Touch Screen Keyboard Icon Shape Modification
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Solution Overview
Problem
Conventional user interfaces for portable electronic devices are complex, inflexible, and difficult to use, with increased button density and complex menu systems leading to user frustration and errors in activating desired buttons.
Innovation Solution
A touch screen keyboard system that displays icons corresponding to multiple symbols, modifies icon shapes based on user contact, and provides visual indicators to facilitate intuitive symbol selection, using a lexicography model to adapt to user usage history and reduce error probability.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Adaptability or versatility
If the number of pushbuttons is increased to accommodate more functions, then the device can store and manipulate more data, but the proximity of neighboring buttons makes it difficult for users to activate a desired pushbutton
Solution Approach 1:
The patent replaces physical pushbuttons with a touch-sensitive display that detects contact positions to identify selected icons. This substitution eliminates the mechanical button structure while maintaining input functionality, allowing more functions to be displayed without increasing physical button density.
Solution Approach 2:
The patent transitions from a two-dimensional array of physical buttons to a graphical interface where icons are displayed on a touch-sensitive surface. This allows functions to be organized in multiple dimensions including visual grouping, hierarchical menus, and flexible layout arrangements that are not constrained by physical button spacing.
2Area of stationary object
If the density of pushbuttons is increased to fit more buttons in compact devices, then more functions are accessible, but it becomes difficult for users to activate a desired pushbutton
Solution Approach 1:
The patent replaces physical pushbuttons with a touch-sensitive display that detects contact positions to identify selected icons. This substitution eliminates the mechanical button structure while maintaining input functionality, allowing more functions to be displayed without increasing physical button density.
Solution Approach 2:
The patent employs visual indicators including color changes and illumination to highlight selected icons and provide feedback to users. This visual enhancement helps users clearly identify the active icon even when icons are closely spaced, compensating for the reduced physical separation between functional elements.
3Adaptability or versatility
If conventional user interfaces use complex menu systems to allow access to device features, then more functions are accessible, but complicated key sequences and menu hierarchies must be memorized by the user
Solution Approach 1:
The patent implements an adaptive interface that automatically adjusts menu structures and icon arrangements based on user behavior patterns. The system learns from user interactions and reorganizes the interface to place frequently used functions in more accessible positions, reducing the need for users to memorize complex navigation sequences.
Solution Approach 2:
The patent employs dynamic menu structures that can be reconfigured based on user preferences and usage patterns. Rather than fixed hierarchical menus, the interface adapts its organization and presentation, allowing users to access functions through multiple flexible pathways rather than rigid memorized sequences.
4Ease of manufacture
If conventional user interfaces are designed with fixed button layouts, then manufacturing is simplified, but the interface is inflexible and cannot be configured or adapted by applications or users
Solution Approach 1:
The patent employs dynamic menu structures that can be reconfigured based on user preferences and usage patterns. Rather than fixed hierarchical menus, the interface adapts its organization and presentation, allowing users to access functions through multiple flexible pathways rather than rigid memorized sequences.
Solution Approach 2:
The patent implements a universal interface framework where the touch-sensitive display and icon system can serve multiple functions and be configured for different applications. The same hardware platform supports various interface layouts, gesture types, and interaction modes, allowing a single device to adapt to different user needs and applications without requiring physical reconfiguration.
Data Source
AI summary
A plurality of icons are displayed on a touch-sensitive display. A respective icon in at least a subset of the plurality of icons corresponds to two or more symbols. A contact by a user with the touch-sensitive display that corresponds to the respective icon is detected. A respective symbol in the two or more symbols to which the contact further corresponds is determined. The displayed respective icon is modified to indicate that the contact corresponds to the respective symbol.