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US 8,803,850 B2Granted
Stylus with control ring user interface
AssigneeBlackBerry Limited
InventorsJason Tyler Griffin, Tracy Christina Sharp, Mario Duarte Rodrigues Siqueira
Life of this patent
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Abstract
Control rings are mounted on a stylus body. A controller within the stylus body generates a control signal dependent upon the control rings. The control signal is transmitted to a host electronic device where information contained in the control signal is used to control properties of a drawing tool in a computer drawing application.
Claims21
A method for enabling selection of the attributes of a computerized drawing tool of a drawing application executed on a host electronic device, comprising:
- in response to operation of a first control ring on a stylus, generating a first signal representative of an angular position of the first control ring, where the first control ring comprises a multi-position selection switch having a plurality of angular positions, each angular position associated with a property of the computerized drawing tool property;
- in response to operation of a second control ring on the stylus, generating a second signal representative of a property value;
- multiplexing the first and second signals to form a control signal comprising:
- a header;
- an identifier dependent upon the first signal and comprising a numerical representation of the angular position of the first control ring;
- and
- a property value dependent upon the second signal and comprising a numerical representation of the property value;
- and
- transmitting the control signal from a transmitter of the stylus to enable selection, on the host electronic device, of a computerized drawing tool for which a property associated with the identifier has a value indicated by the property value.
6 more elements
A system comprising:
- a host electronic device comprising a processor, a display screen and a receiver, the host electronic device operable to execute a program of instructions of a drawing application;
- and
- a stylus comprising a body, a first control ring, a second control ring and a transmitter, where the first control ring selects a property of a drawing tool in the drawing application and the second control ring selects the value of the selected property in the drawing application;
- the stylus operable to transmit a control signal from the transmitter of the stylus in response to operation of the first and second control rings of the stylus, and
- the host electronic device operable to receive the control signal and to control the drawing tool in accordance with the control signal such that a property of the drawing tool selected by the first control ring of the stylus has the value selected by the second control ring of the stylus,
- wherein the control signal comprises:
- a header;
- an identifier comprising a numerical representation of an angular position of the first control ring;
- and
- a property value comprising a numerical representation of the property value selected by the second control ring.
7 more elements
A stylus comprising:
- a body;
- a first control ring mounted on the body, the first control ring comprising a multi-position switch having a plurality of angular positions, each angular position associated with a property of a drawing tool of a computer drawing application;
- a second control ring mounted on the body, the second control ring operable to select a value of the property associated with an angular position of the first control ring;
- a controller, operable to generate a control signal responsive to operation of the first and second control rings;
- and
- a transmitter operable to transmit the control signal, the control signal containing information to enable selection of a drawing tool for which the selected property has the selected property value in the computer drawing application
- wherein the control signal comprises:
- a header:
- an identifier comprising a numerical representation of an angular position of the first control ring;
- and
- a property value comprising a numerical representation of the property value selected by the second control ring.
8 more elements
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.