Source: https://patents.google.com/patent/US8232973B2/en
Timestamp: 2019-04-19 18:31:29+00:00

Document:
A portable electronic device having a touch screen display performs a set of operations, including displaying a plurality of key icons, each having an adjustable size hit region, and receiving a sequence of individual touch points input by a user on the touch screen display. The operations performed by the device further include processing the received individual touch points by: forming a user-input directed graph for the sequence of individual touch points received so far, determining a character corresponding to a last received individual touch point in accordance with the adjustable hit regions of the displayed key icons, displaying a sequence of characters corresponding to the sequence of individual touch points, and updating sizes of the adjustable hit regions for a plurality of the key icons in accordance with the sequence of individual touch points input by the user.
This application claims priority to U.S. Provisional Patent Application No. 61/010,619, “Method, Device, and Graphical User Interface Providing Word Recommendations for Text Input,” filed Jan. 9, 2008, the content of which is hereby incorporated by reference in its entirety.
In accordance with some embodiments, a computer-implemented method, performed at a portable electronic device having a touch screen display, includes displaying a plurality of key icons, each key icon having an adjustable hit region of dynamically adjustable size, and receiving a sequence of individual touch points input by a user on the touch screen display. Each touch point is determined at lift off of a contact from the touch screen display. An image with an enlarged version of a character that will be selected as the character corresponding to an individual touch point is displayed prior to lift off of a respective contact, wherein the character image that is displayed prior to lift off is selected in accordance with the adjustable hit regions of the displayed key icons. After receiving each of the individual touch points, the method performs a set of operations, including: forming a user-input directed graph for the sequence of individual touch points received so far; determining a character corresponding to a last received individual touch point in accordance with the adjustable hit regions of the displayed key icons; displaying a sequence of characters corresponding to the sequence of individual touch points, including the determined character; and updating sizes of the adjustable hit regions for a plurality of the key.
In accordance with some embodiments, a computer readable storage medium, for use in conjunction with a portable electronic device having a touch screen display, stores one or more programs for execution by one or more processors of the portable electronic device. The one or more programs include instructions for displaying on the touch screen display a plurality of key icons, each key icon having an adjustable hit region of dynamically adjustable size. The one or more programs further include instructions for receiving a sequence of individual touch points input by a user on the touch screen display. Each touch point is determined at lift off of a contact from the touch screen display. An image with an enlarged version of a character that will be selected as the character corresponding to an individual touch point is displayed prior to lift off of a respective contact, wherein the character image that is displayed prior to lift off is selected in accordance with the adjustable hit regions of the displayed key icons. The one or more programs further include instructions for processing the received individual touch points by performing operations after receiving each of the individual touch points, the operations including: forming a user-input directed graph for the sequence of individual touch points received so far; determining a character corresponding to a last received individual touch point in accordance with the adjustable hit regions of the displayed key icons; displaying on the touch screen display a sequence of characters corresponding to the sequence of individual touch points, including the determined character; and updating sizes of the adjustable hit regions for a plurality of the key icons.
In accordance with some embodiments, a portable electronic device having a touch screen display includes one or more processors, memory, and one or more programs stored in the memory, the one or more programs configured to be executed by the one or more processors. The one or more programs include instructions for displaying on the touch screen display a plurality of key icons, each key icon having an adjustable hit region of dynamically adjustable size. The one or more programs further include instructions for receiving a sequence of individual touch points input by a user on the touch screen display. Each touch point is determined at lift off of a contact from the touch screen display. An image with an enlarged version of a character that will be selected as the character corresponding to an individual touch point is displayed prior to lift off of a respective contact, wherein the character image that is displayed prior to lift off is selected in accordance with the adjustable hit regions of the displayed key icons. The one or more programs further include instructions for processing the received individual touch points by performing operations after receiving each of the individual touch points, the operations including: forming a user-input directed graph for the sequence of individual touch points received so far; determining a character corresponding to a last received individual touch point in accordance with the adjustable hit regions of the displayed key icons; displaying on the touch screen display a sequence of characters corresponding to the sequence of individual touch points, including the determined character; and updating sizes of the adjustable hit regions for a plurality of the key icons.
