Interactive virtual keyboard configured to use gestures and having condensed characters on a plurality of keys arranged approximately radially about at least one center point

• US 10,671,279 B2
• Filed: 07/09/2018
• Issued: 06/02/2020
• Est. Priority Date: 07/11/2017
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Thumba, Inc.
• Original Assignee: Thumba, Inc.
• Inventors: Plank S., Andras, Rab, Gabor A.
• Primary Examiner(s): Sherman, Stephen G
• Application Number:
  US16/030,716
• Publication Number:
  US 20190018589A1
• Time in Patent Office: 694 Days
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 3/04186 Touch location disambiguation
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 3/0482 Interaction with lists of selectable items, e.g. menus
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 3/04883 for inputting data by handwriting, e.g. gesture or text
• 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

A method according to one embodiment includes detecting a touch event on a touch-sensitive input area of a display. The touch event includes a gesture. The touch-sensitive input area has groups of virtual ambiguous keys arranged approximately radially about a center point. The method further includes determining at least one character from at least one of the virtual ambiguous keys selected by the gesture. The method further includes outputting the determined at least one character on the display.

Claims

1. A method, comprising:

presenting, a word option selector menu on a display,

wherein the display is configured to display predicted sets of characters based on received ambiguous characters, unambiguous characters, and a context of a received text input,

wherein the display includes a touch-sensitive input area,

wherein the touch-sensitive input area includes a split keyboard displayed thereon,

wherein the split keyboard includes two substantially quadrant shaped portions,

wherein each of the quadrant shaped portions are about a quarter of a circle,

wherein center points of the quadrant shaped portions are each located at about a different respective bottom corner of a substantially flat plane of the touch-sensitive input area,

wherein each of the quadrant shaped portions include a plurality of virtual command keys and four virtual ambiguous keys to which a plurality of characters are pre-assigned;

detecting, on the touch-sensitive input area, a swipe gesture over a first of the virtual command keys, wherein the first of the virtual command keys corresponds to a space command, wherein the swipe gesture is a touch event exceeding a spatial threshold and temporal threshold on a touch-sensitive input area of the device;

in response to detecting the swipe gesture, selecting the previous or next predicted word in a predetermined list of the word option selector based on a circumferential direction of the swipe gesture; and

in response to detecting a termination of the swipe gesture on one of the virtual space keys, outputting the selected word to a predetermined portion of the display.

2. A method as recited in claim 1, comprising:

detecting, on the touch-sensitive input area, a tap gesture over a second of the virtual command keys, wherein the tap gesture is a touch event with a relatively low temporal and radial spatial threshold on the touch-sensitive input area; and

in response to detecting the tap gesture, outputting an ambiguous character assigned to the second virtual ambiguous key to the list of the word option selector.

3. A method as recited in claim 1, comprising:

detecting, on the touch-sensitive input area, a tap gesture over a second of the virtual command keys; and

in response to detecting the tap gesture, performing a command pre-associated with the second virtual ambiguous key.

4. A method as recited in claim 1, comprising:

detecting, on the touch-sensitive input area, a swipe gesture over a second of the virtual command keys; and

in response to detecting the swipe gesture, outputting to the list of the word option selector, at least one character of each virtual ambiguous key that the swipe gesture is detected to traverse.

5. A method as recited in claim 1, wherein the plurality of characters pre-assigned to the eight virtual ambiguous keys include:

“

ABC”

, “

DEF”

, “

GHI”

, “

JKL”

, “

MNO”

, “

PQRS”

, “

TUV”

, and “

WXYZ,”

disregarding order, case or diacritics of the plurality of characters.

6. A method as recited in claim 1, comprising:

detecting, on the touch-sensitive input area, a flick gesture over a second of the virtual command keys, wherein the flick gesture includes a continuous, single-direction, relatively spatially short touch event on the touch-sensitive input area; and

in response to detecting the flick gesture, outputting a character from the set of characters assigned to the second ambiguous key to the list of the word option selector, wherein the character from the set of characters assigned to the second ambiguous key is based on a radial direction of the flick gesture in relation to the center points and a length of the flick gesture.

