TEXT INPUT SYSTEM AND METHOD

• US 20150355836A1
• Filed: 01/20/2014
• Published: 12/10/2015
• Est. Priority Date: 01/21/2013
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: KeyPoint Technologies India Pvt., Ltd.
• Original Assignee: KeyPoint Technologies India Pvt., Ltd.
• Inventors: Gummadidala, Shailaja, Kurian, Prima Dona, Yelubolu, Sandeep, Goswami, Sumit, Motaparti, Sunil
• Granted Patent: US 10,474,355 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 1/1
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 3/023 Arrangements for converting discrete items of information into a coded form, e.g. arrangements for interpreting keyboard generated codes as alphanumeric codes, operand codes or instruction codes
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 3/0237 using prediction or retrieval techniques
• 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
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 40/274 Converting codes to words; Guess-ahead of partial word inputs

Abstract

The present invention relates to a computer-implemented method for inputting text into an electronic device (10). A virtual keyboard (30) having a plurality of keys (40) is displayed on a display screen (20) and one or more characters are associated with each key. An input pattern is generated by a user and the key(s) (40) positioned on or proximal to the input pattern are identified. The keys (40) in the virtual keyboard (30) are allocated to pre-defined groups (50A, 50B, 50C), such that each group comprises a plurality of said keys (40). The input pattern is encoded in dependence on the pre-defined groups in which each of said one or more identified keys (40) are arranged. A candidate word or words is identified to be input into the electronic device (10) based on the encoded input pattern. The present invention also relates to computer-implemented methods for identifying candidate words based on the correlation between input and candidate string lengths; and/or upper/lower input length thresholds; and/or the identification of valid/invalid string combinations. The present invention also relates to a corresponding system, such as a computational apparatus (10).

Claims

1. A computer-implemented method for inputting text into an electronic device, the method comprising:

displaying a virtual keyboard comprising a plurality of keys on a display screen, one or more characters being associated with each of said keys; and

detecting an input pattern generated by a user and identifying one or more of said keys positioned on or proximal to said input pattern;

wherein the keys in the virtual keyboard are allocated to pre-defined groups each comprising a plurality of said keys;

the method comprises encoding the input pattern in dependence on the pre-defined groups in which each of said one or more identified keys is arranged; and

identifying one or more candidate words to be input into the electronic device based on the encoded input pattern.

2. A computer-implemented method as claimed in claim 1, wherein the candidate words are identified from one or more sets of words stored in a database, the words in each set comprising or consisting of a pre-defined string combination;

wherein the method further comprises identifying one or more of said sets based on a string combination corresponding to at least a portion of the input pattern.

4. A computer-implemented method as claimed in claim 2, wherein said portion of the input pattern is an initial portion of the input pattern and the string combination corresponds to a character string at the beginning of the candidate word.

7. A computer-implemented method as claimed in claim 1, wherein the pre-defined groups each correspond to a region or cluster of said keys in the virtual keyboard;

or

to a row of said keys in the virtual keyboard.

9. A computer-implemented method as claimed in claim 1, wherein a unique identifier is associated with each of said pre-defined groups.

10. A computer-implemented method as claimed in claim 9,

wherein the input pattern is encoded based on the unique identifiers associated with the pre-defined groups in which each of said one or more identified keys is arranged.

11. A computer-implemented method as claimed in claim 9, wherein an input sequence code is stored for each candidate word, the input sequence code being derived from the unique identifier of the pre-defined groups in which each letter of the word is arranged;

or

an input sequence code is calculated for each candidate word based on the unique identifier of the pre-defined group in which each letter of the word is arranged.

13. A computer-implemented method as claimed in claim 1, comprising:

determining a length of the input pattern and calculating an upper length threshold and/or a lower length threshold based on said measured length;

wherein the selection of said one or more candidate words is based on the upper length threshold and/or the lower length threshold.

22. A computer-implemented method as claimed in claim 1, comprising applying a pattern matching algorithm to determine a correlation between said input pattern and a modelled input pattern for a candidate word.

31. A computer-implemented method for inputting text into an electronic device, the method comprising:

in a first phase, performing the method claimed in claim 1;

in a second phase forming one or more character strings consisting of characters associated with each key positioned on or proximal to said input pattern and filtering the one or more character strings to identify one or more candidate words for input into the electronic device, wherein filtering the character string comprises identifying valid and/or invalid string combinations within each character string in the second phase; and

in a third phase the keys displayed in the virtual keyboard are arranged in pre-defined groups and one or more characters is associated with each key, a pattern matching algorithm being applied to determine a correlation between said input pattern and a modelled input pattern for a candidate word, and identifying one or more of said candidate words to be input into the electronic device based on said correlation;

wherein the first, second and third phases can be performed in any order.

32. A computing device configured to execute instructions to implement the method as claimed in claim 1.

3. (canceled)

5-6. -6. (canceled)

8. (canceled)

12. (canceled)

14-15. -15. (canceled)

16. A computer-implemented method for inputting text into an electronic device, the method comprising:

displaying a virtual keyboard comprising a plurality of keys on a display screen, one or more characters being associated with each of said keys;

detecting an input pattern generated by a user and forming one or more character strings consisting of characters associated with each key positioned on or proximal to said input pattern;

and

filtering the one or more character strings to identify one or more candidate words for input into the electronic device;

wherein filtering the character string comprises identifying valid and/or invalid string combinations within each character string.

18. A computer-implemented method as claimed in claim 16, wherein filtering the character string comprises determining if a particular character in the character string in combination with each subsequent character in the character string forms a valid combination.

19. A computer-implemented method as claimed in claim 18, wherein filtering the character string is initiated with the first character in the character string which corresponds to a start point of the input pattern.

20. A computer-implemented method as claimed in claim 19, wherein filtering the character string is repeated for each character in the character string in combination with each subsequent character in the character string.

17. (canceled)

21. (canceled)

23. A computer-implemented method for inputting text into an electronic device, the method comprising:

displaying a virtual keyboard comprising a plurality of keys on a display screen, the keys being arranged in pre-defined groups and one or more characters being associated with each key;

detecting an input pattern generated by a user and identifying one or more of said keys positioned on or proximal to said continuous input pattern;

applying a pattern matching algorithm to determine a correlation between said input pattern and a modelled input pattern for a candidate word; and

identifying one or more of said candidate words to be input into the electronic device based on said correlation.

24. A computer-implemented method as claimed in claim 23, comprising identifying a first set of corner points in said input pattern;

and identifying a second set of corner points in said modelled input pattern.

25. A computer-implemented method as claimed in claim 24, wherein the pattern matching algorithm determines a correlation between the first and second sets of corner points.

26. A computer-implemented method as claimed in claim 25, wherein a weighting is applied to each corner point in said first set and/or said second set based on an included angle and/or curvature at each corner point.

27. A computer-implemented method as claimed in claim 23, wherein said pattern matching algorithm is a dynamic time warping algorithm.

28-30. -30. (canceled)