System and method of pen-based data input into a computing device

• US 20030028851A1
• Filed: 05/31/2002
• Published: 02/06/2003
• Est. Priority Date: 05/31/2001
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Empower Technologies Incorporated (EMR Technology Solutions, Inc.)
• Original Assignee: Empower Technologies Incorporated (EMR Technology Solutions, Inc.)
• Inventors: Chang, Michael, Tam, Kiffin Kin Fong, Ho, Kenneth Kee, Leung, Paul Chung Po
• Granted Patent: US 7,280,695 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 715/541
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 3/04883 for inputting data by handwriting, e.g. gesture or text
• 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: G06V 30/1423 the instrument generating sequences of position coordinates corresponding to handwriting preprocessing or recognising digital ink G06V30/32

Abstract

An improved system and method for pen-based handwritten and keystroke data input into a computer system is disclosed. The system and method receives pen-based data entry from multiple related input boxes within a handwriting area on a digitizer pad. Thread-based processing allows each input box or group of input boxes to be separately evaluated, providing for continuous character recognition. Character strokes entered into each input box or group of input boxes are saved and interpreted together to allow more complete recognition of naturally written characters. Improvements on keyboard layouts are also disclosed.

Claims

1. A method for processing handwritten character strokes entered into a computer system by a user, comprising:

providing first and second handwriting areas for receiving alphabetic letter strokes;

providing a third handwriting area for receiving number and symbol strokes;

receiving handwritten character strokes entered into the first, second and third handwriting areas;

interpreting handwritten character strokes entered into the first and second handwriting areas as alphabetic characters but not as number or symbol characters; and

interpreting handwritten character strokes entered into the third handwriting area as number or symbol characters but not as alphabetic characters.

2. The method of claim 1, wherein the step of interpreting handwritten character strokes entered into the first and second handwriting areas comprises:

interpreting handwritten character strokes entered into the first handwriting area as upper case alphabetic characters; and

interpreting handwritten character strokes entered into the second handwriting area as lower case alphabetic characters.

3. The method of claim 1, wherein the step of interpreting handwritten character strokes entered into the first and second handwriting areas comprises interpreting handwritten character strokes entered alternatively into the first handwriting area and into the second handwriting area.

4. The method of claim 1, wherein the steps of interpreting handwritten character strokes entered into the first, second or third handwriting areas comprise:

saving each handwritten character stroke received at each of the separate handwriting areas in a memory; and

recognizing a character in each handwriting area based on all handwritten character strokes received at the handwritten area.

5. The method of claim 1, further comprising the step of displaying an interpreted character entered into the first, second or third handwriting areas on a display.

6. A method for processing handwritten character strokes entered into a computer system by a user, comprising:

providing a handwriting area for receiving alphabetic letter strokes, the handwriting area divided into a first input box, a second input box and a third input box;

receiving handwritten character strokes entered into the first, second and third input boxes of the handwriting area;

interpreting handwritten character strokes entered into the first and second input boxes of the handwriting area as upper case alphabetic characters but not as lower case alphabetic characters; and

interpreting handwritten character strokes entered into the second and third input boxes of the handwriting area as lower case alphabetic characters but not as upper case alphabetic characters.

7. The method of claim 6, wherein the steps of interpreting handwritten character strokes entered into the first, second and third input boxes of the handwriting area comprise:

saving each handwritten character stroke received at the input boxes of the handwriting area in a memory; and

recognizing a character based on all handwritten character strokes received at the related input boxes of the handwriting area.

8. A method for processing handwritten character strokes entered into a computer system by a user, comprising:

providing a handwriting area for receiving character strokes, the handwriting area divided into a first input box, a second input box and a third input box;

receiving handwritten character strokes entered alternatively into the first and second input boxes and then into the second and third input boxes of the handwriting area; and

interpreting handwritten character strokes entered alternatively into the first and second input boxes and then into the second and third input boxes of the handwriting areas as characters.

9. The method of claim 8, wherein the steps of interpreting handwritten character strokes entered into the first, second and third input boxes of the handwriting area comprise:

saving each handwritten character stroke received at the first, second and third input boxes of the handwriting area in a memory; and

recognizing a character based on all handwritten character strokes received at the combined first and second or combined second and third input boxes of the handwriting area.

10. A method for processing handwritten character strokes entered into a computer system by a user, comprising:

providing first and second handwriting areas for receiving handwritten alphabetic letter strokes;

receiving handwritten alphabetic letter strokes entered alternatively into the first and second handwriting areas; and

interpreting handwritten alphabetic letter strokes entered alternatively into the first and second handwriting areas as alphabetic characters.

11. The method of claim 10, wherein the steps of interpreting handwritten character strokes entered into the first and second handwriting areas comprise:

saving each handwritten alphabetic letter stroke received at the first and second handwriting areas in a memory; and

recognizing an alphabetic character based on all handwritten alphabetic letter strokes received at the first and second handwriting areas.

12. A method for processing handwritten character strokes entered into a computer system by a user, comprising:

providing a handwriting area for receiving number and symbol strokes, the handwriting area divided into a first input box, a second input box and a third input box;

receiving handwritten character strokes entered into the first, second and third input boxes of the handwriting area;

interpreting handwritten character strokes entered into the first and second input boxes of the handwriting area as number characters but not as symbol characters; and

interpreting handwritten character strokes entered into the second and third input boxes of the handwriting area as symbol characters but not as number characters.

