SOFT KEYBOARD INTERFACE

• US 20130067382A1
• Filed: 09/12/2011
• Published: 03/14/2013
• Est. Priority Date: 09/12/2011
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Microsoft Technology Licensing LLC (Microsoft Corporation)
• Original Assignee: Microsoft Corporation
• Inventors: Townsend, Reed L., Agrawal, Mudit, Batchvarov, Andrey Borissov, Su, Fei
• Granted Patent: US 9,262,076 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 715/773
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 3/0481 based on specific properties of the displayed interaction object or a metaphor-based environment, e.g. interaction with desktop elements like windows or icons, or assisted by a cursor's changing behaviour or appearance
• 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: G06F 3/04895 Guidance during keyboard input operation, e.g. prompting

Abstract

User experience of the performance of a computing device is improved through an operating system that processes inputs from a soft keyboard to provide information that can be used to accurately determine keys a user intended to strike while typing. For each detected tap, the operating system provides a probability that one or more keys were the intended target for the user. These probabilities may be computed from probability distribution functions that are dynamically determined based on user and/or system factors, such as typing rate and keyboard style or layout. Other components may use the probabilities to select a key corresponding to a detected keyboard tap as representing the intended user input. The selection may be made based on the probabilities alone or in combination with contextual factors that yield an overall probability that a detected tap arose from a user targeting a specific key.

Claims

1. A method of operating a computing device having a soft keyboard, the method comprising:

determining at least one characteristic of at least one of;

(i) a user'"'"'s interaction with the soft keyboard or (ii) a layout of the soft keyboard;

determining, for each of a plurality of keys on the soft keyboard, a probability distribution function, the probability distribution function being determined based on the at least one determined characteristic;

with at least one processing circuit, in response to an input received through the soft keyboard, generating, based on the probability distribution functions, a probability that the user targeted a key of the plurality of keys.

2. The method of claim 1, wherein:

generating the probability that the user targeted a key of the plurality of keys comprises generating a probability for multiple keys of the plurality of keys.

3. The method of claim 1, wherein:

determining the probability distribution function for each of the plurality of keys comprises determining a mean and variance of the probability distribution based on an average time between taps.

4. The method of claim 1, wherein:

determining the probability distribution function for each of the plurality of keys comprises determining a mean and variance of the probability distribution based on a style of the soft keyboard.

5. The method of claim 4, wherein:

determining the probability distribution function for each of the plurality of keys comprises determining a mean and variance of the probability distribution based on the position of the key relative to a reference location on the soft keyboard.

6. The method of claim 5, wherein:

determining the probability distribution function for each of the plurality of keys further comprises determining a mean and variance of the probability distribution based on the size of the key.

7. The method of claim 6, wherein:

the probability distribution function for each of the plurality of keys is a two dimensional spatial probability distribution function with the mean measured relative to a center of the key; and

at least one parameter of the probability distribution function is obtained by function fitting.

8. At least one computer-readable storage medium comprising computer-executable instructions that, when executed, perform a method of operating a component within a computing device that processes input from a soft keyboard, the method comprising:

receiving an indication of activation by a user at a location of a soft keyboard; and

providing an output, the output comprising, for each of a plurality of keys on the soft keyboard, a probability that the detected activation represents a user targeting the key.

9. The at least one computer-readable storage medium of claim 8, wherein:

the method further comprises determining whether the activation by the user falls within a central region of a first key of the soft keyboard; and

when the activation is determined to fall within the central region, the output comprises an indication that user struck the first key.

10. The at least one computer-readable storage medium of claim 8, wherein:

the computer readable medium further stores instructions for computing a probability distribution function for each key on the soft keyboard for each of a plurality of keyboard layouts; and

the method further comprises;

computing a probability distribution function for each of multiple keys on the soft keyboard using the stored instructions for computing the probability distribution functions and an indication of the layout of the soft keyboard on a display of the computing device; and

for each key of the plurality of keys, determining a probability that the detected activation indicates that the user targeted the key based on the probability distribution function determined for the key and a detected location on the soft keyboard of the activation, the determined probabilities for each of the plurality of keys comprising the output.

11. The at least one computer-readable storage medium of claim 10, wherein:

computing the probability distribution function for each of multiple keys on the soft keyboard is further based on a measured average time between user activations of the keyboard.

12. The at least one computer-readable storage medium of claim 11, wherein:

the instructions for computing a probability distribution function for each key on the soft keyboard for each of a plurality of keyboard layouts comprise instructions that increase a spread of the probability distribution function for each of at least a subset of keys on the soft keyboard in proportion to a detected typing speed of a user.

13. The at least one computer-readable storage medium of claim 11, wherein:

the plurality of keyboard layouts comprise;

a QWERTY keyboard;

a reduced QWERTY keyboard; and

a split keyboard.

14. The at least one computer-readable storage medium of claim 13, wherein:

the instructions for computing a probability distribution function for each key on the soft keyboard for each of a plurality of keyboard layouts comprise instructions that alter an offset of the probability distribution function for each of at least a subset of keys on the soft keyboard, the offset being;

increased based on position of the key on the keyboard and to a detected typing speed of a user;

decreased in a direction towards a central portion of the soft keyboard for a QWERTY and a reduced QWERTY keyboard; and

increased in a direction away from a edge of the soft keyboard for a split keyboard.

15. A computing device comprising:

a display to provide an indication of a user activation at a location on the display; and

processing circuitry adapted to;

render a soft keyboard in a region on the display;

monitor a typing rate of user interaction with the soft keyboard; and

for a detected user activation in the region, for at least one key adjacent the location, provide a probability that a user targeted the key, the probability being based on the typing rate of the user.

16. The computing device of claim 15, wherein:

the probability is further based on a layout of the soft keyboard.

17. The computing device of claim 15, wherein:

the processing circuitry is further adapted to compute, for each of a plurality of keys on the soft keyboard, a probability distribution function representing a probability that a detected activation at a location was caused by a user targeting the key; and

the processing circuitry determines the provided probability based on the probability distribution functions associated with a plurality of adjacent keys.

18. The computing device of claim 17, wherein:

computing a probability distribution function comprises selecting parameters of a Gaussian distribution based on the typing rate of the user.

19. The computing device of claim 15, wherein:

the probability is further based on a size of a gutter between adjacent keys on the soft keyboard.

20. The computing device of claim 15, wherein:

the computing device has a tablet form factor.