Abstract:
A method of producing an adaptive partial ink layer for a pen based computing device is described. The adaptive partial ink layer is used to form an ink trail, which follows the input pen as it moves in contact with a touch screen. This allows the user to view the input while it is being made, which allows the input to be improved through the visual observation. A three-cell block is formed to permit single character input from the pen and then the block is extended in the direction of a cursive input to accommodate a word or phrase. Whereas, a common direction for the cursive input is from left to right, any direction emanating from the three cell block can be used if the interpreter of the pen passed computing device is set up to allow such an input.

Description:
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION  
         [0001]    1. Field of Invention  
           [0002]    The present invention relates a pen-based computing device and in particular to the use of a partial ink layer.  
           [0003]    2. Description of Related Art  
           [0004]    A pen-based device, such as a PDA (personal data assistant) or a tablet-based computer, uses an LCD display overlaid by a transparent touch screen. Other devices, such as smart phones or other intelligent devices, are becoming available and may use small displays and pen-based input. The touch screen is used to input the location of a pen, or stylus, when the pen touches the surface of the touch screen. When the pen comes in contact with the touch screen, the CPU contained within the PDA interprets the X and Y coordinates of the location of the pen and performs operations depending on where the pen is located. A PDA like device uses several methods of data input, clicking on “soft” buttons or icons on the display screen, handwriting recognition, and text input using the pen on the touch screen. Handwriting can be character based by entering one character at a time or fully cursive where full words or phrases are entered at one time.  
           [0005]    In U.S. Pat. No. 6,335,725 B1 (Koh et al.) a method is directed to partitioning a touch screen data input device into a main portion and a secondary portion. The first portion is accessible to a user using a stylus or pen and the second portion is accessible by a finger of the user holding the device. U.S. Pat. No. 6,160,555 (Kang et al.) is directed to a method to provide a cue for a user of a hand held device when entering or editing characters. U.S. Pat. No. 5,521,986 (Curtin II et al,) is directed to using a mosaic display as a template for imputing characters. The displayed mosaic has a plurality of segments, each represented by a tile area of the template.  
           [0006]    In a pen based character input to a computing device, input is generally constrained to a area surrounding or near the initial pen-down point on the touch screen overlaying the display of the computing device. Input is generally by character, such as pen-down+pen stroke+pen-up. This is the case for Graffiti™ used on Palm OS devices with the exception of the multi-stroke characters. There are other forms of input that do not follow the simple character input steps like fully cursive input and Kanji characters, and in these multi-stoke cases it can also be found that once the initial pen point is known, the required entry will be located near or around the initial point of contact of the touch screen by the pen. The pen point alone does not provide enough information about the dimensions and orientation of the user entry; however, by monitoring the direction after the initial point of contact, it is possible to predict the confining area of entry by the user. Whereas, pen strokes of individual characters may traverse any direction while creating a character, the basic direction of character and word entry is unidirectional, such as left to right.  
         SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION  
         [0007]    It is an objective of the present invention to provide a method to implement an adaptive partial ink layer area on a display of computing device where the adaptive partial ink layer follows the movement of a touching device and provides an ink trail of the touching device.  
           [0008]    It is another objective of the present invention to provide an adaptive partial ink layer area for input of a single character by a touching device in contact with a touch screen.  
           [0009]    It is yet another objective of the present invention to provide an adaptive partial ink layer area for input of a full cursive word or phrase by a touching device in contact with a touch screen.  
           [0010]    It is still another objective of the present invention to provide a first cell of an adaptive ink layer area centered at the point of contact of a touching device with the touch screen, a second cell and cells subsequent to the second cell that are continuously adjacent to a cell boundary crossed by the touching device while forming a character, word or phrase.  
           [0011]    It is further an objective of the present invention to provide a first and second cell that are square in shape with the length of each side being P pixels in length, and a third and subsequent cells that are rectangular in shape with sides that are P pixels by 2P pixels in length.  