13. The method of claim 12, wherein the steps of interpreting handwritten character strokes entered into the first, second and third input boxes of the handwriting area comprise:

saving each handwritten character stroke received at the first, second and third input boxes of the handwriting area in a memory; and

recognizing a character based on all handwritten character strokes received at the first, second and third input boxes, respectively, of the handwriting area.

14. A method for processing handwritten character strokes entered into a computer system by a user, comprising:

providing a first handwriting area for receiving alphabetic letter strokes, the first handwriting area divided into a first input box, a second input box and a third input box;

providing a second handwriting area for receiving alphabetic letter strokes, the second handwriting area divided into a first input box, a second input box and a third input box;

providing a third handwriting area for receiving number and symbol strokes, the third handwriting area divided into a first input box, a second input box and a third input box;

receiving handwritten character strokes entered into the first, second and third input boxes of the first handwriting area;

receiving handwritten character strokes entered into the first, second and third input boxes of the second handwriting area;

receiving handwritten character strokes entered into the first, second and third input boxes of the third handwriting area;

interpreting handwritten character strokes entered into the first and second input boxes of the first handwriting area and into the first and second input boxes of the second handwriting area as upper case alphabetic characters but not as lower case alphabetic characters;

interpreting handwritten character strokes entered into the second and third input boxes of the first handwriting area and into the second and third input boxes of the second handwriting area as lower case alphabetic characters but not as upper case alphabetic characters;

interpreting handwritten character strokes entered into the first and second input boxes of the third handwriting area as number characters but not as symbol characters; and

interpreting handwritten character strokes entered into the second and third input boxes of the third handwriting area as symbol characters but not as number characters.

15. The method of claim 15, wherein the steps of interpreting handwritten character strokes entered into the first and second handwriting areas comprise interpreting handwritten character strokes entered alternatively into the first handwriting area and into the second handwriting area.

16. The method of claim 15, wherein the steps of interpreting handwritten character strokes entered into the first, second or third handwriting areas comprise:

saving each handwritten character stroke received at the handwriting area in a memory; and

recognizing a character based on all handwritten character strokes related to each handwriting area.

17. A method for recognizing handwritten character strokes entered into a handwriting area of a computer system by a user, comprising:

if a handwritten character stroke is being entered into the handwriting area, capturing the handwriting stroke;

saving the captured handwritten character stroke in a memory;

providing a time delay following completion of the handwriting stroke;

if the time delay has not expired, capturing additional handwritten character strokes entered into the handwriting area;

saving any captured additional handwritten character strokes entered into the handwriting area in a memory; and

interpreting all handwritten character strokes entered into the handwriting area as characters.

18. A system for recognizing handwritten character strokes entered into a handwriting area of a computer system by a user, comprising:

a computing device having a digitizer pad;

first and second handwriting areas comprising subsets of the digitizer pad for receiving handwritten alphabetic letter strokes entered alternatively into the first and second handwriting areas; and

a handwriting recognition engine, the handwriting recognition engine interpreting handwritten alphabetic letter strokes entered alternatively into the first and second handwriting areas as alphabetic characters.

19. The system of claim 18, wherein:

the computing device further includes a memory, and

the handwriting recognition engine saves each handwritten alphabetic letter stroke received at the first and second handwriting areas in a memory and recognizes a character based on all handwritten character strokes related to each handwriting area.

20. A pen-based computer system, comprising:

a computing device having a digitizer pad and a data entry pen;

a first handwriting area comprising a subset of the digitizer pad for receiving handwritten alphabetic letter strokes input by the data entry pen, the first handwriting area divided into a first input box, a second input box and a third input box;

a second handwriting area comprising a subset of the digitizer pad for receiving handwritten alphabetic letter strokes input by the data entry pen, the second handwriting area divided into a first input box, a second input box and a third input box;

a handwriting recognition engine, the handwriting recognition engine interpreting handwritten alphabetic letter strokes entered into the first and second input boxes of the first handwriting area and into the first and second input boxes of the second handwriting area as upper case alphabetic characters but not as lower case alphabetic characters and interpreting handwritten character strokes entered into the second and third input boxes of the first handwriting area and into the second and third input boxes of the second handwriting area as lower case alphabetic characters but not as upper case alphabetic characters.

21. The computer system of claim 20, wherein:

the computing device further includes a memory, and

the handwriting recognition engine saves each handwritten alphabetic letter stroke received at the first, second and third input boxes of the first and second handwriting areas in a memory and recognizes a character based on all handwritten character strokes received related to each handwriting area.

22. An alphanumeric keyboard layout for a pen-based computer system having a digitizer pad and a data entry pen, the keyboard layout comprising an alphabetically sequential organization alphabetic characters along a plurality of rows and a grid of numerals displayed within a subset of the digitizer pad.

23. The alphanumeric keyboard layout of claim 22, wherein each row of the alphabetically sequential organization of rows of alphabetic characters includes at least five sequential letters and the numeral grid includes numbers “

0”

through “

9”

.

24. The alphanumeric keyboard layout of claim 22 wherein the alphabetically sequential organization of rows of alphabetic characters comprises characters “

a”

to “

g”

on the first row, characters “

h”

to “

n”

on the second row, characters “

0”

to “

3”

on the third row, and characters “

v”

to “

z”

on the fourth row.

25. The alphanumeric keyboard layout of claim 22, wherein the grid of numerals is oriented on the right side of the keyboard layout and comprises numbers “

1”

to “

3”

on the first row, numbers “

4”

to “

6”

on the second row and numbers “

7”

to “

9”

on the third row.