Language input interface on a device

• US RE46,139 E1
• Filed: 10/16/2014
• Issued: 09/06/2016
• Est. Priority Date: 03/04/2008
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Apple Inc.
• Original Assignee: Apple Inc.
• Inventors: Kida, Yasuo, Kocienda, Kenneth, Cranfill, Elizabeth Caroline Furches
• Primary Examiner(s): WHITTINGTON, KENNETH
• Time in patent office: 691 Days
• Field of Search: 704/2, 704/3, 345/168, 345173-182, 178/18.01, 200/512, 340/407.1
• US Class Current: 1/1
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 17/2223 Handling non-latin characters, e.g. kana-to-kanji conversion
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 17/24 Editing, e.g. insert/delete G06F17/22 takes precedence
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 17/276 Stenotyping, code gives word, guess-ahead for partial word input
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 3/018 Input/output arrangements for oriental characters
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 3/0237 using prediction or retrieval techniques
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 3/04886 by partitioning the screen or tablet into independently controllable areas, e.g. virtual keyboards, menus G06F3/04883 takes precedence

Abstract

Methods, systems, and apparatus, including computer program products, for inputting text. A virtual keyboard is presented in a first region of a touch sensitive display of a device. An input representing a phonetic string is received on the virtual keyboard. The entered phonetic string is presented in a second region of the touch sensitive display. One or more candidates are identified based on the phonetic string. At least a subset of the candidates is presented. An input selecting one of the candidates is received. The entered phonetic string is replaced with the selected candidate.

Claims

1. A method comprising:

presenting a virtual keyboard corresponding to a first alphabet in a first region of a touch-sensitive display of a device;

receiving an input on the virtual keyboard representing a phonetic string;

presenting the phonetic string in a second region of the touch-sensitive display;

identifying one or more candidate representations based on the phonetic string, wherein the candidate representations correspond to a second alphabet different from the first alphabet;

identifying one or more additional candidate representations based on the phonetic string in a third alphabet different from the first and second alphabets;

presenting a candidate tray including at least a subset of the candidate representations and a subset of the additional candidate representations;

receiving an input of a selected candidate representation of the candidate representations and the additional candidate representations; and

replacing the entered phonetic string with the selected candidate representation.

2. The method of claim 1, wherein:

the phonetic string comprises Chinese romanization; and

the candidates comprise Chinese characters.

3. The method of claim 1, wherein:

the phonetic string comprises Japanese romanization; and

the candidates comprise one or more of the group consisting of Japanese kanji characters and Japanese kana symbols.

4. The method of claim 1, wherein the virtual keyboard comprises keys corresponding to letters of the Latin alphabet.

5. The method of claim 1, wherein the candidates comprise multi-character words.

6. The method of claim 1, wherein identifying one or more candidates based on the phonetic string comprises identifying one or more candidates using text prediction from the phonetic string.

7. The method of claim 6, wherein presenting at least a subset of the candidates comprises presenting the subset of the candidates in an order determined based on the text prediction.

23. The method of claim 1, further comprising identifying one or more additional candidate representations based on the phonetic string in a third alphabet different from the first and second alphabets, wherein the candidate tray includes at least a subset of the additional candidate representations.

24. The method of claim 1, wherein the candidate tray further includes the phonetic string.

25. The method of claim 1, wherein the second alphabet comprises logographic characters.

26. The method of claim 1, wherein the candidate tray is presented in place of the virtual keyboard.

29. The method of claim 1, wherein presenting the candidate tray comprises presenting the candidate tray in the second region of the touch-sensitive display.

30. The method of claim 1, wherein replacing the entered phonetic string comprises replacing the entered phonetic string in the second region of the touch-sensitive display.

31. The method of claim 1, wherein presenting the candidate tray comprises presenting the candidate tray adjacent to the phonetic string.

32. The method of claim 1, wherein presenting the candidate tray comprises presenting the candidate tray adjacent to the phonetic string in the second region.

33. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

receiving an input on the virtual keyboard representing a second phonetic string;

presenting the second phonetic string in the second region of the touch-sensitive display; and

receiving an input confirming the second phonetic string.

34. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

presenting an option to expand the candidate tray to include a larger subset of the candidate representations.

35. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

providing a confirm key.

36. The method of claim 35, wherein the received input of a selected candidate representation comprises a number of hits to the confirm key in succession.

37. The method of claim 36, wherein each of the candidate representations presented in the candidate tray corresponds to a different number of hits of the confirm key.

38. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

providing an option of replacing the virtual keyboard in the first region with at least a subset of the candidate representations.

39. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

providing an option of presenting a different subset of the candidate representations in the candidate tray.

40. The method of claim 1, wherein presenting the phonetic string in the second region comprises:

displaying the phonetic string using a phonetic representation different from the first alphabet.

41. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

displaying a visual indicator that identifies the presented phonetic string as a provisional input.

42. The method of claim 1, wherein presenting the candidate tray comprises:

presenting the subset of candidate representations according to a text orientation associated with the second alphabet.

43. The method of claim 42, wherein the text orientation comprises a left to right orientation.

44. The method of claim 42, wherein the text orientation comprises a right to left orientation.

45. The method of claim 42, wherein the text orientation comprises a top to bottom orientation.

46. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

presenting a next candidate key configured to allow a user to select a next candidate of the one or more candidate representations.

47. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

presenting a previous candidate key configured to allow a user to select a previous candidate of the one or more candidate representations.

8. A portable device comprising:

a touch-sensitive display;

memory;

one or more processors; and

instructions stored in the memory and configured for execution by the one or more processors, the instructions comprising instructions to;

present a virtual keyboard corresponding to a first alphabet in a first region of the touch-sensitive display of a device;

receive an input on the virtual keyboard representing a phonetic string;

present the phonetic string in a second region of the touch-sensitive display;

identify one or more candidate representations based on the phonetic string, wherein the candidate representations correspond to a second alphabet different from the first alphabet;

identify one or more additional candidate representations based on the phonetic string in a third alphabet different from the first and second alphabets;

present a candidate tray including at least a subset of the candidate representations and a subset of the additional candidate representations;

receive an input of a selected candidate representation of the candidate representations and the additional candidate representations; and

replace the entered phonetic string with the selected candidate representation.

9. The device of claim 8, wherein:

the phonetic string comprises Chinese romanization; and

the candidates comprise Chinese characters.

10. The device of claim 8, wherein:

the phonetic string comprises Japanese romanization; and

the candidates comprise one or more of the group consisting of Japanese kanji characters and Japanese kana symbols.

11. The device of claim 8, wherein the virtual keyboard comprises keys corresponding to letters of the Latin alphabet.

12. The device of claim 8, wherein the candidates comprise multi-character words.

13. The device of claim 8, further comprising instructions to identify one or more candidates using text prediction from the phonetic string.

14. The device of claim 13, further comprising instructions to present the subset of the candidates in an order determined based on the text prediction.

27. The method of claim 8, wherein the candidate tray is presented in place of the virtual keyboard.

48. The device of claim 8, wherein the instructions to present the candidate tray include instructions to present the candidate tray in the second region of the touch-sensitive display.

49. The device of claim 8, wherein the instructions to replace the entered phonetic string include instructions to replace the entered phonetic string in the second region of the touch-sensitive display.

50. The device of claim 8, wherein the instructions to present the candidate tray include instructions to present the candidate tray adjacent to the phonetic string.

51. The device of claim 8, wherein the instructions to present the candidate tray comprise instructions to present the candidate tray adjacent to the phonetic string in the second region.

52. The device of claim 8, further comprising instructions to:

receive an input on the virtual keyboard representing a second phonetic string;

present the second phonetic string in the second region of the touch-sensitive display; and

receive an input confirming the second phonetic string.

53. The device of claim 8, further comprising instructions to:

present an option to expand the candidate tray to include a larger subset of the candidate representations.

54. The device of claim 8, further comprising instructions to:

provide a confirm key.