           [0012]    It is still further an objective of the present invention to use a square first cell, a square second cell and a rectangular third cell to form an adaptive continuous ink layer block of 2P pixels by 2P pixels for character input on a display of a computing device, wherein each cell is formed as a touching device in contact with a touch screen crosses a boundary of the previously formed cell.  
           [0013]    It is yet further an objective of the present invention to use a square first cell, a square second cell and N rectangular third cells to form a continuous adaptive ink layer that is 2P pixels wide and P+NP pixels long for a full cursive word or phrase input, wherein each cell is formed as a touching device in contact with a touch screen crosses a boundary of a previously formed cell.  
           [0014]    It is also an objective of the present invention to provide the partial ink layer to reduce memory requirements for storage of ink layer pixels in comparison to a traditional ink layer covering a full display.  
           [0015]    In the present invention an adaptive partial ink layer is formed to display an ink trail of a touching device in contact with a touch screen of a computing device is used to create characters as input. It should be noted that the touching device can be a pen, a stylus, a finger or any other object sufficient to input character shapes onto a touch screen. A first cell of the adaptive partial ink layer is formed and centered at the point of contact of the touching device with the touch screen. As the touching device crosses a boundary of the first cell, a second cell is formed continuously adjacent to the first cell along the crossed boundary of the first cell. As the touching device crosses a boundary of the second cell which is not the crossed boundary of the first cell, a third cell is formed that is continuously adjacent to the second cell along the crossed boundary of the second cell and continuously adjacent to an exposed boundary of the first cell.  
           [0016]    To visualize the creation of the adaptive partial ink layer, one should think of a square shaped first and second cell dimensioned to be P×P and a rectangular third cell dimensioned to be 2P×P, for example, where P is the number of display screen pixels along the edge of a cell. Whereas, the example presented herein is a practical example, any other combination of shapes that can be created to form an adaptive ink layer can be used. The pen touching device contacting the touch screen causes the first cell to be formed with a center located at the point of contact of the touching device and the touch screen. As the touching device is moved within the first cell an ink trail is formed, and as the touching device crosses a boundary of the first cell, the second cell is formed that is continuously adjacent with the first cell which allows the ink trail to also be continuous.  
           [0017]    The first cell can be located above the second cell as a result of the touching device moving across the lower boundary of the first cell, or the first cell can be located below the second cell as a result of the touching device moving up across the upper boundary of the first cell. In either case the third cell is formed when the touching device crosses a vertical boundary of the second cell, either the left or right vertical boundary. The third cell is formed along the left boundaries of the first and second cells if the touching device crosses the left vertical boundary of the first or second cell forming a square adaptive partial ink layer block having the dimensions of 2P×2P. The third cell is formed along the right boundaries of the first and second cells if the touching device crosses the right vertical boundary of the first or second cell forming a square adaptive partial ink layer block having the dimensions of 2P×2P. As the touching device crosses the boundary between the first or second cell and the third cell an ink trail is continuously formed following the movement of the touching device, and will follow the touching device even if the touching device returns to either the first or second cell.  
           [0018]    The first cell can be located to the left of the second cell as a result of the touching device moving across the right vertical boundary of the first cell, or the first cell can be located to the right of the second cell as a result of the touching device across the left boundary of the first cell. In either case the third cell is formed when the touching device crosses an upper or lower boundary of the first or second cell. The third cell is formed along the upper boundaries of the first and second cells if the touching device crosses the upper boundary of the first or second cell forming a square adaptive partial ink layer block having the dimensions of 2P×2P. The third cell is formed along the lower boundaries of the first and second cells if the touching device crosses the lower boundary of the first or second cell forming a square adaptive partial ink layer block having the dimensions of 2P×2P. As the pen crosses the boundary between the first or second cell and the third cell an ink trail is continuously formed following the movement of the touching device, and will follow the pen even if the pen returns to either the first or second cell.  
