Patent ID: 8593407

Claim:
An electronic device, comprising: a touch sensitive device operable to detect one or more touch operations based on one or more keys of a virtual keyboard displayable by a display function of the electronic device; and a processor electronically connected to the touch sensitive device and operable to present character information on a display, and operable to detect operation of a key of the touch sensitive device according to a character input method, the character input method comprising: displaying the virtual keyboard comprising a plurality of keys through the display function, wherein each key of the plurality of keys is operable as a toggle key, two different keys in the plurality of keys are respectively associated with different sequences of character candidates, and a sequence of character candidates comprises optional characters arranged in a specific arrangement for character input to a text area; receiving a first operation on a first key among the plurality of keys of the virtual keyboard; displaying by the electronic device a first graphical user interface component operable to present a sequence of character candidates associated with the first key, wherein the presented sequence of character candidates is arranged in a first arrangement in the first graphical user interface component along a specific direction; presenting a first character in the presented sequence of character candidates associated with the first key as a currently selected character in response to a first instance of a short press operation on the first key in a condition that the first operation comprises the short press operation conforming to a first input pattern; presenting a first subsequent character in the presented sequence of character candidates associated with the first key as the currently selected character in response to a second instance of the short press operation on the first key conforming to the first input pattern after the first instance of the short press operation; and displaying a second graphical user interface component operable to present the sequence of character candidates associated with the first key in response to a second operation conforming to a second input pattern, wherein the presented sequence of character candidates is arranged in a second arrangement in the second graphical user interface component along the specific direction, at least two characters in the sequence of character candidates associated with the first key in the first arrangement are reversed in the second arrangement, and the currently selected character is operable to be input to the text area of the electronic device.