Dynamic Hit Region Adjustment for Touchscreen Typing Accuracy
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Solution Overview
Problem
The size constraints of portable communication devices limit the efficiency of text input due to smaller keyboards, leading to increased typing errors and user dissatisfaction.
Innovation Solution
A method and system that dynamically adjusts the hit regions of key icons on a touch screen display, providing word recommendations based on user input, and allows for deletion and suggestion of character strings to improve typing accuracy and efficiency.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Volume of moving object
If the keyboard size is reduced to fit portable devices, then the device portability is improved, but the typing accuracy deteriorates
Solution Approach 1:
The patent applies dynamics by making the hit regions of key icons dynamically adjustable in size based on the current text input context. As the user types, the system analyzes the input sequence and expands the hit regions for keys that are likely to be pressed next, allowing the effective typing area to adapt and improve accuracy without increasing the physical keyboard size.
Solution Approach 2:
The system changes the parameter of hit region size for key icons based on the analyzed text input sequence. By modifying the size parameter of virtual key regions dynamically, the system optimizes the effective typing area to match the user's current input needs, thereby improving typing accuracy on a constrained keyboard.
2Adaptability or versatility
If more keys are added to the keyboard, then the text input capability is improved, but the keyboard complexity increases
Solution Approach 1:
The patent applies universality by making each key icon serve multiple functions: it acts as both a character input key and a predictive key with an expandable hit region. The system analyzes the input sequence to determine which keys should have expanded hit regions, allowing the same physical key to serve different functional purposes based on context, thereby improving text input capability without adding more keys.
Solution Approach 2:
The system adds a temporal and contextual dimension to the keyboard by analyzing the sequence of text input and using that information to dynamically adjust hit regions. This transforms the static keyboard into a context-aware interface where key regions expand in the dimensional space of probability and usage context, enhancing input capability without increasing physical complexity.
3Manufacturing precision
If the hit region size is increased for all keys, then the typing accuracy is improved, but the screen space utilization deteriorates
Solution Approach 1:
The patent applies local quality by selectively expanding the hit regions of only those key icons that are predicted to be pressed next based on the analyzed text input sequence. Instead of uniformly increasing all key regions, the system locally expands specific key regions where it is most beneficial, thereby improving typing accuracy while minimizing the impact on overall screen space utilization.
Solution Approach 2:
The system dynamically adjusts hit region sizes based on real-time analysis of the text input sequence. Keys that are likely to be pressed next have their hit regions expanded, while less likely keys maintain their original size. This dynamic, context-dependent adjustment improves typing accuracy without permanently consuming additional screen space.
Data Source
AI summary
A portable electronic device having a touch screen display performs a set of operations, including displaying a plurality of key icons, each having an adjustable size hit region, and receiving a sequence of individual touch points input by a user on the touch screen display. The operations performed by the device further include processing the received individual touch points by: forming a user-input directed graph for the sequence of individual touch points received so far, determining a character corresponding to a last received individual touch point in accordance with the adjustable hit regions of the displayed key icons, displaying a sequence of characters corresponding to the sequence of individual touch points, and updating sizes of the adjustable hit regions for a plurality of the key icons in accordance with the sequence of individual touch points input by the user.