CN103324432B - A kind of multiple language common stroke input system - Google Patents

Abstract

The present invention provides a kind of multiple language common stroke input system, including: display screen, virtual keyboard module, stroke detection module, cursor module and input display module；Virtual keyboard module is for one dummy keyboard of display on a display screen；Stroke detection module is input to the straight stroke of input area, hook stroke and circle stroke for detecting user；Cursor module is for one cursor being placed on dummy keyboard of display, and the stroke detected according to stroke detection module drives cursor to move；Input display module for the stroke that detects according to stroke detection module, starts corresponding function and determines data message that user inputs and be shown on display screen.The present invention uses a set of general stroke to input, overcoming touch screen present in prior art needs the keyboard area of large-size to adapt to the defect of user's finger size, need not design large-sized virtual key and deacclimatize bigger finger, be applicable to various language.

Description

Multi-language universal stroke input system

Technical Field

The invention relates to the technical field of computer input, in particular to a multi-language universal stroke input system.

Background

Early personal computers were generally operated by input systems such as keyboards, which later included trackball and mouse functionality. With the increasing popularity of cell phones, users use phone keypads to enter information into the cell phones. In recent years, mobile phones have better processing capabilities, comparable to personal computers in the early 90 s of the 20 th century. As electronic devices become more powerful, smaller, and more energy efficient, input systems have also developed and evolved over time.

Due to the application of graphical user interfaces, it has become more common to use touch pads to move a cursor on a display. The handwriting board input system makes it possible to input strokes, which is very beneficial to the handwriting recognition of pictures and texts or Chinese characters, etc.

The inventors have contributed to the invention of many different input systems. In U.S. patent publication No. 20060238519, 26.10.2006, John Elias well as Wayne FingerWorks Westerman of FingerWorks corporation, the disclosure of which is incorporated herein by reference, discloses an invention of user interface gestures, the abstract of which is incorporated:

"the disclosed apparatus and method include the practice of tracking multiple finger and palm contacts simultaneously, such as: touch, proximity sensing, multi-touch surface gliding, and the like. Intuitive hand shape recognition and classification, and integrates unprecedented typing, stillness, clicking, scrolling, 3D operation and handwriting, thereby realizing a multifunctional and ergonomic computer input device. "

Touch screens are so popular and have various technological improvements, and to this end we refer to the description of applicant editing in us patent No. 7, 614, 008 issued on 11/3 of 2009, which in the abstract describes a touch screen that can use virtual keys, and the disclosure of which is:

an application executing on a touch screen computer. A method in a computer operating a touch screen responsive to a user is provided. The virtual input means provided on the touch screen includes a plurality of virtual keys. It may detect that the user has touched the touch screen and activated at least one virtual key and determine the user's touch behavior. The determined behavior is also processed to predetermine an association with the activated virtual key. The response after initiation is in part a result of the determined behavior after treatment. "

Applicant Andre also mentions virtual keys for actuating a virtual keyboard on a touch screen in U.S. patent publication No. 2006/0085757, publication No. 4/20/2006, the disclosure of which is incorporated herein by reference. The abstract of Andre is described as:

the method for operating the touch screen starts one virtual key in a plurality of virtual keys. A data input determined based on a touch location on a touch screen, wherein the touch input is intended for one of a plurality of virtual keys that are actuated. Each of the plurality of virtual keys has a corresponding position. For each virtual key, a parameter (e.g., distance) determines the activation of the virtual key, and the location of the touch corresponds to the location of at least one key in the set. The touch parameters are processed to determine the function of the virtual key. For example, the determined one virtual key may be the one (or more than one, on average) virtual key of the most recently touched location. The signal thus generated activates a virtual key. "

Virtual keys are also referred to as soft keys because they are software generated, not physical, hard keys. The physical hardware is typically plastic, while the soft keys are virtual keys represented on the computer screen.

In addition to its use in English user interfaces, touch screen and pen-stylus input systems have also been used for Chinese character processing, such as in U.S. patent No. 6075469 issued at 6.13.2000, applicant Pong invented a "three stroke Chinese word processing technique and apparatus" and the disclosed method is also incorporated herein. Pong compares the number of different strokes in Chinese characters with the number of the referenced dictionary for input.

Virtual keys may also be activated by a movement gesture, for example, in U.S. patent No. 8059101 issued 11/15/2011, Westerman, whose disclosure is also incorporated herein, describes a stroke gesture for a touch screen keyboard. As can be seen from the above various references, a wide variety of input methods and devices have appeared in the prior art.

