Microsoft Technology Licensing, LLC

Jack Creasey

Michael Koenig

Robert C Elmer

Oscar E Murillo

Ruston Panabaker

Jonathan C Cluts

Jai Srinivasan

Janet Ellen Galore

Subha Bhattacharyay

Kanchan Mitra

Colleen G Estrada

Clark David Nicholson

Jay Beavers

Ira Snyder

David Jaroslav Sebesta

Leroy B Keely

William Jefferson Westerinen

Cenk Ergan

Kentaro Toyama

Alexander Frank

Zhangwei Xu

Richard P Lewis

Kaushik Barat

Nicholas Temple

Thomas C Phillips

The subject disclosure relates to user input into a computer system, and a technology by which one or more users interact with a computer system via a combination of input modalities. When the input data of two or more input modalities are related, they are combined to interpret an intended meaning of the input. For example, speech when combined with one input gesture has one intended meaning, e.g., convert the speech to verbatim text for consumption by a program, while the exact speech when combined with a different input gesture has a different meaning, e.g., convert the speech to a command that controls the operation of that same program.

Multimodal input system

A multi-user computer system may distribute user windows across multiple monitors. Some of the user windows may span two or more monitors. Some user windows may share a monitor. Each user window may be associated with a set of user input devices for each user. The user window configuration may be changed on the fly by an administrative user, who may reposition, rotate, scale, or perform other changes to the windows.

Dynamic distribution of client windows on multiple monitors

Techniques for enabling software-assisted assignment of control of peripherals (e.g., assigning ownership of or assigning access to the peripherals) by a computing device. In accordance with techniques described herein, assignment of control of peripherals is aided by input from software facilities that instruct a peripheral management facility regarding assignment of peripherals. Software facilities may instruct the peripheral management facility in different ways. In some cases, a software facility may instruct the peripheral management facility how to assign control of a peripheral in a particular way, while in other cases a software facility may instruct the peripheral management facility how to assign control of a group of peripherals. In other cases, a software facility may not instruct a peripheral management facility how to assign control of peripherals, but may identify one or more groups of peripherals for which control should be assigned as a group.

Assignment of control of peripherals of a computing device

Described is a technology by which a memory controller is a component of a hybrid memory device having different types of memory therein (e.g., SDRAM and flash memory), in which the controller operates such that the memory device has only a single memory interface with respect to voltage and access protocols defined for one type of memory. For example, the controller allows a memory device with a standard SDRAM interface to provide access to both SDRAM and non-volatile memory with the non-volatile memory overlaid in one or more designated blocks of the volatile memory address space (or vice-versa). A command protocol maps memory pages to the volatile memory interface address space, for example, permitting a single pin compatible multi-chip package to replace an existing volatile memory device in any computing device that wants to provide non-volatile storage, while only requiring software changes to the device to access the flash.

Hybrid memory device with single interface

Described herein are various techniques and principles for determining how to assign control of peripherals and assigning control of peripherals. In some embodiments, determining how to assign control of peripherals comprises reviewing connections of peripherals to the computing device and evaluating rules to determine management points in the connections. In some cases, the connections of peripherals to the computing device may be organized into a hierarchy corresponding to a hierarchy of physical connections of the peripherals, including physical connections of peripherals located remote from the computing device and possibly connected through another computing device. When management points are identified among the connections, control of peripherals associated with the management points may be assigned in the same way. For example, access rights to each of the peripherals may be assigned to a same user session.

Rule-based assignment of control of peripherals of a computing device

Architecture that provides programmatic association of a device (e.g., removable) to a currently logged-in user, and restricts access to the drive only to that particular logged-in user. When active, the architecture detects when devices are added to the system, determines which logged-in user a given device (or devices) should be assigned, modifies the security settings for the device(s), and makes a per-user drive letter mapping to that device such that only the logged-in user can see the mapped device. In the context of serially attachable peripheral devices such as USB (universal serial bus) devices (and IEEE 1394 devices), for example, access can be restricted to a user based on the USB hub into which the device is connected. This prevents the operating system from assigning a global drive letter to a device or device volume (for drives) when the device is added.

Restricting access to volumes

Architecture that allows programmatic association of devices to sessions and redirects input to the desired session. When the solution is active, input from the devices is not realized by the standard operating system input stack, thereby allowing even reserved key sequences such as Ctrl-Alt-Del to be intercepted and redirected to a desired session. Moreover, in addition to redirecting input to a specific session, the architecture facilitates the filtering of input from unwanted/unmapped devices, the interception and filtering or redirection of reserved key sequences such as Ctrl-Alt-Del, and the maintenance of input state for each session.

Assigning input devices to specific sessions

Described is a technology by which a computer display may quickly resume outputting video data following its awakening from a deep sleep state. Displayed settings are maintained in a memory, such as a memory of the display, while the display is in a sleep state. The settings are associated with a token maintained by a host computer system and display. Upon a need to awaken the display to output video data, the host computer system and the display communicate the token, whereby the display may confirm whether maintained settings are still valid for actual use with the host's video signals. If still valid, the display restores the maintained display settings as actual display settings. The restoring of previously maintained display settings is ordinarily significantly faster than conventional mechanisms that are presently used to configure a display upon wakeup, resulting in the user perceiving a near-instantaneous wakeup of a display.

Fast display initialization and light up

A computer is modified to add a memory management module between a memory controller and memory. The module may control or intercept signals between the memory controller and the memory to disable a portion or all of the computer's normal function. The memory management module may be a discrete device or may be part of the memory controller itself.

Pre-paid computer monitoring hardware

A device includes a control configured to provide 5-way navigation. The control includes a fingerprint sensor with a platen that is coupled to an actuation sensor. A user can navigate by sliding a finger across the platen so as to provide direction input. In addition, the user can make a selection by applying a center press to the platen. In an embodiment, the fingerprint sensor is a sweep sensor and is rotatably mounted to the device. The device may include a display that is configured for a first orientation that matches the orientation of the control. The display and the control may be switched to a second orientation so that the user can more efficiently use the device in the second orientation.

Growing community of inventors

Redmond, WA, United States of America

Jack Creasey