Concurrent data entry for a portable device
First Claim
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1. A method for disambiguating from among a plurality of characters associated with each of a plurality of buttons composing at least a portion of a 12-button keypad on a mobile phone, comprising:
- sampling mobile phone tilt along two perpendicular axes that are parallel to a front face of the mobile phone, the front face of the mobile phone having at least one of a display and the 12-button keypad, the sampling occurring at a sampling rate of at least 20 Hz;
maintaining a sample stack indicative of continuously updated past mobile phone tilt samples corresponding to the mobile phone;
detecting that a user has activated a button by depressing or releasing one of the plurality of buttons in the 12-button keypad on the mobile phone;
calculating a tilt state of the mobile phone when the button is activated, by comparing a most recent mobile phone tilt to a floating origin that is set by continuously monitoring the sample stack to identify when a tilt gesture begins, the beginning of the tilt gesture corresponding to the floating origin;
upon determining that the tilt state of the mobile phone falls within a first mobile phone tilt threshold, identifying a numeral associated with the button;
upon determining that the tilt state of the mobile phone falls within a second mobile phone tilt threshold, identifying a first character associated with the button;
upon determining that the tilt state of the mobile phone falls within a third mobile phone tilt threshold, identifying a second character associated with the button;
upon determining that the tilt state of the mobile phone falls within a fourth mobile phone tilt threshold, identifying a third character associated with the button;
displaying the identified character on the display; and
repeating the steps of sampling, maintaining, detecting, calculating, and at least one of the determining steps for each button activated by the user in entering a string of characters.
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Abstract
A system and method for entering data on a portable device includes determining a tilt state (tilt sensor 304) as a button (keypad 306) is being pressed. The determined tilt state can be used to disambiguate from among a plurality of characters associated with the pressed button. In a preferred embodiment, the portable device is a mobile phone and the button is part of a standard 12-button keypad.
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Citations
11 Claims
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1. A method for disambiguating from among a plurality of characters associated with each of a plurality of buttons composing at least a portion of a 12-button keypad on a mobile phone, comprising:
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sampling mobile phone tilt along two perpendicular axes that are parallel to a front face of the mobile phone, the front face of the mobile phone having at least one of a display and the 12-button keypad, the sampling occurring at a sampling rate of at least 20 Hz; maintaining a sample stack indicative of continuously updated past mobile phone tilt samples corresponding to the mobile phone; detecting that a user has activated a button by depressing or releasing one of the plurality of buttons in the 12-button keypad on the mobile phone; calculating a tilt state of the mobile phone when the button is activated, by comparing a most recent mobile phone tilt to a floating origin that is set by continuously monitoring the sample stack to identify when a tilt gesture begins, the beginning of the tilt gesture corresponding to the floating origin; upon determining that the tilt state of the mobile phone falls within a first mobile phone tilt threshold, identifying a numeral associated with the button; upon determining that the tilt state of the mobile phone falls within a second mobile phone tilt threshold, identifying a first character associated with the button; upon determining that the tilt state of the mobile phone falls within a third mobile phone tilt threshold, identifying a second character associated with the button; upon determining that the tilt state of the mobile phone falls within a fourth mobile phone tilt threshold, identifying a third character associated with the button; displaying the identified character on the display; and repeating the steps of sampling, maintaining, detecting, calculating, and at least one of the determining steps for each button activated by the user in entering a string of characters. - View Dependent Claims (2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11)
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Specification