Supplementing a virtual input keyboard

• US 10,073,618 B2
• Filed: 03/24/2016
• Issued: 09/11/2018
• Est. Priority Date: 09/07/2012
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Kyndryl Incorporated
• Original Assignee: International Business Machines Corporation
• Inventors: Abuelsaad, Tamer E., Moore, John E., Singi, Rajeshkumar N., Wentworth, Robert R.
• Primary Examiner(s): To, Jennifer
• Assistant Examiner(s): Wan, Jasmine
• Application Number:
  US15/079,295
• Publication Number:
  US 20160202906A1
• Time in Patent Office: 901 Days
• Field of Search: None
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 3/0233 Character input methods
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 3/04886 by partitioning the display area of the touch-screen or the surface of the digitising tablet into independently controllable areas, e.g. virtual keyboards or menus
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 40/174 Form filling; Merging
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 40/58 Use of machine translation, e.g. for multi-lingual retrieval, for server-side translation for client devices or for real-time translation
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 9/454 Multi-language systems; Localisation; Internationalisation

Abstract

A method and system. A first computer device receives a selection of a form field in a web page from a second computer device that is displaying a virtual keyboard on a display screen in the second computer device. The first and second computer devices are different computer devices. The first computer device determines one or more candidate character keys. The first computer device removes one or more matching character keys from the one or more candidate character keys that match keys in the virtual keyboard. The first computer device determines one or more supplement character keys. The first computer device communicates the one or more supplement character keys to the second computer device. The first computer device causes the second computer device to simultaneously display, on the display screen in the second computer device, the virtual keyboard and the one or more supplement character keys.

Claims

1. A method, said method comprising:

receiving, by a first computer device, a selection of a form field in a web page from a second computer device that is displaying a virtual keyboard with character keys displayed on a display screen in the second computer device, wherein the first and second computer devices are different computer devices;

determining, by the first computer device, one or more candidate character keys based at least on previous data entries of the selected form field;

removing, by the first computer- device, one or more matching character keys from the one or more candidate character keys that match the displayed character keys in the virtual keyboard;

determining, by the first computer device, one or more supplement character keys of a supplemental keyboard based on character keys of the one or more candidate character keys that remain after the matching character keys have been removed from the one or more candidate character keys;

communicating, by the first computer device, the one or more supplement character keys to the second computer device; and

causing, by the first computer device, the second computer device to simultaneously display, on the display screen in the second computer device, the virtual keyboard and the supplemental keyboard adjacent to the form field without changing the virtual keyboard'"'"'s layout and without substituting the keys in the virtual keyboard.

2. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

responsive to the first computer device receiving a selection of another form field in the web page, causing, by the first computer device, the second computer device to remove only the supplemental keyboard from the display of the second computer device while still displaying the virtual keyboard on the display screen in the second computer device.

3. The method of claim 1, wherein determining one or more candidate character keys further comprises:

receiving, by the first computer device, a first preferred language of the second computer device;

receiving, by the first computer device, a second preferred language based on the previous data entries of the selected form field; and

responsive to the receiving of the first preferred language and the second preferred language, selecting, by the first computer device, the first preferred language of the second computer device as language of the one or more candidate character keys.

4. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

receiving, by the first computer device, all of the form fields available in the web page, wherein the second computer device is displaying the virtual keyboard on the display screen in the second computer device;

repeating the steps of the determining the one or more candidate character keys, the removing the one or more matching keys, and the determining the one or more supplement character keys until the first computer device determines the one or more supplement character keys for all of the form fields available in the web page;

communicating, by the first computer device, the one or more supplement character keys for all of the form fields available in the web page to the second computer device; and

causing, by the first computer device, the second computer device to simultaneously display, on the display screen in the second computer device, the virtual keyboard and the supplemental keyboard adjacent to the form field for all of the form fields available in the web page without changing the layout of the virtual keyboard and without substituting the keys in the virtual keyboard.

5. The method of claim 4, further comprising:

causing, by the first computer device, the second computer device to cache the one or more supplement character keys for all of the form fields available in the web page.

6. The method of claim 1, wherein said determining one or more candidate character keys is further based on an operating system of the second computer device.

7. The method of claim 1, wherein said determining one or more candidate character keys is further based on a type of web browser type used by the second computer device.

8. The method of claim 1, wherein said determining one or more candidate character keys is further based on a geographic location of the second computer device.

