Soft keyboard with keypress markers

• US 9,652,148 B2
• Filed: 01/06/2014
• Issued: 05/16/2017
• Est. Priority Date: 01/06/2014
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: SAP SE
• Original Assignee: SAP SE
• Inventors: Min, Hongjun
• Primary Examiner(s): Angkool, David Phantana
• Application Number:
  US14/148,639
• Publication Number:
  US 20150193142A1
• Time in Patent Office: 1,226 Days
• Field of Search: 715738
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 3/016 Input arrangements with force or tactile feedback as computer generated output to the user
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 3/04842 Selection of displayed objects or displayed text elements G06F3/0482 takes precedence
• 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

Disclosed herein are technologies that improve user interaction when using a soft keyboard of a touchscreen device (e.g., a smartphone or tablet computer). More particularly, the technologies described herein provide feedback to a user regarding keypress accuracy on a soft keyboard of a touchscreen device. In accordance with one aspect of the technologies, a keypress marker is presented to indicate the location of touch on the soft keyboard.

Claims

1. A method that facilitates keypress accuracy on a soft-keyboard of a user interface (UI), the method comprising:

presenting a UI on a touchscreen of a computing device, the UI including a soft-keyboard that uses all or a portion of the touchscreen;

detecting a touch on the soft-keyboard portion of the touchscreen;

determining a location of the touch on the touchscreen; and

presenting a just-pressed keypress marker on the touchscreen, wherein the just-pressed keypress marker is a symbol centered about and placed at the location of the touch on the touchscreen.

2. The method according to claim 1 further comprising specifying a key that corresponds to the touch location.

3. The method according to claim 1, wherein the just-pressed keypress marker is superimposed over the soft-keyboard.

4. The method according to claim 1 further comprising calculating a center point of an area of the touch on the touchscreen.

5. The method according to claim 1 further comprising centering the just-pressed keypress marker about a center point of an area of the touch on the touchscreen.

6. The method according to claim 1 further comprising:

detecting a subsequent touch on the soft-keyboard portion of the touchscreen;

determining a location of the subsequent touch on the touchscreen;

presenting the just-pressed keypress marker on the touchscreen so that the just-pressed keypress marker indicates the location of the subsequent touch on the touchscreen; and

presenting a previously pressed keypress marker on the touchscreen, wherein the previously pressed keypress marker indicates the location of the touch on the touchscreen and the previously pressed keypress marker is symbol that is differently shaped, shaded, sized or colored than the just-pressed keypress marker.

7. The method according to claim 1 further comprising:

detecting subsequent touches on the soft-keyboard portion of the touchscreen;

determining locations of the subsequent touches on the touchscreen; and

presenting keypress markers on the touchscreen, wherein the keypress markers indicate the locations of the subsequent touches on the touchscreen.

8. A computer-program product that facilitates keypress accuracy on a soft-keyboard of a user interface (UI), the computer-program product comprising:

one or more computer-readable media storing processor-executable instructions that when executed cause one or more processors to perform operations that facilitates keypress accuracy on a soft-keyboard of a user interface (UI), the operations comprising;

presenting a UI on a touchscreen of a computing device, the UI including a soft-keyboard that uses all or a portion of the touchscreen;

detecting a sequence of touches on the soft-keyboard portion of the touchscreen;

determining locations on the touchscreen of each touch of the sequence; and

presenting keypress markers on the touchscreen, wherein the keypress markers are symbols centered about and placed at the locations of the each touch of the sequence on the touchscreen.

9. The computer-program product according to claim 8, wherein the operations further comprise specifying keys that correspond to each touch location of the locations on the touchscreen of the each touch of the sequence.

10. The computer-program product according to claim 8, wherein each keypress marker is superimposed over the soft-keyboard.

11. The computer-program product according to claim 8, wherein the operations further comprise calculating a center point of each touch location of the locations on the touchscreen of the each touch of the sequence.

12. The computer-program product according to claim 8, wherein the operations further comprise centering each keypress marker about a center point of an area of its corresponding touch on the touchscreen.

13. The computer-program product according to claim 8, wherein the operations further comprise adjusting, in response to detecting a new touch, sizes, colors, shades or shapes of the keypress markers to indicate that the markers represent previous touches.

14. An apparatus that facilitates keypress accuracy on a soft-keyboard of a user interface (UI), the apparatus comprising:

a UI manager configured to present a UI on a touchscreen of a computing device, the UI including a soft-keyboard that uses all or a portion of the touchscreen;

a touch sensor configured to detect a sequence of touches on the soft-keyboard portion of the touchscreen;

a touch-location determiner configured to determine locations on the touchscreen of each touch of the sequence; and

a keypress-accuracy indicator configured to present keypress markers on the touchscreen, wherein the keypress markers are symbols centered about and placed at the locations of the each touch of the sequence on the touchscreen.

15. The apparatus according to claim 14, wherein the UI manager is further configured to specify keys that correspond to each touch location of the locations on the touchscreen of the each touch of the sequence.

16. The apparatus according to claim 14, wherein the keypress-accuracy indicator is further configured to superimpose each keypress marker over the soft-keyboard.

17. The apparatus according to claim 14, wherein the keypress-accuracy indicator is further configured to calculate a center point of each touch location of the locations on the touchscreen of the each touch of the sequence.

18. The apparatus according to claim 14, wherein the keypress-accuracy indicator is further configured to center each keypress marker about a center point of an area of its corresponding touch on the touchscreen.

19. The apparatus according to claim 14, wherein the keypress-accuracy indicator is further configured to adjust, in response to detecting a new touch, sizes, colors, shades or shapes of the keypress markers to indicate that they represent previous touches.

20. The apparatus according to claim 14, wherein the keypress-accuracy indicator is further configured to present a defined number of keypress markers.