Data entry in handheld devices has been a challenging problem. Existing touch screens often require a large size of keyboard area to accommodate the size of the user's finger. In addition, each key press requires a pop-up of a display interface for confirming whether the input data is correct. Typing with both thumbs in both hands is also prone to error. While some improvements have been made in the prior art (e.g., stroke gesture input techniques disclosed by Westerman), some users with large fingers may encounter the problem of inconvenience in inputting because the display keys are hidden by the sliding fingers.

Disclosure of Invention

The embodiment of the invention mainly aims to provide a multi-language universal stroke input system, which is used for solving the defect that a touch screen in the prior art needs a keyboard with a larger size to adapt to the size of fingers of a user.

In order to achieve the above object, an embodiment of the present invention provides a multi-language universal stroke input system, including: the device comprises a display screen, a virtual keyboard module, a stroke detection module, a cursor module and an input display module; wherein,

the virtual keyboard module is used for displaying a virtual keyboard on the display screen, and the virtual keyboard consists of a plurality of arranged virtual keys;

the stroke detection module is used for detecting straight line strokes, hook strokes and loop strokes input into the input area by a user; the straight line stroke includes: an upper left stroke, an upper right stroke, an upper left stroke, a right stroke, a lower left stroke, a lower right stroke, and a lower right stroke; the hook stroke includes: a left upper hook stroke, an upper hook stroke, a right upper hook stroke, a left hook stroke, a right hook stroke, a left lower hook stroke, a lower hook stroke, and a right lower hook stroke; the loop stroke includes: clockwise needle loop strokes and counterclockwise needle loop strokes;

the cursor module is used for displaying a cursor arranged on the virtual keyboard and driving the cursor to move according to the strokes detected by the stroke detection module;

the input display module is used for starting corresponding functions and determining data information input by a user according to the strokes detected by the stroke detection module and displaying the data information on the display screen.

By means of the technical scheme, the virtual keyboard only plays a visual guide role, large-size virtual keys do not need to be designed to adapt to larger fingers, the defect that a touch screen in the prior art needs a large-size keyboard area to adapt to the size of fingers of a user is overcome, and in addition, the method is independent of a specific language family and is suitable for various languages.

Drawings

In order to more clearly illustrate the embodiments of the present invention or the technical solutions in the prior art, the drawings required to be used in the description of the embodiments will be briefly introduced below, and it is obvious that the drawings in the following description are only some embodiments of the present invention, and it is obvious for those skilled in the art that other drawings can be obtained according to the drawings without inventive labor.

FIG. 1 is a schematic diagram of a 5 column by 5 row keypad comprising a universal 3 column by 4 row telephone keypad and outer ring key columns in accordance with an embodiment of the present invention;

FIG. 2 is a schematic diagram of 8 directional straight strokes and clockwise/counterclockwise needle loop strokes according to an embodiment of the present invention;

FIG. 3 is a schematic diagram of 8 directional hook strokes and clockwise/counterclockwise loop strokes provided by an embodiment of the present invention;

FIG. 4 is a schematic diagram of a hook stroke in an input area provided by an embodiment of the invention;

FIG. 5 is a diagram of a linear stroke in an input area according to an embodiment of the present invention;

FIG. 6 is a schematic diagram of a counterclockwise circle stroke in an input area according to an embodiment of the present invention;

FIG. 7 is a 5X 5 virtual keyboard representing Japanese Hiragana in a syllable type 3X 4 keyboard, wherein the lower keyboard shows the origin of the layout of the upper syllable type 3X 4 keyboard, according to an embodiment of the present invention;

FIG. 8 is a Ketot keyboard with a 5 × 5 virtual keyboard represented in an alphabet-type mode 3 × 4 keyboard, wherein the lower keyboard shows the origin of the layout of the upper alphabet-type mode 3 × 4 keyboard;

FIG. 9 is a "modify/Fix" (Fix) function menu provided by an embodiment of the present invention;

FIG. 10 is a "List of words" (List) menu of functions provided by an embodiment of the present invention;

FIG. 11 is a "List of words" (List) menu showing Pinyin and corresponding Chinese characters, according to an embodiment of the present invention.