In accordance with some embodiments, a portable electronic device having a touch screen display includes one or more processors and memory. The portable electronic device further includes means for displaying on the touch screen display a plurality of key icons, each key icon having an adjustable hit region of dynamically adjustable size, and means for receiving a sequence of individual touch points input by a user on the touch screen display. Each touch point is determined at lift off of a contact from the touch screen display. An image with an enlarged version of a character that will be selected as the character corresponding to an individual touch point is displayed prior to lift off of a respective contact, wherein the character image that is displayed prior to lift off is selected in accordance with the adjustable hit regions of the displayed key icons. The portable electronic device further includes means for processing the received individual touch points by performing operations after receiving each of the individual touch points, the operations including: forming a user-input directed graph for the sequence of individual touch points received so far; determining a character corresponding to a last received individual touch point in accordance with the adjustable hit regions of the displayed key icons; displaying on the touch screen display a sequence of characters corresponding to the sequence of individual touch points, including the determined character; and updating sizes of the adjustable hit regions for a plurality of the key icons.
In accordance with some embodiments, a computer-implemented method, performed at a portable electronic device having a touch screen display, includes displaying a plurality of key icons, receiving a sequence of individual touch points input by a user on the touch screen display, and displaying a sequence of characters corresponding to the sequence of individual touch points. The method also includes receiving a touch point corresponding to a deletion key icon, and deleting one or more of the displayed characters to produce a shortened sequence of characters. Then the method includes receiving additional individual touch points. After receiving each of the additional individual touch points, the method performs a set of operations, including displaying a current sequence of characters including characters associated with the additional individual touch points, and determining and displaying a suggested character string only when the suggested character string starts with the shortened sequence of characters and the suggested character string meets predefined character string suggestion criteria.
In accordance with some embodiments, a computer readable storage medium, for use in conjunction with a portable electronic device having a touch screen display, stores one or more programs for execution by one or more processors of the portable electronic device. The one or more programs include instructions for displaying on the touch screen display a plurality of key icons, for receiving a sequence of individual touch points input by a user on the touch screen display, and for displaying on the touch screen display a sequence of characters corresponding to the sequence of individual touch points. The one or more programs also include instructions for receiving a touch point corresponding to a deletion key icon, and for deleting one or more of the displayed characters to produce a shortened sequence of characters. The one or more programs further include instructions for receiving additional individual touch points, and instructions for processing the received individual touch points by performing operations after receiving each of the additional individual touch points, including displaying a current sequence of characters including characters associated with the additional individual touch points, and determining and displaying a suggested character string only when the suggested character string starts with the shortened sequence of characters and the suggested character string meets predefined character string suggestion criteria.
In accordance with some embodiments, a portable electronic device having a touch screen display includes one or more processors, memory, and one or more programs stored in the memory, the one or more programs configured to be executed by the one or more processors. The one or more programs include instructions for displaying on the touch screen display a plurality of key icons, for receiving a sequence of individual touch points input by a user on the touch screen display, and for displaying on the touch screen display a sequence of characters corresponding to the sequence of individual touch points. The one or more programs also include instructions for receiving a touch point corresponding to a deletion key icon, and for deleting one or more of the displayed characters to produce a shortened sequence of characters. The one or more programs further include instructions for receiving additional individual touch points, and instructions for processing the received individual touch points by performing operations after receiving each of the additional individual touch points, including displaying a current sequence of characters including characters associated with the additional individual touch points, and determining and displaying a suggested character string only when the suggested character string starts with the shortened sequence of characters and the suggested character string meets predefined character string suggestion criteria.
In accordance with some embodiments, a portable electronic device having a touch screen display includes one or more processors and memory. The portable electronic device further includes means for displaying on the touch screen display a plurality of key icons, and means for receiving a sequence of individual touch points input by a user on the touch screen display, and means for displaying on the touch screen display a sequence of characters corresponding to the sequence of individual touch points. The portable electronic device also includes means for receiving a touch point corresponding to a deletion key icon, and means for deleting one or more of the displayed characters to produce a shortened sequence of characters. The portable electronic device further includes means for receiving additional individual touch points, and means for processing the received individual touch points by performing operations after receiving each of the additional individual touch points, including displaying a current sequence of characters including characters associated with the additional individual touch points, and determining and displaying a suggested character string only when the suggested character string starts with the shortened sequence of characters and the suggested character string meets predefined character string suggestion criteria.
