Operating a browser to display first and second virtual keyboard areas that the user changes directly or indirectly

• US 20030154292A1
• Filed: 01/10/2003
• Published: 08/14/2003
• Est. Priority Date: 01/11/2002
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: SAP SE
• Original Assignee: SAP AG (SAP SE)
• Inventors: Tunney, William Patrick, Spriestersbach, Axel
• Granted Patent: US 7,383,342 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 709/228
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 3/0219 Special purpose keyboards
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 3/0236 using selection techniques to select from displayed items
• 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: H04M 1/72445 for supporting Internet browser applications
• CPC Class Codes: H04M 2250/70 methods for entering alphabetical characters, e.g. multi-tap or dictionary disambiguation

Abstract

Operating a browser that interprets a markup page and thereby displays a virtual keyboard (350) to a user. The operation comprises: displaying (405) a first keyboard area (350); presenting (410) first and second input fields of first and second types, respectively, to the user; selecting (420) an input field by relating an input device to either the first input field or the second input field; displaying (430) a second keyboard area corresponding to the type of the selected input field; reading (430) input from the user from the first keyboard area and from the second keyboard area to the selected field; and changing (450) the first keyboard area according to user commands to a keyboard selector.

Claims

1. Method (400) for operating a browser (200) that interprets a markup page (210) and thereby displays a virtual keyboard (350/360) to a user;

the method (400) comprising the following steps;

displaying (405) a first keyboard area (350);

presenting (410) first and second input fields (310, 320) of first and second types, respectively, to the user;

receiving a selection (420) for an input field (310/320) by the user by relating an input device (941) to either the first input field (310) or the second input field (320);

displaying (430) a second keyboard area (360) corresponding to the type of the selected input field (310/320) while continuing to display the first keyboard area (350);

reading (440) input from the user from the first keyboard area (350) and from the second keyboard area (360); and

changing (450) the first keyboard area (350) according to user commands to a keyboard selector (370) while maintaining the possibility to repeat steps receiving the selection (420), displaying the second keyboard area (360) and reading (440).

2. The method (400) of claim 1, wherein the page (210) is encoded in a markup language selected from the group of HTML, XML, WML.

3. The method (400) of claim 1, wherein receiving a selection (420) for an input field (310/320) comprises monitoring a cursor going over the input fields (310/320).

4. The method (400) of claim 1, wherein the steps displaying first area (405) and changing (450) are repeated in a first loop (401), and wherein steps receiving selection (420) and displaying second area (430) are repeated in a second loop (402).

5. The method (400) of claim 1, wherein the displaying steps (405, 430) comprise displaying keyboard areas with similar buttons.

6. The method (400) of claim 1, wherein displaying steps (405, 430), the number of character buttons in the first keyboard area (350) is larger than the number of character buttons in the second keyboard area (360).

7. The method (400) of claims 5 wherein the geometric dimension of the first keyboard area (350) is larger than the geometric dimension of the second keyboard area (360).

8. The method (400) of claim 6 wherein the geometric dimension of the first keyboard area (350) is larger than the geometric dimension of the second keyboard area (360).

9. The method (400) of claim 1, wherein the browser keeps states for the first keyboard area (350) and or the second keyboard area (360), wherein transitions between the states for the first keyboard area (350) are controlled during step changing (450) and wherein transitions between the states for the second keyboard area (360) are controlled during step receiving a selection (420).

10. The method (400) of claim 1, further comprising a server computer (900) configured to generate a page (210) having computer instructions (100) for displaying the first and second keyboard areas.

11. Markup page (210) with instructions to a browser (200) that controls a computer processor (910) to display a virtual keyboard (350/360) on a screen (951);

the instructions comprising;

instructions for displaying (405) a first keyboard area (350);

instructions for presenting (410) first and second input fields (310, 320) of first and second types, respectively, to the user;

instructions for receiving a selection (420) for an input field (310/320) by the user by relating an input device (941) to either the first input field (310) or the second input field (320);

instructions for displaying (430) a second keyboard area (360) corresponding to the type of the selected input field (310/320) while continuing to display the first keyboard area (350);

instructions for reading (440) input from the user from the first keyboard area (350) and from the second keyboard area (360); and

instructions for changing (450) the first keyboard area (350) according to user commands to a keyboard selector (370) while maintaining the possibility to repeat steps receiving the selection (420), displaying the second keyboard area (360) and reading (440).

12. Computer program product (100) for controlling a virtual keyboard (350/360) with a first area (350) and a second area (360) on a screen (951) and for inputting (440) data into a first input field (310) of a first type and into a second input field (320) of a second type, the product (100) with first loop instructions and second loop instructions, the product (100) characterized in that

the first loop instructions have instructions for displaying (405) the first keyboard area (350) and for changing the first keyboard area (350) according to user commands to keyboard selector (370);

and

the second loop instructions have instructions for detecting (420) the selection of an input field (310/320) by the user for displaying (430) the second area (360) corresponding to the type of the selected input field (310/320).