           [0019]    A square adaptive partial ink layer block comprising three cells is adequate for simple character entry. In some cases a block comprising fewer than three cell is adequate for simple character entry; however, when a fully cursive entry containing a plurality of characters such as a word is required, additional adaptive ink layer space is required. In the example noted above this additional adaptive ink layer space is obtained by adding additional rectangular cells having the dimensions of 2P×P pixels to the original block. The additional rectangular cells are added to the initial three-cell 2p×2p adaptive partial ink layer at the side crossed by the pen and in the direction of flow of cursive entry. This forms a rectangular adaptive partial ink layer with dimensions of 2P×(2+N)P, where N is the number of additional rectangular cells formed to display an ink trail for the cursive input. Each additional rectangular cell N is formed when the touching device crosses a boundary of the N−1 cell, which is opposite the boundary with the N−2 cell. The ink trail is continuous, following the touching device from cell to cell, and remains to be viewed by the user until the touching device has been lifted from contact with the touch screen that overlays the display screen of the computing device for a predetermined time T. Whereas, the adaptive growth of the partial ink layer described herein can be in any direction, a more common growth would be in the direction of left to right as fully cursive words or phrases are formed in a direction from left to right.  
           [0020]    Again, for most single character and full cursive input the first and second cells are square and the third and subsequent cells are rectangular; however, another shape and combination of cells can also be appropriate, particularly with special characters or under special circumstances. Also the movement of the touching device may be small enough to allow a character to be completely formed within the first cell, whereby the adaptive partial ink layer block contains only the first cell. The movement of the touching device may allow a character to be completely formed within the first cell and second cells, whereby the adaptive partial ink layer block contains only the first cell and second cells. Other touching device movements may allow a character to be completely formed in three or more cells, and in addition multiple character formation by the touching device may require a plurality of cells greater than two cells. Thus the number of cells (partial ink layer areas) that are required in the forming of characters on a computing device display are dependent upon the number of characters to be formed and movement of the touching device. The formation of partial ink layer areas described herein is only done the extent required to form an ink trail of the movement of the touching device used in inputting a character, or a plurality of characters, onto the touch screen of the computing device. 
       
    
    
     BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS  
       [0021]    This invention will be described with reference to the accompanying drawings, wherein:  
         [0022]    [0022]FIG. 1A shows character input using a touching device in contact with a touch screen of a computing device,  
         [0023]    [0023]FIG. 1B shows an arrangement of adaptive cells in a partial ink layer of the present invention that can capture the input of character shown in FIG. 1A,  
         [0024]    [0024]FIG. 1C shows an example of the dimensions and orientation of the cells of the present invention,  
         [0025]    [0025]FIG. 1D shows an adaptive partial ink layer of the present invention on the display screen of a PDA,  
         [0026]    [0026]FIG. 2A through 2H show different combinations of the adaptive partial ink layer cells of the present invention depending upon the direction of the movement of the touching device,  
         [0027]    [0027]FIGS. 3A and 3B show a combination of adaptive partial ink layer cells used in entering a fully cursive word or phrase in the present invention,  
         [0028]    [0028]FIGS. 4A, 4B and  4 C show a method of the present invention for entering characters and drawing an ink trail using an adaptive partial ink layer, and  
         [0029]    [0029]FIG. 5 shows a coordinate system of the present invention used to locate ink cells. 
     
    
     DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENT  
       [0030]    In FIG. 1A is shown an example of three Graffiti™ characters of PalmOS that are created by a touching device in contact with a touch screen of a PDA (personal data assistant) or similar computing device. The touching device can be a pen, stylus, finger or any other device with characteristics that are sufficient to form one or several characters when in contact with the touch screen. It should be noted, that the present invention is not limited to Graffiti™ characters or PalmOS operating systems and can be used with other handwriting methods and operating systems. A touching device-down point  10  (initial touching device contact) is shown at the beginning of the formation of each character as a black dot. The arrows  11  show the direction of the touching device movement. The dotted grid shows areas in the touch screen through which the touching device traverses.  
