Soft Keyboard Gesture Splitting for Two-Thumb Typing
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Solution Overview
Problem
Existing methods for manipulating soft keyboards on electronic devices with touch-sensitive surfaces are cumbersome and inefficient, particularly for two-thumb typing on portable devices, leading to increased cognitive burden and energy consumption.
Innovation Solution
The method involves concurrently displaying a first text entry area and an integrated input area on the screen, which includes a left portion, a right portion, and a center portion, allowing for gesture detection and movement to adjust the keyboard layout dynamically, such as converting an unsplit keyboard to a split keyboard and moving it over application content areas.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Ease of operation
If an unsplit soft keyboard is used on a tablet-sized portable device, then the device can be held easily, but two-thumb typing becomes tedious and creates significant cognitive burden
Solution Approach 1:
The soft keyboard is divided into multiple independent key regions that can be selectively activated. When a user taps on a key, only the corresponding key region is activated for receiving input, while other regions remain inactive. This segmentation allows the keyboard to adapt its effective size and complexity based on the user's needs and the device's physical constraints.
2Productivity
If existing methods for manipulating soft keyboards are used, then the keyboard can be displayed on screen, but the manipulation process takes longer than necessary and wastes energy
Solution Approach 1:
The keyboard system dynamically adjusts its state based on user interaction. Key regions can be activated and deactivated in real-time as the user types, allowing the system to optimize performance and energy consumption. The keyboard can transition between different operational modes (e.g., full keyboard display vs. selective key activation) to balance productivity and energy usage.
3Productivity
If a split keyboard is implemented, then two-thumb typing efficiency improves, but the keyboard occupies more space and becomes harder to manage on small screens
Solution Approach 1:
Different regions of the keyboard are treated with different properties. When a user interacts with a specific key, only that local region is activated for input reception, while other regions maintain their display presence but remain inactive. This allows the keyboard to provide split-keyboard functionality for improved typing efficiency while managing display space effectively by activating only necessary regions.
Data Source
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Figure 2
AI summary
An electronic device with a display and a touch-sensitive surface concurrently displays on the display an application content area and an unsplit keyboard, the unsplit keyboard being located at a bottom of the display. The device detects a first gesture on the touch-sensitive surface. In response to detecting the first gesture on the touch-sensitive surface, the device converts the unsplit keyboard into a split keyboard and moves the split keyboard away from the bottom of the display over the application content area in accordance with the first gesture.