Patent Application
20060271886
Manufacturers of hand-held and/or portable electronic devices, such as laptop computers, personal digital assistants (PDA), wireline or wireless telephones, video games and other similar electronic devices, continually strive to add new features and applications to their products. Many of these new features and applications require, or can be enhanced by, the ability to enter text directly into the device, instead of downloading the text from another device, such as a computer or server. For example, the majority of wireless telephones on the market today offer a text messaging application and a phone book feature, both of which require text entry directly into the device.
The prevailing text entry method in wireless telephones is the existing twelve-key numeric pad, which is used to input 10 decimal digits, 26-33 characters of the alphabet, depending on the language and other alphanumeric characters, symbols or text entry functions (hereinafter, collectively referred to as “characters”). Multiple characters are assigned to each key, and selection of a particular character requires the user to potentially press a key multiple times at a certain pace.
Another text entry method available in some electronic devices is a software-defined keyboard (“soft keyboard”) displayed on the electronic device display. Soft keyboards can be either pen-based, in which the user employs a stylus to tap and select a key, or cursor-based, in which the user moves a cursor to a desired key using a navigation (or cursor control) device on the electronic device and selects the key by pressing a “Select” button, an “Enter” button or another similar selection mechanism. Other text entry methods commonly found in personal digital assistants (PDAs) include miniature QWERTY keyboards and Graffitti, in which a stylus is used to write characters.
However, each of the available text entry methods is slow and/or has a fairly long learning curve. Thus, none of the traditional text entry solutions provide for rapid text entry with a minimal learning curve. In addition, further miniaturization of electronic devices may eventually eliminate the QWERTY and numeric keypad text entry methods.
Embodiments of the present invention provide an electronic device for enabling efficient entry of characters. The electronic device includes a display for displaying characters, an input device moveable between selectable positions and a processor operable to map a first one of the selectable positions and a second one of the selectable positions to an entered character.
In one embodiment, the first selectable position maps to a first subset of the characters and the second selectable position maps to a second subset of the characters. The entered character is a character common to both the first subset of the characters and the second subset of the characters. For example, in an exemplary embodiment, the characters are organized as a table including rows and columns. The first selectable position maps to one of the rows and the second selectable position maps to one of the columns. The entered character is that located at the intersection between that row and column.
In a further embodiment, the input device includes two input devices. The first input device is positioned in the first position and the second input device is positioned in the second position. In an exemplary embodiment, the first and second input devices are rocker switches.
In another exemplary embodiment, the first and second input devices are puck-type pointing devices, each including a respective surface having a respective puck field of motion defined thereon and a respective moveable puck operable to move within the respective puck field of motion. The position of the puck within the puck field of motion of the first input device is the first position and the position of the puck within the puck field of motion of the second input device is the second position. In a further embodiment, the surfaces of the puck-type pointing devices each include respective detent features defined within the respective puck fields of motion for mechanically engaging with the respective moveable pucks. The respective detent features correspond to the respective selectable positions of the puck-type pointing devices.
Other embodiments of the present invention provide a method for entering text on an electronic device using an input device moveable between selectable positions. The method includes receiving a first signal from the input device indicating a first one of the selectable positions, receiving a second signal from the input device indicating a second one of the selectable positions and mapping the first and second selectable positions to an entered character.
The disclosed invention will be described with reference to the accompanying drawings, which show important sample embodiments of the invention and which are incorporated in the specification hereof by reference, wherein:
The input device 20 in
The input device 20 shown in
For example, in one embodiment, each selectable position of a first input device (e.g., input device 10a) maps to a subset of the character set, and each selectable position of a second input device (e.g., input device 10b) maps to another subset of the character set. The entered character is a character common to both the first subset of the character set and the second subset of the character set. As an example, when a user places the first input device 10a into a selectable position, a first subset of the character set is accessed, and then when the user places the second input device 10b into a selectable position, a particular character within the first subset of the character set accessed by the first input device 10a is selected as the entered character. Thus, the entered character is the character associated with the selectable position of the second input device 10b within the subset of the character set associated with the position of the first input device 10a. Likewise, the user can place the second input device 10b into the selectable position prior to or simultaneously with placing the first input device 10a into the selectable position to select the same entered character.