         [0031]    In FIG. 1B is shown the same Graffiti™ characters as shown in FIG. 1A using three cell areas, (cell  1 , cell  2 , and cell 3 ) in an adaptive partial ink layer to draw each character. The adaptive ink layer uses a portion of the display screen of a computing device, such as a PDA (personal data assistant) to trace the movement of the touching device for inputting a character, word or phrase into the computing device. The adaptive ink layer is created in such a way as to form a cell only when the touching device crosses a cell boundary into an area where there is not a previously defined cell.  
         [0032]    Rather than using four equal sized cell areas as shown in FIG. 1A, three areas are used, cell  1 , cell 2  and cell  3 . Cell  1  and cell  2  are shown to be square in the examples shown in FIG. 1B, and cell  3  is rectangular. The three cells fit together to form a partial ink layer block  20  that is square. The Graffiti™ character “A” is formed by starting at the touching device-down point  10 , which defines the location of cell  1 . The touching device-down point  10  locates the center of cell  1 , which has a size that is stored within the computing device. When the touching device is moved diagonally upward  21 , an ink trail  22  is displayed in cell  1  as the touching device in contact with the touch screen begins to form the Graffiti™ character “A”. When the upper boundary  23  of cell  1  is crossed, the computing device is signaled to form cell  2  above and continuously adjacent to cell  1 . As the touching device moves within cell  2  a continuous ink trail is drawn. When the direction  26  of the touching device crosses a vertical boundary  25  of cell  2 , cell  3  is created continuously adjacent to both cells  1  and  2 . The ink trail  22  continues to be formed in cell  3 , following the movement of the touching device until the touching device is lifted from the touch screen, whereupon the character A has been inputted into the computing device and the user has been able to see in real time that a proper character input is formed.  
         [0033]    The character “C” shown in FIG. 1B is formed within a partial ink layer block  29  similar to the one used to form the character “A” with the exception of the arrangement of the three cells. The touching device-down point  10  is in the upper right quadrant of block  29 , which locates cell  1  in the upper right corner of block  29 . When the movement  30  of the touching device crosses the left vertical boundary of cell  1 , the computing device creates cell  2  continuously adjacent to cell  1  and draws an ink trail continuously from the touching device-down point through cell  1  and into cell  2 . When the movement  30  of the touching device crosses the bottom boundary of cell  2 , cell  3  is created below and continuous with cells  1  and  2 . The ink trail  22  following the movement of the touching device is drawn continuously from the touching device-down point  10  through cells  1  and  2  and into cell  3  until the touching device is removed from contact with the touch screen for a predetermined period of time T at which time the ink trail is erased.  
         [0034]    The character “3” shown in FIG. 1B is formed within a partial ink layer block  39  where cell  1  defined by the touching device-down point  10  is in the upper left corner of block  39 . When the movement  40  of the touching device from the touching device-down point  10  crosses the right vertical boundary  41  of cell  1 , cell  2  is created continuously right adjacent to cell  1 . The example for the input of the “3” character in FIG. 1B shows the ink trail  42  of the touching device movement crossing back into cell  1  from cell  2 . Since touching device movement is contained within cells  1  and  2  that have been previously created, no further adaptive partial ink layer need to be created; however, when the movement of the touching device  43  crosses the lower boundary  44  of cell  2 , cell  3  is created below and continuously adjacent to cells  1  and  2 . The ink trail  22  is continued from the touching device-down point  10 , through cells  1  and  2 , back into cell  1 , returning to cell  2  and then into cell  3 , and the ink trail is erased upon the lifting of the touching device from the touch screen of the computing device for a predetermined time T.  
