Continuous Handwriting UI

• US 20150193141A1
• Filed: 09/30/2014
• Published: 07/09/2015
• Est. Priority Date: 01/03/2014
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Apple Inc.
• Original Assignee: Apple Inc.
• Inventors: Goldsmith, Deborah E., Misra, Karan
• Granted Patent: US 9,411,508 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 1/1
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 2203/04803 Split screen, i.e. subdividing the display area or the window area into separate subareas
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 3/04883 for inputting data by handwriting, e.g. gesture or text
• CPC Class Codes: G06V 30/1423 the instrument generating sequences of position coordinates corresponding to handwriting preprocessing or recognising digital ink G06V30/32

Abstract

Some embodiments provide a touch-sensitive device that includes a handwriting area for receiving a handwritten input and a text area for displaying text characters that have been recognized for the handwritten input. As the device receives a subsequent handwritten input, it continuously removes portions of previously handwritten input from the handwriting area in order to allow the user to continue to provide handwritten input without having to clear the handwriting area. Some embodiments apply a fading mechanism for removing the handwritten input from the handwriting area. Different embodiments apply different factors for determining when and how to remove handwritten input from the handwriting area, including character based, word base, location based, and timer based thresholds.

Claims

1. A non-transitory machine readable storage medium storing a program for execution by at least one processing unit, the program for providing a handwriting area on an electronic display, the program comprising sets of instructions for:

receiving handwritten input via a touch-sensitive input device and detecting a set of text characters for the handwritten input;

displaying the handwritten input in the handwriting area and the set of detected text characters in a text area of the electronic display; and

when the handwritten input in the handwriting area exceeds a threshold, modifying a display of a subset of the handwritten input within the handwriting area.

2. The non-transitory machine readable medium of claim 1, wherein modifying the display of the subset of the handwritten input comprises partially fading out the subset of the handwritten input from the handwriting area.

3. The non-transitory machine readable medium of claim 1 further comprising sets of instructions for:

presenting one or more candidate text characters for the handwritten input;

receiving an input selecting one of the candidate text characters; and

displaying the candidate text character in the set of text characters in the text input area.

4. The non-transitory machine readable medium of claim 1, wherein the handwritten input comprises a set of handwritten characters, wherein the set of instructions for modifying the display of the subset of handwritten input further comprises sets of instructions for:

detecting that a number of handwritten characters displayed in the handwriting area exceeds a threshold number of characters; and

partially fading out a subset of the handwritten characters when the number of handwritten characters exceeds the threshold.

5. The non-transitory machine readable medium of claim 1, wherein the set of instructions for modifying the display of the subset of handwritten characters further comprises a set of instructions for determining that the subset of handwritten characters have been displayed in the handwriting area for a particular time period.

6. The non-transitory machine readable medium of claim 1, wherein the set of instructions for modifying the display of the subset of handwritten input further comprises a set of instructions for detecting that the handwritten input exceeds a threshold location in the handwriting area.

7. The non-transitory machine readable medium of claim 1, wherein the electronic display is a touch-sensitive display and the handwritten input is received through the handwriting area on the touch-sensitive display.

9. The non-transitory machine readable medium of claim 1 further comprising:

receiving a subsequent handwritten input over the subset of handwritten input displayed in the modified display; and

clearing the handwriting area of previously received handwritten input.

10. The non-transitory machine readable medium of claim 1, wherein the program further comprises sets of instructions for:

receiving input to edit the handwriting input; and

when the display of a particular subset of handwritten input has been modified within the handwriting area, re-displaying the particular subset of handwritten input in an original display in the handwriting area.

11. The non-transitory machine readable medium of claim 1, wherein the program further comprises:

receiving an input to delete a character in the text characters;

deleting a last received text character in the text input area; and

when the display of a particular subset of handwritten input has been previously modified within the handwriting area, re-displaying the particular subset of handwritten input in an original display within the handwriting area.

8. The non-transitory machine readable medium wherein the touch-sensitive input device is a trackpad that maps its positions to positions in the handwriting area.

12. A system comprising:

a touch-sensitive display; and

a machine readable storage storing a program for execution by at least one of the processing units, the program comprising sets of instructions for;

receiving handwritten input in a handwriting area of a touch-sensitive display of a device and detecting text characters for the handwritten input;

displaying the handwritten input in the handwriting area and the text characters in a text area of the touch-sensitive display; and

when the handwritten input in the handwriting area exceeds a threshold, modifying a display of a subset of the handwritten input from the handwriting area.

13. The system of claim 12, wherein the set of instructions for modifying a display of the subset of the handwritten input comprises a set of instructions for partially fading out the subset of the handwritten input from the handwriting area.

14. The system of claim 12, wherein the handwritten input comprises a set of handwritten characters, wherein the set of instructions for modifying the display of the subset of handwritten input further comprises sets of instructions for:

detecting that a number of handwritten characters displayed in the handwriting area exceeds a threshold number of characters; and

modifying the display of the subset of the handwritten characters when the number of handwritten characters exceeds the threshold.

15. The system of claim 12, wherein the set of instructions for modifying the display of the subset of handwritten input further comprises a set of instructions for detecting that the handwritten input exceeds a threshold location in the handwriting area.

16. The system of claim 12, wherein the program further comprises sets of instructions for:

receiving input to edit the handwriting input;

when the display of a particular subset of the handwritten input has been modified within the handwriting area, re-displaying the particular subset of handwritten input in an original display within the handwriting area.

17. The system of claim 12, wherein the program further comprises sets of instructions for:

receiving an input to delete a character in the text characters;

deleting a last received text character in the text input area; and

when the display of a particular subset of the handwritten input has been previously modified within the handwriting area, re-displaying the particular subset of the handwritten input in an original display within the handwriting area.

18. A method for providing a handwriting area on a touch-sensitive display of a device, the method comprising:

receiving handwritten input in a handwriting area of the touch-sensitive display of the device and detecting a set of text characters for the handwritten input;

displaying the handwritten input in the handwriting area and the set of detected text characters in a text area of the touch-sensitive display; and

when the handwritten input in the handwriting area exceeds a threshold, removing a subset of the handwritten input from the handwriting area.

19. The method of claim 18, wherein removing the subset of the handwritten input comprises partially dimming the subset of the handwritten input in the handwriting area.

20. The method of claim 18 further comprising:

presenting one or more candidate text characters for the handwritten input;

receiving an input selecting one of the candidate text characters; and

displaying the candidate text character in the set of text characters in the text input area.

21. The method of claim 18, wherein the handwritten input comprises a set of handwritten characters, wherein removing the subset of handwritten input further comprises:

detecting that a number of handwritten characters displayed in the handwriting area exceeds a threshold number of characters; and

removing a subset of the handwritten characters when the number of handwritten characters exceeds the threshold.

22. The method of claim 18, wherein removing the subset of handwritten characters further comprises determining that the subset of handwritten characters have been displayed in the handwriting area for a particular time period.

23. The method of claim 18, wherein removing the subset of handwritten input further comprises detecting that the handwritten input exceeds a threshold location in the handwriting area.

24. The method of claim 18 further comprising:

receiving input to edit the handwriting input; and

when the subset of handwritten input has been removed from the handwriting area, re-displaying the subset of handwritten input in the handwriting area.

25. The method of claim 18 further comprising:

receiving an input to delete a character in the text characters;

deleting a last received text character in the text input area; and

when the subset of handwritten input has been previously removed from the handwriting area, re-displaying the subset of handwritten input in the handwriting area.