Note: Descriptions are shown in the official language in which they were submitted.
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TITLE OF THE INVENTION:
Method for data input through sliding movement across a
touch sensitive screen
FIELD OF THE INVENTION
The present invention relates to a method of data input
through sliding movement across a touch sensitive screen.
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION
With methods of input for touch sensitive screens there are
two requirements which frequently conflict. The method of input
must be as fast as possible and at the same time the method of
input must take as little of the display screen as possible.
Unfortunately, as the space taken up for input on the display
screen is decreased, it becomes difficult to increase speed without
adversely affecting accuracy.
United States Patent 5,574,482 (Niemeier) discloses a
method for data input on a touch sensitive screen. Niemeier
teaches having what are described as computer generated
"temporary" adjacent keys. Input can then be made with what is
described as a "wiping" motion in which one's finger or a stylus is
slid between the adjacent keys. This teaching enables two or more
adjacent letters to be input rapidly, as compared to tapping out
the same letters individually. The "temporary" adjacent keys
create artificial groupings of the most probable letters to provide
more opportunity for "wiping" input.
The sliding movement taught by the Niemeier reference had
the potential to be an extremely efficient manner of data entry.
Unfortunately, the teaching of the Niemeier reference of
temporary keys was counter-productive. It did not meet the
requirement of taking less space on the display screen; the
temporary keys require more space, not less. It did not meet the
requirement of speeding input as it requires the user to view and
make selections from a constantly changing array of temporary
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keys. It did not meet the requirement of enabling all desired
words to be input. The sliding movement was inappropriate for
many words, such as "pity", in which letters appear along the
same line.
SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION
What is required is a method of data input through sliding
movement across a touch sensitive screen which goes beyond the
teachings of Niemeier to provide even more rapid data input.
According to the present invention there is provided a
method of data input through sliding movement across a touch
sensitive screen. A first step involves accepting a change in
direction of the sliding movement across the touch sensitive
screen as an indication of character input selection. A second step
involves accepting a variation in a substantially linear portion of
the sliding movement across the touch sensitive screen as an
indication of character input selection.
BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS
These and other features of the invention will become more
apparent from the following description in which reference is
made to the appended drawings, the drawings are for the purpose
of illustration only and are not intended to in any way limit the
scope of the invention to the particular embodiment or
embodiments shown, wherein:
FIGURE 1 is a representation of a Qwerty keyboard showing
how the word "the" is input according to the teachings of the
present invention.
FIGURE 2 is a representation of a Qwerty keyboard showing
how the word "table" is input according to the teachings of the
present invention.
FIGURE 3 shows how the word "table" is input without the
need for an underlying Qwerty keyboard.
FIGURE 4 is a representation of a Qwerty keyboard showing
how a key selection may be made with an oscillating discordant
movement.
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FIGURE 5 is a representation of a Qwerty keyboard showing
how software determines which key selection was most likely
intended from a given sliding movement.
DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENT
The key to implementing the method is for there to be
recognizable variation in what is otherwise a substantially linear
portion of the sliding movement. This can be done in various ways.
For example, there can be variations in speed, input pressure, a
discordant movement or a combination of the same. An example of
a discordant movement would be an oscillation along what is
otherwise a linear path.
It is envisaged that initially a new user will learn the input
method by following a keyboard layout displayed on the touch
sensitive screen. However, once the user has committed to
memory the movements the keyboard layout will become
redundant and the input will become a form of shorthand with
sliding movements forming patterns that represent words.
The preferred method of data input through sliding
movement across a touch sensitive screen will now be described
with reference to FIGURES 1 through 5.
Referring to FIGURE 1, there is provided a method of data
input through sliding movement 10 across a touch sensitive screen 12.
Touch sensitive screen 12 displays characters or letters 14 as they
would appear on a typical qwerty keyboard layout 16. A first step
involves accepting a change in direction of sliding movement 10
across touch sensitive screen 12 as an indication of character input
selection. In the illustrated embodiment, sliding movement 10 is
shown moving over characters 14 comprising the word 18 "the".
Referring to FIGURE 4, a further step involves accepting a variation
20 in a substantially linear portion 22 of sliding movement 10 across
touch sensitive screen 12 as an indication of character input selection.