55. The device of claim 54, wherein the instructions to receive an input of a selected candidate representation include instructions to recognize a number of hits to the confirm key in succession.

56. The device of claim 55, further comprising instructions to:

associate each of the candidate representations presented in the candidate tray with a different number of hits of the confirm key.

57. The device of claim 8, further comprising instructions to:

provide an option of replacing the virtual keyboard in the first region with at least a subset of the candidate representations.

58. The device of claim 8, further comprising instructions to:

provide an option of presenting a different subset of the candidate representations in the candidate tray.

59. The device of claim 8 wherein the instructions to present the phonetic string in the second region comprise instructions to display the phonetic string using a phonetic representation different from the first alphabet.

60. The device of claim 8, further comprising instructions to:

display a visual indicator that identifies the presented phonetic string as a provisional input.

61. The device of claim 8, wherein the instructions to present the candidate tray comprise instructions to present the subset of candidate representations according to a text orientation associated with the second alphabet.

62. The device of claim 61, wherein the text orientation comprises a left to right orientation.

63. The device of claim 61, wherein the text orientation comprises a right to left orientation.

64. The device of claim 61, wherein the F comprises a top to bottom orientation.

65. The device of claim 8, further comprising instructions to present a next candidate key configured to allow a user to select a next candidate of the one or more candidate representations.

66. The device of claim 8, further comprising instructions to present a previous candidate key configured to allow a user to select a previous candidate of the one or more candidate representations.

15. A computer program product, encoded on a tangible program carrier, operable to cause a portable device to perform operations comprising:

presenting a virtual keyboard corresponding to a first alphabet in a first region of a touch-sensitive display of a device;

receiving an input on the virtual keyboard representing a phonetic string;

presenting the phonetic string in a second region of the touch-sensitive display;

identifying one or more candidate representations based on the phonetic strings wherein the candidate representations correspond to a second alphabet different from the first alphabet;

identifying one or more additional candidate representations based on the phonetic string in a third alphabet different from the first and second alphabets;

presenting a candidate tray including at least a subset of the candidate representations and a subset of the additional candidate representations;

receiving an input of a selected candidate representation of the candidate representations and the additional candidate representations; and

replacing the entered phonetic string with the selected candidate representation.

16. The program product of claim 15, wherein:

the phonetic string comprises Chinese romanization; and

the candidates comprise Chinese characters.

17. The program product of claim 15, wherein:

the phonetic string comprises Japanese romanization; and

the candidates comprise one or more of the group consisting of Japanese kanji characters and Japanese kana symbols.

18. The program product of claim 15, wherein the virtual keyboard comprises keys corresponding to letters of the Latin alphabet.

19. The program product of claim 15, wherein the candidates comprise multi-character words.

20. The program product of claim 15, wherein identifying one or more candidates based on the phonetic string comprises identifying one or more candidates using text prediction from the phonetic string.

21. The program product of claim 20, wherein presenting at least a subset of the candidates comprises presenting the subset of the candidates in an order determined based on the text prediction.

28. The method of claim 15, wherein the candidate tray is presented in place of the virtual keyboard.

67. The program product of claim 15, wherein presenting the candidate tray comprises presenting the candidate tray in the second region of the touch-sensitive display.

68. The program product of claim 15, wherein replacing the entered phonetic string comprises replacing the entered phonetic string in the second region of the touch-sensitive display.

69. The program product of claim 15, wherein presenting the candidate tray comprises presenting the candidate tray adjacent to the phonetic string.

70. The program product of claim 15, wherein presenting the candidate tray comprises presenting the candidate tray adjacent to the phonetic string in the second region.

71. The program product of claim 15, wherein the operations further comprise:

receiving an input on the virtual keyboard representing a second phonetic string;

presenting the second phonetic string in the second region of the touch-sensitive display; and

receiving an input confirming the second phonetic string.

72. The program product of claim 15, wherein the operations further comprise:

presenting an option to expand the candidate tray to include a larger subset of the candidate representations.

73. The program product of claim 15, wherein the operations further comprise:

providing a confirm key.

