Method and system for inputting chinese-characters through virtual keyboards to data processor

• US 6,307,541 B1
• Filed: 07/07/1999
• Issued: 10/23/2001
• Est. Priority Date: 04/29/1999
• Status: Expired due to Term

• Current Assignee: Zhigu Holdings Limited
• Original Assignee: Inventec Corporation
• Inventors: Wang, Chang, Jiang, Chun, Ho, Chi-Yu
• Primary Examiner(s): Saras, Steven
• Assistant Examiner(s): Bell, Paul A.
• Application Number:
  US09/348,899
• Time in Patent Office: 839 Days
• Field of Search: 345/168, 345/169, 345/171, 345/172, 345/173, 345/467, 345/471, 341/20, 341/22, 341/28, 707/535, 700/83, 700/84, 708/142, 708/143, 708/144, 708/145, 708/146, 400/110
• US Class Current: 345/171
• CPC Class Codes: B41J 3/01 for special character, e.g. for Chinese characters or barcodes
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 3/018 Input/output arrangements for oriental characters
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 3/0236 using selection techniques to select from displayed items

Abstract

A Chinese-character input method and system is provided to allow users to input Chinese characters to a data processor with a reduced keyboard, such as a mobile-phone handset with a CCITT-compliant (Consultative Committee in International Telegraphy and Telephony) keyboard having only 12 keys. This Chinese-character input method and system allows the user to input Chinese characters to the data processor through a plurality of virtual keyboards which collectively display a set of phonetic symbols, such as those in the Mandarin Phonetic Symbol Set or the Roman Symbol Set, so that the user can perform the input operation through a pronunciation-based input scheme. The Chinese-character input method and system arranges the virtual keyboards in relational layers in accordance with the Mandarin Phonetic-Symbol Combination Rules or the Chinese Roman-Symbol Combination Rules, so that the user can perform the task of Chinese-character input to the data processor more conveniently and efficiently than the prior art.

Claims

1. A Chinese-character input method for use on a data processor having a display screen and a keyboard, for the purpose of allowing user-input of Chinese characters to the data processor through the keyboard;

the Chinese-character input method comprising the steps of;

(1) establishing a Chinese-character database, which stores a set of Chinese characters and the mapping between each Chinese character and its phonetic-symbol combination based on a selected phonetic-symbol set;

(2) establishing a virtual-keyboard table, which includes a plurality of virtual keyboards arranged in relational layers in accordance with a phonetic-symbol combination rule of the selected phonetic-symbol set, each virtual keyboard including a number of virtual keys mapped in one-to-one correspondence to the physical keys on the keyboard of the data processor, the plurality of virtual keyboards collectively displaying all the phonetic symbols in the selected phonetic-symbol set, with each virtual keyboard displaying a specified part of the phonetic-symbol set;

(3) when inputting a Chinese character having a specific phonetic-symbol combination is requested, displaying one of the plurality of virtual keyboards in a first layer that includes a first phonetic symbol in the phonetic-symbol combination for the intended Chinese character for user selection;

(4) displaying one of the plurality of virtual keyboards in a second layer that includes a second phonetic symbol in the phonetic-symbol combination for the intended Chinese character, if the second phonetic-symbol is a non-tone symbol;

or otherwise going to step (6) if not;

(5) displaying one of the plurality of virtual keyboards in a third layer that includes a third phonetic symbol in the phonetic-symbol combination for the intended Chinese character, if the third phonetic-symbol is a non-tone symbol;

or otherwise going to step (6), if not;

(6) displaying one of the plurality of virtual keyboards in a fourth layer that includes a fourth phonetic symbol, which is subject to a tone symbol in the phonetic-symbol combination for the intended Chinese character; and

(7) in response to the phonetic-symbol combination obtained through the steps (3) to (6), retrieving, from the Chinese-character database, a set of Chinese characters corresponding to the user-inputted phonetic-symbol combination; and

displaying this set of Chinese characters on the display screen for user selection of the intended Chinese character.

2. The Chinese-character input method of claim 1, wherein the data processor is a mobile-phone handset.

3. The Chinese-character input method of claim 2, wherein the keyboard is a CCITT-compliant keyboard having a total of 12 physical keys.

