Patent ID: 9557826
Date: 2017-01-31
CPC Classifications: G06F

Claim:
1. A machine-implemented method comprising: defining a surface of a flexible input device, the surface having a default shape; reshaping the surface into a form analogous to a regular non-malleable input device in response to physical proximity to one or more external objects, the objects comprising one or more bodily appendages of a user; sensing manipulation of the flexible input device in real time by the one or more bodily appendages in proximity to the surface; interpreting the manipulation of the flexible input device as input to a computer via a control area on the surface that is defined more by the manipulation itself than by any distinct physical feature of the control area, wherein the control area is analogous to a fixed control area of the regular non-malleable input device, so as to behave at least in part as the regular non-malleable input device; and restoring the default shape when the surface is not in physical proximity to the one or more objects.