Morphing touchscreen keyboard interface

• US 8,493,346 B2
• Filed: 12/31/2009
• Issued: 07/23/2013
• Est. Priority Date: 12/31/2009
• Status: Expired due to Fees

• Current Assignee: International Business Machines Corporation
• Original Assignee: International Business Machines Corporation
• Inventors: Parihar, Yuvi, Scherpa, Josef, Winkler, Tim P.
• Primary Examiner(s): Wang, Quan-Zhen
• Assistant Examiner(s): EURICE, MICHAEL
• Application Number:
  US12/651,319
• Publication Number:
  US 20110157090A1
• Time in Patent Office: 1,300 Days
• Field of Search: 345/157, 345/173, 345/174
• US Class Current: 345/173
• 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

Abstract

Embodiments of the present invention address deficiencies of the art in respect to touch interfaces and provide a novel and non-obvious method, system and computer program product for generating touch interface displays. In one embodiment of the invention, a computer-implemented method for generating touch interface displays at a communication device with a touch interface includes initiating a set of calibration exercises, providing a set of instructions to a user of the communication device, receiving calibration data at the touch interface, analyzing the received calibration data to determine if the calibration is complete, repeating said providing and receiving steps until the calibration is complete and generating a touch interface display based on the received calibration data. The computer-implemented method can further include receiving use data for each key touch of the touch interface, defining a set of averages over time for finger skin touch area, finger size data and finger position and automatically resizing, reshaping and repositioning at least one key of the touch interface display based on the defined set of averages.

Claims

1. A computer-implemented method for generating a touch interface display, the method comprising:

at a communication device with a touch interface,

initiating a set of calibration exercises;

providing a set of instructions to a user of the communication device;

receiving calibration data at the touch interface;

analyzing the received calibration data to determine if the calibration is complete;

repeating said providing and receiving steps until the calibration is complete;

generating a touch interface display based on the received calibration data;

receiving use data for each key touch of the touch interface;

defining a set of averages over time for finger skin touch area, finger size data and finger position; and

,

automatically resizing, reshaping and repositioning at least one key of the touch interface display based on the defined set of averages.

2. The method of claim 1, wherein the receiving calibration data at the touch interface comprises receiving finger skin touch area data and finger size data.

3. The method of claim 1, wherein the initiating a set of calibration exercises comprises providing a blank visual keyboard at the touch interface.

4. The method of claim 1, wherein the initiating a set of calibration exercises comprises providing a visual keyboard with a row at the touch interface.

5. The method of claim 1, wherein the generating a touch interface display based on the received calibration data comprises detecting a range of discrepancy in the center of the surface area for each key touch in a set of key touches.

6. The method of claim 1, wherein the generating a touch interface display based on the received calibration data comprises:

creating an anatomic profile of a user from the received calibration data, the anatomic profile including finger size and range of motion information,

comparing the anatomic profile of the user to a group average anatomic profile of other users having a similar individual anatomic profile; and

,

providing a starting template for an interface layout based on the comparison of the anatomic profile of the user to the group average anatomic profile of the other users having a similar individual anatomic profile.

7. A communication device with a touch interface, the communication device comprising:

a microprocessor;

a touch interface display communicatively coupled to the microprocessor; and

a touch interface controller configured to control the touch interface display, the touch interface controller comprising program code enabled to receive calibration data at the touch interface, to analyze the received calibration data to determine if the calibration is complete, to generate a touch interface display based on the received calibration data, to receive use data for each key tough of the touch interface, to define a set of averages over time for finger skin touch area, finger size data and finger position and to automatically resize, reshape and reposition at least one key of the touch interface display based on the defined set of averages.

8. The communication device of claim 7, wherein the touch interface controller further comprises program code enabled to:

create an anatomic profile of a user from the received calibration data, the anatomic profile including finger size and range of motion information,

compare the anatomic profile of the user to a group average anatomic profile of other users having a similar individual anatomic profile; and

,

provide a starting template for an interface layout based on the comparison of the anatomic profile of the user to the group average anatomic profile of the other users having a similar individual anatomic profile.

9. A computer program product comprising a computer usable storage medium having stored therein computer usable program code for generating a touch interface display, the computer program product including:

computer usable program code for initiating a set of calibration exercises;

computer usable program code for providing a set of instructions to a user of the communication device;

computer usable program code for receiving calibration data at the touch interface;

computer usable program code for analyzing the received calibration data to determine if the calibration is complete;

computer usable program code for repeating said providing and receiving steps until the calibration is complete;

computer usable program code for generating a touch interface display based on the received calibration data;

computer usable program code for receiving use data for each key touch of the touch interface;

computer usable program code for defining a set of averages over time for finger skin touch area, finger size data and finger position; and

,

computer usable program code for automatically resizing, reshaping and repositioning at least one key of the touch interface display based on the defined set of averages.

10. The computer program product of claim 9, wherein the computer usable program code for receiving calibration data at the touch interface comprises receiving finger skin touch area data and finger size data.

11. The computer program product of claim 9, wherein the computer usable program code for initiating a set of calibration exercises comprises providing a blank visual keyboard at the touch interface.

12. The computer program product of claim 9, wherein the computer usable program code for initiating a set of calibration exercises comprises providing a visual keyboard with a row at the touch interface.

13. The computer program product of claim 9, wherein the computer usable program code for generating a touch interface display based on the received calibration data comprises detecting a range of discrepancy in the center of the surface area for each key touch in a set of key touches.

14. The computer program product of claim 9, wherein the computer usable program code for generating a touch interface display based on the received calibration data comprises:

creating an anatomic profile of a user from the received calibration data, the anatomic profile including finger size and range of motion information,

comparing the anatomic profile of the user to a group average anatomic profile of other users having a similar individual anatomic profile; and

,

providing a starting template for an interface layout based on the comparison of the anatomic profile of the user to the group average anatomic profile of the other users having a similar individual anatomic profile.