Supplementing a virtual input keyboard

• US 9,329,778 B2
• Filed: 09/07/2012
• Issued: 05/03/2016
• Est. Priority Date: 09/07/2012
• Status: Expired due to Fees

• Current Assignee: Kyndryl Incorporated
• Original Assignee: International Business Machines Corporation
• Inventors: Abuelsaad, Tamer E., Moore, John E. Jr., Singi, Rajeshkumar N., Wentworth, Robert R.
• Primary Examiner(s): To, Jennifer
• Assistant Examiner(s): Wan, Jasmine
• Application Number:
  US13/606,223
• Publication Number:
  US 20140075367A1
• Time in Patent Office: 1,334 Days
• Field of Search: 715/773, 715/771, 715/202, 715/702, 715/756, 345/173, 345/467, 705/35, 704/4
• US Class Current: 1/1
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 3/0233 Character input methods
• 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 40/174 Form filling; Merging
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 40/58 Use of machine translation, e.g. for multi-lingual retrieval, for server-side translation for client devices or for real-time translation
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 9/454 Multi-language systems; Localisation; Internationalisation

Abstract

Supplementing a virtual input keyboard is provided. A form and a virtual input keyboard are displayed in a display of a data processing system. An input is received selecting a particular field within the form. One or more character key sets are retrieved corresponding to previous data entries of the particular field selected. A delta set of character keys is determined based on character keys in the one or more character key sets that do not match displayed character keys on the virtual input keyboard. A set of delta character supplemental virtual input keyboards is generated based on the delta set of character keys. Then, the set of delta character supplemental virtual input keyboards are displayed in the display.

Claims

1. A method of supplementing a virtual input keyboard, the method comprising:

receiving, by a first computer device, a selection of a form field in a web page from a second computer device, wherein the second computer device is displaying a virtual keyboard on a display screen in the second computer device, and wherein the first and second computer devices are different computer devices;

determining, by the first computer device, one or more candidate character keys based on previous data entries of the selected form field, operating system of the second computer device, a type of web browser type used by the second computer device, and geographic location of the second computer device;

removing, by the first computer device, one or more matching character keys from the one or more candidate character keys that match keys in the virtual keyboard;

determining, by the first computer device, one or more supplement character keys based on character keys of the one or more candidate character keys that remain after the matching character keys have been removed from the one or more candidate character keys;

communicating, by the first computer device, the one or more supplement character keys to the second computer device; and

causing, by the first computer device, the second computer device to simultaneously display, on the display screen in the second computer device, the virtual keyboard and the one or more supplement character keys without changing the layout of the virtual keyboard and without substituting the keys in the virtual keyboard.

2. The method according to claim 1, further comprising:

responsive to the first computer device receiving a selection of another form field in the web page, causing, by the first computer device, the second computer device to remove only the one or more supplement character keys from the display of the second computer device while still displaying the virtual keyboard on the display screen in the second computer device.

3. The method according to claim 1, wherein determining one or more candidate character keys further comprises:

receiving, by the first computer device, a first preferred language of the second computer device;

receiving, by the first computer device, a second preferred language based on the previous data entries of the selected form field; and

responsive to the receiving of the first preferred language and the second preferred language, selecting, by the first computer device, the first preferred language of the second computer device as language of the one or more candidate character keys.

4. The method according to claim 1, further comprising:

receiving, by the first computer device, all of the form fields available in the web page, wherein the second computer device is displaying the virtual keyboard on the display screen in the second computer device;

repeating the steps of the determining the one or more candidate character keys, the removing the one or more matching keys, and the determining the one or more supplement character keys until the first computer device determines the one or more supplement character keys for all of the form fields available in the web page;

communicating, by the first computer device, the one or more supplement character keys for all of the form fields available in the web page to the second computer device; and

causing, by the first computer device, the second computer device to simultaneously display, on the display screen in the second computer device, the virtual keyboard and the one or more supplement character keys for all of the form fields available in the web page without changing the layout of the virtual keyboard and without substituting the keys in the virtual keyboard.

5. The method according to claim 4, further comprising:

causing, by the first computer device, the second computer device to cache the one or more supplement character keys for all of the form fields available in the web page.