In the illustrated embodiment, variation 20 in
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sliding movement 10 is illustrated as oscillation, however
other discordant movements can also be used such as a change
in speed, a pause over character 14, or pressure upon touch
sensitive screen 12. Removing pressure from touch sensitive
screen 12 can be used to indicate an end of a word sequence and
a space.
Examples:
Referring to FIGURE 1, with the method described above,
word 18, such as "the" is entered by tapping down on the first
character 24 of word 18, keeping the stylus in contact with
touch screen 12, sliding the stylus from letter 14 to letter
14 until word 18 is complete.
Speed Increase
The time taken in text entry on screen 12 is roughly
divided evenly between putting the tip of the stylus down on
touch screen 12, lifting it again, moving from one character
14 to the next character 14 (approximately 1/4 second for
each). In handwriting, the time is roughly divided evenly in
setting down and lifting the pen, and in making strokes (again,
about 1/4 second per action). Writing was developed to
minimize the number of pen lifts and drops and thus increase
speed over printing. The result of the current invention
becomes a type of shorthand, which anyone who is familiar with
the qwerty keyboard layout 16 already knows.
Referring to FIGURE 2, it is useful to compare the number
of strokes and taps for handwriting, normal on-screen keyboard
input, and sliding movements 10 for an average length word of
5 letters for word 18 such as"table". It takes 7 seconds to
completed the word when manually printing, using nine strokes
and moving the pen up and down 18 times. This results in 27
actions to complete word 18 "table" and results in a typing
speed of approximately 9 words per minute. When tapping letter
by letter, it takes 3.5 seconds to complete word 18, using 4
strokes and moving the pen up and down 10 times. The number
of actions to complete word 18 is reduced to 14 and the typing
speed is increased to 17 words per minute. Using the method
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of sliding movement 10, it only takes 1.5 seconds to complete
word 18, using 4 strokes, and only requiring the pen to be
moved up and down twice. This reduces the number of actions to
6 and increasing the typing speed to 40 words per minute. The
5 method as described above, can be up to 5 times faster than
normal hand writing, and more than twice as fast as
conventional on screen keyboard input.
Size Reduction
Referring to FIGURE 4, a character selection is made by
either changing direction of sliding movement 10 while over
character 14, or changing the speed of sliding movement 10 such
as by pausing, while over character 14 . The latter is
necessary when coinciding characters 14 in word 18 such as
"pity" are located on the same row 26 of on-screen qwerty
keyboard 16. Referring to FIGURE 5, all characters 14 in the
immediate vicinity of the selection are considered possible
candidates. Software then uses statistical models to determine
which character 14 was most likely intended. In this way,
exact accuracy is not required, thus speeding input. Software
determines what will be considered "immediate vicinity" using
a circle 28, whose radius can be determined by the user. Use
of a smaller circle 30 will force the user to have more
accurate sliding movements or to have a larger on-screen
keyboard 16. In the illustrated embodiment, use of smaller
circle 30 results in candidate characters 14 which include "0",
"K", and "L". Use of a larger circle 32 allows the user to be
less accurate in where they change the direction of sliding
movement 10, but will result in decreased accuracy of the
disambiguation, since there will be more candidate characters
14. In the illustrated embodiment, use of large circle 32
results in candidate characters 14 which include "I", "0", "P",
"K", and "L ". The user can determine the size of circle 28
according to what works best for them. A benefit of permitting
this location approximation in selection is that qwerty
keyboard 16 can be made very small yet remain relatively
accurate.
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Keyboard Elimination
Referring to FIGURE 3, as a user becomes used to using
sliding movements 10, they many not need the visual image of
qwerty keyboard 16 at all, and may enter text directly on
screen 12 by simply making the shorthand sliding movements 10
where they would normally handwrite characters 14. In the
illustrated embodiment, sliding movements 10 form word 18
"table".
The method, as described above, provides for more rapid
input of data through use of sliding movement 10 across touch
sensitive screen 12.
In this patent document, the word "comprising" is used in
its non-limiting sense to mean that items following the word
are included, but items not specifically mentioned are not
excluded. A reference to an element by the indefinite article
"a" does not exclude the possibility that more than one of the
element is present, unless the context clearly requires that
there be one and only one of the elements.
It will be apparent to one skilled in the art that
modifications may be made to the illustrated embodiment without
departing from the spirit and scope of the invention as
hereinafter defined in the Claims.
