User input comprising an event and detected motion

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-9933891-B2
Application number	US-201615231174-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Aug 8, 2016
Priority date	Nov 3, 2015
Publication date	Apr 3, 2018
Grant date	Apr 3, 2018

Abstract

A sensing surface device comprises a sensing module coupled to a sensing mat. The sensing module is configured to detect a first object at a first position on the sensing mat, detect an event associated with the first object and detect a movement at a second position on the sensing mat. The sensing module is further configured to generate an input to trigger an action in software based on both the detected event and the detected movement.

First claim

The invention claimed is:

1. A sensing surface device comprising:
a sensing mat; and
a sensing module coupled to the sensing mat and configured to:
detect a first object at a first position on the sensing mat;
detect an event associated with the first object;
detect a movement at a second position on the sensing mat; and
generate an input to trigger an action in software based on both the detected event and the detected movement, the detected movement being a detected movement of a second object on the sensing mat and the detected event indicating ejection of a projectile from the first object that moves above the sensing mat.

2. The sensing surface device according to claim 1 , wherein the sensing mat provides two different sensing modalities and the event and the movement are detected by the sensing module using different sensing modalities.

3. The sensing surface device according to claim 1 , wherein the sensing mat comprises:
a capacitive sensing array; and
an array of RF antennas.

4. The sensing surface device according to claim 3 , wherein the sensing module is configured to detect the event using the array of RF antennas and to detect the movement using the capacitive sensing array.

5. The sensing surface device according to claim 4 , wherein the sensing module is configured to detect the first object using the capacitive sensing array.

6. The sensing surface device according to claim 1 , wherein the sensing module is configured to generate an input to trigger an action in software based on both the detected event and the detected movement by:
determining whether the detected movement is correlated with the detected event; and
in response to determining that the detected movement and the detected event are correlated, generating a first input; and
in response to determining that the detected movement and the detected event are not correlated, generating a second input.

7. The sensing surface device according to claim 6 , wherein the projectile is not detectable by the sensing surface device.

8. The sensing surface device according to claim 1 , wherein the sensing module is configured to generate an input to trigger an action in software based on both the detected event and the detected movement by:
selecting a set of candidate inputs based at least on the detected event; and
selecting one of the set of candidate inputs based on the detected movement.

9. The sensing surface device according to claim 8 , wherein the detected movement is a detected touch event or gesture.

10. A method comprising:
detecting, using a sensing module coupled to a sensing mat, a position of a first object on the sensing mat;
detecting, using the sensing module, an event associated with the first object;
detecting, using the sensing module, a movement at a second position on the sensing mat; and
generating an input to software based on a combination of the detected event and the detected movement, the detected movement being a detected movement of a second object on the sensing mat and the detected event indicating ejection of a projectile from the first object that moves above the sensing mat.

11. The method according to claim 10 , wherein generating an input to software based on a combination of the detected event and the detected movement comprises:
determining whether the detected movement is correlated with the detected event; and
generating an input based on a result of the correlation determination.

12. The method according to claim 11 , wherein determining whether the detected movement is correlated with the detected event comprises:
determining whether the movement occurred in a time window defined relative to a time of the detected event; and/or
determining whether the movement occurred in a portion of the sensing mat defined relative to the position of the first object.

13. The method according to claim 12 , wherein determining whether the detected movement is correlated with the detected event further comprises:
determining, using the sensing module, whether a user was touching the second object at the time of the detected movement or immediately prior to the detected movement.

14. The method according to claim 10 , wherein the detecting an event associated with the first object comprises detecting a user interaction with the first object and detecting a movement at a second position comprises detecting a touch event or gesture at the second position.

15. The method according to claim 10 , further comprising:
detecting, using the sensing module, an orientation of the first object on the sensing mat.

16. The method according to claim 10 , further comprising:
detecting, using the sensing module, a movement at a third position on the sensing mat; and
generating a further input to software based at least on a combination of the detected event and the detected movement at the third position.

17. The method according to claim 10 , wherein generating an input to software based on a combination of the detected event and the detected movement comprises:
selecting a candidate set of inputs based at least on the detected event; and
selecting an input from the candidate set of inputs based at least on the detected movement.

18. The method according to claim 10 , wherein generating an input to software based on a combination of the detected event and the detected movement comprises:
selecting an incomplete input based at least on the detected event;
determining one or more parameters based at least on the detected movement; and
combining the incomplete input and the one or more parameters to generate the input to software.

19. The method according to claim 10 , wherein the sensing mat comprises a first sensing array and a second sensing array and wherein the event is detected using the first sensing array and the movement is detected using the second sensing array.

Assignees

• Microsoft Technology Licensing Llc

Inventors

• Saul Greg
• Villar Nicolas
• Cletheroe Daniel
• Zhang Haiyan
• Holz Christian

Classifications

• G06F2203/04104

  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 title

• G06F3/04883

  for inputting data by handwriting, e.g. gesture or text · CPC title

• G06F3/044

  by capacitive means · CPC title

• H01Q1/52

  Means for reducing coupling between antennas; Means for reducing coupling between an antenna and another structure (absorbing means H01Q17/00) · CPC title

• H01Q1/2258

  used with computer equipment · CPC title