Touch-typable devices based on ambiguous codes and methods to design such devices

• US 6,885,317 B1
• Filed: 12/09/1999
• Issued: 04/26/2005
• Est. Priority Date: 12/10/1998
• Status: Expired

• Current Assignee: Eatoni Ergonomics Incorporated
• Original Assignee: Eatoni Ergonomics Incorporated
• Inventors: Gutowitz, Howard Andrew
• Primary Examiner(s): EDWARDS JR, TIMOTHY
• Application Number:
  US09/856,863
• Time in Patent Office: 1,965 Days
• Field of Search: 341/20, 341/22, 345/168, 400/472, 400/486, 704/4, 704/10
• US Class Current: 341/22
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 3/0237 using prediction or retrieval techniques

Abstract

The design of typable devices, in particular, touch-typable devices embodying ambiguous codes, presents numerous ergonomic problems. Solutions for these problems are herein disclosed. This invention teaches methods for the selection of ambiguous codes from the classes of strongly-touch-typable ambiguous codes and substantially optimal ambiguous codes for touch-typable devices such as computers, telephones, pagers, personal digital assistants, smart cards, television set-top devices and other information appliances, given design constraints such as the size, shape, and computational capacity of the device, the typical uses of the device, and conventional constraints such as respect of alphabetic ordering or Qwerty ordering.

Claims

1. An apparatus comprising:

encoding symbols;

decoding symbols;

a keyboard comprising a plurality of keys responsive to user activation to generate sequences of said encoding symbols, said keyboard comprising a plurality of keys;

an output which selectively outputs sequences of said decoding symbols in response to said user activation of said keyboard;

an ambiguous code which maps said sequences of said encoding symbols to said sequences of said decoding symbols, wherein at least one of said sequences of said encoding symbols is mapped to a plurality of said sequences of said decoding symbols, said ambiguous code characterized in that it is strongly touch typable;

a plurality of decoding-symbol-assigned keys formed by an assignment of said decoding symbols to said keys, said assignment characterized in that it is not even-as-possible, given the number of said decoding-symbol-assigned keys.

2. An apparatus comprising:

encoding symbols;

decoding symbols;

a keyboard comprising a plurality of keys responsive to user activation to generate sequences of said encoding symbols, said keyboard comprising a plurality of keys;

an output which selectively outputs sequences of said decoding symbols in response to said user activation of said keyboard;

an ambiguous code which maps said sequences of said encoding symbols to said sequences of said decoding symbols, wherein at least one of said sequences of said encoding symbols is mapped to a plurality of said sequences of said decoding symbols, said ambiguous code characterized in that it is maximally touch typable in that at least one of the conditions is true of said ambiguous code, said conditions selected from i) its lookup error rate is at least of level C, ii) its query error rate is at least of level B, iii) its effective key number is at least 10, given statistics drawn from a representative corpus of a language.

3. An apparatus comprising:

encoding symbols;

decoding symbols;

a keyboard comprising a plurality of keys responsive to user activation to generate sequences of said encoding symbols, said keyboard comprising a plurality of keys;

an output sequences of said decoding symbols in response to said user activation of said keyboard;

an ambiguous code which maps said sequences of said encoding symbols to said sequences of said decoding symbols;

wherein at least one said sequences of said encoding symbols is mapped to a plurality of said sequences of said decoding symbols, said ambiguous code characterized in that it substantially satisfies at least one constraint selected from the group consisting of anatomic fidelity, conservation of conventional gestures, conservation of convention, cross-platform compatibility, learnability, and scan time;

an assignment of a plurality of said decoding symbols to said keys, said assignment characterized in that it is not even-as-possible.

4. An apparatus comprising:

encoding symbols;

decoding symbols;

a keyboard comprising a plurality of keys responsive to user activation to generate sequences of said encoding symbols, said keyboard comprising a plurality of keys;

an output which selectively outputs sequences of said decoding symbols in response to said user activation of said keyboard;

an ambiguous code which maps said sequences of said encoding symbols to said sequences of said decoding symbols, wherein at least one of said sequences of said encoding symbols is mapped to a plurality of said sequences of said decoding symbols, said ambiguous code characterized in that it is substantially optimal with respect to at least one of lookup error rate and query error rate;

an assignment of said decoding symbols to said keys, said assignment characterized in that it is not even-as-possible, given the number of said keys to which said decoding symbols have been assigned by said assignment.

