Patent Application
20140184513
The present disclosure relates generally to the field of computing devices, and more specifically to the field of touch screen enabled displays.
Touch screens have gained increasing popularity in computer systems and particularly in mobile computing devices, such as laptops, PDAs, media players, touchpads, smartphones, etc. Users can enter selected characters by touching an intended character included in a virtual keyboard or other virtual input table that may be displayed on a touch screen. However, as consumers' demand for device portability has continuously driven size reduction in mobile device designs, available areas for displaying virtual input tables on such devices have increasingly become limited, as screen sizes shrink.
Conventionally, input characters on a virtual keyboard, or soft keys, usually remain in fixed sizes during a user selection process.
This issue is more prominent when a user attempts to type in a security code or a password through a touch screen, during which situations the entered characters are usually concealed and so the user is unable to visually identify a typing error immediately following the entry. One approach to address this issue is to display the last entered character in the input area. However, this approach tends to defeat the purpose of security as the entered characters may be visible to an uninvited reader.
Therefore, it would be advantageous to provide a touch screen input mechanism that improves accuracy and efficiency of user input from a virtual keyboard or virtual input “array”.
Accordingly, embodiments of the present disclosure provide a mechanism to facilitate a user to locate and enter an intended character from a virtual input array as a user input. Embodiments of the present disclosure employ a location sensor coupled with a touch screen and a processor, and the location sensor is capable of detecting the presence and location of an approaching input object (user finger, for instance) with respect to a virtual input array. In response, one or more input characters on a virtual input array that are most proximate to the approaching input object are identified and advantageously magnified before the input object touches and selects an input character from the virtual input array on the touch screen. This facilitates selection of the proper input character.
In one embodiment of present disclosure, a computing device comprises a processor, a memory that stores a program having a Graphic User Interface (GUI), a touch screen panel and a noncontact location sensor coupled with the processor. The noncontact location sensor is operable to detect the presence of an input means that enters a detectable region proximate to the touch screen panel. The GUI is configured to display a virtual input array that comprises a plurality of input selections arranged in a pattern. The computing device is further configured to 1) determine a location of the input means with respect to the input selections on the virtual input array, 2) identify an intended input selection based on the location of the input means, and 3) the GUI is configured for magnifying the intended input selection to a first magnified dimension. The intended input selection may be identified as the one most proximate to the input means. A plurality of surrounding input selections may be magnified as well and by a lesser amount. The noncontact location sensor may comprise an infrared location sensor, an optical sensor, and a magnetic sensor. The detectable region may be user programmable and in one example may approximately 20 mm above the touch screen panel.
In another embodiment of present disclosure, a method of providing input to a computing device through a touch screen panel comprises 1) displaying a virtual input region including a plurality of input characters in a first size; 2) detecting presence of a user input object approaching the touch screen panel; 3) determining distances between the user input object and the plurality of input characters, 4) identify an intended character responsive to the distances; 5) magnify the intended character as identified to a first level upon the input object being within a threshold detectable distance from the touch screen panel. The method may further comprise identifying a first set and a second set of surrounding characters and magnify them to a second level and a third level, respectively. The first level may be greater than the second level and the second level may be greater than the third level. Moreover, the method may further comprise diminishing in size another plurality of characters that are arranged distant from the intended character. The input characters may be restored to original size following a user input.
In another embodiment of present disclosure, a mobile computing device comprises a processor, a memory that is coupled with the processor and stores instructions for implementing a virtual keyboard GUI. The device also includes a touch screen display panel, and a distance sensor in association with control logic that coupled with the processor. The distance sensor is configured to detect the presence of a user digit proximate to the touch screen panel as the user digit approaches the panel. The GUI is configured to determine a location of the user digit relative to the input characters, and magnify a set of input characters that are most proximate to the user digit once the user digit enters a non-zero detectable distance from the touch screen panel. The distance sensor may comprise a plurality of thermal sensors configured to sense the heat released from a user digit. The set of input characters may be magnified by different amounts, depending on a respective distance between the user digit and each of the set of input characters. The non-zero detectable distance from the touch screen display may be approximately 20 mm.
