Handwriting user interface for personal digital assistants and the like
First Claim
1. A hand-held electronic apparatus having a small housing for ease of transport thereof and to contain control circuitry for running different applications therewith, the apparatus comprising:
- a screen on the housing having a predetermined size for displaying information to a user;
handwriting recognition circuitry configured for recognizing single and multiple character words handwritten on the predetermined screen area for high writing throughput;
a predetermined area of the screen less than the predetermined screen size on which handwriting is recognized; and
an input device which cooperates with the screen and underlying circuitry for use in inputting handwriting only in the predetermined screen area and selecting application operations displayed on the remainder of the screen to provide the input device with distinct functions based on where the device is used on the screen.
1 Assignment
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Accused Products
Abstract
A handheld device (100), a graphical handwriting user interface (“HUI”), a method of interfacing handwritten text and a program product therefor. A lower portion of a touch-enabled display is designated as a handwriting input area (104). Recognized text is displayed at the top of the screen. As each handwritten word is entered (142) into the designated screen input area, a check is made (144) to determine when the handwritten entry is complete by pressing a space key or by a special pen gesture. When the handwritten entry is complete, the handwriting recognition engine matches (146) the handwritten input against words in the system dictionary as supplemented by the user dictionary and a confidence score is attached (148) to the top scoring word.
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Citations
53 Claims
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1. A hand-held electronic apparatus having a small housing for ease of transport thereof and to contain control circuitry for running different applications therewith, the apparatus comprising:
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a screen on the housing having a predetermined size for displaying information to a user;
handwriting recognition circuitry configured for recognizing single and multiple character words handwritten on the predetermined screen area for high writing throughput;
a predetermined area of the screen less than the predetermined screen size on which handwriting is recognized; and
an input device which cooperates with the screen and underlying circuitry for use in inputting handwriting only in the predetermined screen area and selecting application operations displayed on the remainder of the screen to provide the input device with distinct functions based on where the device is used on the screen. - View Dependent Claims (2, 3, 4, 5)
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6. A handwriting recognition user interface (HUI) for a portable device having a touch-enabled input screen, said HUI comprising:
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a handwriting input area residing in a portion of a touch-enabled input screen, handwritten words being entered, one at a time using a stylus, recognition results being displayed in said handwritten input area;
a recognition engine capable of recognizing handwritten words; and
a main dictionary, said recognition engine comparing each handwritten input word against words in said main dictionary and providing a probability score indicative of the likelihood that each dictionary word is a correct interpretation of the handwritten input word. - View Dependent Claims (7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13, 14, 15, 16, 17, 18, 19, 20, 21, 22, 24, 25, 26, 27, 28, 29, 30, 31, 32)
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23. A personal digital assistant (PDA) capable of recognizing handwritten words, said PDA comprising:
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a touch-enabled input screen;
a recognition engine capable of recognizing handwritten words;
a main dictionary containing a plurality of words;
a communications port for communicating with a remotely connected computer, data being transferred between said remotely connected computer and said PDA;
a local storage storing said main dictionary, application data and applications to be run on said PDA;
a plurality of switches providing manual input to said PDA; and
a handwriting recognition user interface (HUI) comprising;
a designated handwriting input area residing in a lower portion of said touch-enabled input screen, handwritten words being entered a single word at a time using a stylus, recognition results being displayed on said touch enabled screen in said designated handwriting input area, stylus entries made in said designated handwriting area being handwritten entries and stylus entries made outside of said designated handwriting input area being pointer function entries, a pop-up list listing word candidates, said recognition engine matching each handwritten input word against words in said main dictionary and providing a probability score indicative of the likelihood that each given word is a correct interpretation of the handwritten input word, all words scoring less than a highest scoring word being secondary words, and one or more action icons displayed together on a side of said touch-enabled screen and providing access to editing functions for editing previously recognized displayed words.
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33. A method of providing textual information to a computer, said method comprising the steps of:
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a) receiving an entry from a designated handwritten-entry screen area;
b) passing said received entry to a handwriting recognition engine;
c) receiving a probability score from said recognition engine, said probability score indicating a likelihood for a corresponding dictionary word that said corresponding dictionary word matches said received entry; and
d) displaying a list of one or more words in descending order according to said probability score for each displayed word. - View Dependent Claims (34, 35, 36, 37, 38, 39)
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40. A method of handwriting recognition for an electronic device having circuitry for running different applications, incorporating graphical interface and stylus to allow a user to interact with the application through said graphical interface, the method comprising:
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providing a predetermined data entry area on the graphical user interface to receive handwritten data input, one word or character at a time;
allocating a memory buffer for the handwritten data input;
allocating a system input buffer for copying recognition data to be forwarded to an application that is active via the underlying operating system of the device;
recognizing handwritten data as words or characters;
comparing the recognition data after input in the memory buffer with data in one or more electronically stored dictionaries;
calculating recognition probability indices between associated dictionary data entries and the recognition data;
displaying candidates determined from the dictionaries as having a probability of matching the handwritten data input based on the recognition probability calculations;
prompting user intervention when said recognition probability calculations indicate the recognition data does not match a present dictionary entry;
accepting user input correcting inaccurate recognition;
modifying user-defined dictionaries in response to input of new words or characters; and
copying the correct recognition candidate to the system input buffer and forwarding the same to the active application software via the operating system. - View Dependent Claims (41, 42, 43, 44, 45, 46, 47, 49)
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48. A computer program product for interfacing handwritten text with a computer, said computer program product comprising a computer usable medium having computer readable program code thereon, said computer readable program code comprising:
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computer readable program code means for receiving a handwritten entry;
computer readable program code means for converting said handwritten entry into a character string;
computer readable program code means for storing a plurality of correctly spelled words;
computer readable program code means for generating a probability score for each of said plurality of words, said probability score indicating a likelihood for a corresponding one word of said plurality of words that said corresponding one word matches said handwritten entry; and
computer readable program code means for selecting a list of one or more words for display in descending order according to probability score.
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50. A computer program product for interfacing handwritten text with a computer as in clam 49 wherein the computer readable program code means for selecting a list of words further comprises:
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computer readable program code means for determining whether a highest scoring word of said selected words has a confidence level exceeding a selected threshold level, any said highest scoring word having a confidence level above said selected confidence level being identified as a primary word;
computer readable program code means for inserting any identified primary word into an input buffer as a primary word choice; and
computer readable program code means for inserting any said primary word and a plurality of remaining words in a pop-up list. - View Dependent Claims (51, 52, 53)
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Specification