         [0035]    [0035]FIG. 1C shows the cell sizes and orientation for the example shown in FIG. 1B. Cells  1  and  2  are square  50  where each side of the square is P=40 pixels long. Cell  3  is a rectangle  51  and  52  with two orientations. The rectangle  51  has a vertical orientation and was used in FIG. 1B in the inputting of the character “A”. The vertical height of the rectangle  51  is 2P=80 pixels and the width is P=40 pixels. The rectangle  52  has a horizontal orientation and was used in FIG. 1B in the inputting of the characters “C” and “3”. The vertical height of the rectangle  52  is P=40 pixels and the width is 2P=80 pixels. Although the shape, sizes and orientation of the cells shown in FIGS. 1B and 1C provide a useful configuration for the adaptive partial ink layer, other shapes, sizes and orientation that can be created within the computing device can also be used.  
         [0036]    An example of the formation of an ink trail is shown in FIG. 1D on a display screen  60  of a computing device, such as a PDA, having X=240 total pixels by Y=320 pixels. Overlaying the PDA screen is a touch screen  61  that is used to provide the location of a touching device  62  contact. The touching device traces a character or a group of characters  63 , shown in FIG. 1D to be a cursive combination of the letters “C” and “L”. On the display screen  60  is formed an adaptive partial ink layer  64 , which displays an ink trail  65  showing where the touching device has been and allowing the user a visual image of the input to the touching device passed computing device. The adaptive partial ink layer  64  comprises 4 cells to allow the input of the cursive characters “CL” and is X=120 by Y=80 pixels in size, which has a significantly smaller memory requirement than a traditional ink layer covering a full display.  
         [0037]    Continuing to refer to FIG. 1D, an integrated circuit controller  66  receives X and Y coordinate data about the location of the touching device, or touching device,  62  from the touch screen  61 . The controller interprets what character or combination of cursive characters that are being formed and determines from the location and direction of movement of the touching device, the shape and location of the partial ink layer  64 . The controller  66  supplies data to the display screen  60  for drawing the ink trail  65 . As the touching device crosses an imaginary boundary of a cell within the adaptive partial ink layer  64 , the controller determines whether the block needs to be expanded as a result of the touching device moving outside of the adaptive partial ink layer  64 . The controller monitors the touching device and detects when the touching device is no longer in contact with the touch screen. If after a period of time T the touching device is no longer in contact with the touch screen, the controlled determines that the formation of the character, or the cursive combination of characters, is completed and turns off the ink trail  65 . The of a period of time T, is to allow for the creation of multi-stroke characters.  
         [0038]    In FIG. 2A through 2H are shown different configurations of the first three cells of the adaptive ink layer of the present invention. The cells (also known herein as partial ink layer areas) are grouped depending first on the movement of the touching device from cell  1  to cell  2  and then from cell  2  to cell  3 . In FIG. 2A a touching device-down point  10  locates cell  1 . Movement  70  of the touching device vertically and crossing the upper boundary  71  of cell  1  signals the computing device to create cell  2  vertically adjacent to cell  1 . As the touching device movement  70  crosses the vertical boundary  72  of cell  2 , cell  3  is created with a vertical orientation and right adjacent to both cells  1  and  2 . In FIG. 1B the touching device movement crosses the left vertical boundary of cell  2 , which causes the computing device to create cell  3  with a vertical orientation and left adjacent to cells  1  and  2 .  
         [0039]    In FIG. 2C after the touching device-down point  10 , the direction of movement  70  of the touching device crosses the right vertical boundary  74  of cell  1 , which signals the touching device based computing device to form cell  2  to the right of cell  1 . When the touching device crosses the upper boundary  75  of cell  2 , cell  3  is formed with a horizontal orientation and adjacent to the upper boundaries of both cells  1  and  2 . In FIG. 2D after cell  2  is formed upon the touching device crossing the right vertical boundary  74 , the touching device crosses the lower boundary  76  of cell  2 , which signals the computing device to create cell  3  with a horizontal orientation and adjacent to the lower boundaries of cells  1  and  2 .  
