Abstract
Controlling a remote machine via a mobile device can be difficult due to the challenges in capturing touchscreen input from the mobile device in a manner that can support the various functionalities of a full external keyboard and mouse/ trackpad. Directly relaying a character corresponding to the touchscreen text input to the remote machine does not support mobile input techniques such as swiping, gliding, or flicking across the keyboard, handwriting recognition, voice input, etc., and fails for languages that require multiple key presses to generate a single character. This disclosure describes techniques to provide users of mobile devices the full range of keyboard and mouse input functionality needed to control a remote machine accessed using the mobile device. A dual-mode touchscreen keyboard is provided to control a remote machine with a soft keyboard mode to generate key codes corresponding to key presses and a standard mode that functions similar to the usual mobile device keyboard. The techniques also support the full range of mouse input via direct touch or trackpad mode. The keyboard and mouse modes can be combined to relay input events that can include key presses and mouse clicks occurring simultaneously.
Creative Commons License
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 License.
Recommended Citation
Jensen, Erik, "Keyboard and Mouse Input for Controlling a Remote Machine via A Mobile Device", Technical Disclosure Commons, (December 28, 2020)
https://www.tdcommons.org/dpubs_series/3927