5. An apparatus comprising:

encoding symbols;

decoding symbols;

a keyboard comprising a plurality of keys responsive to user activation to generate sequences of said encoding symbols;

an output which selectively outputs sequences of said decoding symbols in response to said user activation of said keyboard;

an ambiguous code which maps said sequences of said encoding symbols to said sequences of said decoding symbols, wherein at least one of said sequences of said encoding symbols is mapped to a plurality of said sequences of said decoding symbols, said ambiguous code characterized in that said sequences of said encoding symbols are max-2 sequences of length at most two, comprising at least one max-2 sequence of length 2; and

said sequences of said decoding symbols are max-1 sequences of length 1 whereby said ambiguous code is a mapping between said max-2 sequences of said encoding symbols and subsets of said decoding symbols and whereby input of one of said max-2 sequences of said encoding symbols explictly selects for ambiguous output one of said subsets of said decoding symbols.

6. The apparatus of claim 5 wherein said keys are laid out spatially and a plurality of said decoding symbols are associated with said keys substantially following a conventional order in space.

7. The apparatus of claim 5 wherein a plurality of said max-2 sequences of said encoding symbols are input in response to a substantially simultaneous said user activation which consists of activating two of said keys substantially simultaneously in that activation of a second of said keys occurs within the duration of activity of a first of said keys.

8. The apparatus of claim 5 wherein physical motions are operative to input said sequences of said encoding symbols comprising, but not limited to, any motion of body parts selected from the set of arm, hand, fingers, thumb, leg, foot, toes, head, and eye.

9. The apparatus of claim 5 wherein said decoding symbols are symbols used to represent a natural language, comprising, but not limited to, the letters, digits and punctuation marks commonly used to write said natural language.

10. The apparatus of claim 16 wherein said decoding symbols are explicitly selected so as to optimize at least one of lookup error rate and query error rate.

11. The apparatus of claim 5 further characterized in that it is strongly touch typable, whereupon said ambiguous code is a strongly touch typable ambiguous code.

12. The apparatus of claim 11 wherein said strongly touch typable ambiguous code is a multi-level ambiguous code, said multi-level ambiguous code characterized in that it comprises a first-level ambiguous code and a second-level ambiguous code;

wherein a first of said encoding symbols in one of said max-2 sequences of said encoding symbols is drawn from said first-level ambiguous code, and a second of said encoding symbols in said one of said max-2 sequences of said encoding symbols is drawn from said second-level ambiguous code.

13. The apparatus of claim 5 further characterized in that it substantially satisfies at least one constraint selected from the set consisting of specified partition structure, anatomic fidelity, conservation of conventional gestures, conservation of convention, cross-platform compatibility, learnability, and scan time.

14. The apparatus of claim 13 wherein said conservation of convention comprises substantial conservation of qwerty order and said keys are arranged in at least three rows and one to ten columns, and wherein said decoding symbols comprise letters comprising a through z, and said three rows comprise a top row;

a middle row; and

a bottom row;

said apparatus further comprising an assignment of said letters to said keys, so that said keys comprise letter-assigned keys, said letters in order q, w, e, r, t, y, u, i, o and p are assigned by said assignment to a plurality of said letter-assigned keys in said top row of said three rows, said letters in order a, s, d, f, g, h, j, k, and l are assigned by said assignment to a plurality of said letter-assigned keys in said middle row of said three rows, said letters in order z, x, c, v, b and m are assigned by said assignment to a plurality of said letter-assigned keys in said bottom row of said three rows, futher characterized in that the number of said letter-assigned keys in each of said three rows monotonically decreases from said top row to said bottom row, in that said number of said letter-assigned keys in each of said three rows decreases or remains constant from said top row to said middle row and from said middle row to said bottom row, said assignment satisfying an even-as-possible partition given said number of said letter-assigned keys in each of said three rows and wherein said keys are laid out in a format including as a subpart one of standard numeric keypad format and standard telephone keypad format with corresponding indicia for digits so as to substantially satisfy said cross-platform compatibility.

