CHARACTER INPUT DEVICE AND CHARACTER INPUT METHOD

• US 20120056814A1
• Filed: 04/26/2011
• Published: 03/08/2012
• Est. Priority Date: 04/26/2010
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Kyocera Corporation
• Original Assignee: Kyocera Corporation
• Inventors: Sudo, Tomohiro
• Granted Patent: US 8,860,665 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 345/168
• 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

Abstract

According to one embodiment, a character input device includes a touch panel and a control unit. The touch panel detects contact with respect to a surface thereof. The control unit performs, when detection of contact is started on the touch panel, character recognition processing based on a trajectory connecting each position at which the contact is detected. The control unit displays, when a character is recognized by the character recognition processing, a virtual keyboard on a display surface of the touch panel to receive input of a character from the virtual keyboard.

Claims

1. A character input device comprising:

a touch panel for detecting contact with respect to a surface thereof; and

a control unit for performing, when detection of contact is started on the touch panel, character recognition processing based on a trajectory connecting each position at which the contact is detected, and for displaying, when a character is recognized by the character recognition processing, a virtual keyboard on a display surface of the touch panel to receive input of a character from the virtual keyboard.

2. The character input device according to claim 1, wherein the control unit receives the character recognized by the character recognition processing and the character input from the virtual keyboard as input of a combined, consecutive character string.

3. The character input device according to claim 1, wherein the control unit, when the contact on the touch panel is detected in a state of an operation screen being displayed on the touch panel and the character recognition processing is started, defers performing processing corresponding to the operation screen based on a position at which the contact is detected, and performs the processing thus deferred when no character is recognized by the character recognition processing.

4. The character input device according to claim 1, wherein the control unit, when the input of the character from the virtual keyboard is completed, displays a screen for receiving selection of processing performed by using the character recognized by the character recognition processing and the character input from the virtual keyboard on the display surface of the touch panel.

5. The character input device according to claim 1, wherein the control unit, when the input of the character from the virtual keyboard is completed, performs processing corresponding to the character recognized by the character recognition processing and the character input from the virtual keyboard.

6. The character input device according to claim 1, wherein the control unit, when an object displayed on the touch panel is selected in advance, saves a character string obtained by combining the character recognized by the character recognition processing and the character input from the virtual keyboard as attribute information of the object.

7. The character input device according to claim 1, wherein the control unit, when a character is recognized by the character recognition processing, adjusts a position at which the virtual keyboard is displayed depending on a position at which a last contact is detected by the touch panel.

8. The character input device according to claim 1, wherein the control unit, when the touch panel detects a gesture in which contact is started at a first position on the surface of the touch panel and is terminated at a second position on the surface of the touch panel while the virtual keyboard is being displayed on the display surface of the touch panel, receives a character string including characters corresponding to buttons of the virtual keyboard displayed on a consecutive input trajectory connecting each position at which the contact is detected from when the contact is started at the first position to when the contact is terminated at the second position as input from the virtual keyboard.

9. The character input device according to claim 8, wherein the control unit receives the character string including a character corresponding to a button displayed at a position where a specific gesture is detected among the characters corresponding to the buttons displayed on the consecutive input trajectory as the input from the virtual keyboard.

10. The character input device according to claim 3, wherein the control unit, when no character is recognized by the character recognition processing, performs processing corresponding to an object displayed on the trajectory.

11. A character input method performed by a character input device including a touch panel for detecting contact with respect to a surface thereof, the character input method comprising:

performing, when detection of contact is started on the touch panel, character recognition processing by a control unit included in the character input device based on a trajectory connecting each position at which the contact is detected; and

displaying, when a character is recognized by the character recognition processing, a virtual keyboard on a display surface of the touch panel to receive input of a character from the virtual keyboard by the control unit.