Patent ID: 7562314

Claim:
A personal digital assistant including a data processing apparatus for inputting data by hand writing characters on a touch sensitive display screen, the data processing apparatus comprising a character recognition processor operable to generate an estimate of an input character handwritten by a user on a handwriting area of the touch sensitive screen, wherein the handwriting area is in a first location of the display screen, a processing unit operable to receive the estimated character generated by the character recognition processor, and a graphics display driver operable to receive the estimated character from the processing unit and to display the estimated character within a text input window of the display screen, wherein the text input window is displayed in a second location of the display screen, the second location different than the first location, wherein the processing unit is operable in combination with the graphics display driver to display the input character as it is being handwritten by the user, to replace the input character with the estimated character displayed on the display screen, substantially at a position where the input character was written in the handwriting area in the first location of the display screen for a predetermined persistence time, the predetermined persistence time being limited, and to display the estimated character in the text input window after the predetermined time has elapsed, and to display a plurality of estimated characters in the position proximate to where previous characters have been written in the first location of the display screen, the previously written and estimated characters being scrolled with respect to a current character to model an effect of writing by hand across a page.