Patent application number | Description | Published |
20130181902 | SKINNABLE TOUCH DEVICE GRIP PATTERNS - Skinnable touch device grip pattern techniques are described herein. A touch-aware skin may be configured to substantially cover the outer surfaces of a computing device. The touch-aware skin may include a plurality of skin sensors configured to detect interaction with the skin at defined locations. The computing device may include one or more modules operable to obtain input from the plurality of skin sensors and decode the input to determine grips patterns that indicate how the computing device is being held by a user. Various functionality provided by the computing device may be selectively enabled and/or adapted based on a determined grip pattern such that the provided functionality may change to match the grip pattern. | 07-18-2013 |
20130201112 | LOW-LATENCY TOUCH-INPUT DEVICE - This document describes embodiments of a low-latency touch-input device. The low-latency touch-input device receives writing as input to the device and temporarily displays the writing on a physical layer that overlays a touchscreen display of the device. The writing is displayed instantaneously on the physical layer before the touch-input device processes the input. The low-latency touch-input device then processes the input to generate a digital representation of the writing and renders the digital representation of the writing on the touchscreen display to replace the writing displayed on the physical layer. | 08-08-2013 |
20130201276 | INTEGRATED INTERACTIVE SPACE - Techniques for implementing an integrative interactive space are described. In implementations, video cameras that are positioned to capture video at different locations are synchronized such that aspects of the different locations can be used to generate an integrated interactive space. The integrated interactive space can enable users at the different locations to interact, such as via video interaction, audio interaction, and so on. In at least some embodiments, techniques can be implemented to adjust an image of a participant during a video session such that the participant appears to maintain eye contact with other video session participants at other locations. Techniques can also be implemented to provide a virtual shared space that can enable users to interact with the space, and can also enable users to interact with one another and/or objects that are displayed in the virtual shared space. | 08-08-2013 |
20130207937 | Optical Stylus Interaction - Optical stylus interaction techniques are described. In an implementation, a display of a computing device includes optical sensors capable of detecting images projected by a stylus. A stylus may include a projection system to project various images used to convey interaction information that may be interpreted by the computing device. Based on recognition of different projected images, a context for interaction of the stylus may be ascertained and corresponding operations may be performed by the computing device. This may include resolving a spatial position of the stylus relative to the display device as well as movement of the stylus and images that defines various stylus-based gestures. In addition, the environment for optical stylus interaction enables a writing mode that emulates natural writing by mapping different projectable images to changes in pressure applied to the stylus when in contact with the display. | 08-15-2013 |
20130215454 | THREE-DIMENSIONAL PRINTING - Three-dimensional printing techniques are described. In one or more implementations, a system includes a three-dimensional printer and a computing device. The three-dimensional printer has a three-dimensional printing mechanism that is configured to form a physical object in three dimensions. The computing device is communicatively coupled to the three-dimensional printer and includes a three-dimensional printing module implemented at least partially in hardware to cause the three-dimensional printer to form the physical object in three dimensions as having functionality configured to communicate with a computing device. | 08-22-2013 |
20130229386 | INPUT DEVICE WRITING SURFACE - Input device writing surface techniques are described. In one or more implementations, an input device includes a connection portion configured to form a communicative and physical coupling to a computing device sufficient to secure the input device to the computing device. The input device also includes an input portion having a writing surface configured to perform a change in optical states that is viewable by the user, the change in the optical states performable without use of electronic computation. | 09-05-2013 |
20130242495 | CONNECTION DEVICE FOR COMPUTING DEVICES - A connection device for computing devices is described. In one or more implementations, a connection device comprises a plurality of connection portions that are physically and communicatively coupled, one to another. Each of the plurality of connection portions has at least one communication contact configured to form a communicative coupling with a respective one of a plurality of computing devices and with at least one other communication contact of another one of the connections portions to support communication between the plurality of computing devices. Each of the plurality of connection portions also includes a magnetic coupling device to form a removable magnetic attachment to the respective one of the plurality of computing devices. | 09-19-2013 |
20130286223 | PROXIMITY AND CONNECTION BASED PHOTO SHARING - Photos are shared among devices that are in close proximity to one another and for which there is a connection among the devices. The photos can be shared automatically, or alternatively based on various user inputs. Various different controls can also be placed on sharing photos to restrict the other devices with which photos can be shared, the manner in which photos can be shared, and/or how the photos are shared. | 10-31-2013 |
20130300668 | Grip-Based Device Adaptations - Grip-based device adaptations are described in which a touch-aware skin of a device is employed to adapt device behavior in various ways. The touch-aware skin may include a plurality of sensors from which a device may obtain input and decode the input to determine grip characteristics indicative of a user's grip. On-screen keyboards and other input elements may then be configured and located in a user interface according to a determined grip. In at least some embodiments, a gesture defined to facilitate selective launch of on-screen input element may be recognized and used in conjunction with grip characteristics to launch the on-screen input element in dependence upon grip. Additionally, touch and gesture recognition parameters may be adjusted according to a determined grip to reduce misrecognition. | 11-14-2013 |