         [0040]    In FIG. 2E the touching device moves vertically downward  70  from the touching device-down point  10  and crosses the lower boundary  77  of cell  1 . When the lower boundary  77  of cell  1  is crossed, cell  2  is formed below cell  1  and adjacent to cell  1 . When the touching device movement  70  crosses the right boundary  78  of cell  2 , cell  3  is formed with a vertical orientation and adjacent to the right boundaries of cells  1  and  2 . In FIG. 2F the touching device moves vertically downward from the touching device-down point  10  crossing the lower boundary of cell  1  which creates cell  2  below cell  1  in order to allow a partial ink layer area to follow the movement of the touching device. When crosses the left vertical boundary  79  of cell  2 , cell  3  is created with a vertical orientation and adjacent to the left boundaries of cells  1  and  2 .  
         [0041]    In FIG. 2G the touching device movement  70  is from the touching device-down point  10  to the left and across the left vertical boundary  80  of cell  1 . When the left vertical boundary  80  of cell  1  is crossed, cell  2  is created left adjacent to cell  1 . When the touching device crosses the upper boundary  81  of cell  2 , cell  3  is created with a horizontal orientation and adjacent to the upper boundaries of cells  1  and  2 . In FIG. 2H the touching device movement  70  crosses the lower boundary  82  of cell  2 , which creates cell  3  with a horizontal orientation adjacent to the lower boundaries of cells  1  and  2 .  
         [0042]    Shown in FIGS. 3A and 3B are cursive input of the words “hello” and “Choice” as they might be traced on an adaptive partial ink layer. In FIG. 3A the cursive word “hello” is formed by the touching device moving from the touching device-down point  10  in cell  1  vertically across the upper boundary  71  of cell  1 , which forms cell  2  above cell  1 . The touching device then makes a tight loop in cell  2  and then returns to cell  1  where the right vertical boundary  90  of cell  1  is crossed, which causes the computing device to form cell  3  right adjacent to cells  1  and  2 . As the right boundary of cell  3  is crossed, cell  4  is created by the computing device to provide additional space to form the ink trail of the touching device. Cell  4  is vertically oriented and right adjacent to cell  3 . Although cell  4  can be any size, the size of cell  4  in this example is the same as cell  3  previously described. As the input of the cursive word “hello” continues a cell  5  is created if the right vertical boundary of cell  4  is crossed by the touching device before the touching device is lifted from contact with the touch screen. If the cursive input continues additional cells N are created as the right vertical boundary of cell N−1 is crossed by the movement of the touching device in contact with the touch screen.  
         [0043]    In FIG. 3B the word “Choice” is traced out by the touching device in contact with the touch screen. The movement of the touching device is left from the touching device-down point  10  and across the left vertical boundary  80  of cell  1 . This creates cell  2  to the left of cell  1 . When the touching device crossed the lower boundary  82  of cell  2 , cell  3  is created horizontally oriented and adjacent to the lower boundaries of cells  1  and  2 . Cell  4  is created when the touching device crosses the right vertical boundary  93  of cell  3 . Cell is vertically oriented and adjacent to the right vertical boundaries of both cells  1  and  3 . As the right boundary of cell  4  is crossed cell  5  is created. If the cursive input continues additional cells N are created as the right vertical boundary of cell N- 1  is crossed by the movement of the touching device in contact with the touch screen.  
         [0044]    In both FIGS. 3A and 3B the general movement of the touching device is from left to right as the cursive words are created for input into the computing system. This is not the only direction in which the flow of an input can be accommodated. The general flow can be in any direction and the additional cells N&gt;3 can be added above, below or to the left of the initial three cell block. If the additional cells N&gt;3 are added to the left side of the initial three cell block, the cell orientation will be the same as shown in FIGS. 3A and 3B. However, if the additional cells are added above or below the initial three cell block, the additional cells N&gt;3 will have a horizontal orientation and will be horizontally adjacent to the initial three cell block and to any subsequent additional cell which was previously created. Also, the examples of the cells shown herein are square and rectangular. Any shaped cell that can be accommodated by the computing devices can be used to create an adaptive partial ink layer.  
