Adaptive touch keyboard

• US 8,508,481 B1
• Filed: 07/01/2010
• Issued: 08/13/2013
• Est. Priority Date: 07/01/2010
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: T-Mobile Innovations LLC (Deutsche Telekom AG)
• Original Assignee: Sprint Communications Company LP (Deutsche Telekom AG)
• Inventors: Landry, Shane Jeremy
• Primary Examiner(s): Wang, Quan-Zhen
• Assistant Examiner(s): Chow, Yuk
• Application Number:
  US12/828,523
• Time in Patent Office: 1,139 Days
• Field of Search: 345/168, 345/171, 345/173, 345/169, 455/566
• US Class Current: 345/168
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 3/0418 for error correction or compensation, e.g. based on parallax, calibration or alignment
• 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, system, and medium are provided for improving the accuracy of keystroke detection by determining what finger position a person is using to type. The finger, or fingers, used to contact the keys may define a finger position. Once the finger position is detected, hot spots for individual keys may be positioned according to a profile associated with the finger position. The hot spot is the portion of the touch screen that needs to be contacted in order to register a keystroke for the associated key. Each key has its own hot spot. The hot spot for a key may change without the display of the key on the touch-screen keyboard changing.

Claims

1. A method that improves keystroke detection on a touch-screen keyboard, the method comprising:

determining a user'"'"'s finger position by analyzing contact characteristics of at least one keystroke made on the touch-screen keyboard, wherein the contact characteristics describe a finger'"'"'s contact with the touch screen made during the keystroke;

positioning a touch-screen keyboard'"'"'s key hotspots based on the user'"'"'s finger position, wherein a key hotspot is an area on the touch screen, contact with which is interpreted as selecting a corresponding key on the touch-screen keyboard; and

wherein the user'"'"'s finger position comprises one of touching the touch-screen keyboard with only a right-hand thumb, touching the touch-screen keyboard with only a left-hand thumb, touching the touch-screen keyboard with both the right-hand thumb and the left-hand thumb, touching the touch-screen keyboard with one finger, and touching the touch-screen keyboard with one right-hand finger and one left-hand finger.

2. The method of claim 1, wherein the touch-screen keyboard'"'"'s key hotspots are positioned to fit a usage pattern within a finger-position profile that corresponds with the user'"'"'s finger position.

3. The method of claim 1, wherein the method further comprises:

determining that a user has changed to a different finger position on the touch-screen keyboard by analyzing contact characteristics of one or more additional keystrokes; and

repositioning the touch-screen keyboard'"'"'s key hotspots to fit a usage pattern within a finger-position profile that corresponds with a user'"'"'s different finger position.

4. The method of claim 1, wherein the contact characteristics comprise one or more of an angle of contact and a size of an area of the touch-screen keyboard contacted during a keystroke.

5. The method of claim 4, wherein the contact characteristics further comprise a shape of the area of the touch-screen keyboard contacted during the keystroke.

6. The method of claim 1, wherein positions of the key hotspots change without changing an appearance of keys displayed on the touch-screen keyboard.

7. One or more non-transitory computer-readable media having computer-executable instructions embodied thereon that when executed by a computing device perform a method of adjusting key hotspots based on a finger-position profile, the method comprising:

displaying a touch-screen keyboard on a touch screen;

receiving a first keystroke through the touch-screen keyboard, wherein the first keystroke has contact characteristics;

determining that the contact characteristics are consistent with one or more finger positions;

selecting a presumptive finger position that corresponds to one of the one or more finger positions;

positioning a touch-screen keyboard'"'"'s key hotspots to fit a usage pattern within a finger-position profile that corresponds to the presumptive finger position; and

wherein the presumptive finger position comprises one of interacting with only a right-hand thumb, interacting with only a left-hand thumb, interacting with both the right-hand thumb and the left-hand thumb, interacting with one finger, interacting with one right-hand finger and one left-hand finger.

8. The media of claim 7, wherein the finger-position profile describes a user'"'"'s pattern of key interaction when a user is interacting with the touch-screen keyboard with a particular finger position corresponding to the finger-position profile.

9. The media of claim 8, wherein the user'"'"'s pattern of key interaction indicates where on the touch screen the user touches when the user intends to select a key on the touch-screen keyboard.

10. The media of claim 8, wherein the presumptive finger position is selected because a user profile indicates that the presumptive finger position is used more often than other finger positions in the one or more finger positions.

11. The media of claim 9, wherein the method further comprises:

receiving a second keystroke with contact characteristics that are not consistent with the presumptive finger position, but are consistent with a different finger position within the one or more finger positions; and

repositioning the touch-screen keyboard'"'"'s key hotspots based on the finger-position profile that corresponds to the different finger position.

12. The method of claim 7, wherein the touch screen is a capacitive screen.

13. One or more non-transitory computer-readable media having computer-executable instructions embodied thereon that when executed by a computing device perform a method of positioning key hotspot locations based on an active finger-position profile, the method comprising:

displaying a touch-screen keyboard on a touch screen;

receiving a first keystroke on a right side of the touch-screen keyboard, wherein the first keystroke has a first set of contact characteristics;

receiving a second keystroke on a left side of the touch-screen keyboard, wherein the second keystroke has a second set of contact characteristics;

determining that the first set of contact characteristics and the second set of contact characteristics indicate that a user is addressing the touch-screen keyboard using a first finger position;

building a finger-position profile that corresponds to the first finger position, wherein the finger-position profile describes a user'"'"'s pattern of key interaction when the user is interacting with the touch screen with a particular finger position corresponding to the finger-position profile; and

wherein the first finger position comprises one of interacting with only a right-hand thumb, interacting with only a left-hand thumb, interacting with both the right-hand thumb and the left-hand thumb, interacting with one finger, and interacting with one right-hand finger and one left-hand finger.

14. The media of claim 13, wherein the method further comprises positioning a touch-screen keyboard'"'"'s key hotspots based on the finger-position profile that corresponds to the first finger position.

15. The media of claim 13, wherein the first set of contact characteristics comprise one or more of an angle of contact and a size of an area of the touch screen contacted during a keystroke.

16. The media of claim 15, wherein the contact characteristics further comprise a shape of the area of the touch screen contacted during a keystroke.

17. The media of claim 13, wherein the method further comprises:

monitoring keystrokes for a keystroke with contact characteristics that are not consistent with the first finger position;

repositioning a touch-screen keyboard'"'"'s key hotspots to a default position; and

determining that the user has switched to a second finger position by analyzing one or more additional keystrokes; and

building a second finger-position profile that corresponds to the second finger position.