20130328761 | PHOTOSENSOR ARRAY GESTURE DETECTION - Photosensor array gesture detection techniques are described. In one or more embodiments, a computing device includes an array of photosensors. The photosensor array can be configured in various ways to measure changes in the amount of light that occur based upon a user's hand position above the photosensor array. In at least some embodiments, capacitance associated with the photosensors is charged and data regarding discharge rates for the sensors is collected that is indicative of the amount of incident light. Sequential changes in the amount of light that is measured across the array of photosensors can be used to determine positioning and/or movement of the user's hand in three dimensions (e.g., track position/motion in three-dimensional (3D) space relative to the computing device.) Accordingly, various gestures can be defined in terms of input obtained via the photosensor array and recognized to trigger corresponding operations by the computing device. | 12-12-2013 |
20130335594 | ENHANCING CAPTURED DATA - Captured data is obtained, including various types of captured or recorded data (e.g., image data, audio data, video data, etc.) and/or metadata describing various aspects of the capture device and/or the manner in which the data is captured. One or more elements of the captured data that can be replaced by one or more substitute elements are determined, the replaceable elements are removed from the captured data, and links to the substitute elements are associated with the captured data. Links to additional elements to enhance the captured data are also associated with the captured data. Enhanced content can subsequently be constructed based on the captured data as well as the links to the substitute elements and additional elements. | 12-19-2013 |
20130342464 | Input Device with Interchangeable Surface - An input device with an interchangeable surface is described. In one or more implementations, an input device base includes a connection portion configured to provide a physical and communicative coupling to a computing device and a plurality of sensors configured to initiate respective inputs responsive to contact from a user. The input device also includes an interchangeable surface that is removable and connectable, physically, to the input device base, the interchangeable surface having a plurality of indications of inputs that are to be initiated via respective ones of the plurality of sensors. | 12-26-2013 |
20130342465 | Interchangeable Surface Translation and Force Concentration - An input device with an interchangeable surface is described. In one or more implementations, an input device base includes a connection portion configured to provide a physical and communicative coupling to a computing device and a plurality of sensors configured to initiate respective inputs responsive to contact from a user. The input device also includes an interchangeable surface that is removable and connectable, physically, to the input device base, the interchangeable surface having a plurality of indications of inputs that are to be initiated via respective ones of the plurality of sensors. | 12-26-2013 |
20130346636 | Interchangeable Surface Input Device Mapping - An input device with an interchangeable surface is described. In one or more implementations, an input device base includes a connection portion configured to provide a physical and communicative coupling to a computing device and a plurality of sensors configured to initiate respective inputs responsive to contact from a user. The input device also includes an interchangeable surface that is removable and connectable, physically, to the input device base, the interchangeable surface having a plurality of indications of inputs that are to be initiated via respective ones of the plurality of sensors. | 12-26-2013 |
20140049894 | SWITCHABLE MAGNETIC LOCK - This document describes techniques using, and apparatuses including, switchable magnetic locks. These techniques and apparatuses can enable low or no power consumption and a seamless design for locking and unlocking of devices one to the other, such as computing devices and peripherals. | 02-20-2014 |
20140063198 | CHANGING PERSPECTIVES OF A MICROSCOPIC-IMAGE DEVICE BASED ON A VIEWER' S PERSPECTIVE - This document describes various apparatuses and techniques for changing perspectives of a microscopic-image device based on a viewer's perspective. Various embodiments of these techniques sense a change to a viewer's perspective based on the viewer's head position and control a microscopic-image device effective to display images of an object based on the change to the viewer's perspective. | 03-06-2014 |
20140078063 | GESTURE-INITIATED KEYBOARD FUNCTIONS - Gesture-initiated keyboard operations are described. In one or more implementations, one or more touch inputs that involve interaction with a key of a keyboard are identified. Touch inputs can be identified using touchscreen functionality of a display device or using one or more pressure-sensitive touch sensors. Based on this touch input(s), a gesture is recognized. The gesture is configured to initiate an operation that corresponds to at least one key that is not included in the keys of the keyboard. In one or more implementations, the operation is a shift, caps lock, backspace, enter, tab, or control operation. | 03-20-2014 |
20140098085 | TRANSPARENT DISPLAY DEVICE - This document describes techniques and apparatuses for implementing a transparent display device. A transparent display device includes a transparent or translucent screen to render images on the screen, and to render virtual objects that appear to be in a three-dimensional (3D) space behind the screen. The transparent display device also includes a hand tracker to sense movement of a user's hands to interact with one or more of the virtual objects, and to generate 3D-input based on the movement. The transparent or translucent screen enables the user to see the user's hands behind the screen as the user's hands interact with the one or more virtual objects. The transparent display device is controlled to modify the rendering of the images on the screen or the virtual objects behind the screen based on the 3D-input. | 04-10-2014 |