6. A data processing system for supplementing a virtual input keyboard, the data processing system comprising:

a bus system;

a hardware storage device connected to the bus system, wherein the storage device stores computer readable program code; and

a processor connected to the bus system, wherein the processor executes the computer readable program code to;

receive a selection of a form field in a web page from a second computer device, wherein the second computer device is displaying a virtual keyboard on a display screen in the second computer device;

determine one or more candidate character keys based on previous data entries of the selected form field, operating system of the second computer device, a type of web browser type used by the second computer device, and geographic location of the second computer device;

remove one or more matching character keys from the one or more candidate character keys that match keys in the virtual keyboard;

determine one or more supplement character keys based on character keys of the one or more candidate character keys that remain after the matching character keys have been removed from the one or more candidate character keys;

communicate the one or more supplement character keys to the second computer device; and

cause the second computer device to simultaneously display, on the display screen in the second computer device, the virtual keyboard and the one or more supplement character keys without changing the layout of the virtual keyboard and without substituting the keys in the virtual keyboard.

7. The system according to claim 6, wherein the processor further executes the computer readable program code to:

responsive to receiving a selection of another form field in the web page, cause the second computer device to remove only the one or more supplement character keys from the display of the second computer device while still displaying the virtual keyboard.

8. The system according to claim 6, wherein the processor further executes the computer readable program code to:

receive a first preferred language of the second computer device;

receive a second preferred language based on the previous data entries of the selected form field; and

responsive to the receiving of the first preferred language and the second preferred language, select the first preferred language of the second computer device as language of the one or more candidate character keys.

9. The system according to claim 6, wherein the processor further executes the computer readable program code to:

receive all of the form fields available in the web page, wherein the second computer device is displaying the virtual keyboard on the display screen in the second computer device;

repeat the steps of the determining the one or more candidate character keys, the removing the one or more matching keys, and the determining the one or more supplement character keys until the first computer device determines the one or more supplement character keys for all of the form fields available in the web page;

communicate the one or more supplement character keys for all of the form fields available in the web page to the second computer device; and

cause the second computer device to simultaneously display, on the display screen in the second computer device, the virtual keyboard and the one or more supplement character keys for all of the form fields available in the web page without changing the layout of the virtual keyboard and without substituting the keys in the virtual keyboard.

10. The system according to claim 9, wherein the processor further executes the computer readable program code to:

cause the second computer device to cache the one or more supplement character keys for all of the form fields available in the web page.

11. A computer program product for supplementing a virtual input keyboard, the computer program product comprising:

one or more computer readable hardware storage device and program instructions stored on the one or more computer readable hardware storage device, the program instructions comprising;

program instructions to receive a selection of a form field in a web page from a second computer device, wherein the second computer device is displaying a virtual keyboard on a display screen in the second computer device;

program instructions to determine one or more candidate character keys based on previous data entries of the selected form field, operating system of the second computer device, a type of web browser type used by the second computer device, and geographic location of the second computer device;

program instructions to remove one or more matching character keys from the one or more candidate character keys that match keys in the virtual keyboard;

program instructions to determine one or more supplement character keys based on character keys of the one or more candidate character keys that remain after the matching character keys have been removed from the one or more candidate character keys;

program instructions to communicate the one or more supplement character keys to the second computer device; and

program instructions to cause the second computer device to simultaneously display, on the display screen in the second computer device, the virtual keyboard and the one or more supplement character keys without changing the layout of the virtual keyboard and without substituting the keys in the virtual keyboard.

12. The computer program product according to claim 11, further comprising:

program instructions to cause the second computer device to remove only the one or more supplement character keys from the display of the second computer device while still displaying the virtual keyboard on the display screen in the second computer device, in response to receiving a selection of another form field in the web page.

13. The computer program product according to claim 11, wherein determining one or more candidate character keys further comprises:

program instructions to receive a first preferred language of the second computer device;

program instructions to receive a second preferred language based on the previous data entries of the selected form field; and

program instructions to select the first preferred language of the second computer device as language of the one or more candidate character keys, in response to the receiving of the first preferred language and the second preferred language.

14. The computer program product according to claim 11, further comprising:

program instructions to receive all of the form fields available in the web page, wherein the second computer device is displaying a virtual keyboard on the display screen in the second computer device;

program instructions to repeat the steps of the determining the one or more candidate character keys, the removing the one or more matching keys, and the determining the one or more supplement character keys until the first computer device determines the one or more supplement character keys for all of the form fields available in the web page;

program instructions to communicate the one or more supplement character keys for all of the form fields available in the web page to the second computer device; and

program instructions to cause the second computer device to simultaneously display, on the display screen in the second computer device, the virtual keyboard and the one or more supplement character keys for all of the form fields available in the web page without changing the layout of the virtual keyboard and without substituting the keys in the virtual keyboard.

15. The computer program product according to claim 14, further comprising:

program instructions to cause the second computer device to cache the one or more supplement character keys for all of the form fields available in the web page.