Reference numerals

111 first row and first column virtual keys

112 first row second column virtual keys

113 virtual keys in first row and third column

114 first row fourth column virtual keys

115 first row and fifth column of virtual keys

121 second row first column virtual keys

122 second row and second column of virtual keys

123 virtual keys in second row and third column

124 second row and fourth column of virtual keys

125 second row and fifth column of virtual keys

131 third row first column virtual keys

132 third row and second column of virtual keys

133 third row and column virtual keys

134 third row and fourth column of virtual keys

135 third column and fifth column virtual keys

141 fourth row first column virtual keys

142 fourth row second column virtual keys

143 fourth row and third column of virtual keys

144 fourth row and fourth column of virtual keys

145 fourth row and fifth column of virtual keys

151 fifth row first column virtual keys

152 fifth row second column of virtual keys

153 fifth row and third column virtual keys

154 fifth row and fourth column of virtual keys

155 fifth row and fifth column of virtual keys

21 upper left stroke

22 stroke on the pen

23 upper right stroke

24 left stroke

25 clockwise needle ring stroke

26 Right Stroke

27 lower left stroke

28 lower stroke

29 lower right stroke

31 upper left hook stroke

32 hook stroke

33 upper right hook stroke

34 left hook pen

35 reverse time needle ring stroke

36 right hook stroke

37 lower left hook stroke

38 lower hook pen

39 lower right hook stroke

40 stroke detection device

41 input area

42 end point of stroke

43 Stroke vertex

44 Stroke starting Point

45 vertex vector

Line of zero angle of 46

47 apex angle

Reference point of left radial direction of 61 circle stroke

Reference point of right radial direction of 62-circle stroke

88-circle stroke centroid

801 first step of "Modify/fix" function List

Second step of 802 "modify/fix" function list

803 third step of "modify/fix" function list

804 "modify/fix" function List

805 fifth step of the "Modify/fix" function List

806 text prediction selection list

807 Chinese phonetic alphabet list

808 cursor

Detailed Description

The technical solutions in the embodiments of the present invention will be clearly and completely described below with reference to the drawings in the embodiments of the present invention, and it is obvious that the described embodiments are only a part of the embodiments of the present invention, and not all of the embodiments. All other embodiments, which can be derived by a person skilled in the art from the embodiments given herein without making any creative effort, shall fall within the protection scope of the present invention.

The present invention relates to electronic devices. Tablet computers, mobile phones and other portable devices typically have a two-dimensional input area (e.g., a touch screen or touch pad) and are capable of receiving two-dimensional input (e.g., a finger or stylus sliding over the input area). The invention uses the universal strokes with directionality to move the cursor on the display screen so as to start the data and the functions corresponding to the virtual keyboard. In the present invention, the cursor may be displayed in any form, such as in the form of a shadow, a button, or a conventional arrow.

The virtual keyboard of the present invention consists of 5 rows by 5 columns of virtual keys with a cursor positioned over the virtual keyboard. The virtual keys are not physical, hard keys, but are generated by software and displayed on the liquid crystal display. Virtual keys are displayed as on-screen buttons and may be actuated via stylus or touch screen input, or they may be actuated via cursor control by an input device such as a mouse or trackball. Typically, a hardware input device is necessary to activate the virtual keys. The hardware input device used in the present invention is a two-dimensional input device, such as a touch screen or a touch pad. In the prior art, a user typically uses a hardware input device to move a cursor over a virtual key and then presses a button on the hardware input device to activate the virtual key. The present invention enables a selected virtual key with a set of universal strokes that are adaptable to multiple languages without the need to press a button on a hardware input device.

In the virtual keyboard of the present invention, the first row comprises: a first row, a first column, a first row, a second column, a virtual key 111, a first row, a third column, a virtual key 113, a first row, a fourth column, a virtual key 114, and a first row, a fifth column, a virtual key 115; the second row includes: a second row, a first column of virtual keys 121, a second row, a second column of virtual keys 122, a second row, a third column of virtual keys 123, a second row, a fourth column of virtual keys 124, and a second row, a fifth column of virtual keys 125; the third row includes: a third row of virtual keys 131, a third row of virtual keys 132, a third row of virtual keys 133, a third row of virtual keys 134, and a third row of virtual keys 135; the fourth row includes: a fourth row, a first column of virtual keys 141, a fourth row, a second column of virtual keys 142, a fourth row, a third column of virtual keys 143, a fourth row, a fourth column of virtual keys 144, and a fourth row, a fifth column of virtual keys 145; the fifth element includes: a fifth row, a first column of virtual keys 151, a fifth row, a second column of virtual keys 152, a fifth row, a third column of virtual keys 153, a fifth row, a fourth column of virtual keys 154, and a fifth row, a fifth column of virtual keys 155.

