Touchpad Keypad Input Disambiguation for Handheld Devices
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Solution Overview
Problem
Handheld electronic devices face increased typing error rates due to the small size of keypads, where users often accidentally press multiple keys simultaneously, leading to ambiguity in input selection, especially with reduced keyboards that assign multiple letters or symbols to a single key.
Innovation Solution
The implementation of a touchpad under the keypad to sense the exact finger position and utilize predictive input systems, such as SureType, to determine the intended key when multiple keys are pressed simultaneously or in quick succession, allowing for accurate key detection and reducing typing errors without increasing key size or spacing.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Volume of moving object
If the keypad size is reduced to make the device more portable, then the device compactness is improved, but the typing error rate increases due to users accidentally pressing multiple keys
Solution Approach 1:
A touch-sensitive surface is introduced as an intermediary layer between the user's finger and the physical keys. This touch-sensitive surface detects the precise position of the finger before the key is pressed, providing additional information that helps distinguish between intentional key presses and accidental adjacent key presses, thereby reducing typing errors while maintaining compact keypad size
Solution Approach 2:
The patent replaces purely mechanical key press detection with a combination of touch-sensitive detection and mechanical key detection. The touch-sensitive surface uses electrical or capacitive sensing to detect finger position, substituting the need for larger mechanical keys with a more precise sensing mechanism that works effectively in compact spaces
2Area of stationary object
If multiple letters are assigned to a single key to reduce keyboard size, then the keyboard compactness is improved, but the input ambiguity increases making it harder to determine the intended character
Solution Approach 1:
The touch-sensitive surface acts as an intermediary that provides precise positional information about which key the user intended to press. Even when multiple keys are pressed simultaneously or adjacent keys are accidentally pressed, the touch-sensitive detection of finger position before the press helps disambiguate the intended character, reducing input ambiguity while maintaining the reduced keyboard layout
Solution Approach 2:
The system uses feedback from the touch-sensitive surface to determine the intended key press. By detecting the precise location of the finger on the touch-sensitive surface, the system can provide feedback to the processing system to correctly identify the intended character among multiple possible interpretations of the key press pattern
Data Source
AI summary
A handheld electronic device includes a housing having a surface; a first input component having input members disposed external to the surface; a second touch sensitive input component disposed about the input members, the touch sensitive input component being separate and distinct from the input members and the first input component and being structured to provide one of: a contact point with respect to the surface responsive to actuation of a first number of the input members, and a number of responses responsive to actuation of a second number of the input members. A processor cooperates with the first input component and the touch sensitive input component to determine if a plurality of the input members are actuated contemporaneously and to output a representation of a single one of the input members based upon one of: the contact point, and the number of responses.