Adaptive Virtual Keypad Layout for Touchscreen Typing
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Solution Overview
Problem
Traditional mobile device keypads are limited by a fixed layout, which does not accommodate individual user preferences or hand sizes, leading to inefficient data entry and increased typing errors.
Innovation Solution
A virtual keypad system that learns user typing patterns by receiving and analyzing touch coordinates, adjusting key sizes and positions to create a customized layout that reduces errors and improves typing efficiency.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Productivity
If a fixed layout keypad is used, then the device structure is simple and manufacturing is easy, but the keypad does not accommodate individual user preferences or hand sizes, leading to inefficient data entry and increased typing errors
Solution Approach 1:
The patent implements a dynamic virtual keypad layout that adapts to individual user preferences and hand sizes. The system collects touch coordinate data from users and uses this information to generate customized key positions and sizes, transforming the static fixed layout into a dynamic adaptive interface that improves data entry efficiency without requiring complex hardware changes
Solution Approach 2:
The system changes the parameters of the keypad layout (key positions, sizes, and configurations) based on collected user touch data. By analyzing touch coordinates and generating statistical envelopes, the system adjusts key parameters to match individual user patterns, resolving the contradiction between simple structure and user-specific customization
2Ease of operation
If a standardized keypad layout is used, then the device is easy to manufacture and deploy, but it does not fit all users or all computing devices, reducing usability
Solution Approach 1:
The system enables users to self-customize their keypad layouts through natural typing interactions. By collecting touch coordinate data during normal typing and automatically generating customized layouts based on this data, the system eliminates the need for manual configuration or complex manufacturing processes while improving ease of operation
Solution Approach 2:
The system performs preliminary data collection during a training phase where users type sample text. This preliminary action gathers necessary touch coordinate information that is then used to generate the customized keypad layout, preparing the system in advance for optimal user-specific operation
3Reliability
If key positions are fixed, then the keypad layout is stable and consistent, but it cannot adapt to user typing patterns, increasing typing errors
Solution Approach 1:
The system implements feedback by continuously monitoring user typing patterns and using this information to refine and update the virtual keypad layout. The touch coordinate data collected from user interactions provides feedback that drives the generation of customized key positions and statistical envelopes, improving typing accuracy while maintaining layout consistency through data-driven adaptation
Data Source
AI summary
Methods and systems enable defining customized virtual keyboards on a touch sensitive surface, such as a touchscreen. Using learning algorithms, a computing device may learn the typing patterns of a user and “morph” the keys of a virtual keyboard into locations, sizes, and orientations that are comfortable for the user and which may reduce typing errors. A user may create a custom keypad layout by performing a series of key strokes on a touch sensitive surface. The computing device may correlate the touch locations to particular keys and generate keypad layout data that can be used to display the virtual keyboard and interpret touches on the touch sensitive surface. The computing device may monitor user typing activity and refine the keypad layout data based on detected or corrected typing errors. Keypad layout data may be exported to other devices to enable users to take their virtual keyboards with them.