Techniques for predicting user input on touch screen devices

• US 10,175,883 B2
• Filed: 05/12/2016
• Issued: 01/08/2019
• Est. Priority Date: 12/15/2011
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Amazon Technologies, Inc. (Amazon.com, Inc.)
• Original Assignee: Amazon Technologies, Inc. (Amazon.com, Inc.)
• Inventors: Rahmani, Rouhollah, Thirumalai, Srikanth, Pope, Elmore Eugene
• Primary Examiner(s): Debrow, James J
• Application Number:
  US15/153,548
• Publication Number:
  US 20160259547A1
• Time in Patent Office: 971 Days
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 17/00 Digital computing or data processing equipment or methods, specially adapted for specific functions information retrieval, database structures or file system structures therefor G06F16/00
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 3/04842 Selection of displayed objects or displayed text elements G06F3/0482 takes precedence
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 3/0488 using a touch-screen or digitiser, e.g. input of commands through traced gestures
• 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

Abstract

Techniques for determining user input on a touch screen of a user device are disclosed. In some situations, the techniques include: receiving information about a user input provided to a touch screen of a user device, the touch screen displaying two or more selectable objects, wherein each of the selectable objects, if selected, initiates a response corresponding to the selection of the object, determining a selectable object among the selectable objects that has a highest likelihood of being an object that a user intended to select with the user input, and providing a response corresponding to a selection of the determined selectable object. In one situation, a selectable object is a button or a hyperlink included in a Web page displayed on the screen of the device, and the response includes content associated with the selected button or hyperlink.

Claims

1. A computer-implemented method comprising:

receiving, by one or more computer systems, information about a user input provided by a user touching a touch screen that displays two or more selectable objects;

determining, by the one or more computer systems and in response to the user input, a first object from the two or more selectable objects as having a highest likelihood of being intended to be selected with the user input, and a second object from among the two or more selectable objects as having a second highest likelihood of being intended to be selected with the user input;

providing, by the one or more computer systems and based at least in part on the determining, a first response to the user input corresponding to selection by the user of the first object;

receiving, by the one or more computer systems, feedback from the user that indicates that the first object was not intended to be selected with the user input, without otherwise indicating which of the two or more selectable objects was intended to be selected; and

providing, by the one or more computer systems in response to the feedback and without further input from the user, a second response to the user input corresponding to selection by the user of the second object.

2. The computer-implemented method of claim 1 further comprising generating aggregated data by aggregating user behavior data from multiple prior touch selections, and wherein the determining is further based in part on the generated aggregated data.

3. The computer-implemented method of claim 2 wherein the generating of the aggregated data includes aggregating user behavior data from multiple users that includes user input pattern data corresponding to transaction patterns for the multiple users.

4. The computer-implemented method of claim 1 wherein the two or more selectable objects include multiple selectable objects that are separate keys on a virtual keyboard provided on the touch screen;

wherein the determining of the first object includes, based on at least one of a personal dictionary associated with the user or a statistical analysis of spelling words in a language associated with a user device that includes the touch screen, identifying a symbol most likely to follow a sequence of symbols corresponding to keys already selected by the user on the virtual keyboard, the sequence of symbols forming at least a part of a word; and

wherein the providing of the first response includes causing the identified symbol to be displayed on the touch screen of the user device as a next symbol in the sequence of symbols.

5. The computer-implemented method of claim 1 wherein the two or more selectable objects include multiple selectable objects that correspond to multiple hyperlinks included in a Web page displayed on the touch screen,

wherein the determining of the first object includes determining a first hyperlink;

wherein the determining of the second object includes determining a second hyperlink;

wherein the providing of the first response includes providing first content associated with the first hyperlink for display to the user on a user device; and

wherein the providing of the second response includes providing second content associated with the second hyperlink for display to the user on the user device.

6. The computer-implemented method of claim 1 wherein the determining of the first object further includes using information specific to the user that reflects preferences of the user in selecting content.

7. The computer-implemented method of claim 1 wherein the one or more computer systems include a client device of the user on which the touch screen is located.

