Multi-touch input platform

• US 9,268,483 B2
• Filed: 05/16/2008
• Issued: 02/23/2016
• Est. Priority Date: 05/16/2008
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Microsoft Technology Licensing LLC (Microsoft Corporation)
• Original Assignee: Microsoft Technology Licensing LLC (Microsoft Corporation)
• Inventors: Dennis, Stephen V., Tu, Xiao, Scott, Bryan D., Townsend, Reed L., Torset, Todd A.
• Primary Examiner(s): EURICE, MICHAEL
• Application Number:
  US12/122,045
• Publication Number:
  US 20090284479A1
• Time in Patent Office: 2,839 Days
• Field of Search: 345/173, 345/650, 715/863, 715/751, 715/754
• US Class Current: 1/1
• 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 2203/04808 Several contacts: gestures triggering a specific function, e.g. scrolling, zooming, right-click, when the user establishes several contacts with the surface simultaneously; e.g. using several fingers or a combination of fingers and pen
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 3/0482 Interaction with lists of selectable items, e.g. menus
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 3/04883 for inputting data by handwriting, e.g. gesture or text

Abstract

This document describes tools having or interacting with a touch-sensitive device with one or more contact detectors that detect a tactile input from a user making contact with the contact detectors and an input/output module that persistently identifies contact data representing the detected tactile input. This identification is unique, thereby differentiating one or more tactile inputs from other current tactile inputs represented in the contact data. Using this unique identification, the input/output module can initiate an application to provide a function, such as data entry or a mapped function, associated with the detected tactile input. These data or mapped functions may, in many instances, provide a greater depth or breadth of functions by which users may interact with applications and computer systems.

Claims

1. A method comprising:

receiving, at an input/output module and prior to receiving tactile input, an input mode selection from an application of which graphical objects are being displayed on a screen of a touch-sensitive device, the input mode selection indicating a type of touch input that is compatible with the graphical objects of the application and effective to cause the input/output module to enter a gesture recognition mode or a raw data entry mode;

receiving, at the input/output module and subsequent to receiving the input mode selection from the application, contact detector output from one or more contact detectors associated with the screen of the touch-sensitive device;

converting, via the input/output module, contact detector output into contact data that represents a first tactile input and a second tactile input detected by the one or more contact detectors;

identifying, via the input/output module and with a unique identification, first contact data of said contact data, said first contact data representing the first tactile input and said unique identification effective to differentiate said first contact data representing the first tactile input from second contact data representing the second tactile input; and

initiating, via the input/output module and responsive to receiving the application'"'"'s input mode selection of the gesture input mode, a mapped function of the application corresponding to a gesture recognized from the first contact data;

or

initiating, via the input/output module and responsive to receiving the application'"'"'s input mode selection of the raw data entry mode, raw data entry of at least the first contact data for interaction with the graphical objects of the application.

2. The method of claim 1, further comprising, to initiate the mapped function, accessing a lookup table or other library containing the mapped function.

3. The method of claim 1, further comprising passing, to the application, the unique identification as an argument to a notification configured to initiate the mapped function of the application, wherein the unique identification is a cursor identification.

4. The method of claim 1,

wherein the act of converting converts contact detector output into contact data that further represents a third tactile input and a fourth tactile input detected by the touch-sensitive device;

wherein the act of identifying further identifies, with unique identifications, second, third, and fourth contact data of said contact data, said second contact data representing the second tactile input, said third contact data representing the third tactile input, and said fourth contact data representing the fourth tactile input, said unique identifications effective to differentiate each of said first, second, third, and fourth contact data; and

wherein the act of initiating further initiates;

another mapped function of the application corresponding to a gesture recognized from the second, third, or fourth contact data;

or

additional raw data entry of the second, third, or fourth contact data for interaction with the graphical objects of the application.

5. The method of claim 1, further comprising, when in the raw data entry mode, assigning a single-finger event to either the first contact data representing the first tactile input or the second contact data representing the second tactile input.

6. The method of claim 1, wherein the unique identification persists until the first tactile input is not represented in the contact data and the input mode selection is received by the input/output module via an application programming interface (API).

7. The method of claim 1, wherein the graphical objects of the application include multi-color objects and the unique identification of the first contact data enables manipulation of a color of the multi-color objects that are different from another color of the multi-color objects through which manipulation is enabled by an identification of the second contact data.