Each virtual key in the virtual keyboard may be set to a different function. For example, as shown in FIG. 1, virtual key 111 is set to be non-functional, i.e., initiating virtual key 111 does nothing; the virtual key 112 corresponds to an "Edit" (Edit) function; virtual key 113 corresponds to a "List of words" (List) function.

The virtual key 114 corresponds to a "cursor Navigation Mode" function. The cursor navigation mode is different from the input mode in which only the cursor 808 is moved and no input is made. In the cursor navigation mode, directional strokes entered by the user move the cursor 808 directionally only, and hooking strokes does not work. The cursor navigation mode is similar to a normal touch pad or mouse, and is not limited to eight directions of movement. The user may also switch from the cursor navigation mode back to the stroke input mode.

The virtual key 121 corresponds to a "Mode" (Mode) function for switching the Mode of the keyboard, such as from an english language Mode to a japanese language Mode, or from a text Mode to a symbol Mode, or the like. For example, a user switches a language mode every time the user activates the "mode" function. The virtual key 122 corresponds to the number "1" and the characters "@", ". ","? "and the like. The virtual key 123 corresponds to the number "2" and letters "a", "b", "c", etc. The virtual keys 124 correspond to the number "3" and the letters "d", "e", "f". The virtual key 125 corresponds to a "modify/Fix" (Fix) function. The virtual key 131 corresponds to a "Backspace" function. The virtual key 132 corresponds to the number "4" and the letters "g", "h", "i". The virtual keys 133 correspond to the number "5" and the letters "j", "k", "l". The virtual keys 134 correspond to the number "6" and the letters "m", "n", "o". The virtual key 135 corresponds to a "Space/Break" (Space/Break) function. The virtual key 141 corresponds to a "Shift" function. The virtual keys 142 correspond to the number "7" and the letters "p", "q", "r", "s". The virtual keys 143 correspond to the number "8" and the letters "t", "u", "v". The virtual keys 144 correspond to the number "9" and the letters "w", "x", "y", "z", etc. The virtual key 145 corresponds to an "Enter/Search" (Enter/Search) function. The virtual key 151 corresponds to a "character switching" (a1$) function for switching between a normal character and a special character. The virtual keys 152 correspond to characters "". The virtual key 153 corresponds to the number "0". The virtual key 154 corresponds to the character "#". The virtual key 155 corresponds to a "Menu" (Menu) function.

As shown in fig. 1, the layout of the virtual key keyboard may be a general 3 column × 4 row telephone keyboard (hereinafter, referred to as 3 × 4 keyboard) layout, or any matrix form composed of screen icon arrangements, or any other keyboard layout. In addition, as shown in fig. 1, a plurality of outer ring function keys may be further disposed on the periphery of the 3 × 4 keyboard, and the outer ring function keys constitute an outer ring key row. As shown in fig. 1, the outer key column includes a first column, a fifth column and a first row, and the outer key column and the 3 × 4 keyboard are combined to form a virtual keyboard with 5 columns × 5 rows.

When the user starts inputting, the cursor starts from the starting position. The cursor may be displayed as an arrow, a shaded portion of a virtual key, or other graphical form. The starting position is a virtual key 133 on the keyboard, i.e. a virtual key corresponding to the number "5". The user moves the cursor from the starting position to another position by entering a stroke. The cursor is moved along the direction of the stroke.

In the present invention, only 18 strokes are used, as shown in fig. 2, including: upper left stroke 21, upper stroke 22, upper right stroke 23, left stroke 24, clockwise loop stroke 25, right stroke 26, lower left stroke 27, lower stroke 28, lower right stroke 29, upper left hook stroke 31, upper hook stroke 32, upper right hook stroke 33, left hook stroke 34, counterclockwise loop stroke 35, right hook stroke 36, lower left hook stroke 37, lower hook stroke 38, lower right hook stroke 39. Each of the eight different directions has a straight stroke and a hook stroke plus clockwise loop stroke 25 and counterclockwise loop stroke 35. These strokes are entered by a swipe gesture and finger action on the touch screen. Thus, a total of 18 common strokes may be used to perform multi-lingual data entry.

