Customizable and reconfigurable virtual instrument panel
AssigneeApplied Minds, LLC
InventorsBran Ferren, W. Daniel Hillis, Randall Adam Yates, Ira M. Lichtman, Clint Blake Hope
Life of this patent
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Abstract
The invention provides an instrument control panel that is easily customized and reconfigured, and yet provides the familiar tactile sensation of physical knobs, sliders, and buttons. The instrument control panel comprises one or more interface components that are removably coupled to an interface display wherein the interface components communicate with one or more control components disposed behind the interface display. The present invention lends itself particularly well to an instrument panel.
Claims20
A control apparatus comprising:
- an interface surface, wherein the interface surface is further configured to automatically display information associated with a controllable function, controllable through the interface surface;
- at least one removable interface component coupled to a first portion of the interface surface;
- and
- a location sensing mechanism, configured to determine a location on the interface surface to which the interface component is coupled, wherein the display information is displayed, at a proximate location with respect to the determined location, on the interface surface.
A method implemented within a processor of a display device comprising the steps of:
- receiving, at the processor, an indication that an interface component is coupled to a portion of a display surface of the display device;
- and
- in response, the processor displaying function control information on the display device, proximate to the portion of the display surface, based on the indication.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.