Electronic device with user interface capability and method therefor

• US 6,943,777 B2
• Filed: 10/10/2002
• Issued: 09/13/2005
• Est. Priority Date: 10/10/2002
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Google Technology Holdings LLC (Alphabet Inc.)
• Original Assignee: Motorola, Inc. (Motorola Solutions, Inc.)
• Inventors: Muthuswamy, Sivakumar, Gillette, Joseph G., Potter, Scott G.
• Primary Examiner(s): WU, XIAO MIN
• Application Number:
  US10/268,292
• Publication Number:
  US 20040070569A1
• Time in Patent Office: 1,069 Days
• Field of Search: 345173-179, 345156-157, 345168-169, 178/18.1, 178/18.01, 341 20- 23
• US Class Current: 345/168
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 3/04883 for inputting data by handwriting, e.g. gesture or text
• CPC Class Codes: H04M 1/23 Construction or mounting of dials or of equivalent devices; Means for facilitating the use thereof by improving visibility H04M1/22
• CPC Class Codes: H04M 2250/22 including a touch pad, a touch sensor or a touch detector digitizers for touch screens G06F3/041
• CPC Class Codes: H04M 2250/70 methods for entering alphabetical characters, e.g. multi-tap or dictionary disambiguation methods for entering alphabetical characters per se G06F3/0237

Abstract

An electronic device (11) includes a keypad (22) for data entry, a character recognition system (34), and a processor (28). The keypad (22) is comprised of one or more keys (24) and one or more interstitial spaces (26) located in close proximity to one or more associated keys of the one or more keys (24). The one or more interstitial spaces (26) and the one or more keys (24) are comprised of a plurality of touch sensitive material (46). The user input to the plurality of touch sensitive material (46) produces one or more activated segments (50) used by the character recognition system (34) to create a correlating character (60).

Claims

1. An electronic device comprising:

a user interface for information entry, wherein the user interface comprises;

a keypad for data entry, wherein the keypad comprises;

one or more keys, and

one or more interstitial spaces located in close proximity to one or more associated keys of the one or more keys, wherein the one or more interstitial spaces is comprised of a first portion of touch sensitive material;

a character recognition system; and

a processor coupled between the user interface and the character recognition system, wherein the processor is programmed to initiate an input signal to the character recognition system in response to the user input to the first portion of touch sensitive material.

2. An electronic device as recited in claim 1, wherein the user input comprises a user sliding one or more fingers over the first portion of touch sensitive material of the one or more interstitial spaces.

3. An electronic device as recited in claim 2 wherein the user input to the first portion of touch sensitive material generates one or more activated segments.

4. An electronic device as recited in claim 3 wherein the keypad further comprises:

one or more gaps located between one or more portions of the one or more interstitial spaces and each associated key of the one or more keys, wherein the user input further comprises the user sliding one or more fingers over the one or more gaps, thereby generating one or more non-activated segments.

5. An electronic device as recited in claim 1, further comprising:

a memory coupled to the processor and further coupled to the character recognition system for providing storage area for an information, wherein the information is selected from a group consisting of a continuous touch data, a discontinuous segment touch data, a touch sensitive layout information, a keypad layout information, and a heuristics,

wherein the character recognition system accesses the information in the memory in response to the input signal from the processor.

6. An electronic device as recited in claim 1 further comprising:

a display coupled to the processor and further coupled to the character recognition system, wherein the character recognition system updates the display in response to receiving the input signal from the processor.

7. An electronic device as recited in claim 1, wherein each of the one or more keys is comprised of a second portion of touch sensitive material, and wherein the processor is further programmed to initiate the input signal to the character recognition system in response to the user input to the second portion of touch sensitive material.

8. An electronic device as recited in claim 7, wherein the user input comprises a user sliding one or more fingers over the second portion of touch sensitive material of the one or more keys.

9. An electronic device as recited in claim 8 wherein the user input to the second portion of touch sensitive material generates one or more activated segments.

10. An electronic device comprising:

a user interface for information entry, wherein the user interface comprises;

a keypad for data entry, wherein the keypad comprises;

one or more keys, wherein each of the one or more key is comprised of a a first portion of touch sensitive material,

one or more interstitial spaces located in close proximity to one or more associated keys of the one or more keys, wherein the one or more interstitial spaces is comprised of a second portion of touch sensitive material, and

one or more gaps located between one or more portions of the one or more interstitial spaces and each associated key of the one or more keys;

a character recognition system; and

a processor coupled between the user interface and the character recognition system, wherein the processor is programmed to initiate an input signal to the character recognition system in response to a user input,

wherein the user input comprises;

a user sliding one or more fingers at least one portion of touch sensitive material, thereby generating one or more activated segments, and

the user sliding one or more fingers over the one or more gaps, thereby generating one or more non-activated segments.

11. A method within an electronic device for user input comprising:

detecting a user writing one or more strokes on a keypad, wherein the keypad comprises one or more interstitial spaces, and further wherein the one or more interstitial spaces comprises a first portion of touch sensitive material;

recording one or more traces of the one or more strokes over the first portion of touch sensitive material as one or more discrete activated segments creating a first discontinuous segment touch data; and

identifying a correlating character from the first discontinuous segment touch data.

12. The method as recited in claim 11 further comprising prior to the identifying step:

storing a discontinuous segment touch data including the first discontinuous segment touch data in a memory; and

creating a continuous touch data using the discontinuous segment touch data by filling in one or more non-activated segments using a keypad layout information stored in memory,

wherein the identifying step includes utilizing the continuous touch data to identify the correlating character.

13. A method as recited in claim 12 wherein the keypad further comprises one or more keys, and further wherein at least a portion of the one or more keys comprises a second portion of touch sensitive material, the method further comprising:

recording one or more traces of the one or more strokes over the second portion of touch sensitive material as one or more discrete activated segments creating a second discontinuous segment touch data;

storing the second discontinuous segment touch data within the discontinuous touch data stored in the memory.

14. A method as recited in claim 13 wherein the keypad further comprises one or more gaps located between one or more portions of the one or more interstitial spaces and each associated key of the one or more keys, the method further comprising:

recording one or more traces of the one or more strokes over the one or more gaps as the one or more non-activated segments; and

storing the one or more non-activated segments in the memory.

15. A method as recited in claim 12 wherein the keypad layout information comprises a location and shape of the one or more interstitial spaces.

16. A method as recited in claim 12 wherein the creating step further comprises using a touch sensitive layout information stored in memory to create the continuous touch data.

17. A method as recited in claim 16 wherein the touch sensitive layout information comprises a location and shape of the first portion of touch sensitive material disposed within the one or more interstitial spaces.

18. A method as recited in claim 13 wherein the keypad layout information comprises a location and shape of each of the one or more keys.

19. A method as recited in claim 13 wherein the creating step further comprises using a touch sensitive layout information stored in memory to create the continuous touch data.

20. A method as recited in claim 19 wherein the touch sensitive layout information comprises a location and shape of the second portion of touch sensitive material disposed within the one or more keys.

21. A method as recited in claim 12 further comprising:

displaying the correlating character on a display.

22. A method as recited in claim 21 further comprising:

repeating the detecting, recording, storing, creating, and identifying steps for a plurality of characters.

23. A method as recited in claim 12 wherein the identifying step further comprises applying one or more heuristics to the continuous touch data to identify the correlating character.

24. A method as recited in claim 23 wherein the one or more heuristics provide character error correction, wherein the character error is selected from a group consisting of a speed at which a character is entered, an orientation at which a character is entered, and a distortion of a character caused by the user during entry.