In accordance with some embodiments, a computer-implemented method, performed at a portable electronic device having a touch screen display, includes: displaying a current character string being input by a user with a soft keyboard in a first area of the touch screen display; displaying a suggested replacement character string for the current character string in a second area of the touch screen display, wherein the second area includes a suggestion rejection icon adjacent to the suggested replacement character string; replacing the current character string in the first area with the suggested replacement character string in response to detecting user activation of a key on the soft keyboard associated with a delimiter; and keeping the current character string in the first area and ceasing to display the suggested replacement character string and the suggestion rejection icon in response to detecting a finger gesture on the suggested replacement character string displayed in the second area.
In accordance with some embodiments, a computer readable storage medium has stored therein instructions, which when executed by a portable electronic device with a touch screen display, cause the portable electronic device to: display a current character string being input by a user with a soft keyboard in a first area of the touch screen display; display a suggested replacement character string for the current character string in a second area of the touch screen display, wherein the second area includes a suggestion rejection icon adjacent to the suggested replacement character string; replace the current character string in the first area with the suggested replacement character string in response to detecting user activation of a key on the soft keyboard associated with a delimiter; and keep the current character string in the first area and cease to display the suggested replacement character string and the suggestion rejection icon in response to detecting a finger gesture on the suggested replacement character string displayed in the second area.
In accordance with some embodiments, a portable electronic device includes: a touch screen display; one or more processors; memory; and one or more programs. The one or more programs are stored in the memory and configured to be executed by the one or more processors. The one or more programs include instructions for: displaying a current character string being input by a user with a soft keyboard in a first area of the touch screen display; displaying a suggested replacement character string for the current character string in a second area of the touch screen display, wherein the second area includes a suggestion rejection icon adjacent to the suggested replacement character string; replacing the current character string in the first area with the suggested replacement character string in response to detecting user activation of a key on the soft keyboard associated with a delimiter; and keeping the current character string in the first area and ceasing to display the suggested replacement character string and the suggestion rejection icon in response to detecting a finger gesture on the suggested replacement character string displayed in the second area.
In accordance with some embodiments, a graphical user interface on a portable electronic device with a touch screen display includes a first area of the touch screen display; a current character string being input by a user with a soft keyboard in the first area of the touch screen display; and a second area of the touch screen display that includes a suggested replacement character string and a suggestion rejection icon adjacent to the suggested replacement character string. In response to detecting user activation of a key on the soft keyboard associated with a delimiter, the current character string in the first area is replaced with the suggested replacement character string. In response to detecting a finger gesture on the suggested replacement character string displayed in the second area, the current character string is kept in the first area and display of the suggested replacement character string and the suggestion rejection icon are ceased.
FIG. 6 illustrates an exemplary derivation of candidate words based on text input in accordance with some embodiments.
FIGS. 8A-8C illustrate an exemplary method for dynamically adjusting hidden hit regions associated with soft keyboard keys as a word is typed with the soft keyboard keys in accordance with some embodiments.
FIG. 9 illustrates an exemplary derivation of candidate words based on text input in accordance with some embodiments.
FIGS. 10A and 10B are flow diagrams illustrating text input processes in accordance with some embodiments.
FIGS. 11A and 11B illustrate an exemplary user interface for inputting text in accordance with some embodiments.
FIG. 12 is a flow diagram illustrating a process for inputting text on a portable electronic device with a soft keyboard and a touch screen display in accordance with some embodiments.
