conversation; and

transmit data to the selected conversation based on the received selection of the representationat.

13. The system according to claim 12, wherein the user context signal data comprises two or more selected from a group consisting of:

location data for the system, language data, user data for a user of the system, data on applications executing on the system, device data for the system and time data, wherein the data associated with the received input comprises at least one of the received input and context processing signals associated with evaluating the received input, and wherein the results data is returned from one or more services associated with the at least one processing device.

14. A computer-implemented method comprising:

displaying a soft input keyboard application, wherein the soft input keyboard application is a multi-window application command control that comprises;

a first window that displays two or more user interface elements for services of the soft input keyboard application wherein the user interface elements are usable for application command control of a foreground application,

a second window that displays a soft input keyboard, wherein display of the second window updates by replacing display of the soft input keyboard based on selection of a user interface element of the first window;

receiving input into a foreground application via the soft input keyboard application;

based on the received input, updating one or more user interface elements in the first window of the soft input keyboard application;

receiving a selection of a user interface element from the one or more user interface elements in the first window;

based on the received selection of the user interface element, displaying a plurality of representations of documents in the second window of the soft input keyboard;

receiving a selection of one of the plurality representations of documents; and

transferring the received input to a document corresponding to the selected representation of a document via the soft input keyboard application.

15. The method of claim 14, wherein the soft input keyboard application further comprises:

a third window that displays command controls for the soft input keyboard application, wherein the third window comprises;

an application command control to toggle display of the soft input keyboard.

16. The method of claim 15, further comprising:

receiving a selection of another user interface element in the first window;

updating display of the second window to display one or more user additional interface elements for application command control that are associated with the selected user interface element, wherein the updating further comprises replacing the soft input keyboard with display of the one or more of the additional user interface elements;

receiving, in the third window, selection of the application command control to toggle display of the soft input keyboard; and

in response to receiving the selection in the third window, re-displaying the soft input keyboard in the second window.

17. The method of claim 14, further comprising:

detecting a thread executing in the foreground application; and

updating display of the second window to display content retrieved from a service external to the foreground application.

18. The method of claim 17, further comprising:

receiving, in the second window, selection of the retrieved content; and

in response to the selection, transmitting the retrieved content to the foreground application; and

in response to the selection, displaying the retrieved content in the foreground application.

19. The method of claim 14, further comprising:

detecting a thread executing in the foreground application;

receiving a subsequent selection of another user interface element from the one or more user interface elements in the first window; and

updating display of the second window to display one or more additional user interface elements for application command control that are associated with the subsequently selected user interface element, wherein the updating further comprises replacing the soft input keyboard with display of the one or more of the additional user interface elements.

20. The method of claim 19, further comprising:

receiving, in the second window, selection of a user interface element for application command control; and

in response to the selection, inserting content into the foreground application.