Ergonomic motion detection for receiving character input to electronic devices
First Claim
1. An electronic device for a visually-impaired user to enter characters of an alphabet into the electronic device, the electronic device comprising:
- a processor;
a touch screen having a touch-sensitive surface; and
a memory storing instructions that, when executed by the processor, cause the processor to;
when in a mode for positioning finger contact regions, position a plurality of finger contact regions on the touch-sensitive surface upon receiving an indication on the touch-sensitive surface of simultaneous finger contact of at least a first finger, a second finger, and a third finger of the user'"'"'s hand on the touch-sensitive surface including a point of contact for each of the fingers, the plurality of finger contact regions including a first finger contact region including the point of contact of the first finger, a second finger contact region including the point of contact of the second finger, and a third finger contact region including the point of contact of the third finger, wherein a plurality of characters of the alphabet are each associated with a unique combination of sliding or no-sliding contact with one or more of the finger contact regions, and wherein each finger contact region is a unique region of the touch-sensitive surface;
maintain an association of each of the plurality of characters of the alphabet with a unique combination of sliding or non-sliding contact with one or more of the finger contact regions, including one character associated with sliding or non-sliding contact with only the first finger contact region and a different character associated with the same sliding or non-sliding contact with only the second finger contact region;
when in a mode for character input following the mode for positioning finger contact regions, and following removing the at least first, second, and third fingers from the touch-sensitive surface during the positioning mode, entering a plurality of characters of the alphabet into the electronic device including(a) entry of a first character by discerning a first character input contact of only the first finger contact regions, determining whether the first character input contact was a sliding or a non-sliding contact, determine the direction of the sliding contact with the proviso that the first character input contact is a sliding contact; and
identifies the first character based on the finger contact region contacted, whether the contact is a sliding or non-sliding contact, and the direction of any sliding contact;
(b) recognize the first character using the association of characters of the alphabet to contacts with finger contact regions;
(c) entry of a second character different from the first character by discerning a second character input contact of only the second finger contact region;
wherein the second character input contact is the same sliding or the same non-sliding contact as the first character input contact, and the direction of any sliding contact is the same as the sliding direction of the first character input; and
identifying the second character based on the finger contact region contacted, whether the contact is sliding or non-sliding, and the direction of any sliding;
(d) recognize the second character using the association of characters of the alphabet to contacts with finger contact regions.
1 Assignment
0 Petitions
Accused Products
Abstract
Sliding and non-sliding touch input to an electronic device may be selected so that the motions associated with a character to input are intuitive and thus easy to remember. The motions for the contacts of the touch input may be selected ergonomically in a way enabling touch-typing, thus increasing user comfort for longer periods of use. Multiple repositionable finger contact regions are maintained on a contact surface in an arrangement that is easily accessible for the user'"'"'s fingertips. Each available input character is associated with a unique finger contact or set of simultaneously-entered contacts, each contact being either sliding or non-sliding contact, and the sliding contacts having a direction associated with the character. One example touch surface is a touch screen. Another example touch surface is the table upon which the electronic device sets and thus separate from the electronic device and freeing space on the device for other use.
14 Citations
20 Claims
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1. An electronic device for a visually-impaired user to enter characters of an alphabet into the electronic device, the electronic device comprising:
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a processor; a touch screen having a touch-sensitive surface; and a memory storing instructions that, when executed by the processor, cause the processor to; when in a mode for positioning finger contact regions, position a plurality of finger contact regions on the touch-sensitive surface upon receiving an indication on the touch-sensitive surface of simultaneous finger contact of at least a first finger, a second finger, and a third finger of the user'"'"'s hand on the touch-sensitive surface including a point of contact for each of the fingers, the plurality of finger contact regions including a first finger contact region including the point of contact of the first finger, a second finger contact region including the point of contact of the second finger, and a third finger contact region including the point of contact of the third finger, wherein a plurality of characters of the alphabet are each associated with a unique combination of sliding or no-sliding contact with one or more of the finger contact regions, and wherein each finger contact region is a unique region of the touch-sensitive surface; maintain an association of each of the plurality of characters of the alphabet with a unique combination of sliding or non-sliding contact with one or more of the finger contact regions, including one character associated with sliding or non-sliding contact with only the first finger contact region and a different character associated with the same sliding or non-sliding contact with only the second finger contact region; when in a mode for character input following the mode for positioning finger contact regions, and following removing the at least first, second, and third fingers from the touch-sensitive surface during the positioning mode, entering a plurality of characters of the alphabet into the electronic device including (a) entry of a first character by discerning a first character input contact of only the first finger contact regions, determining whether the first character input contact was a sliding or a non-sliding contact, determine the direction of the sliding contact with the proviso that the first character input contact is a sliding contact; and
identifies the first character based on the finger contact region contacted, whether the contact is a sliding or non-sliding contact, and the direction of any sliding contact;(b) recognize the first character using the association of characters of the alphabet to contacts with finger contact regions; (c) entry of a second character different from the first character by discerning a second character input contact of only the second finger contact region;