9. A computer program product, comprising one or more computer readable hardware storage devices having computer readable program code stored therein, said program code containing instructions executable by one or more processors of a computer system to implement a method, said method comprising:

receiving, by a first computer device, a selection of a form field in a web page from a second computer device that is displaying a virtual keyboard with character keys displayed on a display screen in the second computer device, wherein the first and second computer devices are different computer devices;

determining, by the first computer device, one or more candidate character keys based at least on previous data entries of the selected form field;

removing, by the first computer device, one or more matching character keys from the one or more candidate character keys that match the displayed character keys in the virtual keyboard;

determining, by the first computer device, one or more supplement character keys of a supplemental keyboard based on character keys of the one or more candidate character keys that remain after the matching character keys have been removed from the one or more candidate character keys;

communicating, by the first computer device, the one or more supplement character keys to the second computer device; and

causing, by the first computer device, the second computer device to simultaneously display, on the display screen in the second computer device, the virtual keyboard and the supplemental keyboard adjacent to the form field without changing the virtual keyboard'"'"'s layout and without substituting the keys in the virtual keyboard.

10. The computer program product of claim 9, further comprising:

responsive to the first computer device receiving a selection of another form field in the web page, causing, by the first computer device, the second computer device to remove only the supplemental keyboard from the display of the second computer device while still displaying the virtual keyboard on the display screen in the second computer device.

11. The computer program product of claim 9, wherein determining one or more candidate character keys further comprises:

receiving, by the first computer device, a first preferred language of the second computer device;

receiving, by the first computer device, a second preferred language based on the previous data entries of the selected form field; and

responsive to the receiving of the first preferred language and the second preferred language, selecting, by the first computer device, the first preferred language of the second computer device as language of the one or more candidate character keys.

12. The computer program product of claim 9, further comprising:

receiving, by the first computer device, all of the form fields available in the web page, wherein the second computer device is displaying the virtual keyboard on the display screen in the second computer device;

repeating the steps of the determining the one or more candidate character keys, the removing the one or more matching keys, and the determining the one or more supplement character keys until the first computer device determines the one or more supplement character keys for all of the form fields available in the web page;

communicating, by the first computer device, the one or more supplement character keys for all of the form fields available in the web page to the second computer device; and

causing, by the first computer device, the second computer device to simultaneously display, on the display screen in the second computer device, the virtual keyboard and the supplemental keyboard adjacent to the form field for all of the form fields available in the web page without changing the layout of the virtual keyboard and without substituting the keys in the virtual keyboard.

13. The computer program product of claim 12, further comprising:

causing, by the first computer device, the second computer device to cache the one or more supplement character keys for all of the form fields available in the web page.

14. A computer system, comprising one or more processors, one or more memories, and one or more computer readable hardware storage devices, said one or more hardware storage device containing program code executable by the one or more processors via the one or more memories to implement a method, said method comprising:

receiving, by a first computer device, a selection of a form field in a web page from a second computer device that is displaying a virtual keyboard with character keys displayed on a display screen in the second computer device, wherein the first and second computer devices are different computer devices;

determining, by the first computer device, one or more candidate character keys based at least on previous data entries of the selected form field;

removing, by the first computer device, one or more matching character keys from the one or more candidate character keys that match the displayed character keys in the virtual keyboard;

determining, by the first computer device, one or more supplement character keys of a supplemental keyboard based on character keys of the one or more candidate character keys that remain after the matching character keys have been removed from the one or more candidate character keys;

communicating, by the first computer device, the one or more supplement character keys to the second computer device; and

causing, by the first computer device, the second computer device to simultaneously display, on the display screen in the second computer device, the virtual keyboard and the supplemental keyboard adjacent to the form field without changing the virtual keyboard'"'"'s layout and without substituting the keys in the virtual keyboard.

15. The computer system of claim 14, further comprising:

responsive to the first computer device receiving a selection of another form field in the web page, causing, by the first computer device, the second computer device to remove only the supplemental keyboard from the display of the second computer device while still displaying the virtual keyboard on the display screen in the second computer device.

16. The computer system of claim 14, wherein determining one or more candidate character keys further comprises:

receiving, by the first computer device, a first preferred language of the second computer device;

receiving, by the first computer device, a second preferred language based on the previous data entries of the selected form field; and

responsive to the receiving of the first preferred language and the second preferred language, selecting, by the first computer device, the first preferred language of the second computer device as language of the one or more candidate character keys.

17. The computer system of claim 14, further comprising:

receiving, by the first computer device, all of the form fields available in the web page, wherein the second computer device is displaying the virtual keyboard on the display screen in the second computer device;

repeating the steps of the determining the one or more candidate character keys, the removing the one or more matching keys, and the determining the one or more supplement character keys until the first computer device determines the one or more supplement character keys for all of the form fields available in the web page;

communicating, by the first computer device, the one or more supplement character keys for all of the form fields available in the web page to the second computer device; and

causing, by the first computer device, the second computer device to simultaneously display, on the display screen in the second computer device, the virtual keyboard and the supplemental keyboard adjacent to the form field for all of the form fields available in the web page without changing the layout of the virtual keyboard and without substituting the keys in the virtual keyboard.

18. The computer system of claim 17, further comprising:

causing, by the first computer device, the second computer device to cache the one or more supplement character keys for all of the form fields available in the web page.