7. A method as recited in claim 1, comprising:

detecting, on the touch-sensitive input area, a flick gesture on or out of a border of a second virtual ambiguous key that is configured to delete text from the display, wherein the flick gesture is initially detected at about a circular portion of the border if the second virtual ambiguous key; and

in response to detecting that the flick gesture is substantially circumferential centered around a circle center point of a substantially quadrant shaped portion, performing a deletion command on a word preceding or subsequent to a text entry point on the display, wherein the deletion command is based on a determined circumferential direction of the flick gesture; and

in response to detecting an upwards flick gesture on or out of the border of the second virtual ambiguous key, performing a deletion command on a paragraph preceding the text entry point.

8. A method as recited in claim 1, comprising:

detecting, on the touch-sensitive input area, a command that is configured to initialize a mode to resize the split keyboard;

in response to detecting the command, initiating a keyboard resizing mode;

detecting, on the touch-sensitive input area, a second command; and

in response to detecting the second command, resizing quadrant shaped portions equally, wherein the keyboard adopts a size set therein, wherein affected virtual buttons are replaced with substitute virtual keys in response to a determination that various displayed virtual keys of the portions overlap as a result of the resizing.

9. A method as recited in claim 8, comprising

detecting, on the touch-sensitive input area, a long touch gesture over a virtual resizing key at about the circular border of a portion;

in response to detecting the command, initiating a keyboard resizing mode; and

in response to detecting the second command, resizing quadrant shaped portions equally, wherein the keyboard adopts a size set therein, wherein affected virtual buttons are replaced with substitute virtual keys in response to a determination that various displayed virtual keys of the portions overlap as a result of the resizing.

10. A method as recited in claim 1, wherein the word option selector is displayed subsequent to the text entry point.

11. A method as recited in claim 1, comprising presenting, on a touch-sensitive display a split keyboard,

wherein the split keyboard includes two substantially quadrant shaped portions,

wherein each of the quadrant shaped portions are about a quarter of a circle,

wherein center points of the quadrant shaped portions are each located at about their respective corners no farther than one inch from neither the bottom edge relative to the display direction and/or orientation, nor from either one of the side edges relative to the display direction and/or orientation of a substantially flat plane of the display.

12. A method as recited in claim 1, comprising presenting, on a touch-sensitive display a split keyboard,

wherein the split keyboard includes two substantially quadrant shaped portions,

wherein each of the quadrant shaped portions are about a quarter of a circle,

wherein center points of the quadrant shaped portions are each located within one inch from respective side edges of a substantially flat plane of the touch-sensitive input area, and may be located not at about the bottom edge of the flat plane of the touch-sensitive input area.

13. A method as recited in claim 1,

wherein the plurality of characters pre-assigned to the eight virtual ambiguous keys include:

“

ABC”

, “

DEF”

, “

GHI”

, “

JKL”

, “

MNO”

, “

PQRS”

, “

TUV”

, and “

WXYZ,”

disregarding order, case or diacritics of the plurality of characters, and comprising;

detecting, on the touch-sensitive input area, a tap gesture over a second of the virtual command keys, wherein the tap gesture is a touch event with a relatively low temporal and radial spatial threshold on the touch-sensitive input area;

in response to detecting the tap gesture, outputting an ambiguous character assigned to the second virtual ambiguous key to the list of the word option selector;

detecting, on the touch-sensitive input area, a tap gesture over a second of the virtual command keys;

in response to detecting the tap gesture, performing a command pre-associated with the second virtual ambiguous key;

detecting, on the touch-sensitive input area, a swipe gesture over a second of the virtual command keys;

in response to detecting the swipe gesture, outputting to the list of the word option selector, at least one character of each virtual ambiguous key that the swipe gesture is detected to traverse;

detecting, on the touch-sensitive input area, a flick gesture over a second of the virtual command keys, wherein the flick gesture includes a continuous, single-direction, relatively spatially short touch event on the touch-sensitive input area;

in response to detecting the flick gesture, outputting a character from the set of characters assigned to the second ambiguous key to the list of the word option selector, wherein the character from the set of characters assigned to the second ambiguous key is based on a radial direction of the flick gesture in relation to the center points and a length of the flick gesture;

detecting, on the touch-sensitive input area, a flick gesture on or out of a border of a second virtual ambiguous key that is configured to delete text from the display, wherein the flick gesture is initially detected at about a circular portion of the border if the second virtual ambiguous key;

in response to detecting that the flick gesture is substantially circumferential centered around a circle center point of a substantially quadrant shaped portion, performing a deletion command on a word preceding or subsequent to a text entry point on the display, wherein the deletion command is based on a determined circumferential direction of the flick gesture;

in response to detecting an upwards flick gesture on or out of the border of the second virtual ambiguous key, performing a deletion command on a paragraph preceding the text entry point;

detecting, on the touch-sensitive input area, a long touch gesture over a virtual resizing key at about the circular border of a portion;

in response to detecting the command, initiating a keyboard resizing mode; and

in response to detecting the second command, resizing quadrant shaped portions equally, wherein the keyboard adopts a size set therein, wherein affected virtual buttons are replaced with substitute virtual keys in response to a determination that various displayed virtual keys of the portions overlap as a result of the resizing.