8. The computer-implemented method of claim 1 wherein the two or more selectable objects include three or more selectable objects displayed on the touch screen, and wherein the method further comprises:

determining, by the one or more computer systems and before the providing of the first response, that the first object and a third object of the three or more selectable objects have associated likelihoods of being intended to be selected with the user input that are within a determined margin from each other;

causing, by the one or more computer systems and based on the associated likelihoods being within the determined margin from each other, the first and third objects to be displayed on the touch screen in an enlarged manner to enable further selection by the user of one of the first and third objects; and

receiving, by the one or more computer systems, an indication of the further selection by the user to select the first object, and wherein the providing of the first response is further based at least in part on the further selection by the user.

9. The computer-implemented method of claim 1 further comprising determining, by the one or more computer systems, that a type of the provided user input is not a mistouch and is not a scroll, and wherein the providing of the first response is further based at least in part on the determining that the type of the provided user input is not a mistouch and is not a scroll.

10. A computer system comprising:

at least one hardware processor;

a touch-sensitive screen; and

at least one memory having computer-executable instructions that, when executed on the at least one hardware processor, cause the at least one hardware processor to;

display multiple selectable objects on the touch-sensitive screen;

receive information about user input from a user on the touch-sensitive screen that is associated with at least two objects of the multiple selectable objects;

provide a first response to the user input that corresponds to a first object of the at least two objects having been selected by the user input;

receive feedback from the user indicating that the first object was not selected with the user input, wherein the received feedback does not otherwise indicate any of the multiple selectable objects selected by the user input; and

provide, in response to the received feedback and without further input from the user, a second response to the user input that corresponds to a second object of the at least two objects having been previously selected by the user input.

11. The computer system of claim 10 wherein the computer-executable instructions further cause the at least one hardware processor to aggregate user behavior data reflecting prior user behavior of multiple previous selections of objects using prior user input, and to determine, based at least in part on the aggregated user behavior data, a likelihood of the first object being intended to be selected with the user input, and wherein the providing of the first response is based at least in part on the determined likelihood.

12. The computer system of claim 11 wherein the aggregating of the user behavior data includes aggregating user behavior data from multiple users that includes user input pattern data corresponding to transaction patterns for the multiple users.

13. The computer system of claim 11 wherein the computer-executable instructions further cause the at least one hardware processor to determine a second likelihood of the second object being intended to be selected with the first user input, and wherein the providing of the first response is further based in part on the determined second likelihood.

14. The computer system of claim 10 wherein the computer-executable instructions further cause the at least one hardware processor to obtain information about at least one of preferences of the user in selecting types of content or prior behavior of the user with regard to accessing a particular network resource, and wherein the providing of the first response is based at least in part on the obtained information.

15. A non-transitory computer-readable medium having computer-executable instructions stored thereon that, when executed by a computer, cause the computer to:

receive, by the computer, information about a user input provided by touching a touch screen of a user device that displays two or more selectable objects;

determine, by the computer, a first object from the two or more selectable objects having a first determined likelihood of being selected with the user input, the first determined likelihood satisfying one or more criteria;

provide, by the computer and based at least in part on the determining, a first response to the user input corresponding to selection of the first object;

receive, by the computer, feedback indicating that the first object was not selected with the user input, without otherwise indicating which of the two or more selectable objects was selected with the user input;

determine, by the computer, a second object from the two or more selectable objects having a second determined likelihood of being selected with the user input; and

provide, by the computer after the feedback and without further input from the user and based at least in part on the determining of the second object, a second response to the user input corresponding to selection of the second object.

16. The non-transitory computer-readable medium of claim 15 wherein the computer-executable instructions further cause the computer to receive the user input and the feedback based on interactions of a user of the user device with the touch screen, and to perform the determining of the first object by using a highest likelihood associated with any of the two or more selectable objects as part of the one or more criteria.

17. The non-transitory computer-readable medium of claim 15 wherein the user input provided to the touch screen is based on the user touching the touch screen in at least one location, and wherein the computer-executable instructions further cause the computer to store user behavior data associated with the received user feedback for use in future responses to future user input.

18. The non-transitory computer-readable medium of claim 15 wherein the provided second response corresponds to the user input having previously selected the second object instead of the first object.

19. The non-transitory computer-readable medium of claim 18 wherein the computer-executable instructions further cause the computer to, before the receiving of the user input, display a Web page on the touch screen that includes the two or more selectable objects.

20. The non-transitory computer-readable medium of claim 19 wherein the providing of the first response includes providing first content associated with selection of the first object, and wherein the providing of the second response includes providing second content associated with selection of the second object.