15. The apparatus of claim 14 wherein said ambiguous code is substantially optimal with respect to at least one of lookup error rate and query error rate.

16. The apparatus of claim 5 wherein a plurality of said subsets of said decoding symbols contain a single of said decoding symbols, whereby input of one of said max-2 sequences of said encoding symbols which is mapped by said ambiguous code to one of said single of said decoding symbols serves to explicitly select for unambiguous output said single of said decoding symbols, whereupon said single of said decoding symbols is an element of a plurality of explicitly selected unambiguous said decoding symbols.

17. The apparatus of claim 16 characterized in that a plurality of said max-2 sequences of said encoding symbols consist of one element drawn from a plurality of combining said encoding symbols, and one element drawn from a plurality of key-assigned said encoding symbols, any single element of said plurality of said key-assigned said encoding symbols being designated a key-assigned encoding symbol, wherein said user activation of one of said keys to which one of said key-assigned said encoding symbols has been assigned inputs said key-assigned encoding symbol, and further characterized in that a plurality of said decoding symbols are key-assigned said decoding symbols, any single element of said plurality of said key-assigned said decoding symbols being designated a key-assigned decoding symbol, such that when one of said key-assigned said encoding symbols is input, an element of a first subset of said key-assigned said decoding symbols is output, and when one of said combining said encoding symbols is input in combination with one of said key-assigned said decoding symbols, then an element of a second subset of said key-assigned said decoding symbols is output.

18. The apparatus of claim 17 wherein at least one of the group consisting of said first subset and said second subset consists of said explicitly selected unambiguous said decoding symbols.

19. The apparatus of claim 17 characterized in that said first subset and said second subset comprise letters selected from the set a through z and their accented counterparts.

20. The apparatus of claim 19 characterized in that said first subset comprises said letters selected from the set consisting of c, e, h, l, n, s, t, x, y.

21. The apparatus of claim 19 characterized in that said letters are assigned to said keys following a substantially alphabetic order.

22. The apparatus of claim 21 characterized in that said letters are assigned to said keys following a standard assignment of letters to a telephone keypad.

23. The apparatus of claim 16 further comprising a display coupled to a processor through appropriate interfacing circuitry, wherein said processor receives input sequences of said encoding symbols from said keyboard and manages output of sequences of said decoding symbols to said display;

a memory coupled to said processor, wherein said memory comprises disambiguation software, said disambiguation software effective to map said sequences of said encoding symbols to sequences of said explicitly selected unambiguous said decoding symbols;

a database of disambiguation rules which associate said sequences of said encoding symbols with said sequences of said decoding symbols.

24. The apparatus of claim 22 wherein said keys are responsive to said user activation mediated by one of the physical senses of sight, hearing, touch, taste, and smell and said display is selected from the group consisting of visual, auditory, tactile, gustatory and olfactory displays.

25. The apparatus of claim where said disambiguation software is selected from the set comprising word-based, sequence-based, prefix-based and any combination thereto.

26. The apparatus of claim 25 where said disambiguation software is operative to apply a selecting plurality of said disambiguation rules in said database of disambiguation rules, elements of said selecting plurality of said disambiguation rules characterized in that said sequences of said decoding symbols in said selecting plurality of said disambiguation rules include at least one of said explicitly selected unambiguous said decoding symbols.

27. The apparatus of claim 26 where elements of said selecting plurality of said disambiguation rules are such that said explicitly selected unambiguous said decoding symbols may occur at the beginning, interior, or end of said sequences of said decoding symbols.

28. An apparatus comprising:

encoding symbols;

decoding symbols;

a keyboard comprising a plurality of keys responsive to user activation to generate sequences of said encoding symbols;

an output which selectively outputs sequences of said decoding symbols in response to said user activation of said keyboard;

an ambiguous code which maps said sequences of said encoding symbols to said sequences of said decoding symbols, wherein at least one of said sequences of said encoding symbols is mapped to a plurality of said sequences of said decoding symbols;

said ambiguous code characterized in that it is strongly touch typable;

an assignment of said decoding symbols to said keys;

said ambiguous code together with said assignment characterized in that they substantially satisfy at least one constraint selected from the group consisting of anatomic fidelity, conservation of conventional gestures, conservation of convention, cross-platform compatibility, learnability, and scan time.