74. The program product of claim 73, wherein the received input of a selected candidate representation comprises a number of hits to the confirm key in succession.

75. The program product of claim 74, wherein each of the candidate representations presented in the candidate tray corresponds to a different number of hits of the confirm key.

76. The program product of claim 15, wherein the operations further comprise:

providing an option of replacing the virtual keyboard in the first region with at least a subset of the candidate representations.

77. The program product of claim 15, wherein the operations further comprise:

providing an option of presenting a different subset of the candidate representations in the candidate tray.

78. The program product of claim 15, wherein presenting the phonetic string in the second region comprises:

displaying the phonetic string using a phonetic representation different from the first alphabet.

79. The program product of claim 15, further comprising:

displaying a visual indicator that identifies the presented phonetic string as a provisional input.

80. The program product of claim 15, wherein presenting the candidate tray comprises presenting the subset of candidate representations according to a text orientation associated with the second alphabet.

81. The program product of claim 80, wherein the text orientation comprises a left to right orientation.

82. The program product of claim 80, wherein the text orientation comprises a right to left orientation.

83. The program product of claim 80, wherein the text orientation comprises a top to bottom orientation.

84. The program product of claim 15, wherein the operations further comprise:

presenting a next candidate key configured to allow a user to select a next candidate of the one or more candidate representations.

85. The program product of claim 15, wherein the operations further comprise:

presenting a previous candidate key configured to allow a user to select a previous candidate of the one or more candidate representations.

22. A method comprising:

presenting a virtual keyboard corresponding to a first alphabet in a first region of a touch-sensitive display of a device;

receiving an input on the virtual keyboard representing a phonetic string;

presenting the phonetic string in a second region of the touch-sensitive display;

identifying one or more candidate representations based on the phonetic string, wherein the candidate representations correspond to a second alphabet different from the first alphabet;

identifying one or more additional candidate representations based on the phonetic string in a third alphabet different from the first and second alphabets;

presenting at least a subset of the candidate representations and a subset of the additional candidate representations inline with the phonetic string in the second region, where the candidate representations are displayed according to an orientation of text in the second region;

receiving an input selecting one of the candidate representations and the additional candidate representations; and

replacing the entered phonetic string with the selected candidate representation.

86. The method of claim 22, wherein presenting the subset of candidate representations comprises presenting a candidate tray in the second region of the touch-sensitive display.

87. The method of claim 22, wherein replacing the entered phonetic string comprises replacing the entered phonetic string in the second region of the touch-sensitive display.

88. The method of claim 22, wherein presenting the subset of the candidate representations comprises presenting the candidate representations adjacent to the phonetic string.

89. The method of claim 22, wherein presenting the subset of candidate representations comprises presenting the candidate representations adjacent to the phonetic string in the second region.

90. The method of claim 22, further comprising:

receiving an input on the virtual keyboard representing second phonetic string;

presenting the second phonetic string in the second region of the touch-sensitive display; and

receiving an input confirming the second phonetic string.

91. The method of claim 22, further comprising:

presenting an option to expand the subset of the candidate representations.

92. The method of claim 22, further comprising:

providing a confirm key.

93. The method of claim 92, wherein the received input of a selected candidate representation comprises a number of hits to the confirm key in succession.

94. The method of claim 93, wherein each of the candidate representations corresponds to a different number of hits of the confirm key.

95. The method of claim 22, further comprising:

providing an option of replacing the virtual keyboard in the first region with at least a subset of the candidate representations.

96. The method of claim 22, further comprising:

providing an option of presenting a different subset of the candidate representations.

97. The method of claim 22, wherein presenting the phonetic string in the second region comprises:

displaying the phonetic string using a phonetic representation different from the first alphabet.

98. The method of claim 22, further comprising:

displaying a visual indicator that identifies the presented phonetic string as a provisional input.