20140125864 | RAPID SYNCHRONIZED LIGHTING AND SHUTTERING - This document describes various apparatuses and techniques for rapid synchronized lighting and shuttering. These apparatuses and techniques are capable of capturing two images, where one of the images integrates multiple exposures during which an image area is illuminated by a light source and another of the images integrates multiple exposures during which the image is not illuminated by the light source. The image area can be illuminated by rapidly flashing the image area with the light source and synchronizing a shutter to permit one image sensor to capture an image when the image area is illuminated and another image sensor to capture the image area when the image area is not illuminated. These two images can be captured concurrently or nearly concurrently, thereby reducing or eliminating motion artifacts. Further, these apparatuses and techniques may do so with slow and relatively low-cost cameras and relatively low computational costs. | 05-08-2014 |
20140132551 | Touch-Sensitive Bezel Techniques - Touch-sensitive bezel techniques are described. In one or more implementations, touch sensors located in a display portion and a bezel portion detect a touch input and determine, based on one or more characteristics of the touch input, a likelihood that a user intends or does not intend to interact with the computing device. A location of a centroid of an area of the touch input is on such characteristic that can be utilized. In at least some implementations, the bezel portion has display capabilities such that when a touch input is detected, the display capabilities in a region of the bezel portion can be made active to cause a menu to be displayed in the region of the bezel. | 05-15-2014 |
20140139421 | DEVICE HAVING VARIABLE-INPUT SELECTOR FOR ELECTRONIC BOOK CONTROL - This document describes techniques and apparatuses concerning e-book-reading devices having integral variable-input manual selectors through which selection to control an electronic book is enabled. One example of this control includes navigating pages of an electronic book through flipping pages. Control of this page flipping can be made through a single implement of the variable-input manual selector, such as to slow, speed up, stop, or reverse the page flipping. | 05-22-2014 |
20140143705 | BOOKMARKING FOR ELECTRONIC BOOKS - This document describes techniques and apparatuses enabling bookmarking for electronic books. The techniques and apparatuses enable a user of an electronic book to bookmark pages of the electronic book and navigate based on these bookmarks as well as bookmarks made by other users. | 05-22-2014 |
20140143706 | ELECTRONIC BOOK NAVIGATION - This document describes techniques and apparatuses enabling electronic book navigation. These techniques and apparatuses enable a user to navigate through an electronic book by flipping through pages of the electronic book. The speed of this flip can be based on a force or bend applied to a manual selector of a computing device on which the electronic book is displayed. The flip may also be affected by an affinity for a page of the electronic book, such by pausing at a page previously bookmarked by the user or often viewed by previous readers of the electronic book. This document also describes e-book-reading devices having integral variable-input manual selectors through which selection to flip through pages of an electronic book is enabled. | 05-22-2014 |
20140143707 | AFFINITY-BASED PAGE NAVIGATION - This document describes techniques and apparatuses enabling affinity-based page navigation. These techniques and apparatuses enable page navigation, such as page flipping, page searches, and other navigation based on affinities associated with various pages. These affinities can include a reference to a page, such as a link or quotation in a social networking service, an encyclopedia, a webpage, an article, a newspaper, or a blog. These affinities can also or instead include usage, such as how many users have read, highlighted, dog-eared, or bookmarked a page. | 05-22-2014 |
20140168131 | COMBINED DISPLAY PANEL CIRCUIT - Combined display panel circuit techniques are described herein. In one or more implementations, a combined panel circuit of a display device is configured to enable functionality for both recognition of touch inputs and functionality to update images output by the display device. The combined panel circuit, for instance, may include an electrode arrangement in conductive layers that sandwiches display particles used to form images for the display device. The display particles may be manipulated under the influence of a threshold voltage applied to the electrode arrangement that is sufficient to cause the display particles to transition between states. Capacitance sensing indicative of touch inputs may occur under the influence of a different voltage that is not sufficient to manipulate the display particles. The different voltages are selectively applied at different times to update displayed images through manipulation of the display particles and sense capacitance to recognize touch inputs. | 06-19-2014 |
20140313401 | Rapid Synchronized Lighting and Shuttering - This document describes various apparatuses and techniques for rapid synchronized lighting and shuttering. These apparatuses and techniques are capable of capturing two images, where one of the images integrates multiple exposures during which an image area is illuminated by a light source and another of the images integrates multiple exposures during which the image is not illuminated by the light source. The image area can be illuminated by rapidly flashing the image area with the light source and synchronizing a shutter to permit one image sensor to capture an image when the image area is illuminated and another image sensor to capture the image area when the image area is not illuminated. These two images can be captured concurrently or nearly concurrently, thereby reducing or eliminating motion artifacts. Further, these apparatuses and techniques may do so with slow and relatively low-cost cameras and relatively low computational costs. | 10-23-2014 |
20150070119 | Switchable Magnetic Lock - This document describes techniques using, and apparatuses including, switchable magnetic locks. These techniques and apparatuses can enable low or no power consumption and a seamless design for locking and unlocking of devices one to the other, such as computing devices and peripherals. | 03-12-2015 |