         [0045]    In FIGS. 4A, 4B and  4 C is shown a flow diagram for creating an adaptive partial ink layer and the drawing of ink within the adaptive partial ink layer herein known as a “ink trail”. A pen is used in FIGS. 4A, 4B and  4 C to represent a touching device; however, any touching device, such as a stylus, finger or any other similar instrument, can be used if the touching device characteristics are adequate to form a character or plurality of characters in the allowed space when in contact with the touch screen. If the pen or touching device has not been detected to be down in contact with the touch screen  100 , the computing device waits for the pen-down contact. When the pen or touching device is detected to contact the touch screen  101 , coordinates are calculated for cell  1  of the adaptive partial ink layer and saved in the LCD (liquid crystal display) controller  102 . Then cell  1  is displayed and ink is drawn in cell  1  as the pen or touching device in contact with the touch screen is moved  103 . Cell  1  is centered at the pen-down point, and the start of the ink trail is from the center of cell  1 . As the pen or touching device continues to move within cell  1  ( 104 ), the ink trail is continued to be drawn within cell  1  ( 105 ). When the pen or touching device is no longer detected to be moving within cell  1  ( 106 ), and if the pen or touching device is no longer in contact with the touch screen (pen up for a duration greater than a time T)  107 , then the ink trail is momentarily displayed  108 , the ink pixels are erased  109 , the cells of the adaptive partial ink trail are disabled  110  and the system returns to waiting for the next pen down  101 . The waiting for a time T to elapse before concluding the pen or touching device is up  107 , allows multi-stroke characters to be formed before the computing apparatus interprets that a single stroke character was formed.  
         [0046]    Continuing to refer to FIGS. 4A, 4B and  4 C, if the pen or touching device is no longer moving within cell  1  ( 106 ) but the pen or touching device is down in contact with the touch screen  111 , then the coordinates for cell  2  are calculated and saved in the LCD controller  112 . The display of cell  2  is enabled and the ink trail of the pen or touching device is continued to be drawn  113 . If the pen or touching device continues to move within cells  1  or  2  ( 114 ), then the ink trail of the pen or touching device is continued to be drawn within cells  1  or  2  ( 115 ). If the pen or touching device is no longer moving within cells  1  or  2  ( 116 ) and if the pen or touching device is no longer in contact with the touch screen  117 , then the ink trail is momentarily displayed  108 , the ink pixels are erased  109 , the cells of the adaptive partial ink trail are disabled  110  and the system returns to waiting for the next pen-down  101 . If the pen or touching device is no longer moving within cells  1  or  2  ( 116 ) and if the pen or touching device is still in contact with the touch screen  118 , then the coordinates are calculated for cell  3  and saved in the LCD controller  119 . Cell  3  is enabled on the display screen  120 , and if the pen or touching device moves within the block of cells containing cells  1 ,  2  or  3  ( 121 ) the ink trail of the pen or touching device is continuously drawn within the block containing cells  1 ,  2  or  3  ( 122 ). If the pen or touching device is no longer moving within cells  1 ,  2  or  3  ( 123 ) and if the pen or touching device is no longer in contact with the touch screen  124 , then the ink trail is momentarily displayed  108 , the ink pixels are erased  109 , the cells of the adaptive partial ink trail are disabled  110  and the system returns to waiting for the next pen-down  101 .  
         [0047]    Continuing to refer to FIGS. 4A, 4B and  4 C, If the pen or touching device is no longer moving within cells  1 ,  2  or  3  ( 123 ) and the pen or touching device is still in contact with the touch screen  125 , then the coordinates of cell  4  are calculated such as to position cell  4  adjacent to the boundary crossed by the pen or touching device along the side of the block containing cells  1 , 2 , and  3  ( 126 ) and then enabling the display of cell  4  ( 127 ). Reviewing FIGS. 3A and 3B demonstrates two situations where cell  4  is positioned differently with respect to the block containing cells  1 ,  2  and  3 . In both of these examples the cursive input of the pen or touching device is from left to right. Cell  4  and the subsequent cells can be positioned along any of the  4  boundaries of the block and thus allowing an input of the pen or touching device to be in any direction that can be accommodated by the interpreter within the computing device.  