99. The method of claim 22, wherein the orientation of text comprises a left to right orientation.

100. The method of claim 22, wherein the orientation of text comprises a right to left orientation.

101. The method of claim 22, wherein the orientation of text comprises a top to bottom orientation.

102. The method of claim 22, further comprising:

presenting a next candidate key configured to allow a user to select a next candidate of the one or more candidate representations.

103. The method of claim 22, further comprising:

presenting a previous candidate key configured to allow a user to select a previous candidate of the one or more candidate representations.

104. A method comprising:

presenting a virtual keyboard corresponding to a first alphabet in a first region of a touch-sensitive display of a device;

receiving an input on the virtual keyboard representing a phonetic string;

presenting the phonetic string in a second region of the touch-sensitive display;

identifying one or more candidate representations based on the phonetic string, wherein the candidate representations correspond to a second alphabet different from the first alphabet;

identifying one or more additional candidate representations based on the phonetic string in a third alphabet different from the first and second alphabets;

presenting a candidate tray including at least a subset of the candidate representations and a subset of the additional candidate representations;

receiving an input of a selected candidate representation of the candidate representations and the additional candidate representations; and

removing the presented phonetic string and presenting the selected candidate representation.

105. A non-transitory computer-readable storage medium storing one or more programs, the one or more programs comprising instructions, which when executed by an electronic device with a touch-sensitive display, cause the device to:

present a virtual keyboard corresponding to a first alphabet in a first region of the touch-sensitive display of the device;

receive an input on the virtual keyboard representing a phonetic string;

present the phonetic string in a second region of the touch-sensitive display;

identify one or more candidate representations based on the phonetic string, wherein the candidate representations correspond to a second alphabet different from the first alphabet;

identify one or more additional candidate representations based on the phonetic string in a third alphabet different from the first and second alphabets;

present a candidate tray including at least a subset of the candidate representations and a subset of the additional candidate representations;

receive an input of a selected candidate representation of the candidate representations and the additional candidate representations; and

remove the presented phonetic string and present the selected candidate representation.

106. A method comprising:

presenting a virtual keyboard corresponding to a first alphabet in a first region of a touch-sensitive display of a device;

receiving input representing a phonetic string corresponding to the first alphabet;

presenting the phonetic string in a second region of the touch-sensitive display;

identifying one or more candidate representations based on the phonetic string, wherein the candidate representations correspond to a second alphabet different from the first alphabet;

identifying one or more additional candidate representations based on the phonetic string in a third alphabet different from the first and second alphabets;

presenting a candidate tray including at least a subset of the candidate representations and a subset of the additional candidate representations;

receiving an input of a selected candidate representation of the candidate representations and the additional candidate representations; and

removing the presented phonetic string and presenting the selected candidate representation.

107. A method comprising:

presenting a virtual keyboard in a first region of a touch-sensitive display of a device;

receiving an input on the virtual keyboard representing a phonetic string;

presenting the phonetic string using a first alphabet in a second region of the touch-sensitive display;

identifying one or more candidate representations based on the phonetic string, wherein the one or more candidate representations correspond to a second alphabet different from the first alphabet;

identifying one or more additional candidate representations based on the phonetic string in a third alphabet different from the first and second alphabets;

presenting a candidate tray including at least a subset of the candidate representations and a subset of the additional candidate representations;

receiving an input of a selected candidate representation of the candidate representations and the additional candidate representations; and

removing the presented phonetic string and presenting the selected candidate representation.

108. A method comprising:

presenting one or more virtual keys corresponding to a first alphabet in a first region of a touch-sensitive display of a device;

receiving an input on the one or more virtual keys, wherein the input represents a phonetic string;

presenting the phonetic string in a second region of the touch-sensitive display;

identifying one or more candidate representations based on the phonetic string, wherein the one or more candidate representations correspond to a second alphabet different from the first alphabet;

identifying one or more additional candidate representations based on the phonetic string in a third alphabet different from the first and second alphabets;

presenting a candidate tray including at least a subset of the candidate representations and a subset of the additional candidate representations;

receiving an input of a selected candidate representation of the candidate representations and the additional candidate representations; and

removing the presented phonetic string and presenting the selected candidate representation.