Systems and methods for multiuse of keys for virtual keyboard and generating animation associated with a key

• US 10,684,774 B2
• Filed: 07/29/2015
• Issued: 06/16/2020
• Est. Priority Date: 09/09/2014
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Microsoft Technology Licensing LLC (Microsoft Corporation)
• Original Assignee: Touchtype Limited (Microsoft Corporation)
• Inventors: Alfut, Anna Maria, Dvorsky, Jan, Dixon, Tom, Collins, Eric Davis, Montenegro, Donnie Javier Suazo, Weiss, Scott D.
• Primary Examiner(s): Nguyen, Phuong H
• Application Number:
  US14/813,005
• Publication Number:
  US 20160070469A1
• Time in Patent Office: 1,784 Days
• 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

Systems, methods, and computer-readable storage media are described for generating a virtual keyboard user interface with at least one multi-state display portion. The user interface may include a plurality of keys of a virtual keyboard generated on a display, with at least one key among the plurality of keys having a first function. The user interface may also include a mnemonic device configured to be displayed on the virtual keyboard, where the mnemonic device may be irrelevant to the first function. The mnemonic device may have a first display state when the at least one key is not selected, and have a second display state when the at least one key is selected. In some aspects, the mnemonic device has a reduced visibility in the first display state and a heightened visibility in the second display state, so as to emphasize the second display state.

Claims

1. A computing device for displaying a virtual keyboard user interface, the computing device comprising:

a processor coupled to memory, the memory storing instructions, which when executed by the processor, cause the processor to generate a plurality of keys of a virtual keyboard for presentation on a display including;

a first key among the plurality of keys, the first key selectable for performing a first function and a a second function different from the first function, wherein the first key has a first display state and a second display state different than the first display state, wherein the first key has the second display state upon selection for performance of the second function; and

a second key among the plurality of keys selectable for performing the second function and a third function differing from the first and second functions, wherein the second key has a third display state and a fourth display state different than the third display state, and wherein the second key has the fourth display state upon selection for performance of the second function, and wherein the second display state and the fourth display state include a shared visual indication,

wherein, the first key has the first display state before the second key is selected and in response to the second key being selected by a user selection of the second key for performance of the second function, the first key is changed to having the second display state and the first key and the second key are displayed with the shared visual indication.

2. The computing device as recited in claim 1, wherein the first key and the second key have an unshared state where the first key is in the second display state while the second key is in the third display state or the first key is in the first display state while the second key is in the fourth display state and wherein use of the first key only performs the first function and use of the second key only performs the second function.

3. The computing device as recited in claim 1, wherein use of the second key when the first key and second key are in the shared state will result in performance of the second function.

4. The computing device as recited in claim 3, wherein the first function is performed after the second function is performed when the first key and the second key are in the shared state and either the first key or the second key is used.

5. The computing device as recited in claim 1, wherein the first function is performed after the second function is performed when the first key and the second key are in the shared state and either the first key or the second key is used.

6. The computing device as recited in claim 2, wherein the first key and the second key are in the unshared state when the first function is a punctuation, spacing or return function and the second function is a word prediction.

7. The computing device as recited in claim 1, wherein the first key and the second key are in the shared state when the first function is a punctuation, spacing or return function and the second function is a word correction or a word completion.

8. The computing device as recited in claim 1, wherein the first function is unrelated to the second function.

9. The computing device as recited in claim 1, wherein the second key is a candidate key depicting at least one word, symbol or string of characters predicted to be typed, and wherein selection of the candidate key results in the at least one word, symbol, or string of characters being inserted into a display screen of the computing device.

10. A non-transitory computer-readable medium comprising instructions, that when executed by a computing device having a touchscreen display, cause the computing device to perform operations of:

generating a plurality of keys of a virtual keyboard user interface for presentation on the touchscreen display;

displaying on the touchscreen display, a first key among the plurality of keys selectable for performing a first function and a second function different from the first function, wherein the first key has a first display state and a second display state different than the first display state, and wherein the first key has the second display state upon selection for performance of the second function; and

displaying on the touchscreen display, a second key among the plurality of keys selectable for performing a third function differing from the first and second functions, wherein the second key has a third display state and a fourth display state different than the third display state, and wherein the second key has the fourth display state upon selection for performance of the second function, and wherein the second display state and the fourth display state include a shared visual indication;

wherein, the first key has the first display state before the second key is selected and in response to the second key being selected by a user selection of the second key for performance of the second function, the first key is changed to having the second display state and the first key and the second key are displayed with the shared visual indication.