Patents by Inventor Joseph B. Tobens

Joseph B. Tobens has filed for patents to protect the following inventions. This listing includes patent applications that are pending as well as patents that have already been granted by the United States Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO).

  • Patent number: 10775997
    Abstract: Techniques are described herein that are capable of causing a control interface to be presented on a touch-enabled device based on a motion or absence thereof. A motion, such as a hover gesture, can be detected and the control interface presented in response to the detection. Alternatively, absence of a motion can be detected and the control interface presented in response to the detection. A hover gesture can occur without a user physically touching a touch screen of a touch-enabled device. Instead, the user's finger or fingers can be positioned at a spaced distance above the touch screen. The touch screen can detect that the user's fingers are proximate to the touch screen, such as through capacitive sensing. Additionally, finger movement can be detected while the fingers are hovering to expand the existing options for gesture input.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: April 25, 2017
    Date of Patent: September 15, 2020
    Assignee: Microsoft Technology Licensing, LLC
    Inventors: Daniel J. Hwang, Juan (Lynn) Dai, Sharath Viswanathan, Joseph B. Tobens, Jose A. Rodriguez, Peter G. Davis
  • Publication number: 20170228150
    Abstract: Techniques are described herein that are capable of causing a control interface to be presented on a touch-enabled device based on a motion or absence thereof. A motion, such as a hover gesture, can be detected and the control interface presented in response to the detection. Alternatively, absence of a motion can be detected and the control interface presented in response to the detection. A hover gesture can occur without a user physically touching a touch screen of a touch-enabled device. Instead, the user's finger or fingers can be positioned at a spaced distance above the touch screen. The touch screen can detect that the user's fingers are proximate to the touch screen, such as through capacitive sensing. Additionally, finger movement can be detected while the fingers are hovering to expand the existing options for gesture input.
    Type: Application
    Filed: April 25, 2017
    Publication date: August 10, 2017
    Inventors: Daniel J. Hwang, Juan (Lynn) Dai, Sharath Viswanathan, Joseph B. Tobens, Jose A. Rodriguez, Peter G. Davis
  • Patent number: 9645651
    Abstract: Techniques are described herein that are capable of causing a control interface to be presented on a touch-enabled device based on a motion or absence thereof. A motion, such as a hover gesture, can be detected and the control interface presented in response to the detection. Alternatively, absence of a motion can be detected and the control interface presented in response to the detection. A hover gesture can occur without a user physically touching a touch screen of a touch-enabled device. Instead, the user's finger or fingers can be positioned at a spaced distance above the touch screen. The touch screen can detect that the user's fingers are proximate to the touch screen, such as through capacitive sensing. Additionally, finger movement can be detected while the fingers are hovering to expand the existing options for gesture input.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: September 24, 2013
    Date of Patent: May 9, 2017
    Assignee: Microsoft Technology Licensing, LLC
    Inventors: Daniel J. Hwang, Juan (Lynn) Dai, Sharath Viswanathan, Joseph B. Tobens, Jose A. Rodriguez, Peter G. Davis
  • Patent number: 9009630
    Abstract: A note-capture application is disclosed that allows notes to be displayed on the lock screen. In one embodiment, a note-capture application can be invoked when a mobile device is in an above-lock state. Note data can be captured using the note-capture application, and the captured data can be persistently displayed on the lock screen. A user can perform a unique gesture from the lock screen to invoke the note-capture application. In another embodiment, multiple input modes can be available for note data capture. For example, voice data, text data, camera data, etc. can all be used to capture notes for display on the lock screen.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: June 5, 2012
    Date of Patent: April 14, 2015
    Assignee: Microsoft Corporation
    Inventors: Michael J. Kruzeniski, Joseph B. Tobens, Jon Bell, William Scott Stauber, Rohit Bhatia, Ram Pattabhi Papatla, Daniel Escapa
  • Publication number: 20150089419
    Abstract: Techniques are described herein that are capable of causing a control interface to be presented on a touch-enabled device based on a motion or absence thereof. A motion, such as a hover gesture, can be detected and the control interface presented in response to the detection. Alternatively, absence of a motion can be detected and the control interface presented in response to the detection. A hover gesture can occur without a user physically touching a touch screen of a touch-enabled device. Instead, the user's finger or fingers can be positioned at a spaced distance above the touch screen. The touch screen can detect that the user's fingers are proximate to the touch screen, such as through capacitive sensing. Additionally, finger movement can be detected while the fingers are hovering to expand the existing options for gesture input.
    Type: Application
    Filed: September 24, 2013
    Publication date: March 26, 2015
    Applicant: Microsoft Corporation
    Inventors: Daniel J. Hwang, Juan (Lynn) Dai, Sharath Viswanathan, Joseph B. Tobens, Jose A. Rodriguez, Peter G. Davis
  • Publication number: 20140337751
    Abstract: Techniques are described for automatically creating calendar items. For example, calendar-related activity can be detected within user-accessed content on a computing device. In response to the detected calendar-related activity, calendar information can be displayed to a user of the computing device that indicates availability of the user. The user can indicate initiate creation of a calendar item based on the detected calendar-related activity and save the calendar item to the user's calendar.
    Type: Application
    Filed: May 13, 2013
    Publication date: November 13, 2014
    Applicant: Microsoft Corporation
    Inventors: Melissa Lim, Jared Brown, Joseph A. Schrader, Terri Chudzik, Jared Frew, Shawn Cantin Callegari, Tyler N. Jensen, Ashish Gupta, Renle Xia, Joseph B. Tobens, Gurpreet Virdi, Michael McGee
  • Publication number: 20140267094
    Abstract: Techniques are described herein that are capable of performing an action on a touch-enabled device based on a gesture. A gesture (e.g., a hover gesture, a gaze gesture, a look-and-blink gesture, a voice gesture, a touch gesture, etc.) can be detected and an action performed in response to the detection. A hover gesture can occur without a user physically touching a touch screen of a touch-enabled device. Instead, the user's finger or fingers can be positioned at a spaced distance above the touch screen. The touch screen can detect that the user's fingers, palm, etc. are proximate to the touch screen, such as through capacitive sensing. Additionally, finger movement can be detected while the fingers are hovering to expand the existing options for gesture input.
    Type: Application
    Filed: June 14, 2013
    Publication date: September 18, 2014
    Inventors: Daniel J. Hwang, Juan (Lynn) Dai, Sharath Viswanathan, Joseph B. Tobens, Jose A. Rodriguez
  • Publication number: 20130326582
    Abstract: A note-capture application is disclosed that allows notes to be displayed on the lock screen. In one embodiment, a note-capture application can be invoked when a mobile device is in an above-lock state. Note data can be captured using the note-capture application, and the captured data can be persistently displayed on the lock screen. A user can perform a unique gesture from the lock screen to invoke the note-capture application. In another embodiment, multiple input modes can be available for note data capture. For example, voice data, text data, camera data, etc. can all be used to capture notes for display on the lock screen.
    Type: Application
    Filed: June 5, 2012
    Publication date: December 5, 2013
    Applicant: Microsoft Corporation
    Inventors: Michael J. Kruzeniski, Joseph B. Tobens, Jon Bell, William Scott Stauber, Rohit Bhatia, Ram Pattabhi Papatla, Daniel Escapa