4. The Chinese-character input method of claim 3, wherein the virtual keyboards each have a total of 12 virtual keys mapped in one-to-one correspondence to the 12 physical keys on the CCITT-compliant keyboard.

5. The Chinese-character input method of claim 1, wherein the phonetic-symbol set is the Mandarin Phonetic Symbol Set.

6. The Chinese-character input method of claim 5, wherein the plurality of virtual keyboards include:

(i) a first-layer virtual-keyboard set, which includes a number of virtual keyboards which are used collectively to display the phonetic symbols in the Mandarin Phonetic Symbol Set that are permissible lo be used as the first phonetic symbol in any phonetic-symbol combinations;

(ii) a second-layer virtual-keyboard set, which includes a number of virtual keyboards which are used collectively to display the phonetic symbols in the Mandarin Phonetic Symbol Set that are permissible to be used as the second phonetic symbol in any phonetic-symbol combinations and that are related in accordance with the Mandarin Phonetic-Symbol Combination Rules to the firstly-selected phonetic symbol from the first-layer virtual-keyboard set;

(iii) a third-layer virtual-keyboard set, which includes a number of virtual keyboards which are used collectively to display the phonetic symbols in the Mandarin Phonetic Symbol Set that are permissible to be used as the third phonetic symbol in any phonetic-symbol combinations and that are related in accordance with the Mandarin Phonetic-Symbol Combination Rules to the secondly-selected phonetic symbol from the second-layer virtual-keyboard set; and

(iv) a fourth-layer virtual-keyboard set, which includes at least one virtual keyboard used to display the phonetic symbol representative of the 5 tones of Chinese characters, and which is displayed after the phonetic symbol selected from the third-layer virtual-keyboard set is a non-tone symbol.

7. The Chinese-character input method of claim 6, wherein the virtual keyboards in the first-layer virtual-keyboard set each include a switch key for user-activated switching between the virtual keyboards in the first-layer virtual-keyboard set.

8. The Chinese-character input method of claim 1, wherein the screen display is an LCD.

9. The Chinese-character input method of claim 1, wherein the phonetic-symbol set is the Roman Symbol Set.

10. The Chinese-character input method of claim 9, wherein the plurality of virtual keyboards include:

(i) a first-layer virtual-keyboard set, which includes a number of virtual keyboards which are used collectively to display the Roman symbols in the Roman Symbol Set that are permissible to be used as the first Roman symbol in any phonetic-symbol combinations;

(ii) a second-layer virtual-keyboard set, which includes a number of virtual keyboards which are used collectively to display the Roman symbols in the Roman Symbol Set that are permissible to be used as the second Roman symbol in any phonetic-symbol combinations and that are related in accordance with the Mandarin Phonetic-Symbol Combination Rules to the firstly-selected Roman symbol from the first-layer virtual-keyboard set;

(iii) a third-layer virtual-keyboard set, which includes a number of virtual keyboards which are used collectively to display the Roman symbols in the Roman Symbol Set that are permissible to be used as the third Roman symbol in any phonetic-symbol combinations and that are related in accordance with the Mandarin Phonetic-Symbol Combination Rules to the secondly-selected Roman symbol from the second-layer virtual-keyboard set; and

(iv) a fourth-layer virtual-keyboard set, which includes at least one virtual keyboard used to display the Roman symbols representative of the 5 tones of Chinese characters, and which is displayed after the Roman symbol selected from the third-layer virtual-keyboard set is a non-tone symbol.

11. A Chinese-character input system for use on a data processor having a display screen and a keyboard including a number of physical keys thereon, for the purpose of allowing user-input of Chinese characters to the data processor through the keyboard;

the Chinese-character input system comprising;

(a) a Chinese-character database, which stores a set of Chinese characters and the mapping between each Chinese character and its phonetic-symbol combination based on the Mandarin Phonetic Symbol Set;

(b) a virtual-keyboard table, which includes a plurality of virtual keyboards arranged in relational layers in accordance with a phonetic-symbol combination rule of the selected phonetic-symbol set, each virtual keyboard including a number of virtual keys mapped in one-to-one correspondence to the physical keys on the keyboard of the data processor, the virtual keyboards collectively displaying all the phonetic symbols in the Mandarin Phonetic Symbol Set, with each virtual keyboard displaying a specified part of the Mandarin Phonetic Symbol Set;