The touch screen in the display system 112 may use LCD (liquid crystal display) technology, or LPD (light emitting polymer display) technology, although other display technologies may be used in other embodiments. The touch screen in the display system 112 and the display controller 152 may detect contact and any movement or breaking (lift off) thereof using any of a plurality of touch sensing technologies now known or later developed, including but not limited to capacitive, resistive, infrared, and surface acoustic wave technologies, as well as other proximity sensor arrays or other elements for determining one or more points of contact with a touch screen in the display system 112. A touch-sensitive display in some embodiments of the display system 112 may be analogous to the multi-touch sensitive tablets described in the following U.S. Pat. Nos. 6,323,846 (Westerman et al.), 6,570,557 (Westerman et al.), and/or 6,677,932 (Westerman), and/or U.S. Patent Publication 2002/0015024A1, each of which is hereby incorporated by reference in its entirety. However, a touch screen in the display system 112 displays visual output from the portable device 100, whereas touch sensitive tablets do not provide visual output. The touch screen in the display system 112 may have a resolution in excess of 100 dpi. In an exemplary embodiment, the touch screen in the display system has a resolution of approximately 168 dpi. The user may make contact with the touch screen in the display system 112 using any suitable object or appendage, such as a stylus, a finger, and so forth. In some embodiments, the user interface is designed to work primarily with finger-based contacts and gestures, which are much less precise than stylus-based input due to the larger area of contact of a finger on the touch screen. In some embodiments, the device translates the rough finger-based input into a precise pointer/cursor position (e.g., a touch point position) or command for performing the actions desired by the user.
A touch-sensitive display in some embodiments of the display system 112 may be as described in the following applications: (1) U.S. patent application Ser. No. 11/381,313, “Multipoint Touch Surface Controller,” filed on May 2, 2006; (2) U.S. patent application Ser. No. 10/840,862, “Multipoint Touchscreen,” filed on May 6, 2004; (3) U.S. patent application Ser. No. 10/903,964, “Gestures For Touch Sensitive Input Devices,” filed on Jul. 30, 2004; (4) U.S. patent application Ser. No. 11/048,264, “Gestures For Touch Sensitive Input Devices,” filed on Jan. 31, 2005; (5) U.S. patent application Ser. No. 11/038,590, “Mode-Based Graphical User Interfaces For Touch Sensitive Input Devices,” filed on Jan. 18, 2005; (6) U.S. patent application Ser. No. 11/228,758, “Virtual Input Device Placement On A Touch Screen User Interface,” filed on Sep. 16, 2005; (7) U.S. patent application Ser. No. 11/228,700, “Operation Of A Computer With A Touch Screen Interface,” filed on Sep. 16, 2005; (8) U.S. patent application Ser. No. 11/228,737, “Activating Virtual Keys Of A Touch-Screen Virtual Keyboard,” filed on Sep. 16, 2005; and (9) U.S. patent application Ser. No. 11/367,749, “Multi-Functional Hand-Held Device,” filed on Mar. 3, 2006. All of these applications are incorporated by reference herein in their entirety.
Also in memory 102 are one or more dictionaries 132 and a word recommendation module (or set of instructions) 134. In some embodiments, a dictionary contains a list of words and corresponding usage frequency rankings. The usage frequency ranking of a word is the statistical usage frequency for that word in a language, or by a predefined group or people, or by the user of the device 100, or a combination thereof. As described below, a dictionary may include multiple usage frequency rankings for regional variations of the same language and/or be tailored to a user's own usage frequency, e.g., derived from the user's prior emails, text messages, address book, and other previous input from the user. The word recommendation module identifies word recommendations for presentation to the user in response to text input by the user.
In some embodiments, the candidate words are split into two groups based on their usage frequency rankings within the dictionary (402). A first group includes the candidate words whose usage frequency rankings exceed a predefined threshold. The second group includes the candidate words whose usage frequency rankings does not exceed the threshold. With each of the two groups, the candidate words are sorted by their candidate word scores.
More generally, the value assigned for a character comparison is γN, where N is a predefined value, γ=1 for an exact match, and γ may vary based on some function of the “distance” on the layout between the character in the candidate word and the corresponding character in the input sequence. For example, γ may be 1 for an exact match, 0.5 for a neighbor, and 0 otherwise. As another example, γ may be 0.5 for a neighbor (a 1-key radius), 0.25 for keys that are two keys away (a 2-key radius), and 0 for keys that are three or more keys away. In some embodiments, N is equal to 1.
