Application programming interface that maps input device controls to software actions
First Claim
1. A system for mapping an input device'"'"'s controls to interact with an application, the system comprising:
- a user input device having a plurality of controls;
an application that implements a set of actions comprising semantics of an application genre; and
an action-control setup interface comprising a plurality of application genres;
wherein upon an initial configuration of the application, the application calls the action-control setup interface with an input parameter comprising a data structure of the set of actions and the application genre, wherein the action-control setup interface associates the set of actions in the data structure to the plurality of controls of the user input device based on the of the application genre.
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Accused Products
Abstract
A system for using computer input devices with software applications is disclosed. The system includes an input device mapper API, which uses a language of semantics as an interface between input devices and software applications. The input device mapper receives information about which semantics the devices connected to the computer are able to implement, and which semantics correspond to actions that a user can request the software to perform. The input device mapper maps controls on the available devices into user-requestable software actions by matching, as closely as possible, device controls and software actions that correspond to the same semantic. The system thus makes input devices and software applications transparent to each other, and permits a software application to be designed to operate without regard to which input device is being used to control its actions.
263 Citations
30 Claims
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1. A system for mapping an input device'"'"'s controls to interact with an application, the system comprising:
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a user input device having a plurality of controls; an application that implements a set of actions comprising semantics of an application genre; and an action-control setup interface comprising a plurality of application genres; wherein upon an initial configuration of the application, the application calls the action-control setup interface with an input parameter comprising a data structure of the set of actions and the application genre, wherein the action-control setup interface associates the set of actions in the data structure to the plurality of controls of the user input device based on the of the application genre. - View Dependent Claims (2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13, 14, 15, 16, 17, 18, 19, 20)
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21. A method performed by a computing device, the method comprising:
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upon initial configuration of an application that implements a set of actions comprising semantics of an application genre, receiving a call from the application at an action-control set-up interface, wherein input parameters of the call comprise a set of actions of the application and the application genre; and responsive to receiving the call at the action-control set-up interface, associating the set of actions to a plurality of controls of a user input device based upon semantics of the application genre. - View Dependent Claims (22, 23, 24, 25, 26, 27)
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28. One or more tangible computer readable media comprising computer-executable instructions that perform an action-control set-up when executed on a computing device, the computer-executable instructions comprising:
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instructions for receiving an action-control set-up call from an application during initial configuration of the application, the call comprising a set of actions implemented by the application and a genre of the application; and instructions for associating the set of actions to plural controls of an input device based upon semantics of the genre. - View Dependent Claims (29, 30)
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Specification