Adaptive touch-sensitive displays and methods

• US 9,891,818 B2
• Filed: 12/30/2010
• Issued: 02/13/2018
• Est. Priority Date: 12/30/2010
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: International Business Machines Corporation
• Original Assignee: International Business Machines Corporation
• Inventors: Armstrong, Andrew Alan, Mace, Jonathan Christopher, Pilot, Richard William
• Primary Examiner(s): SOTO LOPEZ, JOSE R
• Application Number:
  US12/982,700
• Publication Number:
  US 20120169613A1
• Time in Patent Office: 2,602 Days
• Field of Search: 345173
• 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

Abstract

Described are a system and method for modifying an element displayed on a touch-sensitive device. A user input associated with a first element is displayed on a touch-sensitive device. An input error is detected based on the user input. A rule is applied that determines an action to be directed to a second element on the touch-sensitive device in response to the user input error. The action is applied to the second element in response to the applied rule.

Claims

1. A computer-implemented method for modifying a display on a touch-sensitive device, the method comprising:

receiving a user input of a first element on a graphical user interface (GUI) of the touch-sensitive device, wherein elements of the GUI are keyboard characters of a virtual keyboard;

determining and enlarging a next element on the virtual keyboard, in response to information stored in a database that a current element and the next element are commonly in sequence and the next element is frequently a victim of user input error;

detecting a user input error based on user input of a second element immediately following the first element, wherein the second element is associated with correcting the first element;

performing one of a plurality of actions in response to each user input error, said plurality of actions comprising at least a first action and a second action different from the first action, wherein said plurality of actions further comprise modifying an element of the GUI to which the action is directed;

identifying a first rule that determines the first action to be directed to a third element on the GUI in response to each user input error based on the user input of the second element immediately following the first element;

determining if the first action directed to the third element is an incorrect action by comparing the first action to a set of data stored in the database indicating that the first action is incorrect;

changing the first rule to a second rule that determines the second action to be directed to a fourth element on the GUI when determining that the first action is incorrect based on the comparison with the stored set of data indicating that a high percentage of inputs includes an input of the fourth element different than the third element; and

performing the second action on the fourth element instead of the third element of the GUI in response to the second rule.

2. The computer-implemented method of claim 1, wherein detecting the user input error comprises comparing the user input and a predefined error condition.

3. The computer-implemented method of claim 1, wherein detecting the user input error comprises:

measuring a time delay between user inputs to the touch-sensitive device; and

comparing the time delay and a threshold time delay.

4. The computer-implemented method of claim 1 further comprising:

determining a plurality of user input errors;

generating a metric from the received plurality of user input errors; and

changing the first rule in response to the metric if the metric indicates that a user input correction is not to be performed after the user input error is detected.

5. The computer-implemented method of claim 1 wherein the touch sensitive device comprises one of a mobile device, a cell phone, a tablet computer, a personal digital assistance, a video game system or an electronic device having a visual display.

6. The computer-implemented method of claim 1, wherein the second action comprises enlarging each virtual keyboard character immediately surrounding and proximate to the first element touched in error on the GUI.

7. The computer-implemented method of claim 1, wherein the GUI is a virtual keyboard.

8. The computer-implemented method of claim 1, wherein the touch-sensitive device receiving the user input comprises detecting of a touch from a finger or a pointed object.

9. A computer-implemented method for modifying an element of an application displayed on a touch-sensitive device, the method comprising:

receiving a user input of a first element on a graphical user interface (GUI) of the touch-sensitive device, wherein elements of the GUI are keyboard characters of a virtual keyboard;

determining and enlarging a next element on the virtual keyboard, in response to information stored in a database that a current element and the next element are commonly in sequence and the next element is frequently a victim of user input error;

detecting a user input error based on user input of a second element immediately following the first element, wherein the second element is associated with correcting the first element;

performing one of a plurality of actions in response to each user input error, said plurality of actions comprising at least a first action and a second action different from the first action, wherein said plurality of actions further comprise modifying an element of the GUI to which the action is directed;

identifying a first rule that determines the first action to be directed to a third element on the touch-sensitive device in response to each user input error based on the user input of the second element immediately following the first element;

determining that the first action directed to the third element is an incorrect action by comparing the first action to a set of data stored in a database indicating that the first action is directed to a fourth element different than the third element;

changing the first rule to a second rule that determines the second action to be directed to the GUI in response to the determination that the first action is an incorrect action based on the comparison with the stored set of data indicating that a high percentage of inputs includes an input of the fourth element different than the third element, wherein the second rule is different from the first rule; and

performing the second action on the fourth element instead of the third element of the GUI in response to the second rule.

10. The computer-implemented method of claim 9, wherein detecting the user input error comprises comparing the user input and a predefined error condition.

