Patent ID: 8169418

Claim:
An electronic device, comprising: a touch-sensitive display screen including an array of electromagnetic radiation detectors, wherein the array of electromagnetic radiation detectors is configured to generate an image signal that represents an image of a user input object that is closely spaced to the display, and to generate a touch signal in response to the display screen being touched by the user input object; and a controller circuit configured to display on the display screen a plurality of keys forming a keyboard and to display characters on the keys, to identify from the image signal a size and/or an angular orientation of the user input object relative to the display screen, to identify a user's selection among characters indicated on the keyboard keys in response to the identified size and/or an angular orientation of the user input object and in response to the touch signal, and to output character data corresponding to the identified user selected character, wherein the controller circuit displays a first plurality of alphabetic characters each on a different one of a first plurality of keys arranged in a QWERTY keyboard configuration in response to identifying a first threshold size of the user input object, and displays groupings of the first plurality of alphabetic characters on a second plurality of displayed keys in response to identifying a second threshold size of the user input object, wherein the second threshold size is larger than the first threshold size and the second plurality of keys is less than the first plurality of keys, and the controller circuit is further configured to distinguish between selection of one of the keyboard keys by a left hand finger from selection by a right hand finger in response to the identified angular orientation of the user object and to identify a first one of the multiple characters on the selected key that occurs in a direction indicated by the identified angular orientation of the user input object as being the user selected character.