The collection of dictionary words with the highest probabilities may be presented in a display for user consideration, for example as described in “Method, System, and Graphical User Interface for Providing Word Recommendations” (U.S. patent application Ser. No. 11/620,642, filed Jan. 5, 2007), the content of which is hereby incorporated by reference in its entirety. In some embodiments, the top-ranked word is presented for selection by the user as described below with respect to FIGS. 11A, 11B, and 12. In some embodiments, the top-ranked word is selected for the user by the device without user intervention.
In some embodiments, a user interface object is activated if the determined touch point position falls within a user interface object's “hit region” (or equivalently, “hit area”) and there are no overlapping objects with larger hit regions. The hit region of a user interface object may be the same size as, or larger, or smaller, than the visible size of the user interface object as it is displayed on the touch screen. As explained below, an object (e.g., a high-probability next character in a keyboard during text input) may have a hit region that is larger than the visible size of the user interface object as it is displayed on the touch screen (e.g., key icon “O” has an enlarged hit region denoted by the dotted line around the “O” key icon in FIG. 8B). For such objects, the portion of the hit region that is larger than the corresponding user interface object is called a hidden hit region.
K=an empirically determined, positive constant that depends on the size of the keys on the touch screen display.
For this example, the total hit area, ATotal(i) is never less than the visible key area, AVisible(i). The adjustable hit region for a key icon includes a visible key area displayed on the touch screen display and a hidden hit region not displayed on the touch screen display. In some embodiments, the visible key area AVisible(i) for a given key is constant, while the hidden hit area AHidden(i) is dynamic, thereby making the total hit area ATotal(i) dynamic as well. K can be determined by trial and error by observing users interacting with a particular keyboard. K approaches zero as the size of the visible keys increases on the touch screen. In other words, if the key icons become comparable to or larger than the finger contact areas on the touch screen, hidden hit regions are no longer needed to help identify the key icon that the user probably intended to hit.
FIGS. 8A-8C illustrate an exemplary method for dynamically adjusting hidden hit regions associated with soft keyboard keys as a word is typed with the soft keyboard keys in accordance with some embodiments. The user interface includes an input field 5620 and a soft keyboard 5640. A user selection of any key icon of the soft keyboard 5640 enters a corresponding user-selected character in the input field 5620. For illustrative purposes, as shown in FIG. 8A, all the key icons initially have the same size hit regions, which correspond to the visible boundaries of the keys.
FIG. 8B depicts changes in the sizes of hidden hit regions associated with different key icons after two characters “G-O” are entered into the input field 5620. The sizes of the hidden regions for the keys have been adjusted in accordance with the previously entered characters. For example, the size of the hidden hit region for the key icon “D” increases because “God” is a common English word. Thus, the key icon “D” may be activated even if the next finger contact (as illustrated by the “+” sign in FIG. 8B) is on the visible area of the key icon “F.” In some embodiments, if the hidden hit regions of two (or more) keys overlap with the finger contact (or with a touch point position derived from a finger contact), then the key with the largest hit region ATotal(i) (including its hidden hit region AHidden(i)) is selected. Similarly, the hidden hit regions associated with key icons “A” and “O” are also increased because each of the strings “Goa” and “Goo” leads to one or more legitimate English words such as “Goal”, “Good”, or “Goad.” In some embodiments, the hit regions of unlikely next characters (e.g., key icon “K” is unlikely because the string “Gok” is not found at the beginning of any common English words) shrink so that the hit area is less than the visible area of the key. In some embodiments, the hit regions of unlikely next characters do not shrink. Such keys will not be selected in the areas where they overlap with keys with enlarged hit regions.
FIG. 8C depicts the updated hidden hit regions associated with different key icons after another character “a” is entered into the input field 5620. Given the string “Goa” that has been entered, the user may be typing the word “Goal.” Accordingly, the size of the hidden hit region associated with the key icon “L” increases, whereas the hidden hit region associated with the key icon “O” drops (e.g., to it default initial value) because the string “Goao” is not found at the beginning of any common English words.