         [0048]    Continuing to refer to FIGS. 4A, 4B and  4 C, If the pen or touching device is moving within cells  1 ,  2 ,  3  or  4  ( 128 ), then the ink trail of the pen or touching device is drawn in the cells  1 ,  2 ,  3  and  4  following the movement of the pen or touching device  129 . If the pen or touching device is not moving within cells  1 ,  2 ,  3  or  4  ( 130 ) and if the pen or touching device is up  131 , then the ink trail is momentarily displayed  108 , the ink pixels are erased  109 , the cells of the adaptive partial ink trail are disabled  110  and the system returns to waiting for the next pen-down  101 . If the pen or touching device is not up  132 , the orientation and the coordinates of cell N are calculated  134 . Since cell N is used in a cursive word or phrase, cell N will have the same orientation as cell  4 . Cell N is then enabled  135 , and if the pen or touching device is moving within cells  1 ,  2 ,  3 , 4  or N ( 136 ), the ink trail will be drawn within cells  1 ,  2 ,  3 ,  4  or N ( 137 ) following the movement of the pen or touching device in contact with the touch screen. If the pen or touching device is not moving within cell  1 ,  2 ,  3 ,  4  or N ( 138 ) and the pen or touching device is not up ( 132 ), a cell N=N+1 will be created  134  and  135 . If the pen or touching device is up  131 , the adaptive partial ink layer will be closed as previously described (steps  108 , 109 , and  110 ) and the computing device will wait for the next pen-down  101 .  
         [0049]    [0049]FIG. 5 shows an example of the determination of the location of the ink cells that make up the ink trail of the present invention. The example shown in FIG. 5 uses a three-cell block oriented the same as the block in FIG. 2A. The location of the ink cells in the other configurations shown in FIG. 2B through 2H are determined in a similar way, but may have different equations for specifying coordinates. The top left corner of the LCD display is assumed to be at global coordinates “0, 0”. The initial pen-down point is assumed to be located at global coordinated X 0 , Y 0  and is at the center of cell  1 . Cell  1  and cell  2  are square with P pixels on a side and cell  3  is rectangular having the dimensions of P×2P pixels.  
         [0050]    Continuing to refer to FIG. 5, after the initial pen-down at X 0 , Y 0 , the pen or touching device moves within cell  1  and the ink cells of an ink trail  150  can be determined by X 1   n =X−X 1 =X−X 0 +P/2 and Y 1   n =Y−Y 1 =Y−Y 0 +P/2, where X 1 =X 0 −P/2 and Y 1 =Y 0 −P/2 are the local origin of cell 1 . If Y&lt;Y 1 , then the pen or touching device is located in cell  2 , and the ink trail is continued in cell  2 . The local origin for cell  2  is X 2 =X 0 −P/2 and Y 2 =Y 0 −3P/2. The ink cells within cell  2  are determined by X 2   n =X−X 2 =X−X 0 +P/2 and Y 2   n =Y−Y 2 =Y−Y 0 +3P/2. If X&gt;X 2 +P, then the pen or touching device is located in cell  3 , and the ink trail is continued to be drawn in cell  3 . The local origin for cell  3  is X 3 =X 0 +P/2 and Y 3 =Y 0 −3P/2. The ink cells within cell  3  are determined by X 3   n =X−X 3 =X−X 0 −P/2 and Y 3   n =Y−Y 3 =Y−Y 0 +3c/2.  
         [0051]    While the invention has been particularly shown and described with reference to preferred embodiments thereof, it will be understood by those skilled in the art that various changes in form and details may be made without departing from the spirit and scope of the invention.