In another embodiment, the characters in the character set are organized as a table having rows and columns. Each selectable position of the first input device 10a maps to a row of the characters, and each selectable position of the second input device maps to a column of the characters. The entered character is that located at the intersection between the selected row and the selected column. In a further embodiment, each selectable position of the first input device 10a generates a respective address (e.g., a 3 bit address), and each selectable position of the second input device 10b generates another respective address (e.g., a 3 bit address). The two 3-bit addresses generated by the input devices 10a and 10b are concatenated to produce a 6-bit address for character lookup. The entered character is the character associated with the concatenated 6-bit address.
In other embodiments, the input device 20 includes only a single input device (e.g., input device 10a). Each selectable position of the input device 10a maps to two different subsets of the character set. The user selects (or enters) a particular character by placing the input device 10a in one of the selectable positions to access a particular subset of the character set and then subsequently placing the input device 10a in one of the selectable positions to select one of the characters within the accessed subset of the character set. Thus, in this embodiment, selection of a particular character requires the user to press the same input device 10a twice.
The subsets of the character set addressable by each input device 10a and 10b are displayed on the display 100 of the electronic device 110 to facilitate rapid text entry with a minimal user learning curve. For example, the characters can be displayed in subsets on the display 100 (e.g., subset 1 includes the characters A-H, subset 2 includes the characters a-h, etc.). The subsets can be located on the display 100 in positions corresponding to the selectable positions of the first input device 10a. Thus, the subset of the character set accessed by placing the first input device 10a in an “up” position can be located at the top of the display 100, while the subset of the character set accessed by placing the first input device 10a in a “down” position can be located at the bottom of the display 100.
Once the user selects one of the subsets by placing the first input device 10a into one of the selectable positions, the selected subset of the character set can be displayed on the display 100 by itself, or with the other subsets of the character set. The characters in the selected subset can be located on the display 100 in positions corresponding to the selectable positions of the second input device 10b. Thus, the character accessed by placing the second input device 10b in an “up” position can be located at the top of the display 100 (or the top of the selected subset displayed on the display 100), while the character accessed by placing the second input device 10b in a “down” position can be located at the bottom of the display 100 (or the bottom of the selected subset displayed on the display 100).
As another example, the characters can be displayed on the display 100 in numbered rows and columns. Each row number corresponds to a particular selectable position of the first input device 10a, and each column number corresponds to a particular selectable position of the second input device 10b. Other character display options that facilitate rapid text entry are also envisaged as embodiments of the present invention. In addition, in other embodiments, only the entered characters selected by placing the first input device 10a in one of its selectable positions and the second input device 10b in one of its selectable positions are displayed on the display. In this embodiment, the user has prior knowledge of the mapping between the input device position and the character.
Each input device 10a and 10b is any type of analog or digital input device. In one embodiment, the input devices 10a and 10b include joysticks, j-keys, touchpads, trackballs or other similar analog and digital input devices. For example, as shown in
Thus, with a rocker switch 200, the user selects a particular character or subset of the character set by moving (“rocking”) the directional pad 220 toward one of the selectable positions corresponding to a button 210 to thereby press one of the buttons 210. The number of buttons 210 (selectable positions) is dependent on the type of rocker switch 200. For example, the rocker switch 200 can be a 4-way rocker switch (e.g., up, down, left and right), a 5-way rocker switch (e.g., up, down, left, right and center), an 8-way rocker switch (e.g., up, down, left, right, right diagonal up, right diagonal down, left diagonal up and left diagonal down), as shown in
In other embodiments, each input device 10a and 10b is an omni-directional analog input device, such as a puck-type pointing device, as shown in
Examples of puck-type pointing devices are described in U.S. Pat. No. 6,084,570 to Milroy, entitled “Compact Cursor Controller Structure For Use With Laptop, Notebook and Hand-Held Computers and Keyboards,” U.S. Pat. No. 5,771,037 to Jackson, entitled “Computer Display Cursor Controller,” U.S. Pat. No. 6,278,440 to Katsurahira et al., entitled “Coordinate Input Apparatus and Position-Pointing Device,” and U.S. patent application Ser. No. 10/723,957 of Harley et al., entitled “Compact Pointing Device.”
Referring now to
Each puck-type pointing device 300 further includes springs 13 that connect the puck 11 to the top surface 115 of the electronic device 110. The springs 13 operate to return the puck 11 to a center position 17 upon release of the lateral force on the puck 11. For example, when the user releases the puck 11 by removing the user's finger 16, the puck 11 is returned to the center position 17 by the springs 13 that connect the puck 11 to a perimeter 14 of the puck field of motion 19. The perimeter 14 of the puck field of motion 19 is typically connected to the top surface 115 of the electronic device on which the pointing device 10 is located.
