Electronic device having keyboard for thumb typing
First Claim
1. An electronic device comprising:
- an electronic display screen having a first display area for displaying a first set of a plurality of selectable symbols and a second display area for displaying a second set of a plurality of selectable symbols;
a first user input device for selecting symbols from the first set, the first user input device generating a first selection signal in response to force applied thereto;
a second user input device for selecting symbols from the second set, the second user input device generating a second selection signal in response to force applied thereto; and
a processor connected to the display screen and the first and second input devices for causing a selected symbol in the first set to be visually highlighted in the first display area in response to the first selection signal and a selected symbol in the second set to be visually highlighted in the second display area in response to the second selection signal.
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0 Petitions
Accused Products
Abstract
An electronic device that includes an electronic display screen having a first display area for displaying a first set of a plurality of selectable symbols and a second display area for displaying a second set of a plurality of selectable symbols, a first user input device for selecting symbols from the first set, the first user input device generating a first selection signal in response to force applied thereto, and a second user input device for selecting symbols from the second set, the second user input device generating a second selection signal in response to force applied thereto. A processor is connected to the display screen and the first and second input devices for causing one of the symbols in the first set to be visually highlighted in the first display area in response to the first selection signal and one of the symbols in the second set to be visually highlighted in the second display area in response to the second selection signal.
119 Citations
32 Claims
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1. An electronic device comprising:
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an electronic display screen having a first display area for displaying a first set of a plurality of selectable symbols and a second display area for displaying a second set of a plurality of selectable symbols;
a first user input device for selecting symbols from the first set, the first user input device generating a first selection signal in response to force applied thereto;
a second user input device for selecting symbols from the second set, the second user input device generating a second selection signal in response to force applied thereto; and
a processor connected to the display screen and the first and second input devices for causing a selected symbol in the first set to be visually highlighted in the first display area in response to the first selection signal and a selected symbol in the second set to be visually highlighted in the second display area in response to the second selection signal. - View Dependent Claims (2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13, 14, 15, 16, 17, 18, 19, 20, 21, 22, 23, 24)
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25. A method of selecting characters for input to an electronic device, comprising the steps of:
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(a) displaying on an electronic display screen a first set of selectable characters in a first area of the display screen;
(b) displaying on the electronic display screen a second set of selectable characters in a second area of the display screen;
(c) visually highlighting in the first area a selected character in the first set when a directional signal is received from a first input device that corresponds to a physical display location of the selected character; and
(d) visually highlighting in the second area a selected character in the second set when a directional signal is received from a second input device that corresponds to a physical display location of the selected character in the second set. - View Dependent Claims (26, 27, 28)
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29. A computer program product comprising a computer readable medium carrying program code means for selecting characters for input to an electronic device, the program code means including means for:
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(a) displaying on an electronic display screen a first set of selectable characters in a first area of the display screen;
(b) displaying on the electronic display screen a second set of selectable characters in a second area of the display screen;
(c) visually highlighting in the first area a selected character in the first set when a directional signal is received from a first input device that corresponds to a physical display location of the selected character;
(d) visually highlighting in the second area a selected character in the second set when a directional signal is received from a second input device that corresponds to a physical display location of the selected character in the second set; and
(e) accepting a visually highlighted character as an inputted character when a predetermined user input is received and displaying the inputted character in a third area of the display screen.
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30. An electronic device comprising:
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an electronic display screen having a first selectable text display area for displaying a plurality of selectable alphabetic characters in a two dimensional array, and a working text display area for displaying characters selected as input from the characters displayed in the first selectable text display area;
a first user input device for selecting characters in the selectable text display area, the first user input device responsive to force applied thereto in a plurality of directions to generate a first selection signal that indicates a direction of a force applied thereto relative to a biased resting position of the first user input device; and
a processor operatively connected to the display screen and connected to receive first selection signals from the first user input device, for;
i) mapping the first selection signal associated with the resting position of the first user input device to a predetermined home character located in a central position in the two dimensional array of selectable characters, and mapping the first selection signal to the selectable characters around the predetermined home character based on the display locations of the selectable characters relative to the predetermined home character;
ii) signalling the display screen to visually highlight in the first selectable text area a selected character in response to the first selection signal according to the mapping; and
iii) signalling the display screen to display a selected character in the working text display area as an input character upon receiving a further user input when the selected character is visually highlighted in the first selectable text area. - View Dependent Claims (31, 32)
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Specification