Portable Computing Device Touch Screen Command Graphics
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Solution Overview
Problem
Portable computing devices, such as mobile phones, face challenges in reducing size while maintaining user-friendly character input operations, especially for users with larger or smaller hands, due to fixed button positions and the need for mechanical buttons around the display screen.
Innovation Solution
A portable computing device with a touch screen that displays a keyboard image and uses command graphics for cursor movement and selection, allowing users to input characters by touching the screen, with the ability to modify the display position, size, and shape of these graphics for easier operation, eliminating the need for peripheral mechanical buttons.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Ease of operation
If mechanical buttons are provided on the periphery of the display screen for cursor movement and character input, then character input operation is enabled, but the device size increases and user-friendliness deteriorates for users with large or small hands
Solution Approach 1:
The patent merges the functions of mechanical buttons into a touch-sensitive display screen. The command graphic displayed on the screen integrates cursor movement directions and character input selection into a single visual interface element, eliminating the need for separate physical buttons while maintaining all input functions.
Solution Approach 2:
The patent replaces the mechanical button system with a touch-sensitive display system. Instead of physical buttons that require peripheral space, the invention uses touch-sensitive areas on the display screen that respond to finger contact, substituting mechanical actuation with electronic detection.
2Ease of operation
If mechanical buttons are provided on the periphery of the display screen, then character input function is achieved, but the device complexity increases
Solution Approach 1:
The patent combines multiple functional elements (cursor movement controls and character selection buttons) into a single integrated command graphic displayed on the screen. This merging reduces the number of separate components and simplifies the overall device structure while preserving all necessary input functions.
Solution Approach 2:
The patent extracts the button functions from the physical hardware domain and relocates them to the software/display domain. By taking out the mechanical button requirements and implementing them as touch-sensitive graphic interfaces, the device structure is simplified.
3Device complexity
If fixed position buttons are used for cursor movement and character input, then device structure is simplified, but ease of operation deteriorates for users with diverse hand sizes
Solution Approach 1:
The patent implements dynamic positioning of command graphics on the display screen. The command graphic can be relocated to different positions based on user preferences or operational contexts, transforming the static button layout into a flexible, adaptable interface that can accommodate users with different hand sizes and operating styles.
Data Source
AI summary
A portable computing device includes a touch screen with a display, and a controller that causes a keyboard image and first and second command graphics to be displayed. The first and second command graphics each contain a direction-specifying area for selecting a direction of movement of a cursor that is movable within the keyboard image and a selection input area. Touch position information concerning whether the direction-specifying area or the selection input area has been touched is generated by the controller. When the direction-specifying area of the first or second command graphic is touched, the corresponding cursor is moved in one or more discrete key image units in the direction of movement indicated by a portion of direction-specifying area that was touched; when the selection input area is touched, the character of the character key image that the cursor is currently superimposed upon is displayed on the character display field.