wherein the second character input contact is the same sliding or the same non-sliding contact as the first character input contact, and the direction of any sliding contact is the same as the sliding direction of the first character input; and
identifying the second character based on the finger contact region contacted, whether the contact is sliding or non-sliding, and the direction of any sliding;(d) recognize the second character using the association of characters of the alphabet to contacts with finger contact regions. - View Dependent Claims (2, 3, 4, 5, 6)
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7. A method of inputting characters of an alphabet by a visually-impaired user into an electronic device having a touch-sensitive surface, the method comprising:
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(i) positioning a plurality of finger contact regions on the touch-sensitive surface by sensing on the touch-sensitive surface of the electronic device simultaneous finger contact of at least a first finger, a second finger, and a third finger of the user'"'"'s hand including a point of contact for each of the fingers and positioning a first finger contact region including the point of contact of the first finger, a second finger contact region including the point of contact of the second finger, and a third finger contact region including the point of contact of the third finger, wherein a plurality of characters of the alphabet are each associated with a unique combination of sliding or non-sliding contact with one or more of the finger contact regions, and wherein each finger contact region is a unique region of the touch-sensitive surface; (ii) maintaining an association of each of the plurality of characters of the alphabet with a unique combination of sliding or nonsliding contact with one or more of the finger contact regions, including one character associated with sliding or nonsliding contact with only the first finger contact region and a different character associated with the same sliding or nonsliding contact with only the second finger contact region; (iii) following the positioning of the finger contact regions and following removing the at least first, second and third fingers from the touch-sensitive surface after the contacting step of the positioning step, entering a plurality of characters of the alphabet into the electronic device including; (a) entering a first character by discerning a first character input contact of only the first finger contact region, determining whether the first character input contact was a sliding or a non-sliding contact, determining the direction of the sliding contact with the proviso that the first character input contact is a sliding contact, and identifying the first character based on the finger contact region contacted whether the contact is a sliding or non-sliding contact and the direction of any sliding; (b) recognizing the first character using the association of characters to finger contacts; (c) entering a second character different from the first character by discerning a second character input contact of only the second finger contact region;
wherein the second character input contact is the same sliding or the same non-sliding contact as the first character input contact, and the direction of any sliding contact is the same as the sliding direction of the first character input contact; and
identifying the second character based on the finger contact region contacted, whether the contact is sliding or non-sliding, and the direction of any sliding; and(d) recognizing the second character using the association of characters to contacts with finger contact regions. - View Dependent Claims (8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13)
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14. A non-transitory machine readable storage medium containing instructions that when executed cause a processor of an electronic device having a touch-sensitive surface to discern input characters of an alphabet by a visually impaired user by:
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(i) positioning a plurality of finger contact regions on the touch-sensitive surface by receiving an indication of simultaneous finger contact of at least a first finger, a second finger and a third finger of the user'"'"'s hand on the touch-sensitive surface including a point of contact for each of the fingers, and positioning a first finger contact region including the point of contact of the first finger, a second finger contact region including the point of contact of the second finger, and a third finger contact region including the point of contact of the third finger;
wherein a plurality of characters of the alphabet are each with a unique combination of sliding or non-sliding contact with one or more of the finger contact regions, and wherein each finger contact region is unique region of the touch-sensitive surface;(ii) maintaining an association of each of the plurality of characters of the alphabet with a unique combination of sliding or nonsliding contact with one or more of the finger contact regions, including one character associated with sliding or nonsliding contact with only the first finger contact region and a different character associated with the same sliding or nonsliding contact with only the second finger contact region; (iii) following the positioning of the finger contact regions and following removing the at least first, second and third fingers from the touch-sensitive surface after the contacting step of the positioning step, entering a plurality of characters of the alphabet into the electronic device including; (a) entering a first character by receiving an indication of a first character input contact of only the first finger contact region, receiving an indication of whether the first character input contact was a sliding or a non-sliding contact, receiving an indication of the direction of the sliding contact with the proviso that the first character input contact is a sliding contact, and identifying the first character based on the finger contact region contacted, whether the contact was a sliding or non-sliding contact, and the direction of any sliding; (b) recognizing the first character using the association of characters to finger contacts; (c) entering a second character different from the first character by discerning a second character input contact of only the second finger contact region;
wherein the second character input contact is the same sliding or the same non-sliding contact as the first character input contact, and the direction of any sliding contact is the same as the sliding direction of the first character input; and
identifying the second character based on the finger contact region contacted, whether the contact is sliding or non-sliding, and the direction of any sliding;(d) recognizing the second character using the association of characters to finger contacts. - View Dependent Claims (15, 16, 17, 18, 19, 20)
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Specification