Interacting with a Computer Through Handwriting to a Screen

Abstract

Systems and methods are described that enable a user to: select a control with a handwritten stroke at least part of which resides outside of a selectable area of the control; use a moving-input control without having to make a selection other than handwriting on, over, or near the control; and/or delete text displayed on an electronic form by handwriting over that text.

1 . A computer-implemented method comprising:
 receiving handwriting, at least part of the handwriting made over text displayed on a screen;   selecting at least part of the text based on the handwriting; and   determining whether the handwriting received is for deleting the selected text.   
     
     
         2 . The computer-implemented method of  claim 1 , wherein the text is displayed in an unselected data-entry field. 
     
     
         3 . The computer-implemented method of  claim 1 , wherein the receiving handwriting is performed without a prior selection of a data-entry field in which the text is displayed. 
     
     
         4 . The computer-implemented method of  claim 1 , wherein the receiving, selecting, and determining are performed without user interaction other than the received handwriting. 
     
     
         5 . The computer-implemented method of  claim 1 , wherein the text comprises non-handwritten text. 
     
     
         6 . The computer-implemented method of  claim 1 , wherein the handwriting comprises a single stroke. 
     
     
         7 . The computer-implemented method of  claim 1 , wherein the handwriting comprises multiple strokes. 
     
     
         8 . The computer-implemented method of  claim 1 , wherein the selected text comprises multiple characters, a single word, multiple words, a single sentence, or multiple sentences. 
     
     
         9 . The computer-implemented method of  claim 1 , further comprising deleting the selected text responsive to determining that the handwriting received is for deleting the selected text. 
     
     
         10 . The computer-implemented method of  claim 9 , wherein the deleting comprises deleting two or more characters of the selected text. 
     
     
         11 . The computer-implemented method of  claim 1 , wherein the determining comprises determining that the handwriting received is for deleting the selected text if a displayed representation of the handwriting received obscures a significant portion of the selected text. 
     
     
         12 . The computer-implemented method of  claim 1 , wherein handwriting is received via a stylus. 
     
     
         13 . A computing device comprising:
 a screen;   a processor; and   computer-readable storage media comprising instructions stored thereon that, responsive to execution by the processor, perform a method comprising:
 causing display of non-handwritten text on the screen; 
 receiving a handwriting stroke made to the screen, at least a part of which resides over at least of portion of the non-handwritten text; and 
 deleting two or more characters of the non-handwritten text. 
   
     
     
         14 . The computing device of  claim 13 , wherein the causing display comprises causing display of the non-handwritten text in an unselected data-entry field. 
     
     
         15 . The computing device of  claim 13 , wherein the deleting comprises deleting the two or more characters of the non-handwritten text without user interaction independent of the handwriting stroke made to the screen. 
     
     
         16 . The computing device of  claim 9 , wherein the deleting comprises deleting a word of the non-handwritten text. 
     
     
         17 . One or more computer-readable storage media comprising instructions stored thereon that, responsive to execution by a processor, perform a method comprising:
 receiving handwriting, at least part of the handwriting made over text displayed on a screen;   selecting at least part of the text based on the handwriting;   determining whether the handwriting received is for deleting the selected text; and   deleting the selected text responsive to determining that the handwriting received is for deleting the selected text.   
     
     
         18 . The one or more computer-readable storage media as recited in  claim 17 , wherein the text is displayed in an unselected data-entry field. 
     
     
         19 . The one or more computer-readable storage media as recited in  claim 17 , wherein the receiving handwriting is performed without a prior selection of a data-entry field in which the text is displayed. 
     
     
         20 . The one or more computer-readable storage media as recited in  claim 17 , wherein the receiving, selecting, and determining are performed without user interaction other than the received handwriting.