As shown in fig. 4, the present invention recognizes strokes by the sliding action of the user on the input area 41 of the stroke detecting means 40, which has an initial action linked to the directional sliding, for example, the initial action may be a sudden finger touch contact, a separate physical button, a voice-type start command or any other signal for distinction. The stroke terminates with an end action, which may be, for example, lifting a finger off the sensing touch area, a voice-type end command, or any other signal for discrimination.

Each stroke in fig. 2 and 3 is independently input, and the strokes may start from any part of the input area 41 and not necessarily from the middle part of the input area 41 of the stroke detecting means 40.

As shown in fig. 4 and 5, the stroke detecting means 40 may detect a stroke start point 44 and a stroke end point 42. From the stroke starting point 44 to the farthest position in the stroke, a stroke vertex 43 and a vertex vector 45 may be calculated, the vertex vector 45 being a vector starting from the stroke starting point 44 and pointing to the stroke vertex 43. The angle between the zero angle line 46 and the vertex vector 45 is the vertex angle 47.

The direction of the stroke may be determined by the vertex vector 45. Stroke detection device 40 may identify the direction in which vertex vector 45 points. The eight different directions may be angularly divided into different regions. Since 360 divided by 8 equals 45 °, each of the eight directions has a circular arc region of 45 °, for example, the circular arc region of right stroke 26 is a region of 0 ° plus or minus 22.5 °, the circular arc region of left stroke 24 is a region of 180 ° plus or minus 22.5 °, the circular arc region of upper stroke 22 is a region of 90 ° plus or minus 22.5 °, and the circular arc region of lower stroke 28 is a region of 270 ° plus or minus 22.5 °. The stroke detecting device 40 determines the direction of the stroke by judging the circular arc area where the vertex vector 45 falls (but is not limited to this method).

The present invention can judge whether the stroke is a hooked stroke or a straight stroke by calculating the distance between the stroke vertex 43 and the stroke end point 42 (but not limited to this method), and if the distance is less than a set percentage of the total length of the stroke, the stroke is judged to be a straight stroke, not a hooked stroke. The set percentage can be set according to actual needs, such as 10% or 5%.

As shown in fig. 6, the present invention can determine whether a stroke is a circle stroke by determining whether the distance between the stroke end point 42 and the stroke start point 44 is smaller than the distance between the stroke vertex 43 and the stroke start point 44 (but is not limited to this method). The loop stroke may be a clockwise loop stroke 25 or a counterclockwise loop stroke 35. Further, the present invention can also determine whether or not a stroke is a circle stroke by determining whether or not the distance between the stroke end point 42 and the stroke start point 44 is smaller than the distance between the stroke vertex 43 and the stroke end point 42 (but is not limited to this method).

As shown in fig. 6, the present invention can determine whether the circle stroke is clockwise or counterclockwise (but not limited to this method) according to the relative positions of the stroke start point 44, the stroke end point 42 and the zero angle line 46, and the appearance sequence of the circle stroke left radial reference point 61 and the circle stroke right radial reference point 62, wherein the circle stroke left radial reference point 61 and the circle stroke right radial reference point 62 are the left and right intersection points of the zero angle line 46 and the circle stroke passing through the circle stroke centroid 88, respectively.

The invention can be applied to many different stroke recognition methods, such as simplified rules using geometric theory and arithmetic, or traditional Chinese and English character handwriting recognition methods. The main purpose of the present invention is to provide a set of stroke input systems that are intuitive and universal for all languages. The stroke input system can be called as 'universal stroke' or 'universal gesture control motion', and the 'universal' characteristic is that data input of different languages can be realized by adopting a group of same strokes to correspond to keyboard characters of various countries. The stroke input system can be applied to various input devices, including smart phones, mobile phones, televisions, digital cameras, PDAs, GPS devices, game devices, electronic menus, remote controllers, touch screens, mouse pads, touch screens, tablet computers, iPhone phones, ipads, and any detection surfaces capable of sensing relative positions. The invention can be applied to personal computers with high processing capability, mobile equipment with low power consumption and wireless remote controllers.