(c) a user-input service module, coupled to the keyboard of the data processor, for keycode reception from the physical keys on the keyboard;

(d) a virtual-keyboard service module, which performs, in response to keycode input received by the user-input service module from the keyboard of the data processor, the steps of;

(d1) retrieving, from the virtual-keyboard table, one of the plurality of virtual keyboards in a first layer that includes a first phonetic symbol in the phonetic-symbol combination that represents the pronunciation of the intended Chinese character that is to be input to the data processor, and displaying the retrieved virtual keyboard on the display screen for user-selection of the required phonetic symbol;

(d2) retrieving, from the virtual-keyboard table, one of the plurality of virtual keyboards in a second that includes a second phonetic-symbol in the intended phonetic-symbol combination, if the second phonetic-symbol is a non-tone symbol and displaying the retrieved virtual keyboard on the display screen for user-selection of the required phonetic symbol;

or otherwise going to step (d4), if not;

(d3) retrieving, from the virtual-keyboard table, one of the plurality of virtual keyboards in a third layer that includes a third phonetic symbol in the intended phonetic-symbol combination, if the third phonetic-symbol is a non-tone symbol, and displaying the retrieved virtual keyboard on the display screen for user-selection of the required phonetic symbol;

or otherwise going to step (d4), if not;

(d4) retrieving, from the virtual-keyboard table, one of the plurality of virtual keyboards in a fourth layer that includes a fourth phonetic symbol for the tone of the intended Chinese character; and

displaying the retrieved virtual keyboard on the display screen for user-selection of the required phonetic symbol; and

(d5) in response to the phonetic-symbol combination obtained through steps (d1) to (d4), retrieving, from the Chinese-character database, a set of Chinese characters corresponding to the phonetic-symbol combination; and

displaying this set of Chinese characters on the display screen for user-selection of the intended Chinese character.

12. The Chinese-character input system of claim 11, wherein the data processor is a mobile-phone handset.

13. The Chinese-character input system of claim 12, wherein the keyboard is a CCITT-compliant keyboard having a total of 12 physical keys.

14. The Chinese-character input system of claim 13, wherein the virtual keyboards each have a total of 12 virtual keys mapped in one-to-one correspondence to the 12 physical keys on the CCITT-compliant keyboard.

15. The Chinese-character input system of claim 11, wherein the plurality of virtual keyboards include:

(i) a first-layer virtual-keyboard set, which includes a number of virtual keyboards which are used collectively to display the phonetic symbols in the Mandarin Phonetic Symbol Set that are permissible to be used as the first phonetic symbol in any phonetic-symbol combinations;

(ii) a second-layer virtual-keyboard set, which includes a number of virtual keyboards which are used collectively to display the phonetic symbols in the Mandarin Phonetic Symbol Set that are permissible to be used as the second phonetic symbol in any phonetic-symbol combinations and that are related in accordance with the Mandarin Phonetic-Symbol Combination Rules to the firstly-selected phonetic symbol from the first-layer virtual-keyboard set;

(iii) a third-layer virtual-keyboard set, which includes a number of virtual keyboards which are used collectively to display the phonetic symbols in the Mandarin Phonetic Symbol Set that are permissible to be used as the third phonetic symbol in any phonetic-symbol combinations and that are related in accordance with the Mandarin Phonetic-Symbol Combination Rules to the secondly-selected phonetic symbol from the second-layer virtual-keyboard set; and

(iv) a fourth-layer virtual-keyboard set, which includes at least one virtual keyboard used to display the phonetic symbol representative of the 5 tones of Chinese characters, and which is displayed after the phonetic symbol selected from the third-layer virtual-keyboard set is a non-tone symbol.

