TOUCH-SCREEN KEYBOARD WITH COMBINATION KEYS AND DIRECTIONAL SWIPES

• US 20110210850A1
• Filed: 02/26/2010
• Published: 09/01/2011
• Est. Priority Date: 02/26/2010
• Status: Abandoned Application

• Current Assignee: Phuong K. Tran
• Original Assignee: Phuong K. Tran
• Inventors: Tran, Phuong K
• Application Number:
  US12/713,175
• Publication Number:
  US 20110210850A1
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 340/540
• 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 touch-screen keyboard for small mobile devices that improves typing accuracy and speed by using directional swipes to select letters or symbols in combination keys containing multiple letters or symbols per key.

Claims

1. A method to enter data on a touch screen, comprising:

displaying one or more combination keys, each representing a plurality of letters or symbols; and

swiping a finger across the touch screen to enter data.

2. The method of claim 1, wherein each combination key contains four letters or symbols.

3. The method of claim 1, comprising performing a short swipe on the keyboard touch-screen instead of a touch to select a desired letter, digit or symbol.

4. The method of claim 1, comprising:

characterizing a swipe with multiple variables including length, position including start, end or middle point of the swipe path and direction or angle of the swipe; and

using a combination of multiple variables to select a letter, digit or symbol.

5. The method of claim 1, comprising selecting a combination key based on a position of a swipe.

6. The method of claim 5, comprising:

using a start point or an end point of a swipe path as the position of the swipe or

using a predetermined point between the start point and the end point of the swipe path as the position of the swipe.

7. The method of claim 5, comprising selecting the combination key with the shortest distance to the position of the swipe.

8. The method of claim 1, comprising determining a letter or a symbol based on a swipe direction or angle.

9. The method of claim 8, comprising operating in an inward swipe mode in which swiping in the direction from a predetermined letter or symbol in a combination key toward the center of the combination key selects the predetermined letter or symbol.

10. The method of claim 8, comprising operating in an outward swipe mode in which swiping in the direction from the center of a combination key toward a predetermined letter or symbol in the combination key selects the predetermined letter or symbol.

11. The method of claim 8, comprising:

dividing the 360 degree circle into a plural of angle ranges;

associating each letter or symbol in a combination key with an angle range according to a relative position of the letter or symbol in the key; and

selecting the letter or symbol if the swipe angle is within the angle range associated with the letter or symbol.

12. The method of claim 1, comprising performing non-linear swipes to enter data.

13. The method of claim 1, comprising performing a circular swipes or multi-segment swipes to enter data.

14. The method of claim 1, comprising:

applying linguistic, conditional probability, or statistical model to select a character when there is ambiguity; and

providing a warning indication if ambiguity exists in determining a character.

15. The method of claim 1, comprising:

capturing a start point of a swipe path as (x1, y1) and an end point of a swipe path as (x2, y2);

determining a swipe position as a mid-point (x, y) of a swipe, where x=(x1+x2)/2 and y=(y1+y2)/2;

determining a distance between the swipe position (x, y) and a center of each combination key in a keyboard;

selecting a combination key whose center has the shortest distance to the swipe position (x, y);

determining an angle A (direction) of the swipe as A=arctangent((y2−

y1)/(x2−

x1)); and

using the angle A to select one of the letters, numbers or symbols in the combination key.

16. The method of claim 1, comprising:

selecting a top-right letter, number or symbol of the combination key if the swipe angle A is around 45 degree;

selecting a top-left letter, number or symbol of the combination key if the swipe angle A is around 135 degree;

selecting a bottom-left letter, number or symbol of the combination key if the swipe angle A is around 225 degree; and

selecting a bottom-right letter, number or symbol of the combination key if the swipe angle A is around 315 degree.

17. The method of claim 1, comprising:

selecting a bottom-left letter, number or symbol of the combination key if the swipe angle A is around 45 degree;

selecting a bottom-right letter, number or symbol of the combination key if the swipe angle A is around 135 degree;

selecting a top-right letter, number or symbol of the combination key if the swipe angle A is around 225 degree; and

selecting a top-left letter, number or symbol of the combination key if the swipe angle A is around 315 degree.

18. The method of claim 1, comprising briefly highlighting or magnifying a selected letter, number or symbol to provide a visual confirmation to the user.

19. A portable electronic device, comprising:

a touch screen;

a processor coupled to the touch screen;

code executable by the processor to display a combination of keys representing a plurality of letters or symbols and code to detect a finger swipe across the touch screen to enter data.

20. The device of claim 19, wherein each combination key contains four letters or symbols.

21. The device of claim 19, wherein a user performs a short swipe on the touch-screen instead of a touch to select a desired letter, digit or symbol.

22. The device of claim 19, comprising:

code executable by the processor to characterize a swipe with multiple variables including length, position including start, end or mid point of a swipe and direction or angle of the swipe; and

code executable by the processor to use a combination of multiple variables to select a letter, digit or symbol.

23. The device of claim 19, comprising code executable by the processor to select a combination key based on a position of the swipe.

24. The device of claim 19, comprising code executable by the processor to select a letter or symbol in a combination key based on a swipe direction.

25. The device of claim 19, comprising code executable by the processor to vibrate or give an indicator to warn of ambiguity in character determination.