29. The apparatus of claim 28 further comprising a thumb actuatable input, said thumb actuatable input being effective to input a plurality of unambiguous said decoding symbols formed by an unambigous association of a plurality of said encoding symbols with a plurality of said decoding symbols;

a palm grip, said palm grip permitting said apparatus to be slide along a surface by pressure from the palm while the hand is in a comfortable position for typing; and

a display, said display being effective to display said plurality of said decoding symbols as they are input.

30. The apparatus of claim 28 wherein said ambiguous code is substantially optimal with respect to at least one of lookup error rate and query error rate.

31. The apparatus of claim 28 wherein said keys are laid out in one of a standard numeric keypad format and standard telephone keypad format whereby said conservation of convention is substantially satisfied.

32. The apparatus of claim 28 further characterized in that a plurality of said keys are decoding-symbol-assigned keys, such the number of said decoding-symbol-assigned keys is approximately half of the number of said decoding symbols, and not less than half of the number of said decoding symbols.

33. The apparatus of claim 32 further characterized in that said plurality of said decoding symbols consists of the letters a through z.

34. The apparatus of claim 28 wherein said conservation of convention comprises substantial conservation of qwerty order and said keys are arranged in at least three rows and one to ten columns, and wherein said decoding symbols comprise letters comprising a through z, and said three rows comprise a top row;

a middle row; and

a bottom row;

said apparatus further comprising an assignment of said letters to said keys, so that said keys comprise letter-assigned keys, said letters in order q, w, e, r, t, y, u, i, o and p are assigned by said assignment to a plurality of said letter-assigned keys in said top row of said three rows, said letters in order a, s, d, f, g, h, j, k, and l are assigned by said assignment to a plurality of said letter-assigned keys in said middle row of said three rows, said letters in order z, x, c, v, b and m are assigned by said assignment to a plurality of said letter-assigned keys in said bottom row of said three rows, futher characterized in that the number of said letter-assigned keys in each of said three rows monotonically decreases from said top row to said bottom row, in that said number of said letter-assigned keys in each of said three rows decreases or remains constant from said top row to said middle row and from said middle row to said bottom row, said assignment satisfying an even-as-possible partition given said number of said letter-assigned keys in each of said three rows and wherein said keys are laid out in a format including as a subpart one of standard numeric keypad format and standard telephone keypad format with corresponding indicia for digits so as to substantially satisfy said cross-platform compatibility.

35. The apparatus of claim 34 wherein said ambiguous code is substantially optimal with respect to at least one of lookup error rate and query error rate.

36. The apparatus of claim 28 characterized in that said assignment of said decoding symbols to said keys is partitioned across said keys according to a specified partition structure.

37. The apparatus of claim 36 wherein said specified partition structure is not even-as-possible.

38. The apparatus of claim 36 characterized in that said specified partition structure is an even-as-possible partition given the number of said keys to which said decoding symbols are assigned by said assignment of said decoding symbols to said keys.

39. The apparatus of claim 28 wherein said conservation of convention comprises substantial conservation of at least one of alphabetic order and qwerty order in said assignment of said decoding symbols to said keys.

40. The apparatus of claim 39 wherein said conservation of convention comprises substantial conservation of said qwerty order and said keys are arranged in at least three rows and one to ten columns.

41. The apparatus of claim 40 wherein said decoding symbols comprise letters comprising a through z, and said three rows comprise a top row, a middle row, and a bottom row, and said keys comprise letter-assigned keys, said letters in order q, w, e, r, t, y, u, i, o and p are assigned by said assignment to a plurality of said letter-assigned keys in said top row of said three rows, said letters in order a, s, d, f, g, h, j, k, and l are assigned by said assignment to a plurality of said letter-assigned keys in said middle row of said three rows, said letters in order z, x, c, v, b, and m are assigned by said assignment to a plurality of said letter-assigned keys in said bottom row of said three rows.

42. The apparatus of claim 41 wherein the number of said letter-assigned keys in each of said three rows monotonically decreases from said top row to said bottom row, in that said number of said letter-assigned keys in each of said three rows decreases or remains constant from said top row to said middle row and from said middle row to said bottom row.