Classifying the intent of user input

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-9946307-B2
Application number	US-201213471336-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	May 14, 2012
Priority date	Mar 2, 2012
Publication date	Apr 17, 2018
Grant date	Apr 17, 2018

Abstract

Different types of user inputs can be input by a user via a keyboard of an input device. These different types of user inputs include, for example, key strikes, multi-touch interactions, single finger motions, and/or mouse clicks. Touch information regarding the pressure applied to the keys of a pressure sensitive keyboard over time (or the contact area of the user input for other types of keyboards over time) is used to classify the intent of the user input as one of the various types of user inputs.

First claim

What is claimed is:

1. A method comprising:
obtaining touch information regarding a single finger touching a keyboard of an input device, the input device supporting multiple different user intents for the single finger touching the keyboard, the obtaining comprising obtaining force information; and
automatically determining, based on the touch information, which of the multiple different user intents is intended for the single finger touching the keyboard, the multiple different user intents including a key strike, a mouse click, and a single finger motion, the determining including:
determining that the user intent intended for the single finger touching the keyboard is the key strike in response to the touch information conforming to characteristics of the key strike,
determining that the user intent intended for the single finger touching the keyboard is the mouse click in response to the touch information conforming to characteristics of the mouse click, the characteristics of the key strike indicating that the force applied by the single finger touching the keyboard rises faster than the characteristics of the mouse click indicate,
determining that the user intent intended for the single finger touching the keyboard is the single finger motion in response to the touch information conforming to characteristics of the single finger motion.

2. The method as recited in claim 1 , the input device comprising multiple pressure sensors that sense the single finger touching the keyboard, and the obtaining comprising obtaining force information.

3. The method as recited in claim 1 , the input device comprising a capacitive system that senses the single finger touching the keyboard, and the obtaining comprising obtaining contact information.

4. The method as recited in claim 1 , the determining that the user intent is the single finger motion comprising determining that the user intent is the single finger motion in response to the single finger travelling a threshold distance across the keyboard.

5. The method as recited in claim 1 , the determining that the user intent is the single finger motion comprising determining that the user intent is the single finger motion in response to the single finger having a threshold velocity across the keyboard.

6. The method as recited in claim 1 , the input device comprising an input device that is physically separate from and communicatively removable from a computing device.

7. The method as recited in claim 1 , the determining comprising determining which of the multiple different user intents is intended by comparing the touch information to one or more graphs representing user input intents, and determining whether the key strike or the mouse click is intended based on an intent associated with the one of the one or more graphs with which the touch information conforms.

8. The method as recited in claim 1 , the determining comprising determining which of the multiple different user intents is intended for the single finger touching the keyboard in the absence of another option or button selection by a user to indicate which of the multiple different user intents is intended.

9. The method as recited in claim 1 , further comprising:
using the touch information to identify a location of the keyboard touched by the single finger touching the keyboard; and
recording a user selection of a key associated with the location in response to determining that the user intent intended for the single finger touching the keyboard is the key strike, but not recording the user selection of the key associated with the location in response to determining that the user intent intended for the single finger touching the keyboard is the mouse click or the single finger motion.

10. An apparatus comprising an input device configured to provide an output that indicates touch information regarding a single finger touching a keyboard of the input device, the touch information including force information, the input device supporting multiple different user intents for the single finger touching the keyboard of the input device, the multiple different user intents including a key strike, a mouse click, and a single finger motion, the output being usable by one or more modules to automatically classify the user intent for the single finger touching the keyboard as the key strike in response to the touch information conforming to characteristics of the key strike, classify the user intent for the single finger touching the keyboard as the mouse click in response to the touch information conforming to characteristics of the mouse click, and classify the user intent for the single finger touching the keyboard as the single finger motion in response to the touch information conforming to characteristics of the single finger motion, the characteristics of the key strike indicating that the force applied by the single finger touching the keyboard rises faster than the characteristics of the mouse click indicate.

11. The apparatus as recited in claim 10 , the input device comprising a pressure sensitive input device.

12. The apparatus as recited in claim 11 , the touch information comprising information indicating changes in locations where pressure is applied to the keyboard of the pressure sensitive input device over time as well as changes in pressure applied to the keyboard over time.

13. The apparatus as recited in claim 10 , the apparatus including the one or more modules.

14. The apparatus as recited in claim 10 , the output being usable by the one or more modules to automatically classify the user intent for the single finger touching keyboard in the absence of another option or button selection by a user to indicate which of the multiple different user intents is intended.

15. The apparatus as recited in claim 10 , the input device comprising an input device that is physically separate from and communicatively removable from a computing device.

16. The apparatus as recited in claim 10 , further comprising:
the output being usable by the one or more modules to record a user selection of a key associated with a location of the keyboard touched by the single finger in response to classifying the user intent for the single finger touching the keyboard as the key strike, but not record the user selection of the key associated with the location in response to classifying the user intent for the single finger touching the keyboard as the mouse click or the single finger motion.

17. An apparatus comprising:
a hardware processor; and
computer-readable storage devices having stored thereon multiple instructions that, responsive to execution by the processor, cause the processor to perform operations comprising:
obtaining touch information regarding a single finger touching a keyboard of an input device, the touch information comprising force information, the input device supporting multiple different user intents for the single finger touching the keyboard; and
automatically determining, based on the touch information, which of the multiple different user intents is intended for the single finger touching the keyboard, the multiple different user intents including a key strike, a mouse click, and a single finger motion, and the determining including:
determining that the user intent intended for the single finger touching the keyboard is the key strike in response to the touch information conforming to characteristics of a key strike,
determining that the user intent intended for the single finger touching the keyboard is the mouse click in response to the touch information co

Assignees

• Lutz Iii Moshe R
• Dietz Paul Henry
• Microsoft Technology Licensing Llc

Inventors

• Lutz Iii Moshe R
• Dietz Paul Henry

Classifications

• H04M1/72409

  by interfacing with external accessories (hands-free H04M1/60) · CPC title

• G06F3/0487

  using specific features provided by the input device, e.g. functions controlled by the rotation of a mouse with dual sensing arrangements, or of the nature of the input device, e.g. tap gestures based on pressure sensed by a digitiser · CPC title

• H01H2203/02

  Interspersed fingers · CPC title

• H01H13/807

  characterised by the spatial arrangement of the contact sites, e.g. superimposed sites · CPC title

• H01H2205/006

  mounted on spacer · CPC title