Multi-mode text input

• US 9,263,045 B2
• Filed: 05/17/2011
• Issued: 02/16/2016
• Est. Priority Date: 05/17/2011
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Microsoft Technology Licensing LLC (Microsoft Corporation)
• Original Assignee: Microsoft Technology Licensing LLC (Microsoft Corporation)
• Inventors: Varthakavi, Mohan, Kothari, Nikhil, Nanduri, Jayaram N M
• Primary Examiner(s): Desir, Pierre-Louis
• Assistant Examiner(s): Sirjani, Fariba
• Application Number:
  US13/109,023
• Publication Number:
  US 20120296646A1
• Time in Patent Office: 1,736 Days
• Field of Search: 704/235
• US Class Current: 1/1
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 16/335 Filtering based on additional data, e.g. user or group profiles filtering in web context G06F16/9535, G06F16/9536
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 16/38 Retrieval characterised by using metadata, e.g. metadata not derived from the content or metadata generated manually
• CPC Class Codes: G10L 15/26 Speech to text systems G10L15/08 takes precedence

Abstract

Concepts and technologies are described herein for multi-mode text input. In accordance with the concepts and technologies disclosed herein, content is received. The content can include one or more input indicators. The input indicators can indicate that user input can be used in conjunction with consumption or use of the content. The application is configured to analyze the content to determine context associated with the content and/or the client device executing the application. The application also is configured to determine, based upon the content and/or the contextual information, which input device to use to obtain input associated with use or consumption of the content. Input captured with the input device can be converted to text and used during use or consumption of the content.

Claims

1. A computer-implemented method for interacting with content, the computer-implemented method comprising performing computer-implemented operations for:

receiving, at a computer, the content from a source;

identifying at least one input indicator in the content, the at least one input indicator indicating that the content supports multi-mode input, the input indicator including explicit meta tags, flags, implicit keywords, or form elements, the input indicator associated with a form element;

determining a content associated with the form element if the input indicator indicates that the form element supports multi-mode input;

determining a type of information to be captured from a plurality of types of information by the computer based on the context for the form element;

activating one or more non-textual input devices associated with the computer according to the type of information to be captured;

capturing multi-mode input, via the one or more non-textual input devices, for interacting with the content, wherein the multi-mode input includes one or more of camera, speech, and touch input; and

converting the multi-mode input to text.

2. The method of claim 1, further comprising submitting the text to the source.

3. The method of claim 1, further comprising determining if the content is configured to support multi-mode input.

4. The method of claim 3, wherein identifying the at least one input indicator comprises analyzing the content to identify a meta tag in the content, the meta tag enabling the multi-mode input.

5. The method of claim 3, wherein identifying the at least one input indicator comprises

identifying at least one input field in the content,

analyzing the at least one input field to identify a type of input, and

determining that a non-textual input device is available for entering the input.

6. The method of claim 1, wherein the context indicates which the one or more non-textual input devices is to be used to capture the non-textual input.

7. The method of claim 1, further comprising filtering the multi-mode input based, at least partially, upon the context.

8. The method of claim 7, wherein the one or more non-textual input devices comprise a microphone for capturing audio, and wherein converting the input to text comprises using a speech-to-text converter to generate the text based upon the audio.

9. The method of claim 8, wherein filtering the multi-mode input comprises modifying a vocabulary associated with the speech-to-text converter.

10. The method of claim 7, wherein the one or more non-textual input devices comprise a camera for capturing an image, and wherein converting the input to text comprises using an optical character recognition process to generate the text based upon the image.

11. The method of claim 10, wherein filtering the multi-mode input comprises modifying a vocabulary associated with the optical character generation process.

12. The method of claim 1, wherein the multi-mode input includes map information, the map information including a street address having a zip code.

13. A computer-implemented method for interacting with content, the computer-implemented method comprising performing computer-implemented operations for:

receiving the content from a source;

identifying at least one input indicator in the content, the at least one input indicator indicating that the content supports multi-mode input, the input indicator including explicit meta tags, flags, implicit keywords, or form elements, the input indicator associated with a form element;

determining a context associated with the form element if the input indicator indicates that the form element supports multi-mode input;

determining a type of information to be captured from a plurality of types of information by the computer based on the context for the form element;

activating one or more non-textual input devices associated with the computer according to the type of information to be captured;

capturing multi-mode input, via the one or more non-textual input devices, for interacting with the content, wherein the multi-mode input includes one or more of camera, speech, and touch input;

converting the multi-mode input to text; and

submitting the text to the source.

14. The method of claim 13, further comprising determining if the content is configured to support multi-mode input.

15. The method of claim 13, wherein identifying the at least one input indicator comprises analyzing the content to identify a meta tag in the content, the meta tag enabling the multi-mode input.

16. The method of claim 13, wherein identifying the at least one input indicator comprises

identifying at least one input field in the content,

analyzing the at least one input field to identify a type of input, and

determining that a non-textual input device is available for entering the input.

17. The method of claim 13, further comprising:

filtering the multi-mode input based at least partially, upon the context.

18. A computer storage medium having computer readable instructions stored thereupon that, when executed by a computer, cause the computer to:

receive content from a source, the content including one or more of webpages or application pages;

identify at least one input indicator in the content, the at least one input indicator indicating that the content supports multi-mode input, the input indicator including explicit meta tags, flags, implicit keywords, and/or form elements, the input indicator associated with a form element;

determine a context associated with the form element;

determine that the form element is configured to support interactions via multi-mode input;

determine a type of information to be captured from a plurality of types of information by the computer based on the context for the form element;

activate one or more non-textual input devices associated with the computer according to the type of information to be captured;

capture the multi-mode input, via the activated input device, for interacting with the content, wherein the multi-mode input includes one or more of camera, speech, and touch input;

convert the multi-mode input to text; and

submit the text to the source.

19. The computer storage medium of claim 18, further comprising computer readable instructions that, when executed by a computer, cause the computer to:

filter the multi-mode input based, at least partially, upon the context.

20. The computer storage medium of claim 18, wherein identifying the at least one input indicator comprises analyzing the content to identify a meta tag in the content, the meta tag enabling the multi-mode input.