16. A Chinese-character input system for use on a data processor having a display screen and a keyboard including a number of physical keys thereon, for the purpose of allowing user-input of Chinese characters to the data processor through the keyboard;

the Chinese-character input system comprising;

(a) a Chinese-character database, which stores a set of Chinese characters and the mapping between each Chinese character and its phonetic-symbol combination based on the Roman Symbol Set;

(b) a virtual-keyboard table, which includes a plurality of virtual keyboards arranged in relational layers in accordance with a phonetic-symbol combination rule of the selected phonetic-symbol set, each virtual keyboard including a number of virtual keys mapped in one-to-one correspondence to the physical keys on the keyboard of the data processor, the virtual keyboards collectively displaying all the phonetic symbols in the roman symbols in the Roman Symbol Set, with each virtual keyboard displaying a specified part of the Roman Symbol Set;

(c) a user-input service module, coupled to the keyboard of the data processor, for keycode reception from the physical keys on the keyboard;

(d) a virtual-keyboard service module, which performs, in response to keycode input received by the user-input service module from the keyboard of the data processor, the steps of;

(d1) retrieving, from the virtual-keyboard table, one of the plurality of virtual keyboards in a first layer that includes a first Roman symbol in the phonetic-symbol combination that represents the pronunciation of the intended Chinese character that is to be input to the data processor, and displaying the retrieved virtual keyboard on the display screen for user-selection of the required Roman symbol;

(d2) retrieving, from the virtual-keyboard table, one of the plurality of virtual keyboards in a second that includes a second Roman-symbol in the intended phonetic-symbol combination, if the second phonetic-symbol is a non-tone symbol and displaying the retrieved virtual keyboard on the display screen for user-selection of the required Roman symbol;

or otherwise going to step (d4), if not;

(d3) retrieving, from the virtual-keyboard table, one of the plurality of virtual keyboards in a third layer that includes a third Roman symbol in the intended phonetic-symbol combination, if the third phonetic-symbol is a non-tone symbol, and displaying the retrieved virtual keyboard on the display screen for user-selection of the required Roman symbol;

or otherwise going to step (d4), if not;

(d4) retrieving, from the virtual-keyboard table, one of the plurality of virtual keyboards in a fourth layer that includes a fourth phonetic symbol for the tone of the intended Chinese character; and

displaying the retrieved virtual keyboard on the display screen for user-selection of the required Roman symbol; and

(d5) in response to the phonetic-symbol combination obtained through steps (d1) to (d4), retrieving, from the Chinese-character database, a set of Chinese characters corresponding to the phonetic-symbol combination; and

displaying this set of Chinese characters on the display screen for user-selection of the intended Chinese character.

17. The Chinese-character input system of claim 16, wherein the data processor is a mobile-phone handset.

18. The Chinese-character input system of claim 17, wherein the keyboard is a CCITT-compliant keyboard having a total of 12 physical keys.

19. The Chinese-character input system of claim 18, wherein the virtual keyboards each have a total of 12 virtual keys mapped in one-to-one correspondence to the 12 physical keys on the CCITT-compliant keyboard.

20. The Chinese-character input system of claim 16, wherein the plurality of virtual keyboards include:

(i) a first-layer virtual-keyboard set, which includes a number of virtual keyboards which are used collectively to display the Roman symbols in the Roman Symbol Set that are permissible to be used as the first Roman symbol in any Roman-symbol combinations;

(ii) a second-layer virtual-keyboard set, which includes a number of virtual keyboards which are used collectively to display the Roman symbols in the Roman Symbol Set that are permissible to be used as the second Roman symbol in any Roman-symbol combinations and that are related in accordance with the Chinese Roman-Symbol Combination Rules to the firstly-selected Roman symbol from the first-layer virtual-keyboard set;

(iii) a third-layer virtual-keyboard set, which includes a number of virtual keyboards which are used collectively to display the Roman symbols in the Roman Symbol Set that are permissible to be used as the third Roman symbol in any Roman-symbol combinations and that are related in accordance with the Chinese Roman-Symbol Combination Rules to the secondly-selected Roman symbol from the second-layer virtual-keyboard set; and

(iv) a fourth-layer virtual-keyboard set, which includes at least one virtual keyboard used to display the Roman symbol representative of the 5 tones of Chinese characters, and which is displayed after the Roman symbol selected from the third-layer virtual-keyboard set is a non-tone symbol.