Character input apparatus and method for automatically switching input mode in terminal having touch screen

Abstract

Provided is a character input method and apparatus for automatically switching an input mode in a terminal having a touch screen. If a press event occurs in one of key regions displayed in the touch screen, it is determined whether a drag event occurs prior to occurrence of a release event. According to whether the drag event occurs, one of a separate input mode for inputting one of characters of a corresponding character group and a text input mode for inputting a word including one of the characters of the character group is executed. Thus, a user can easily input a character by rapidly selecting a desired input mode.

Description

CROSS-REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATION AND CLAIM OF PRIORITY[0001]ThisNotice: More than one reissue application has been filed for the reissue of U.S. Pat. No. 8,018,441. The reissue applications are U.S. application Ser. No. 14 / 026,360, filed on Sep. 13, 2013, and the present application. The present application is a continuation reissue of U.S. application Ser. No. 14 / 026,360, which is also an application for reissue of U.S. Pat. No. 8,018,441. The present application claims the benefit of U.S. application Ser. No. 12 / 157,370, filed with the U.S. Patent Trademark Office on Jun. 10, 2008 and issued as U.S. Pat. No. 8,018,441 on Sep. 13, 2011, which claims the benefit under 35 U.S.C. § 119(a) of a Korean Patent Application filed in the Korean Intellectual Property Office on Jun. 2007 and assigned Serial No. 2007-56742 and a Korean Patent Application filed in the Korean Intellectual Property Office on Jul. 19, 2007 and assigned Serial No. 2007-72357, the entire disclosures of which a...

AI Technical Summary

Benefits of technology

This approach enables rapid and efficient character input by allowing users to automatically switch between input modes based on touch events, reducing the overall time and effort required for character selection and input.

Problems solved by technology

However, according to the T9 method, a problem occurs when the user desires to input a proper noun.

Moreover, in order to input characters one by one, several key inputs are required to output a corresponding character, making a character input process complex and increasing the time required for the character input process.

The conventional character input method requires an operation for mode switch for each character input, the character input process is complex and the time required therefor increases.

Moreover, the conventional key input unit has a structural problem in that several key inputs are still required for character selection even after switching to the separate input mode.

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