11. The computer-implemented method of claim 9, wherein detecting the user input error comprises:

measuring a time delay between user inputs to the application; and

comparing the time delay and a threshold time delay.

12. The computer-implemented method of claim 9 further comprising:

determining a plurality of user input errors to the application;

generating a metric from the received plurality of user input errors; and

changing the first rule in response to the metric if the metric indicates that a user input correction is not to be performed after the user input error is detected.

13. The computer-implemented method of claim 9 wherein the touch sensitive device comprises one of a mobile device, a cell phone, a tablet computer, a personal digital assistance, a video game system or an electronic device having a visual display.

14. The computer-implemented method of claim 9, wherein the second action comprises enlarging each virtual keyboard character immediately surrounding and proximate to the first element touched in error on the GUI.

15. The computer-implemented method of claim 9, wherein the GUI is a virtual keyboard.

16. The computer-implemented method of claim 9, wherein the touch sensitive device receiving the user input comprises detecting of a touch from a finger or a pointed object.

17. A system that modifies a display of a touch-sensitive device, the system comprising:

an error detection processor,

receiving a user input of elements, being keyboard characters of a virtual keyboard, on a graphical user interface (GUI) of the touch sensitive device,

determining and enlarging a next element on the virtual keyboard, in response to information stored in a database that a current element and the next element are commonly in sequence and the next element is frequently a victim of user input error,

detecting a user input error when a first element is immediately followed by a second element, wherein the second element is associated with correcting the first element, and

performing one of a plurality of actions in response to each user input error, said plurality of actions comprising at least a first action and a second action different from the first action, wherein the plurality of actions further comprise modifying an element of the GUI to which the action is directed;

a rules engine-processor that identifies a first rule that determines the first action to be applied to a third element in response to each user input error based on the user input of the second element immediately following the first element;

the system further determining that the first action is an incorrect action by comparing the first action to set of data stored in the database indicating that the first action is directed to a fourth element different than the third element, and changing the first rule to a second rule that determines the second action to be directed to the GUI in response to the determination that the first action is an incorrect action based on the comparison with the stored set of data indicating that a high percentage of inputs includes an input of the fourth element different than the third element, wherein the first and second rules are different; and

the system further comprising a user interface adjustment processor that performs a second action on the fourth element instead of the third element in response to the second rule.

18. The system of claim 17, wherein the error detection module is configured to compare the user input and a predefined error condition to detect the user input error.

19. The system of claim 17, wherein the error detection module comprises:

a timer that measures a time delay between user inputs to the touch-sensitive device; and

a comparator that compares the time delay and a threshold time delay.

20. The system of claim 17 further comprising a data repository, wherein a plurality of user input errors are stored in the data repository, and wherein the rules engine module generates a metric from the received plurality of user input errors and changes the first rule in response to the metric if the metric indicates that a user input correction is not to be performed after the user input error is detected.

21. The system of claim 17 further comprising a data repository for storing data regarding the elements and rules.

22. The system of claim 17, wherein the second action comprises enlarging each virtual keyboard character immediately surrounding and proximate to the first element touched in error on the GUI.

23. The system of claim 17, wherein the GUI is a virtual keyboard.

24. The system of claim 17, wherein the touch-sensitive interface element receives the user input error by detecting a touch from a finger or a pointed object.

25. A computer program product for modifying an element displayed on a touch-sensitive device, the computer program product comprising:

a non-transitory computer readable storage medium having computer readable program code embodied therewith, the computer readable program code comprising;

computer readable program code configured to receive a user input associated with a first element on a graphical user interface (GUI) of the touch-sensitive device, wherein elements of the GUI are keyboard characters of a virtual keyboard;

determining and enlarging a next element on the virtual keyboard, in response to information stored in a database that a current element and the next element are commonly in sequence and the next element is frequently a victim of user input error;

computer readable program code configured to detect a user input error based on the user input of a second element immediately following the first element, wherein the second element is associated with correcting each user input error associated with the first element and the second element;

computer readable program code configured to perform one of a plurality of actions in response to each user input error, said plurality of actions comprising at least a first action and a second action different from the first action, wherein the plurality of actions further comprise modifying an element of the GUI to which the action is directed;

computer readable program code configured to identify a first rule that determines the first action to be directed to a third element on the touch-sensitive device in response to each user input error based on the user input of the second element immediately following the first element;

computer readable program code configured to determine that the first action directed to the third element is an incorrect action by comparing the first action to a set of data stored in a database indicating that each user input error is corrected by the second action directed to a fourth element different than the third element following the first element and the second element;

computer readable program code configured to change the first rule to a second rule in response to the determination that the first action is an incorrect action based on the comparison with the stored set of data indicating that a high percentage of inputs includes an input of the fourth element different than the third element; and

computer readable program code configured to perform the second action on the fourth element instead of the third element of the GUI in response to the second rule.