14. A computer program product, comprising:

a computer readable storage medium having stored thereon computer readable program instructions configured to cause a processor of a computer system to;

present, a word option selector menu on a display,

wherein the display is configured to display predicted sets of characters based on received ambiguous characters, unambiguous characters, and a context of a received text input,

wherein the display includes a touch-sensitive input area,

wherein the touch-sensitive input area includes a split keyboard displayed thereon,

wherein the split keyboard includes two substantially quadrant shaped portions,

wherein each of the quadrant shaped portions are about a quarter of a circle,

wherein center points of the quadrant shaped portions are each located at about a different respective bottom corner of a substantially flat plane of the touch-sensitive input area,

wherein each of the quadrant shaped portions include a plurality of virtual command keys and four virtual ambiguous keys to which a plurality of characters are pre-assigned;

detect, on the touch-sensitive input area, a swipe gesture over a first of the virtual command keys,

wherein the first of the virtual command keys corresponds to a space command,

wherein the swipe gesture is a touch event exceeding a spatial threshold and temporal threshold on a touch-sensitive input area of the device;

in response to detecting the swipe gesture, select the previous or next predicted word in a predetermined list of the word option selector based on a circumferential direction of the swipe gesture; and

in response to detecting a termination of the swipe gesture on one of the virtual space keys, output the selected word to a predetermined portion of the display.

15. A computer program product as recited in claim 14, wherein the plurality of characters pre-assigned to the eight virtual ambiguous keys include:

“

ABC”

, “

DEF”

, “

GHI”

, “

JKL”

, “

MNO”

, “

PQRS”

, “

TUV”

, and “

WXYZ,”

disregarding order, case or diacritics of the plurality of characters.

16. A computer program product as recited in claim 14, the computer readable program instructions configured to cause the processor of the computer system to:

detect, on the touch-sensitive input area, a long touch gesture over a virtual resizing key at about the circular border of a portion;

in response to detecting the command, initiate a keyboard resizing mode; and

in response to detecting the second command, resize quadrant shaped portions equally, wherein the keyboard adopts a size set therein, wherein affected virtual buttons are replaced with substitute virtual keys in response to a determination that various displayed virtual keys of the portions overlap as a result of the resizing.

17. A system, comprising:

a display, wherein the display includes a touch-sensitive input area for touch events;

a processor; and

logic integrated with and/or executable by the processor, the logic being configured to output on the touch-sensitive input area of the display;

present, a word option selector menu on the display,

wherein the display is configured to display predicted sets of characters based on received ambiguous characters, unambiguous characters, and a context of a received text input,

wherein the touch-sensitive input area includes a split keyboard displayed thereon,

wherein the split keyboard includes two substantially quadrant shaped portions,

wherein each of the quadrant shaped portions are about a quarter of a circle,

wherein center points of the quadrant shaped portions are each located at about a different respective bottom corner of a substantially flat plane of the touch-sensitive input area,

wherein each of the quadrant shaped portions include a plurality of virtual command keys and four virtual ambiguous keys to which a plurality of characters are pre-assigned;

detect, on the touch-sensitive input area, a swipe gesture over a first of the virtual command keys,

wherein the first of the virtual command keys corresponds to a space command,

wherein the swipe gesture is a touch event exceeding a spatial threshold and temporal threshold on a touch-sensitive input area of the device;

in response to detecting the swipe gesture, select the previous or next predicted word in a predetermined list of the word option selector based on a circumferential direction of the swipe gesture; and

in response to detecting a termination of the swipe gesture on one of the virtual space keys, output the selected word to a predetermined portion of the display.

18. A system as recited in claim 17, the logic being configured to:

detect, on the touch-sensitive input area, a swipe gesture over a second of the virtual command keys; and

in response to detecting the swipe gesture, output to the list of the word option selector, at least one character of each virtual ambiguous key that the swipe gesture is detected to traverse.