Dynamic Touch Input Area Sizing for Virtual Keyboards
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Solution Overview
Problem
Portable electronic devices with touch-sensitive displays face challenges in efficiently facilitating input on small screens due to limited space and the need for improved user interaction methods, especially as devices continue to shrink in size.
Innovation Solution
A method and electronic device configuration that detects touches on a touch-sensitive display, adds characters to a string, identifies matching objects from stored data, and dynamically adjusts the size of active areas for next characters based on user input timing and force, reducing the size of non-matching character areas over time without further touch detection.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Weight of moving object
If the size of portable electronic devices is decreased to improve portability, then ease of carrying is improved, but the available space for user input and output on the touch-sensitive display is reduced
Solution Approach 1:
The patent applies dynamics by making the active area size of display elements dynamic rather than static. The active area of each character or symbol is automatically adjusted based on the probability of it being the next expected input, allowing the interface to adapt to user typing patterns and context without requiring more physical screen space.
Solution Approach 2:
The patent implements local quality by applying different active area sizes to different characters on the same display. High-probability next characters are displayed with larger active areas while low-probability characters have smaller active areas, optimizing the use of limited display space by allocating more visual real estate to more likely selections.
2Measurement precision
If the active area size of display elements is increased to improve input accuracy, then typing accuracy is improved, but the available space for displaying other characters is reduced
Solution Approach 1:
The system dynamically adjusts active area sizes based on contextual probability rather than using a fixed size for all characters. This allows the display to provide enhanced accuracy for the most likely next character while maintaining compact sizing for less likely characters, resolving the conflict between accuracy and space utilization.
Solution Approach 2:
The patent changes the parameter of active area size based on the probability parameter of each character being the next expected input. This parameter transformation allows the interface to optimize for accuracy where needed while conserving space where less precision is required, based on linguistic context and prediction algorithms.
3Device complexity
If all characters are displayed with equal size to maintain simplicity, then device complexity is reduced, but typing speed and accuracy are reduced due to lack of emphasis on likely next characters
Solution Approach 1:
The system introduces dynamic adaptation to typing patterns, automatically adjusting character emphasis based on predicted next characters. This maintains interface simplicity from the user perspective while internally optimizing for typing speed by highlighting likely next characters, thus improving productivity without significantly increasing perceived complexity.
Solution Approach 2:
The system performs self-service by automatically analyzing typing context and adjusting the display to anticipate user needs. The interface serves itself by using prediction algorithms to determine which characters to emphasize, eliminating the need for manual configuration while improving typing efficiency through context-aware character sizing.
Data Source
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AI summary
A method of controlling an electronic device that has a touch-sensitive display includes detecting a touch at an area associated with a character displayed on the touch-sensitive display, adding the character to a character string, identifying, from stored data, objects that at least partially match the character string, determining a next character of ones of the objects identified to yield a set of next characters, increasing a size of an area associated with each character of the set of next characters, and reducing the size of the area associated with each character of the set of next characters with time absent detection of a further touch.