Enabling and Disabling Hotkeys

Abstract

A computer program product may include instructions that, when executed, cause a processor to perform operations that include monitoring an electronic device to determine whether the electronic device is in a specific state. The electronic device may define one or more hotkeys, and each hotkey may correspond to an input from one or more input components of the electronic device. If the electronic device is in the specific state, a rule associated with the specific state may be retrieved, and one or more hotkeys may be enabled or disabled based on the retrieved rule. In some implementations, enabling or disabling one or more hotkeys includes enabling or disabling one or more operations associated with corresponding one or more hotkeys.

1 . A computer-implemented method, comprising:
 determining, from an operating system process that is independent of an application process, that a computing device is in a specific system state out of a plurality of possible system states, wherein each of the possible system states is associated with a respective rule, and wherein the determining is in response to an event comprising at least one of activating the application process, terminating the application process, or opening, moving, or closing a graphical user interface window associated with the application process;   in response to the determination, retrieving the rule associated with the specific system state, where the rule specifies one or more hotkeys corresponding to the application process that are to be enabled or disabled by the operating system process; and   enabling or disabling, from the operating system process, one or more of the one or more hotkeys corresponding to the application process, based on the retrieved rule.   
     
     
         2 . The method of  claim 1 , wherein enabling or disabling one or more hotkeys comprises enabling or disabling one or more operations associated with the one or more hotkeys. 
     
     
         3 . The method of  claim 1 , further comprising:
 receiving first input from one or more input devices, the input corresponding to a first hotkey;   determining from the operating system process that the first hotkey is enabled; and   initiating a first operation associated with the first hotkey.   
     
     
         4 . The method of  claim 3 , wherein initiating the first operation comprises at least one of issuing an interrupt to a processor, issuing an exception to a processor, executing specific instructions associated with the first operation, modifying a flag in the computing system, or reporting detection of the hotkey to a component of the computing system. 
     
     
         5 . The method of  claim 3 , wherein initiating the first operation comprises:
 retrieving a rule associated with the hotkey and the determined system state; and   causing a processor to execute a set of instructions based on the retrieved rule.   
     
     
         6 . The method of  claim 3 , further comprising, determining to accept input from the one or more input devices. 
     
     
         7 . The method of  claim 3 , wherein the first hotkey is associated with the first operation and a second operation, the method further comprising initiating the second operation. 
     
     
         8 . The method of  claim 3 , wherein the first hotkey is associated with the first operation and a second operation, and the first operation has a first priority for the first hotkey and the second operation has a second priority for the first hotkey, the method further comprising:
 determining that the first priority is higher than the second priority; and   only initiating the first operation in response to the determination.   
     
     
         9 . The method of  claim 1 , further comprising:
 receiving first input to an electronic device from one or more input devices;   determining whether the first input corresponds to a defined and enabled hotkey; and   forwarding the first input to an input processing component of the electronic device if the first input does not correspond to a defined and enabled hotkey, and causing an operation associated with the defined hotkey to be performed if the received input does correspond to a defined and enabled hotkey.   
     
     
         10 . The method of  claim 1 , wherein each hotkey comprises a keyboard shortcut, the keyboard shortcut comprising concurrent input from two or more keyboard keys. 
     
     
         11 . The method of  claim 1 , wherein each hotkey comprises specific input from one or more input devices. 
     
     
         12 . The method of  claim 1 , wherein the system state comprises a state of one or more of an input, an output, an operating system, or a process. 
     
     
         13 . A computer program product, tangibly embodied in a storage device, the computer program product comprising instructions that, when executed, cause a processor to perform operations comprising:
 determining, from an operating system process that is independent of an application process, that a computing device is in a specific system state out of a plurality of possible system states, wherein each of the possible system states is associated with a respective rule, and wherein the determining is in response to an event comprising at least one of activating the application process, terminating the application process, or opening, moving, or closing a graphical user interface window associated with the application process;   in response to the determination, retrieving the rule associated with the specific system state, where the rule specifies one or more hotkeys corresponding to the application process that are to be enabled or disabled by the operating system process; and   enabling or disabling, from the operating system process, one or more of the one or more hotkeys corresponding to the application process, based on the retrieved rule.   
     
     
         14 . The computer program of  claim 13 , wherein the operations further comprise:
 receiving first input from one or more input devices;   determining whether the first input corresponds to a defined and enabled hotkey; and   causing an operation associated with the defined hotkey to be performed if the received input corresponds to a defined and enabled hotkey, and otherwise forwarding the first input to an input processing component.   
     
     
         15 . A system, comprising:
 one or more computers configured to perform operations comprising:
 determining, from an operating system process that is independent of an application process, that a computing device is in a specific system state out of a plurality of possible system states, wherein each of the possible system states is associated with a respective rule, and wherein the determining is in response to an event comprising at least one of activating the application process, terminating the application process, or opening, moving, or closing a graphical user interface window associated with the application process; 
 in response to the determination, retrieving the rule associated with the specific system state, where the rule specifies one or more hotkeys corresponding to the application process that are to be enabled or disabled by the operating system process; and 
 enabling or disabling, from the operating system process, one or more of the one or more hotkeys corresponding to the application process, based on the retrieved rule. 
   
     
     
         16 . The system of  claim 15 , wherein the operations further comprise:
 receiving first input from one or more input devices from which the one or more computers can accept input;   determining that the first input corresponds to a first hotkey, and determining that the first hotkey is enabled; and   initiating a first operation associated with the first hotkey.   
     
     
         17 . The system of  claim 16 , wherein determining that the first hotkey is enabled comprises determining, from the operating system process, that the first hotkey is enabled. 
     
     
         18 . A system, comprising:
 an electronic device having one or more input components;
 an input controller that receives input from the one or more input components; 
 an application process executing on the electronic device, wherein the application process is associated with one or more hotkeys; 
 a monitor separate from the application process, wherein the monitor monitors a state of the electronic device in response to an event comprising at least one of activating the application process, terminating the application process, or opening, moving, or closing a graphical user interface window associated with the application process; 
 an enabler and disabler engine that enables or disables the one or more hotkeys corresponding to the application process according to a current state of the electronic device. 
   
     
     
         19 . The system of  claim 18 , further comprising a hotkey manager that stores hotkey definitions for defined hotkeys, hotkey operations associated with the defined hotkeys, and enablement data for each hotkey operation, wherein the enablement data indicates an enabled or disabled status of the sets of hotkeys based on the state of the electronic device. 
     
     
         20 . The system of  claim 19 , wherein the hotkey manager forwards received input to an input processing component of the electronic device if the received input does not correspond to an enabled hotkey, and wherein the hotkey manager causes an operation associated with the defined hotkey to be performed if the received input does correspond to an enabled hotkey.