The foregoing is a summary and thus contains, by necessity, simplifications, generalizations and omissions of detail; consequently, those skilled in the art will appreciate that the summary is illustrative only and is not intended to be in any way limiting. Other aspects, inventive features, and advantages of the present invention, as defined solely by the claims, will become apparent in the non-limiting detailed description set forth below.
Embodiments of the present invention will be better understood from a reading of the following detailed description, taken in conjunction with the accompanying drawing figures in which like reference characters designate like elements and in which:
Reference will now be made in detail to the preferred embodiments of the present invention, examples of which are illustrated in the accompanying drawings. While the invention will be described in conjunction with the preferred embodiments, it will be understood that they are not intended to limit the invention to these embodiments. On the contrary, the invention is intended to cover alternatives, modifications and equivalents, which may be included within the spirit and scope of the invention as defined by the appended claims. Furthermore, in the following detailed description of embodiments of the present invention, numerous specific details are set forth in order to provide a thorough understanding of the present invention. However, it will be recognized by one of ordinary skill in the art that the present invention may be practiced without these specific details. In other instances, well-known methods, procedures, components, and circuits have not been described in detail so as not to unnecessarily obscure aspects of the embodiments of the present invention. The drawings showing embodiments of the invention are semi-diagrammatic and not to scale and, particularly, some of the dimensions are for the clarity of presentation and are shown exaggerated in the drawing Figures. Similarly, although the views in the drawings for the ease of description generally show similar orientations, this depiction in the Figures is arbitrary for the most part. Generally, the invention can be operated in any orientation.
It should be borne in mind, however, that all of these and similar terms are to be associated with the appropriate physical quantities and are merely convenient labels applied to these quantities. Unless specifically stated otherwise as apparent from the following discussions, it is appreciated that throughout the present invention, discussions utilizing terms such as “processing” or “accessing” or “executing” or “storing” or “rendering” or the like, refer to the action and processes of a computer system, or similar electronic computing device, that manipulates and transforms data represented as physical (electronic) quantities within the computer system's registers and memories and other computer readable media into other data similarly represented as physical quantities within the computer system memories or registers or other such information storage, transmission or display devices. When a component appears in several embodiments, the use of the same reference numeral signifies that the component is the same component as illustrated in the original embodiment.
According this embodiment, an on-screen GUI can be displayed on the touch screen 217 and define a data receiving area 220 and a virtual keyboard (not explicitly shown) from which a user can select desired input characters, e.g. 221, 222 and 223, by touching the touch screen 217. Before a user starts a selection process, the input characters may be displayed uniformly in an ordinary size. When a user attempts to enter a desired character, he or she may first visually locate the target character, for instance the alphabet letter. Once the finger tip 230 is present within a threshold detectable distance from the touch screen 217, the sensors, e.g. 211, 212 and/or 213, may operate to detect a location of the finger tip 230 relative to the series of input characters in the virtual keyboard. The location signals can be communicated to a processor (not shown) through an I/O interface 216 which comprises an analog/digital convertor 214 and a register 215. Accordingly, the processor is capable of comparing the relative distances between the detected location of the finger tip 230 and each of the input characters in the virtual keyboard 218, and identifies a target character. The processor can execute pertinent commands in the GUI program in response to the identification. Consequently, the on-screen size of the target character is magnified to a larger size from its original size in accordance with embodiments of the present disclosure. Rather than making contact with the enlarged “R” character region, if the finger tip rather moves to another screen region, then another target character will become enlarged.
For example, as illustrated in
Often, a user may not be able to precisely aim his finger tip toward the desired character at the time it initially enters the detectable region above the virtual keyboard. Thus, in some embodiments, as illustrated in
As in the illustrated embodiment in
According to the illustrated embodiment in
For purposes of this disclosure, the location sensing mechanism may be integrated anywhere on a mobile computing device, such as around an edge of the device or underneath the touch screen of the device. In some embodiments, it can be completely enclosed in the housing of the computing device. In some other embodiments, it may be partially exposed to a the outside.
In some embodiments, a user may be able to control the activation or the deactivation of the sensing mechanism, either by a hardware control button or through software. Still, in some embodiments, the sensing detect region may be defined or adjusted by a user, either by a hardware control switch or through software. In this manner, the user can control the threshold distance, or the sensitivity, for magnification.
