Adaptive Virtual Key Layout for Single-Handed Mobile Input
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Solution Overview
Problem
Large touch screens on mobile devices lead to decreased character selection accuracy and increased error input, especially when users operate with a single hand due to the distance of virtual keys on the screen.
Innovation Solution
A device and method that adaptively adjusts the layout of the touch input panel by counting error inputs and determining the user's holding mode to rearrange virtual keys within the user's single-handed control range, reducing the number of virtual keys on the side with more errors.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Area of stationary object
If the screen size is enlarged to provide a better user experience, then the display area and visual quality are improved, but the character selection accuracy decreases and error input increases
Solution Approach 1:
The patent applies local quality by making different regions of the keyboard have different key densities. The keyboard layout dynamically adjusts to concentrate more keys in the area closer to the user's thumb (typically the lower portion) and reduce keys in farther areas, creating non-uniform local characteristics that accommodate single-handed operation on large screens
Solution Approach 2:
The patent implements dynamics by making the keyboard layout adaptable and changeable based on user behavior. The system dynamically adjusts the keyboard configuration in real-time based on error input patterns, allowing the layout to evolve from a static design to a dynamic one that responds to actual usage conditions
2Quantity of substance
If virtual keys are placed farther apart on large screens, then more keys can be displayed, but single-handed operation becomes difficult and error input increases
Solution Approach 1:
The patent applies local quality by creating non-uniform key distribution across the keyboard surface. Instead of uniform spacing, the layout concentrates keys in regions accessible to the user's thumb while spacing them out in harder-to-reach areas, allowing high key quantity in accessible zones without compromising operability
Solution Approach 2:
The patent applies segmentation by dividing the keyboard into multiple zones or regions with different key densities. This segmentation allows the system to optimize key placement for each region based on accessibility, placing more keys in thumb-reachable areas and fewer keys in distant areas
3Device complexity
If the keyboard layout is fixed in the initial position, then the layout structure is simple, but it cannot adapt to user's single-handed holding mode and causes error input
Solution Approach 1:
The patent implements dynamics by transforming the static keyboard layout into a dynamic one that automatically adjusts based on detected user behavior. The system monitors error patterns and reconfigures the keyboard layout accordingly, enabling adaptation to different holding modes without requiring complex manual configuration
Solution Approach 2:
The patent applies self-service by enabling the keyboard system to automatically detect and adapt to user preferences without external intervention. The system monitors its own performance through error tracking and autonomously adjusts the layout to optimize for the user's specific holding mode
Data Source
AI summary
Provided is a device for adaptively adjusting a layout of a touch input panel, including: an input information counting component, configured to count error input information of virtual keys in real time; a holding mode judgement component, configured to judge, when the number of error inputs occurring in a region on one side of the input panel is apparently more than the number of error inputs occurring in a region on the other side of the input panel, that the user is holding and operating a mobile terminal with a single hand and the user is currently holding, by the single hand, the side where fewer error inputs occur; and a panel layout adjustment component, configured to adjust an overall layout of the input panel and a current UI, and arrange the virtual keys to places where the single hand holding the mobile terminal is capable of completely controlling them.