USER INTERFACE FOR A DEVICE

• US 20160077627A1
• Filed: 09/17/2014
• Published: 03/17/2016
• Est. Priority Date: 09/17/2014
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Red Hat, Inc. (International Business Machines Corporation)
• Original Assignee: Red Hat, Inc. (International Business Machines Corporation)
• Inventors: Vecera, Martin, Pechanec, Jiri
• Granted Patent: US 10,345,967 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 1/1
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 2203/0339 Touch strips, e.g. orthogonal touch strips to control cursor movement or scrolling; single touch strip to adjust parameter or to implement a row of soft keys
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 2203/04101 2.5D-digitiser, i.e. digitiser detecting the X/Y position of the input means, finger or stylus, also when it does not touch, but is proximate to the digitiser's interaction surface and also measures the distance of the input means within a short range in the Z direction, possibly with a separate measurement setup
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 2203/04104 Multi-touch detection in digitiser, i.e. details about the simultaneous detection of a plurality of touching locations, e.g. multiple fingers or pen and finger
• 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 3/044 by capacitive means
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 3/04847 Interaction techniques to control parameter settings, e.g. interaction with sliders or dials
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 3/0485 Scrolling or panning
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 3/04883 for inputting data by handwriting, e.g. gesture or text

Abstract

A device includes a processor and a memory comprising machine readable instructions that when executed by the processor, cause the system to display information to a user through a display screen of the device, the display screen being positioned on a front side of the device, receive a first input from a first sensor placed on a left side of the device, the first input indicating a placement of at least one appendage along the first sensor, receive a second input from a second sensor placed on a right side of the device, the second input indicating a placement of at least one appendage along the second sensor, and execute a predefined function within an application running on the device, the predefined function being based on both the first input and the second input.

Claims

1. A device comprising:

a processor; and

a memory comprising machine readable instructions that when executed by the processor, cause the device to;

display information to a user through a display screen of the device, the display screen being positioned on a front side of the device;

receive a first input from a first sensor placed on a left side of the device, the first input indicating a placement of at least one appendage along the first sensor;

receive a second input from a second sensor placed on a right side of the device, the second input indicating a placement of at least one appendage along the second sensor; and

execute a predefined function within an application running on the device in response to determining that the first input and the second input indicate that five appendages are touching the device.

2. The device of claim 1, wherein the device is further to receive a third input from a third sensor on a top side of the device, the third input indicating a placement of at least one appendage along the top side.

3. The device of claim 2, wherein the predefined function is further based on the third input.

4. The device of claim 1, wherein the device is further to receive a fourth input from a fourth sensor on a bottom side of the device, the fourth input indicating a placement of at least one appendage along the bottom side.

5. The device of claim 4, wherein the predefined function is further based on the fourth input.

6. The device of claim 1, wherein the first sensor and the second sensor comprise capacitive sensors.

7. The device of claim 6, wherein the capacitive sensors are configured as proximity sensors.

8. The device of claim 1, wherein the device is further to receive a third input from at least one of the first sensor and the second sensor, the third input indicating a change in appendage position, the predefined function being further based on the change.

9. The device of claim 1, wherein:

the device is a communication device;

the application is a communication application; and

the predefined function comprises one of;

initiating a call, initiating a call with a specific contact, terminating a call, initiating recording of a call, raising call volume, lowering call volume, accepting an incoming call, and rejecting an incoming call.

10. The device of claim 1, wherein:

the application comprises an application that displays information on the display screen; and

the predefined function comprises one of;

initiating the application, scrolling the information, panning the information, zooming in on the information, and zooming out on the information.

11. The device of claim 1, wherein the device is further configured to receive a third input from at least one of the first sensor and the second sensor, the third input indicating motion of an appendage along at least one of the first sensor and the second sensor.

12. The device of claim 11, wherein the predefined function is further based on the third input.

13. The device of claim 1, wherein the device is further configured to receive a third input from at least one of the first sensor and the second sensor, the third input indicating contact from an appendage of a user hand that is not holding the device, the predefined function being further based on the third input.

14. A mobile device comprising:

a display screen on a front side of the device;

a left side sensor on a left side of the device;

a right side sensor on a right side of the device;

a processor; and

a memory comprising machine readable instructions that when executed by the processor, cause the device to;

display information to a user through the display screen of the device;

receive a first input from the left side sensor, the first input indicating a placement of at least one appendage along the left side sensor;

receive a second input from the right side sensor, the second input indicating a placement of at least one appendage along the right side sensor; and

execute a predefined function within an application running on the device in response to determining that five appendages are touching the device.

15. The device of claim 14, wherein the machine readable instructions are further to cause the device to initiate a phone call.

16. The device of claim 15, wherein the machine readable instructions are further to cause the device to:

receive a third input from at least one of the left side sensor and the right side sensor, the third input corresponding to a gesture made by a user;

execute a second function within the application, the second function being based on the gesture.

17. The device of claim 16, wherein the gesture comprises one of:

tapping the sensor with one finger, tapping the sensor with more than one finger, sliding one finger along the sensor, sliding more than one finger along the sensor, and waving a finger in proximity of the sensor.

18. A method performed by a mobile computing device, the method comprising:

receiving a first input from a first sensor placed on a left side of the device, the first input indicating a placement of at least one appendage along the first sensor;

receiving a second input from a second sensor placed on a right side of the device, the second input indicating a placement of at least one appendage along the second sensor; and

executing a predefined function within an application running on the device in response to determining that four appendages are touching one of the first and second sensors and a fifth appendage is touching the other of the first and second sensors.

19. The method of claim 18, wherein the predefined function comprises one of:

initiating a call, initiating a call with a specific contact, terminating a call, initiating recording of a call, raising call volume, lowering call volume, accepting an incoming call, and rejecting an incoming call.

20. The method of claim 18, further comprising, receiving a third input from at least one of the first sensor and the second sensor, the third input indicating a gesture made by an appendage, the predefined function being further based on the third input.