TERMINAL AND METHOD FOR PROVIDING VIRTUAL KEYBOARD

• US 20110078614A1
• Filed: 05/14/2010
• Published: 03/31/2011
• Est. Priority Date: 09/30/2009
• Status: Abandoned Application

• Current Assignee: Pantech Corporation (Ideahub, Inc.)
• Original Assignee: Pantech Corporation (Ideahub, Inc.)
• Inventors: Kim, Byungsun, LEE, Young Hee
• Application Number:
  US12/780,139
• Publication Number:
  US 20110078614A1
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 715/773
• 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

A terminal to provide a virtual keyboard includes a touch panel to sense a touch input, a memory unit to store a plurality of virtual keyboards and a touch point number corresponding to each virtual keyboard, a virtual keyboard setting unit to select one of the virtual keyboards corresponding to a touch point number that matches a number of sensed touch inputs, and a display unit to display the selected virtual keyboard. The virtual keyboard setting unit may select one of the virtual keyboards according to a dimension or area of the sensed touch input, and may relocate the virtual keyboard according to coordinates of a touch input.

Claims

1. A terminal to provide a virtual keyboard, comprising:

a touch panel to sense a touch input;

a memory unit to store a first virtual keyboard and a second virtual keyboard, a first touch point number corresponding to the first virtual keyboard, and a second touch point number corresponding to the second virtual keyboard;

a virtual keyboard setting unit to select the first virtual keyboard or the second virtual keyboard according to whether the first touch point number or the second touch point number corresponds to a number of touch points of the sensed touch input; and

a display unit to display the selected virtual keyboard.

2. The terminal of claim 1, wherein the virtual keyboard setting unit selects the first virtual keyboard if the first touch point number corresponds to the number of touch points of the sensed touch input for more than a predetermined time.

3. The terminal of claim 1, wherein the virtual keyboard setting unit selects the first virtual keyboard if the first touch point number corresponds to the number of touch inputs that is initially sensed after a character input window is activated.

4. The terminal of claim 1, wherein the virtual keyboard setting unit selects a virtual keyboard that has a bisymmetry format if the number of touch points of the sensed touch input is two.

5. The terminal of claim 1, wherein the virtual keyboard setting unit selects a virtual keyboard including a key pad that is capable of receiving an input corresponding to a combination of two keys if the number of touch points of the sensed touch input is two.

6. The terminal of claim 1, wherein the virtual keyboard setting unit selects a virtual keyboard having a QWERTY keyboard format if the number of touch points of the sensed touch input is three.

7. A method for providing a virtual keyboard on a terminal, comprising:

sensing a touch input at a touch panel of the terminal;

selecting a first virtual keyboard or a second virtual keyboard according to a number of touch points of the sensed touch input; and

displaying the selected virtual keyboard,

wherein the terminal stores the first virtual keyboard and the second virtual keyboard, a first touch point number corresponding to the first virtual keyboard, and a second touch point number corresponding to the second virtual keyboard.

8. The method of claim 7, wherein the first virtual keyboard having the first touch point number that corresponds to the number of touch points of the sensed touch input is selected if the sensed touch input is sensed for more than a predetermined time.

9. The method of claim 7, wherein the first virtual keyboard having the first touch point number that corresponds to the number of touch points that is initially sensed after a character input window is activated is selected.

10. The method of claim 7, wherein a virtual keyboard that has a bisymmetry format is selected if the number of touch points of the sensed touch input is two.

11. The method of claim 7, wherein a virtual keyboard including a key pad that receives an input corresponding to a combination of two keys is selected if the number of touch points of the sensed touch input is two.

12. The method of claim 7, wherein a virtual keyboard having a QWERTY keyboard format is selected if the number of touch points of the sensed touch input is three.

13. A terminal to provide a virtual keyboard, comprising:

a touch panel to sense a touch input on a touch screen;

a memory unit to store a plurality of virtual keyboards and corresponding key sizes for the plurality of virtual keyboards;

a virtual keyboard setting unit to select a first virtual keyboard from the plurality of virtual keyboards according to a touch area of the touch input; and

a display unit to display the first virtual keyboard.

14. The terminal of claim 13, wherein the virtual keyboard setting unit selects the first virtual keyboard by comparing a size of a key constituting the first virtual keyboard with a dimension of the touch area.

15. The terminal of claim 13, wherein the virtual keyboard setting unit selects the first virtual keyboard by comparing a size of a key constituting the first virtual keyboard with a greater value among a width and a height of the touch area.

16. A method for providing a virtual keyboard on a terminal, comprising:

sensing a touch input on a touch screen of the terminal;

selecting a first virtual keyboard from among a plurality of stored virtual keyboards according to a touch area of the touch input; and

displaying the first virtual keyboard.

17. The method of claim 16, wherein the first virtual keyboard is selected by comparing a size of a key constituting the first virtual keyboard with a dimension of the touch area.

18. The method of claim 16, wherein the first virtual keyboard is selected by comparing a size of a key constituting the first virtual keyboard with a greater value among a width and a height of the touch area.

19. A terminal to provide a virtual keyboard, comprising:

a touch panel to sense a touch input on a touch screen;

a virtual keyboard setting unit to set a location of the virtual keyboard according to coordinates of the touch input; and

a display unit to display the virtual keyboard in the set location.

20. The terminal of claim 19, wherein the virtual keyboard setting unit sets the location of the virtual keyboard such that a reference point of the virtual keyboard corresponds to the coordinates of the touch input.

21. A method for providing a virtual keyboard on a terminal, comprising:

sensing a touch input on a touch screen of the terminal;

setting a location of a virtual keyboard according to coordinates of the touch input; and

displaying the virtual keyboard at the set location.

22. The method of claim 21, wherein the location of the virtual keyboard is set such that a reference point of the virtual keyboard corresponds to the coordinates of the touch input.