INPUT DEVICE

• US 20120062495A1
• Filed: 05/25/2010
• Published: 03/15/2012
• Est. Priority Date: 05/27/2009
• Status: Abandoned Application

• Current Assignee: Kyocera Corporation
• Original Assignee: Kyocera Corporation
• Inventors: Kajitani, Ichiro
• Application Number:
  US13/321,793
• Publication Number:
  US 20120062495A1
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 345/173
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 2203/0339 Touch strips, e.g. orthogonal touch strips to control cursor movement or scrolling; single touch strip to adjust parameter or to implement a row of soft keys
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 3/0236 using selection techniques to select from displayed items
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 3/0362 with detection of 1D translations or rotations of an operating part of the device, e.g. scroll wheels, sliders, knobs, rollers or belts
• 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 2250/22 including a touch pad, a touch sensor or a touch detector digitizers for touch screens G06F3/041
• CPC Class Codes: H04M 2250/70 methods for entering alphabetical characters, e.g. multi-tap or dictionary disambiguation methods for entering alphabetical characters per se G06F3/0237

Abstract

Provided is an input apparatus that initially assigns 26 candidates, “a” through “z”, to a touch unit 6, starting with a point P1. Subsequently, the input apparatus detects a drag operation from the point P1 to a point P2, and when a turn at the point P2 is detected, the input apparatus assigns a larger area than the area initially assigned to the letter “q”, which has been assigned to the point P2, and the letters “p”, “o”, “n”, “m”, and “l”, which correspond to locations traversed during the drag operation.

Claims

1. An input apparatus including a touch unit, comprising:

a detection unit detecting a touch on the touch unit and a movement of the touch while the touch is sustained on the touch unit;

an assigning unit assigning a partial range of a detection region of the touch unit to each of a plurality of selectable candidates, the detection region being a region in which a touch is detectable;

a display unit;

a display control unit causing the display unit to display a candidate that has been assigned a partial range including a touch point at which the touch is performed;

a judgment unit judging whether or not a direction of the movement of the touch has changed; and

an assigned-range update unit, when the judgment unit has judged in the affirmative, enlarging a partial range assigned to a candidate corresponding to a touch point at which the touch is performed at the time of the change in the direction of the movement of the touch.

2. The input apparatus of claim 1, wherein

the display control unit causes the display unit to display, in a highlighted state, the candidate that has been assigned the partial range including the touch point,

the change in the direction of the movement of the touch is a turn, and

the assigned-range update unit clears the assignment initially performed by the assigning unit, and enlarges, in addition to the enlarged partial range, partial ranges that are assigned to candidates neighboring the candidate corresponding to the touch point and that have been traversed during the movement of the touch before the judgment unit has judged in the affirmative.

3. The input apparatus of claim 2, further comprising

a reception unit, when the detection unit detects that the touch has been released, receiving and confirming input of a candidate that has been assigned a partial range including a release point at which the touch has been released.

4. The input apparatus of claim 3, further comprising

a conversion unit, wherein

the plurality of candidates are characters, and

when another touch is detected within a predetermined time period after the reception unit receives the input of the candidate, the conversion unit converts a case or a syllable of the input candidate.

5. The input apparatus of claim 2, wherein

after the assigned-range update unit performs the enlargement, when the judgment unit has judged the movement of the touch as another turn, the assigned-range update unit enlarges (i) a partial range assigned to a candidate that corresponds to a turn point at which said another turn has been performed and (ii) partial ranges that are assigned to candidates neighboring the candidate that corresponds to the turn point and that have been traversed during the movement of the touch before reaching the turn point.

6. The input apparatus of claim 2, wherein

the assigned-range update unit clears the initial assignment of a partial range that is assigned to a candidate neighboring the candidate corresponding to the touch point and that has not been traversed during the movement of the touch before the judgment unit has judged in the affirmative.

7. The input apparatus of claim 1, wherein

the plurality of candidates are letters of the alphabet, and

the assigning unit aligns the letters of the alphabet in the alphabetical order, and assigns a partial range of the detection region to each of the aligned letters of the alphabet.

8. The input apparatus of claim 1, wherein

the plurality of candidates are letters of the hiragana alphabet, and

the assigning unit aligns the hiragana syllabograms in the Japanese syllabary order, and assigns a partial range of the detection region to each of the aligned hiragana syllabograms.