FIG. 9 illustrates an exemplary derivation of candidate words based on text input in accordance with some embodiments. A set of key icons (e.g., soft keyboard 5640, FIG. 8A) are displayed on a touch screen display, as discussed above. A first touch point input is received from the user, and is construed by the portable electronic device as the character “R,” because the probability of the character “R” is determined to be greater than the probability of other characters, such as “T,” based on the location of the first touch point input. For example, the first touch point may be on a key icon for the letter “R.” Alternately, the first touch point may be at a location that is between the key icons for the letters “R” and “T,” but closer to the letter “R.” With only a single touch point input so far, the probabilities are determined based solely or primarily on touch probabilities.
FIGS. 10A and 10B are flow diagrams illustrating text input processes 1000 and 1050 in accordance with some embodiments. The processes increase the accuracy of text entered on touch screen keyboards by touch input and the accuracy of suggested words, respectively. Process 1000 is performed at a portable electronic device having a touch screen display (e.g., device 100).
The device displays (1002) a plurality of key icons (e.g., in keyboard 5640, FIG. 8A), each key icon having an adjustable hit region of dynamically adjustable size (e.g., FIGS. 8B-8C). In some embodiments, the hit region of each key icon has a default size equal to a visible display size of the key icon (e.g., FIG. 8A).
The devices receives (1004) a sequence of individual touch points input by a user on the touch screen display. Each touch point is determined at lift off of a contact (e.g., a finger contact or a stylus contact) from the touch screen display. An image with an enlarged version of a character that will be selected as the character corresponding to an individual touch point is displayed prior to lift off of a respective contact (e.g., the letter “N” in FIG. 11A). The character image that is displayed prior to lift off is selected in accordance with the adjustable hit regions of the displayed key icons. For example, if the hidden hit regions of two (or more) keys overlap with the finger contact (or with a touch point position derived from a finger contact), then a character image that corresponds to the key with the largest hit region ATotal(i) (including its hidden hit region AHidden(i)) is selected for display.
updates sizes of the adjustable hit regions for a plurality of the key icons (1006).
As noted above, in some embodiments, if the hidden hit regions of two (or more) keys overlap with a finger contact (or with a touch point position derived from the finger contact), then the character corresponding to the key with the largest hit region (including its hidden hit region) is selected as the determined character.
In some embodiments, the device determines (1008) one of more alternate sequences of characters corresponding to the sequence of individual touch points, and determines a respective probability for each of the alternate sequences of characters and for the displayed sequence of characters. In some embodiments, the device displays a suggested replacement character string comprising a selected one of the alternate sequence of characters when the probability of the selected alternate sequence meets one or more predefined criteria with respect to the probability of the displayed sequence of characters [e.g., in FIG. 9, Ptouch(t)Pusage(t) Ptouch(h)Pusage(h) Ptouch(e)Pusage(e)>Ptouch(r)Pusage(r) Ptouch(h)Pusage(h) Ptouch(e)Pusage(e)].
In some embodiments, the device receives (1010) a touch point corresponding to a deletion key icon; deletes one or more of the displayed characters to produce a shortened sequence of characters; receives additional individual touch points; and after receiving each of the additional individual touch points: determines and displays a suggested character string only when the suggested character string starts with the shortened sequence of characters and the suggested character string meets predefined character string suggestion criteria (1010).
In some embodiments, the size of the adjustable hit region for a respective key icon is updated in accordance with the sequence of individual touch points input by the user. In some embodiments, updating the size of the adjustable hit region for a respective key icon includes determining a probability associated with the respective key icon and determining a size of the adjustable hit region in accordance with the determined probability. In some embodiments, the probability associated with the respective key icon is determined in accordance with the displayed sequence of characters (e.g., “Go” in FIG. 8B). In some embodiments, the probability associated with the respective key icon is determined in accordance with a plurality of character sequences including the displayed sequence of characters and at least one other sequence of characters consistent with the sequence of individual touch points input by the user. For example, the probability associated with the respective key icon may be based on the displayed sequence of characters (e.g., “Go” in FIG. 8B) and the top N (where N=1, 2, 5, etc.) candidate words (e.g., God, Goal, and Good for N=3) consistent with the sequence of individual touch points input by the user.