In one embodiment, the puck 11 includes a pressure sensor (not shown) that measures the pressure (i.e., a force applied in a direction generally orthogonal to the surface 115) applied to the puck 11 by the user, and the puck-type pointing device 10 includes a motion sensor (not shown) that determines the displacement of the puck 11 relative to the surface 12 in response to the lateral force applied to the puck 11 by the user. In one embodiment, the pressure sensor in the puck 11 is operable to sense two predetermined pressure levels. A first pressure level activates the motion sensor. A second pressure level provides a “click” function associated with a conventional mouse. In other embodiments, a tactile feedback mechanism can also be included in the puck 11 to provide to the user tactile feedback that indicates that the user has applied pressure at or above the second pressure level to activate the “click” function.
In
In addition, other types of detents are also capable of providing selectable positions for text entry. For example, mechanical detents can be formed of indentations in the surface 12 of the substrate 15 and protruding elements (e.g., fixed protrusions) protruding from a bottom surface of the puck. When the puck 11 is positioned over one of the indentations or subsets of indentations, the fixed protrusion(s) on the puck mate with corresponding indentation(s) on the substrate 15 corresponding to a particular subset of the character set to enable selection of the subset by the user. Other examples of mechanical detents are described in U.S. patent application Ser. No. 11/049,065 of Harley et al. entitled “A Pointing Device Including a Moveable Puck with Mechanical Detents.”
Referring now to
In one embodiment, the memory device 410 stores software 420 executable by the processor 400 to map the position of the input device 20 to a particular subset of the character set. For example, the software 420 can include a text entry algorithm for determining the entered (selected) character from the position of the input device 20. In another embodiment, the text entry algorithm is stored in the processor 400, and the memory device 410 stores data used by the processor 400 during the text entry process.
The electronic device 110 further includes the display 100 and the dual-input device 20 containing input devices 10a and 10b. The processor 400 is connected to receive a first position indicating signal 430 from input device 10a in response to a force applied to input device 10a by a user. The first position indicating signal 430 is used by the processor 400 to determine the position of input device 10a. The processor 400 is further connected to receive a second position indicating signal 435 from input device 10b in response to a force applied to input device 10b by a user. The second position indicating signal 435 is used by the processor 400 to determine the position of input device 10b.
The processor 400 translates the position indicating signal 430 into a first input device position and identifies a first subset of the character set addressed by the first input device position. The processor further translates the position indicating signal 435 into a second input device position and determines a second subset of the character set addressed by the second input device position. The processor 400 identifies the entered character (character desired by the user) as the character common to the first subset of the character set and the second subset of the character set, and outputs the entered character to the display 100 for display thereon. In further embodiments, the processor 400 provides the subsets of the character set addressable by each input device 10a and 10b to the display 100 for display thereon.
The subsets 500 of characters 510 mapping to selectable positions 520 of the first input device 10a can be displayed on a display of the electronic device arranged as they are shown in
Once the user selects one of the subsets 500 by placing the first input device 10a into one of the eight selectable positions 520, the user can select one of the characters in the selected subset 500 using the second input device 10b. The second input device 10b is also shown moveable between eight selectable positions 530 (labeled clockwise 1-8). Each selectable position 530 of the second input device 10b maps to another subset of the characters in the character set 510 that includes one character from each of the subsets 500. The subsets of the character set 510 to which the selectable positions of the second input device 10b are mapped are not specifically labeled in
Therefore, in another embodiment, the user places the second input device 10b into one of the selectable positions 530 first (i.e., prior to placing the first input device 10a into one of the selectable positions 520), and the displayed subset of the character set includes the characters corresponding to selectable positions 520 of the first input device 10a. Thus, the displayed subsets of the character set correspond to either the selectable positions 520 of the first input device 10a or the selectable positions 530 of the second input device 10b depending on which input device 10a or 10b the user moves first. In a further embodiment, the displayed subsets of the character set is selectable by the user (e.g., a left-handed user can select for display the subsets of the character set corresponding to the selectable positions 530 of the second input device 10b).
Using the example shown in
The innovative concepts described in the present application can be modified and varied over a wide rage of applications. Accordingly, the scope of patents subject matter should not be limited to any of the specific exemplary teachings discussed, but is instead defined by the following claims.
