INDICATING A WORD LENGTH USING AN INPUT DEVICE

• US 20150082158A1
• Filed: 09/18/2013
• Published: 03/19/2015
• Est. Priority Date: 09/18/2013
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Lenovo PC International Limited (Lenovo Group Ltd.)
• Original Assignee: Lenovo Singapore Pte Limited (Lenovo Group Ltd.)
• Inventors: Mese, John Carl, Peterson, Nathan J., Waltermann, Rod D., Weksler, Arnold S., VanBlon, Russell Speight
• Granted Patent: US 10,042,543 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 715/261
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 3/0237 using prediction or retrieval techniques
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 3/0488 using a touch-screen or digitiser, e.g. input of commands through traced gestures
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 40/274 Converting codes to words; Guess-ahead of partial word inputs

Abstract

A method, apparatus, and program product are disclosed for receiving an input from an input device, determining one or more characteristics of the received input, the one or more characteristics indicating a word length, and presenting a list of one or more words having word lengths determined according to the indicated word length.

Claims

1. A method comprising:

receiving an input from an input device;

determining one or more characteristics of the received input, the one or more characteristics indicating a word length; and

presenting a list of one or more words having word lengths determined according to the indicated word length.

2. The method of claim 1, further comprising updating the list of one or more words in response to modification of one or more characteristics of the received input, the indicated word length being modified in response to modification of one or more characteristics of the received input, the word lengths of the one or more presented words substantially corresponding to the indicated word length.

3. The method of claim 1, further comprising assigning a word length to one or more characteristics of the received input, the word length being assigned based on one or more usage patterns associated with the received input.

4. The method of claim 1, further comprising subdividing a view area of a touch-enabled display into one or more segments wherein each segment represents a word length such that the lengths of the one or more listed words are updated as the received input gesture moves into a different word length segment.

5. The method of claim 4, wherein subdividing the view area of the touch-enabled display comprises a subdivision selected from the group consisting of linearly subdividing the view area and logarithmically subdividing the view area based on one or more usage patterns associated with the received input gesture.

6. The method of claim 1, wherein the input comprises a swiping gesture having one or more characteristics indicating a word length, the one or more characteristics comprising one or more of a swiping distance and a swiping speed.

7. The method of claim 1, wherein the input comprises a hovering gesture having one or more characteristics indicating a word length, the one or more characteristics comprising one or more of a duration, a perpendicular distance between a hovering item and the touch-enabled display, and a parallel distance between a hovering gesture start position and a hovering gesture end position.

8. The method of claim 1, wherein the input comprises a tap-and-hold gesture having one or more characteristics indicating a word length, the one or more characteristics comprising one or more of a duration and a force.

9. The method of claim 1, further comprising tracking a usage frequency of one or more words having a particular length, the list of one or more words being sorted based on a usage frequency distribution such that more-frequently used words are listed before less-frequently used words.

10. The method of claim 1, wherein the input is received from a virtual keyboard, the virtual keyboard presented on a touch-enabled display of an information handling device and wherein the one or more words presented in the list begin with one or more characters entered on the virtual keyboard, an order of the one or more entered characters being preserved in the one or more listed words.

11. An apparatus comprising:

a processor;

a memory storing machine readable code executable by the processor, the machine readable code comprising;

an input reception module configured to receive an input from an input device;

a characteristic determination module configured to determine one or more characteristics of the received input, the one or more characteristics indicating a word length; and

a word presentation module configured to present a list of one or more words having word lengths determined according to the indicated word length.

12. The apparatus of claim 11, further comprising an update module configured to update the list of one or more words in response to modification of one or more characteristics of the received input, the indicated word length being modified in response to modification of one or more characteristics of the received input, the word lengths of the one or more presented words substantially corresponding to the indicated word length.

13. The apparatus of claim 11, further comprising an assignment module configured to assign a word length to one or more characteristics of the received input, the word length being assigned based on one or more usage patterns associated with the received input.

14. The apparatus of claim 11, further comprising a subdividing module configured to subdivide a view area of a touch-enabled display into one or more segments wherein each segment represents a word length such that the lengths of the one or more listed words are updated as the received input gesture moves into a different word length segment.

15. The apparatus of claim 11, wherein the input comprises a swiping gesture having one or more characteristics indicating a word length, the one or more characteristics comprising one or more of a swiping distance and a swiping speed.

16. The apparatus of claim 11, wherein the input comprises a hovering gesture having one or more characteristics indicating a word length, the one or more characteristics comprising one or more of a duration, a perpendicular distance between a hovering item and the touch-enabled display, and a parallel distance between a hovering gesture start position and a hovering gesture end position.

17. The apparatus of claim 11, wherein the input comprises a tap-and-hold gesture having one or more characteristics indicating a word length, the one or more characteristics comprising one or more of a duration and a force.

18. The apparatus of claim 11, further comprising a tracking module configured to track a usage frequency of one or more words having a particular length, the list of one or more words being sorted based on a usage frequency distribution such that more-frequently used words are listed before less-frequently used words.

19. The apparatus of claim 11, wherein the input is received from a virtual keyboard, the virtual keyboard presented on a touch-enabled display of an information handling device and wherein the one or more words presented in the list begin with one or more characters entered on the virtual keyboard, an order of the one or more entered characters being preserved in the one or more listed words.

20. A program product comprising a computer readable storage medium storing machine readable code executable by a processor to perform:

receiving an input from an input device;

determining one or more characteristics of the received input, the one or more characteristics indicating a word length; and

presenting a list of one or more words having word lengths determined according to the indicated word length.