In some embodiments, the device determines a respective probability for each of a plurality of character sequences consistent with the sequence of individual touch points input by the user. The probability associated with the respective key icon is determined in accordance with determined probabilities of the plurality of character sequences, each of which comprises a potential prefix for a next character corresponding to a next touch point input by the user.
Process 1050 is performed at a portable electronic device having a touch screen display (e.g., device 100). The process increases the accuracy of suggested words by using information derived from character deletion by a user on the character string currently being entered. In the process, in addition to meeting other predefined word suggestion criteria, a word is not suggested unless the word starts with the shortened sequence of characters that remain after a user has deleted characters from the current character string being input by the user.
The device displays (1030) a plurality of key icons (e.g., soft keyboard 5640, FIG. 8A).
The device receives (1032) a sequence of individual touch points input by a user on the touch screen display.
The device displays (1034) a sequence of characters corresponding to the sequence of individual touch points.
The device receives (1036) a touch point corresponding to a deletion key icon.
The device deletes (1038) one or more of the displayed characters to produce a shortened sequence of characters.
The device receives (1040) additional individual touch points.
determines and displays a suggested character string only when the suggested character string starts with the shortened sequence of characters and the suggested character string meets predefined character string suggestion criteria (1042).
In some embodiments, the device determines a respective probability for the suggested character string and for the current sequence of characters. The predefined character string suggestion criteria include a requirement that the determined probability for the suggested character string be greater than the determined probability for the current sequence of characters.
In some embodiments, the predefined character string suggestion criteria include a requirement that the determined probability for the suggested character string be greater than the determined probability for the current sequence of characters by at least a predefined margin. For example, the margin may be a 10% margin, requiring that the probability for the suggested character string is at least 10% greater than the probability for the current sequence of characters.
In some embodiments, the determined probabilities are determined in accordance with the additional individual touch points input by the user.
In some embodiments, the determined probabilities are determined in accordance with the shortened sequence of characters and the additional individual touch points input by the user.
In some embodiments, the suggested character string comprises a complete word.
In some embodiments, the suggested character string comprises a complete word that includes at least one character not currently included in the plurality of displayed key icons. For example, if the user enters the letters “bete,” the suggested word may be “bête.” The suggested word includes “ê”, which may not be displayed on a key icon on the keyboard.
Insertion marker 656 (e.g., a cursor, insertion bar, insertion point, or pointer).
In some embodiments, a user can set whether the second area 644 with a suggested word is shown (e.g., by setting a user preference). In some embodiments, a letter is enlarged briefly before or after it is selected (e.g., an enlarged “N” 660 is displayed briefly while typing the “n” in “din” in FIG. 11A) to provide feedback to the user.
FIG. 12 is a flow diagram illustrating a process 1200 for inputting text on a portable electronic device with a soft keyboard and a touch screen display (e.g., device 100) in accordance with some embodiments. The process makes it very simple and intuitive for a user to accept or reject suggested words.
In a first area (e.g., text entry area 612) of the touch screen display, the device displays (1202) a current character string being input by a user with the soft keyboard (e.g., “din”, FIG. 11A).
In a second area 644 of the touch screen display, the device displays (1204) a suggested replacement character string for the current character string (e.g., “dinner” in area 644, FIG. 11A). In some embodiments, the second area 644 includes a suggestion rejection icon 645 adjacent to the suggested replacement character string (e.g., the circled “X” in area 644 adjacent to “dinner”).
The device replaces (1206) the current character string in the first area with the suggested replacement character string in response to detecting user activation of a key on the soft keyboard associated with a delimiter. For example, if the user activates the space bar key 646 on keyboard 615, the character string “din” in area 612 is replaced with the suggested replacement character string “dinner,” as shown in FIG. 11B.
