PERFORMING ACTIONS ON A COMPUTING DEVICE USING A CONTEXTUAL KEYBOARD

• US 20120127082A1
• Filed: 11/21/2011
• Published: 05/24/2012
• Est. Priority Date: 11/20/2010
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Cerence Operating Company (Cerence Inc.)
• Original Assignee: Nuance Communications, Inc. (Microsoft Corporation)
• Inventors: Kushler, Clifford A., Manning, Jane, McSherry, Mike, Sheedy, Aaron
• Granted Patent: US 9,244,611 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 345/169
• 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

A system and method for performing actions via a keyboard application of a computing device is described. In some examples, a contextual keyboard facilitates the entry of text and the performance of actions across applications supported by a device. For example, the contextual keyboard may receive a word macro and/or a gesture, and determine that the received word macro and/or gesture is a command to perform one or more actions. Example actions to be performed include searching for information, storing information, posting information, sending information, enhancing information, and so on.

Claims

1. A keyboard system for a mobile device, comprising:

a keyboard component, wherein the keyboard component is configured to present a virtual keyboard to a user via a touch-screen of the mobile device;

a text entry component, wherein the text entry component is configured to receive text entry via the virtual keyboard and update a text string based on the received text entry; and

an action component, wherein the action component is configured to perform one or more actions associated with input received via the virtual keyboard.

2. The keyboard system of claim 1, wherein the action component includes:

an input reception component, wherein the input reception component is configured to receive input received via the virtual keyboard;

an action determination component, wherein the action determination component is configured to determine one or more actions are associated with the received input; and

an action performance component, wherein the action performance component is configured to cause the determined one or more actions to be performed.

3. The keyboard system of claim 1, wherein the action component is configured to perform one or more actions in response to textual input received via the virtual keyboard.

4. The keyboard system of claim 1, wherein the action component is configured to perform one or more actions in response to a gesture received via the virtual keyboard.

5. The keyboard system of claim 1, wherein the action component is configured to perform one or more actions in response to textual input received via the virtual keyboard and seed text displayed by the touch-screen of the mobile device.

6. The keyboard system of claim 1, wherein the action component is configured to perform one or more actions in response to a gesture received via the virtual keyboard and seed text displayed by the touch-screen of the mobile device.

7. The keyboard system of claim 1, wherein the action component is configured to perform one or more actions based on text displayed by the touch-screen of the mobile device.

8. The keyboard system of claim 1, wherein the action component is configured to perform one or more actions based on a portion of highlighted text displayed by the touch-screen of the mobile device.

9. The keyboard system of claim 1, wherein the text entry component is configured to receive text entry via the virtual keyboard when a user of the mobile device taps keys of the virtual keyboard.

10. The keyboard system of claim 1, wherein the text entry component is configured to receive text entry via the virtual keyboard when a user of the mobile device traces a path across keys of the virtual keyboard.

11. A computer-readable storage medium whose contents, when executed by a processor of a computing device, cause the computing device to provide a contextual keyboard, wherein the contextual keyboard comprises:

a text entry layer that receives text input via a keyboard displayed by the computing device; and

an action layer that performs one or more actions in response to a command received via the keyboard displayed by the computing device.

12. The computer-readable storage medium of claim 11, wherein the action layer performs one or more actions in response to a word macro received via the keyboard displayed by the computing device.

13. The computer-readable storage medium of claim 11, wherein the action layer performs one or more actions in response to a gesture received via the keyboard displayed by the computing device.

14. The computer-readable storage medium of claim 11, wherein the action layer performs one or more actions to store information displayed by the computing device in a database of the computing device in response to a word macro or gesture received via the keyboard displayed by the computing device.

15. The computer-readable storage medium of claim 11, wherein the action layer performs one or more actions to post information associated with the received text input to a webpage in response to a word macro or gesture received via the keyboard displayed by the computing device.

16. The computer-readable storage medium of claim 11, wherein the action layer performs one or more actions to insert a link to content based on information associated with the received text input in response to a word macro or gesture received via the keyboard displayed by the computing device.

17. The computer-readable storage medium of claim 11, wherein the action layer performs one or more actions to search for information in response to a word macro or gesture received via the keyboard displayed by the computing device.

18. A method performed by a keyboard application of a mobile device, the method comprising:

receiving input via a virtual keyboard of the keyboard application;

determining the received input is associated with an action to be performed by the keyboard application; and

performing the associated action.

19. The method of claim 18, wherein performing the associated action includes initiating an action to be performed by a separate application running on the mobile device.

20. The method of claim 18, wherein the received input is a text string or a gesture, and wherein determining the received input is associated with an action to be performed by the keyboard application includes determining the text string or gesture is associated with one or more actions to be performed by the keyboard application.