Patent ID: 9129478
Filing Date: 2015-09-08
Classification: A63F,G06F,G06K,G07F,H04N

Abstract:
1. A method performed in a computing device, comprising: detecting an action intended to control an application running on the computing the device, the application being associated with a shared launch surface, where the shared launch surface is provided by the computing device or an operating system running on the computing device, and where the shared launch surface controls launching of applications for the computing device; associating the action with a body located in a field of view of a biometric sensor associated with a shared launch surface; determining, in the computing device, using data provided by the biometric sensor, a biometric identity for the body; attributing the action to a user as a function of the biometric identity, where data associated with the user is stored in a data store in the computing device; identifying a context associated with the user, where data associated with the context is stored in a data store in the computing device, and selectively controlling how the application runs on the computing device or how the shared launch surface operates on the computing device as a function of the action and the context without navigating to the shared launch surface and without exiting an application already running on the computing device; where detecting the action comprises detecting a button press, detecting a virtual button press, detecting an interaction with a user interface, detecting an interaction with a game controller, detecting a manipulation of a game controller, detecting a voice command, detecting an eye movement, detecting a brain wave, or detecting a gesture, where the action launches an application from the shared launch surface and where selectively controlling the application or the shared launch surface comprises controlling the computing device to automatically launch the application from the shared launch surface using the context.