The device keeps (1208) the current character string in the first area in response to detecting a finger gesture on the suggested replacement character string displayed in the second area (e.g., a tap gesture on the suggested replacement character string “dinner” ends display of the suggested replacement character string “dinner” and the suggestion rejection icon 645, while the current character string “din” is kept in area 612, not shown).
updating a size of an adjustable undisplayed hit region for at least one of the plurality of the key icons in accordance with the sequence of individual touch points input by the user, wherein the updating includes changing the size of at least one adjustable undisplayed hit region.
displaying a suggested replacement character string comprising a selected one of the alternate sequence of characters when the probability of the selected alternate sequence meets one or more predefined criteria with respect to the probability of the displayed sequence of characters.
3. The computer-implemented method of claim 2, wherein the one or more predefined criteria include a requirement that the determined probability for the suggested replacement character string be greater than the determined probability for the displayed sequence of characters.
determining and displaying a suggested character string only when the suggested character string starts with the shortened sequence of characters and the suggested character string meets predefined character string suggestion criteria.
5. The computer-implemented method of claim 1, wherein the adjustable undisplayed hit region of each key icon has a default size equal to a visible display size of the key icon.
updating the size of the adjustable undisplayed hit region for a respective key icon includes determining a probability associated with the respective key icon and determining a size of the adjustable undisplayed hit region in accordance with the determined probability.
7. The computer-implemented method of claim 6, wherein the probability associated with the respective key icon is determined in accordance with the displayed sequence of characters.
8. The computer-implemented method of claim 6, wherein the probability associated with the respective key icon is determined in accordance with a plurality of character sequences including the displayed sequence of characters and at least one other sequence of characters consistent with the sequence of individual touch points input by the user.
wherein the probability associated with the respective key icon is determined in accordance with determined probabilities of the plurality of character sequences, each of which comprises a potential prefix for a next character corresponding to a next touch point input by the user.
if the hidden hit regions of two or more key icons overlap with a touch point position that corresponds to the last received individual touch point, then the character corresponding to the key icon in the two or more overlapping key icons with the largest adjustable undisplayed hit region is the determined character.
if the hidden hit regions of two or more key icons overlap with a finger contact that corresponds to the last received individual touch point, then the character corresponding to the key icon in the two or more overlapping key icons with the largest adjustable undisplayed hit region is the determined character.
12. The method of claim 1, wherein the user-input directed graph is a directed graph formed by the sequence of individual touch points input by the user on the plurality of key icons, the plurality of key icons being part of a virtual keyboard.
updating a size of an adjustable undisplayed hit region for at least one of the plurality of the key icons in accordance with the sequence of individual touch points input by the user wherein the updating includes changing the size of at least one adjustable undisplayed hit region.
display a suggested replacement character string comprising a selected one of the alternate sequence of characters when the probability of the selected alternate sequence meets one or more predefined criteria with respect to the probability of the displayed sequence of characters.
15. The computer readable storage medium of claim 14, wherein the one or more predefined criteria include a requirement that the determined probability for the suggested replacement character string be greater than the determined probability for the displayed sequence of characters.
determine and display a suggested character string only when the suggested character string starts with the shortened sequence of characters and the suggested character string meets predefined character string suggestion criteria.
17. The computer readable storage medium of claim 13, wherein the adjustable undisplayed hit region of each key icon has a default size equal to a visible display size of the key icon.
19. The computer readable storage medium of claim 18, wherein the probability associated with the respective key icon is determined in accordance with the displayed sequence of characters.
20. The computer readable storage medium of claim 18, wherein the probability associated with the respective key icon is determined in accordance with a plurality of character sequences including the displayed sequence of characters and at least one other sequence of characters consistent with the sequence of individual touch points input by the user.
25. The portable electronic device of claim 24, wherein the portable electronic device comprises a portable communications device.
27. The device of claim 26, wherein the one or more predefined criteria include a requirement that the determined probability for the suggested replacement character string be greater than the determined probability for the displayed sequence of characters.
29. The device of claim 24, wherein the adjustable undisplayed hit region of each key icon has a default size equal to a visible display size of the key icon.
31. The device of claim 30, wherein the probability associated with the respective key icon is determined in accordance with the displayed sequence of characters.
32. The device of claim 30, wherein the probability associated with the respective key icon is determined in accordance with a plurality of character sequences including the displayed sequence of characters and at least one other sequence of characters consistent with the sequence of individual touch points input by the user.
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 Application No. 200780052020