ELECTRONIC DEVICE AND METHOD OF CHANGING A KEYBOARD

• US 20140040810A1
• Filed: 08/01/2012
• Published: 02/06/2014
• Est. Priority Date: 08/01/2012
• Status: Abandoned Application

• Current Assignee: Blackberry Limited
• Original Assignee: James George Haliburton
• Inventors: BORG, Carl Magnus, HALIBURTON, James George, HUANG, Joseph Jyh-Huei
• Application Number:
  US13/564,474
• Publication Number:
  US 20140040810A1
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 715/773
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 3/017 Gesture based interaction, e.g. based on a set of recognized hand gestures interaction based on gestures traced on a digitiser G06F3/04883
• 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 method includes, on a display of an electronic device, displaying a first virtual keyboard of a set of available virtual keyboards, detecting a touch, when the touch is associated with a keyboard changing function, displaying previews of virtual keyboards of the set of available virtual keyboards, detecting selection of a second virtual keyboard of the set of available virtual keyboards, and displaying the second virtual keyboard in response to detecting the selection.

Claims

1. A method comprising:

on a display of an electronic device, displaying a first virtual keyboard of a set of available virtual keyboards;

detecting a touch;

when the touch is associated with a keyboard changing function, providing previews of virtual keyboards of the set of available virtual keyboards;

detecting selection of a second virtual keyboard of the set of available virtual keyboards; and

displaying the second virtual keyboard in response to detecting the selection.

2. The method according to claim 1, wherein the touch comprises one of a multi-touch, a gesture, and a hover.

3. The method according to claim 2, wherein the touch comprises a hover including two locations of touch contact.

4. The method according to claim 2, wherein the touch comprises a multi-touch gesture.

5. The method according to claim 1, wherein the virtual keyboard comprises one of keys of a character set associated with a language and a gesture pad associated with a language.

6. The method according to claim 1, wherein providing previews comprises displaying images.

7. The method according to claim 6, wherein the images are changed, in response to detecting a gesture associated with the images.

8. The method according to claim 6, wherein the images are displayed on virtual surfaces of a graphical carousel, and the images are changed by simulating a movement of the graphical carousel in response to detecting a gesture associated with the graphical carousel.

9. The method according to claim 8, wherein the movement of the graphical carousel comprises one of:

rotating a graphical prism of surfaces, flipping a graphical stack of surfaces, spinning a graphical cylinder of surfaces, flipping a graphical book of surfaces, and advancing a graphical band of surfaces.

10. The method according to claim 1, wherein the first and second virtual keyboards are displayed in portrait orientation.

11. The method according to claim 1, wherein the first and second virtual keyboards are displayed in landscape orientation.

12. The method according to claim 1, wherein providing previews comprises displaying images of the virtual keyboards and an image including selectable features to add or to remove keyboards from the set of available virtual keyboards.

13. The method according to claim 1, comprising providing selectable features to add or remove keyboards from the set of available virtual keyboards.

14. The method according to claim 1, further comprising adjusting the plurality of images by removing less frequently used virtual keyboards from the previews.

15. The method according to claim 1, further comprising ordering the previews based on a frequency of use of the virtual keyboards.

16. The method according to claim 1, further comprising ordering the previews based on an active application or activity.

17. A computer-readable medium having computer-readable code executable by at least one processor of a portable electronic device to perform the method according to claim 1.

18. An electronic device comprising:

a touch-sensitive display;

at least one processor coupled to the touch-sensitive display and configured to, on the touch-sensitive display, display a first virtual keyboard of a set of available virtual keyboards, detect a touch, when the touch is associated with a keyboard changing function, displaying previews of virtual keyboards of the set of available virtual keyboards, detect selection of a second virtual keyboard of the set of available virtual keyboards, and display the second virtual keyboard in response to detecting the selection.