The foregoing has described a keyboard layout and a set of strokes for moving a cursor in the keyboard layout. When the stroke detection device 40 recognizes a directional stroke, the cursor moves one frame from the starting point to the next virtual key along the direction of the stroke. Referring to FIG. 1, right stroke 26 moves the cursor from virtual key 133 (i.e., the starting position) to virtual key 134; the top left stroke 21 moves the cursor to the virtual key 122; the upper stroke 22 moves the cursor to the virtual key 123; the upper right stroke 23 moves the cursor to the virtual key 124; left stroke 24 moves the cursor to virtual key 132; a clockwise stroke 25 activates the virtual key 133; right stroke 26 moves the cursor to right virtual key 134; the lower left stroke 27 moves the cursor to the virtual key 142; the down stroke 28 moves the cursor to the virtual key 143; the lower right stroke 29 moves the cursor to the virtual key 144. When the cursor moves in the 3 row x 4 column telephone keyboard area within the outer circle key column, the virtual key in the area will not be automatically started. The user may re-enter right stroke 26 by entering left stroke 24, leaving the cursor from the starting position and then returning to the starting position.

The cursor may be displayed with any visual indication, such as a box-shaped shaded area or an arrow. In the input mode, the cursor position displays the selected virtual key, and in the cursor navigation mode, the cursor is a standard navigation mouse.

When the stroke detecting device 40 recognizes a directional hook stroke, the cursor moves from the initial position along the direction of the hook stroke by one step, and activates the virtual key where the cursor arrives. Referring to FIG. 1, a directional hook stroke moves a cursor from a starting position and then activates a virtual key everywhere. An upper left hook stroke 31 activates virtual key 122, an upper hook stroke 32 activates virtual key 123, an upper right hook stroke 33 activates virtual key 124, a left hook stroke 34 activates virtual key 132, a counterclockwise loop stroke 35 corresponds to a "cancel input" function, a right hook stroke 36 activates virtual key 134, a lower left hook stroke 37 activates virtual key 142, a lower hook stroke 38 activates virtual key 143, and a lower right hook stroke 39 activates virtual key 144. In this way, the user can use the directional hook stroke and the clockwise loop stroke 25 to activate each virtual key corresponding to the numbers 1-9. The user can also apply the combination of the 18 general strokes to move in the 5 column x 5 row keyboard area, and activate or deactivate the function of any virtual key. The method can also realize the full function of the Ketjen keyboard and the data input function of various languages by one hand with the same stroke.

If the user wishes to activate the outer function key, the user may first enter a straight stroke and then enter a stroke. For example, if the user wants to activate the outer circle "Space/Break" (Space/Break) key, the user may first enter a right stroke 26 and then enter a right stroke 26; alternatively, the user may first enter a right straight stroke 26 and then enter a right hook stroke 36. Once the cursor moves to the outer circle key column, the outer circle function key at the position is automatically started. The user can move the cursor to the outer circle key column after moving the cursor in a roundabout way in the 3 × 4 keyboard area to start the corresponding outer circle function key. For example, the user may move a cursor from the virtual key 133 to the virtual key 123, to the virtual key 124, to the virtual key 134, and then enter the right stroke 26 to activate the outer "space/stop" key.

On the numeric keypad, a user can make a telephone call or fax by entering a string of numbers. As another example, when entering letters, the user may use numbers as a prediction of letters or words. The invention does not suggest to make a character prediction software from the new one, but uses the character prediction software which is widely used in the market. Various text prediction techniques are also described in the prior art, including the inventor's Jason Griffin publication in U.S. Pat. No. 2005/0283724, 12/22/2005, entitled predictive text dictionary word stock improvement. If the user does not need the text prediction method, the multi-tap input method can also be applied after the general stroke method starts any virtual key. For example, if the virtual key 123 is activated, the user may repeatedly click the input area 41 of the stroke detection device 40 by using the multi-tap input method to sequentially select the data corresponding to the virtual key, for example, click a selection "a" → click a selection "b" → click a selection "c" → click a selection "2" → click a selection "a" → click a selection "b" → click a selection "c", and so on, on the input area 41 of the stroke detection device 40, and then end with a confirmation signal (for example, inputting another stroke or determining that the interval time between two clicks exceeds the preset time, and so on).

The Wikipedia introduction character prediction technology is as follows: word prediction is an input technique in which one key/button represents many letters, such as the numeric keys of a cell phone. Instead of repeatedly pressing a key to change the fixed order "letters" on the keys, the library is compared to display the predicted possible words. The character prediction effectively utilizes fewer keys to complete the data input, and can be used for short messages, e-mails, address books, calendars and writing.