8. The method of claim 1, wherein initiating raw data entry includes implementing a state machine to manage at least the first contact data representing the first tactile input and the second contact data representing the second tactile input.

9. A system comprising:

a screen configured to display graphical objects of an application, the application capable of accepting raw data input or gesture input to enable interaction with the graphical objects;

a touch-sensitive device associated with the screen and configured to detect two or more concurrent tactile inputs, the two or more concurrent tactile inputs being represented in contact data; and

an input/output module implemented by an application program interface (API) enabling interaction with the graphical objects of the application, the input/output module configured to operate in a gesture recognition mode or a raw data entry mode based on an input mode selection received from the application prior to the detection of the two or more concurrent tactile inputs;

the input/output module further configured to receive, from the touch sensitive device the contact data representing the two or more concurrent tactile inputs and to identify first contact data representing a first tactile input included in the two or more concurrent tactile inputs with a unique identification effective to enable differentiation between the first contact data and second contact data of the contact data;

wherein based on the input mode selection received from the application, the input/output module is configured to;

initiate a mapped function of the application corresponding to a gesture recognized from the first contact data in the gesture mode;

or

initiate the raw data entry of the first tactile input enabling interaction with the graphical objects of the application.

10. The system of claim 9, wherein the input/output module recognizes the gesture with which the mapped function corresponds from a group of current gestures from which the input/output module may select.

11. The system of claim 9, wherein the operations of the input/output module further comprise passing the unique identification as an argument to an input notification sent to the application.

12. The system of claim 9, wherein the operations of the input/output module further comprise:

identifying the second contact data representing the second tactile input included in the two or more concurrent tactile inputs with a second unique identification; and

recognizing another gesture based on the first contact data representing the first tactile input and the second contact data representing the second tactile input, the first contact data and the second contact data differentiated by the first unique identification and the second unique identification, respectively.

13. The system of claim 9, wherein the mapped function is associated with the first tactile input as represented in the first contact data.

14. The system of claim 13, wherein the graphical objects of the application are displayed on the screen associated with the touch-sensitive device via a graphical user interface (GUI) of the application.

15. The system of claim 13, wherein the unique identification is used to persistently identify the first contact data, unique among the contact data that represents the two or more concurrent tactile inputs, and capable of identifying subsequent tactile input once the first tactile input is no longer represented in the contact data.

16. One or more computer-readable memory devices having computer-executable instructions therein that, when executed, performs acts comprising:

displaying graphical objects of an application on a screen associated with a touch-sensitive device that includes one or more contact detectors;

receiving, from the application and prior receiving tactile input via the touch-sensitive device, an input mode selection specifying a type of touch input accepted by the application, the input mode selected being one of a raw data input mode or a gesture input mode for receiving the touch input;

receiving, from the touch-sensitive device and subsequent to receiving the input mode selection from the application, contact data that represents an individual tactile input included in two or more concurrent tactile inputs detected by the touch-sensitive device;

identifying the contact data representing the individual tactile input with a unique identification that is unique among two or more identifications individually identifying contact data representing one or more other concurrent tactile inputs of the two or more concurrent tactile inputs in the contact data, the unique identification effective to differentiate the contact data representing the individual tactile input from the one or more other concurrent tactile inputs; and

initiating, responsive to receiving the application'"'"'s input mode selection of the gesture input mode, a function of the application associated with a gesture recognized from the individual tactile input;

or

initiating, responsive to receiving the application'"'"'s input mode selection of the raw data input mode, raw data entry of the individual tactile input for interaction with the graphical objects of the application.

17. The one or more memory devices of claim 16, wherein the instructions are further executable to message the application with an update of the two or more identifications.

18. The one or more memory devices of claim 16, wherein the application is a web browser, media player, navigational application, or text messaging client.

19. The one or more memory devices of claim 16, wherein the instructions are further executable to:

pass, via an application program interface (API), a notification to the application including the unique identification as an argument to the notification; and

provide, using the unique identification, x-y information associated with the individual tactile input to implement the raw data entry with the application.

20. The one or more memory devices of claim 19, wherein the unique identification is a cursor identification and the notification is a pen or stylus notification.