Soft Keyboard Button Gating During Typing to Prevent Mistaps
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Solution Overview
Problem
Existing methods for using touch-sensitive surfaces in electronic devices, such as touch screens, are cumbersome and inefficient, often leading to accidental activations of buttons like the keyboard selection or hiding buttons, which increases cognitive burden and wastes time and power, especially in battery-operated devices.
Innovation Solution
Implementing a method where certain buttons on a soft keyboard are conditionally enabled or disabled based on the timing of user inputs, preventing accidental activations and optimizing button usage by temporarily disabling the keyboard selection or hiding buttons during active typing.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Speed
If buttons on a soft keyboard are always enabled for activation, then the device responds quickly to user inputs, but accidental activations occur increasing cognitive burden and power consumption
Solution Approach 1:
The patent applies dynamics by making buttons conditionally enabled or disabled based on real-time typing state. During active typing, certain buttons are temporarily disabled to prevent accidental activations, while remaining enabled when typing is inactive. This dynamic state change resolves the contradiction by adapting button responsiveness to actual usage context, reducing power consumption from preventing unintended activations while maintaining quick response during legitimate typing.
Solution Approach 2:
The patent changes the operational parameter of buttons from a static enabled state to a dynamic state that changes based on timing thresholds and typing detection. The system monitors typing activity and adjusts button enablement parameters accordingly, allowing buttons to be enabled during inactive periods for quick response but disabled during active typing to prevent accidents. This parameter change resolves the contradiction between response speed and power consumption.
2Reliability
If buttons are conditionally disabled during typing to prevent accidental activations, then power is conserved and cognitive burden is reduced, but legitimate button presses may be missed
Solution Approach 1:
The patent applies preliminary action by detecting typing state in advance and proactively disabling buttons before accidental activations can occur. The system monitors for typing patterns and preemptively changes button states based on predicted user intent, allowing legitimate presses during intentional typing while blocking accidental ones. This resolves the contradiction by using advance detection to improve reliability without significantly impacting ease of operation for genuine inputs.
Solution Approach 2:
The patent implements feedback by continuously monitoring typing activity and using this information to dynamically adjust button enablement. The system provides feedback to the button state based on detected typing patterns, creating a closed-loop control system that improves activation accuracy while maintaining ease of operation through adaptive responsiveness to actual user behavior.
3Productivity
If the keyboard hiding button is always enabled, then the user can quickly hide the keyboard when needed, but it may be accidentally activated during typing
Solution Approach 1:
The patent applies dynamics by making the keyboard hiding button conditionally enabled or disabled based on typing state. During active typing, the hiding button is temporarily disabled to prevent accidental activations that would interrupt workflow. When typing is inactive, the button becomes enabled again for quick keyboard hiding. This dynamic behavior resolves the contradiction by maintaining high typing efficiency while eliminating time loss from accidental activations.
Data Source
AI summary
A method of operating a multifunction device includes displaying a soft keyboard having a plurality of unconditionally enabled buttons and one or more conditionally enabled buttons, detecting a first input with a first button at a first time, and responding to detecting the first input by activating the first button. In response to detecting a second input with a second button at a second time, when the first button is an unconditionally enabled button and the second button is an unconditionally enabled button, the second button is activated. When the second button is a conditionally enabled button, and when the period of time between the first and second times is above a predefined threshold, the second button is activated; and when the period of time between the first and second times is equal to or below the predefined threshold, the second button is prevented from being activated.