The input mechanism for purposes of this disclosure can be a finger tip, a passive stylus, an active stylus, or any other type of suitable means that are compatible with the sensing mechanism and the touch screen installed in a specific mobile computing device.
For purposes of implementing this disclosure, any well known touch screens can be use on the mobile computing device. The touch screen can be a resistive touch screen, a capacitive touch screen, an infrared touch screen, or a touch screen based on surface acoustic wave technology, etc.
The technology of the present disclosure is not limited by any particular type of location sensing mechanism and any well known sensor can be used. In some embodiments, the location sensing mechanism may comprise one or more infrared location sensors that are configured to detect the heat or infrared radiation released from an approaching finger tip, stylus, or any other kind of suitable input objects.
In some other embodiments, the location sensing mechanisms may comprise one or more optical sensors. In some of such embodiments, the optical sensors are capable of detecting a shadow of an approaching input object projected on a virtual keyboard. However, the optical sensors in some other embodiments may be configured to detect light emitted from a stylus, for example, equipped with a light-emitting-diode (LED) or any other type of light source.
In some other embodiments, the location sensing mechanism may comprise a magnetic sensor configured to detect a magnetic field emitted from a stylus. In some other embodiments, the magnetic sensors may be configured to actively emit a magnetic field and detect a disturbance of the magnetic field caused by an approaching input object.
In some other embodiments, the location sensing mechanism may comprise an electrical sensor configured to detect an electrical field disturbance caused by an approaching input object or an electrical field emitted from such an object.
Still in some other embodiments, the location sensing mechanism may comprise more than one type of sensors described above.
If it is determined that an input pressure has been exerted on the touch screen at 306, a character being tapped is entered in an input area of the GUI at 307, regardless which character is identified as the target character. Following the entry of a character, the magnified characters can be restored to the original size at 308.
On the other hand, following the magnification at 305, if an input pressure is not detected at 306, e.g., a selection has not been made, and it is be determined at 309 the input object moves away from the touch screen, the magnified character may restore to the ordinary size at 308, and the above operations may be repeated.
A touch screen in conjunction with a noncontact location sensor to detect an approaching input object in accordance with the present disclosure can be applied in any type of device that employs a display panel, such as a laptop, a cell phone, a personal digital assistance (PDA), a touchpad, a desktop monitor, a game display panel, a TV, a controller panel, etc.
According to the illustrated embodiment in
The main processor 421 can be implemented as one or more integrated circuits and can control the operation of mobile computing device 400. In some embodiments, the main processor 421 can execute a variety of operating systems and software programs and can maintain multiple concurrently executing programs or processes. The storage device 424 can store user data and application programs to be executed by main processor 421, such as GUI programs, video game programs, personal information data, media play back programs. The storage device 424 can be implemented using disk, flash memory, or any other non-volatile storage medium.
Network or communication interface 427 can provide voice and/or data communication capability for mobile computing devices. In some embodiments, network interface can include radio frequency (RF) transceiver components for accessing wireless voice and/or data networks or other mobile communication technologies, GPS receiver components, or combination thereof. In some embodiments, network interface 427 can provide wired network connectivity instead of or in addition to a wireless interface. Network interface 427 can be implemented using a combination of hardware, e.g. antennas, modulators/demodulators, encoders/decoders, and other analog/digital signal processing circuits, and software components.
I/O interfaces 425 can provide communication and control between the mobile computing device 400 and the location sensor 434, the touch screen panel 433 and other external I/O devices (not shown), e.g. a computer, an external speaker dock or media playback station, a digital camera, a separate display device, a card reader, a disc drive, in-car entertainment system, a storage device, user input devices or the like. The location sensing I/O interface 431 includes a register 441, ADC 442, control logic 443. The control logic 443 may be able to control the activation or the sensitivity of the location sensor 434. The location signals from the location sensors 434 are converted to digital signals by the ADC 442 and stored in the register 441 before communicated to a processor. The processor 421 can then execute pertinent GUI instructions stored in the memory 423 in accordance with the converted location signals.
Although certain preferred embodiments and methods have been disclosed herein, it will be apparent from the foregoing disclosure to those skilled in the art that variations and modifications of such embodiments and methods may be made without departing from the spirit and scope of the invention. It is intended that the invention shall be limited only to the extent required by the appended claims and the rules and principles of applicable law.