The stroke input system of the present invention may be used with word prediction software to simplify input by comparing a word library to the input data information to display predicted possible words. Generally, the word stock usually holds over 95% of the commonly used words for predictive alignment.

The following describes how to use a virtual keyboard and text prediction software to improve the efficiency of data input by using directional strokes as an example. As shown in fig. 1, when data is input, the cursor moves to any key position on the screen in accordance with the direction of the stroke, starting from the start position.

The user can input any text against a keyboard displaying languages of each country on the screen using 10 non-hook strokes of the 18 directional strokes, the 10 non-hook strokes being: an upper stroke, a lower stroke, a left stroke, a right stroke, an upper left stroke, an upper right stroke, a lower left stroke, a lower right stroke, a clockwise stroke, and a counterclockwise stroke. The cursor can be moved to the desired virtual key by these 10 non-hook strokes to activate the corresponding function, or moved away from the virtual key where the cursor is located.

For example, to enter the english word "good", the user need only enter the numeric string "4, 6, 6, 3" associated therewith because: the virtual key 132 corresponds to the number "4" and the letters "g", "h", "i", the virtual key 134 corresponds to the number "6" and the letters "m", "n", "o", and the virtual key 124 corresponds to the number "3" and the letters "d", "e", "f". After the user moves the cursor to the needed virtual key from the initial position by adopting the directional straight line stroke, the user inputs the clockwise circle stroke to start the input confirmation function or inputs the counterclockwise circle stroke to start the input cancellation function, so as to leave and return to the initial position for re-operation input.

For example, to enter the numeric string "4663" in the above example, the user would start at the start position, enter a left stroke, move the cursor to the virtual key 132 corresponding to the letters "g", "h", "i", actuate the virtual key 132 with the clockwise hand-ring stroke 25, and then return the cursor to the start position. Here, since the virtual key array is in the text input mode, not the number input mode, the number corresponding to the key cannot be input, and only in the number input mode, the number corresponding to the key can be input. Next, the user again starts from the start position, slides the cursor with the right stroke to the right to the virtual key 134, and then enters the clockwise stroke 25 for confirmation, and then the cursor returns to the start position again. The same steps are then repeated to reactivate the virtual key 134. Finally, the user moves the cursor to the virtual key 124 with the upper right stroke 23, or one upper stroke 22 and one right stroke 26, and enters the clockwise stroke 25 to activate the selected virtual key 124.

In the above example, another method of entering the string "4663" is to use a hook stroke. The direction of the hook is clockwise needle hook or counterclockwise needle hook, which can be regarded as the same kind of pen-and-pen scriber. Hooking strokes simplifies the stroke input process because hooking strokes correspond to a combination of straight plus clockwise looping strokes. The entered character string "4663" may be completed by entering one left hook stroke 34, two right hook strokes 36, and one more right upper hook stroke 33. After each hook stroke is entered, the cursor will automatically return to the starting position.

The input string "4663" on the 3 x 4 keyboard may represent several different words, and to select the correct word, the user must activate the "List of words" (List) function key above the virtual key 123. The user can enter two upper strokes 22, the cursor is still on the area of the 3 x 4 keyboard after the first upper stroke 22 is entered, and the cursor enters the "list of words" function key after the second upper stroke 22 is entered, which is automatically activated because it is the outer circle function key, which is the auto-activation key.

As shown in fig. 10, the text prediction selection list 806 will display selectable words on the screen. The "word list" function shows the possible words represented by the string "4663": "good", "home", "good" and "home".

The user may select a desired word from the word prediction selection list 806. As shown in fig. 10, the user may confirm the selection of the word "good" by moving the cursor up, down, left or right, and then entering the clockwise stroke 25. Alternatively, the user may confirm the selection of the word "good" by moving the cursor up, down, left or right to the adjacent key position of the desired word and then inputting a hook stroke.

The user may use the "modify/Fix" (Fix) function keys of virtual key 125 to enter a particular letter combination of a non-dictionary word, such as a password. As shown in fig. 9, the user spells or modifies the password "hm 6 d" individually by actuating the "modify/fix" function key after entering the string "4663". In the process, the user may initiate the "modify/fix" function by moving the cursor to the virtual key 125, and may then enter the interface shown in FIG. 9.

The method of inputting the character string "4663" has been described above. Several steps for entering the password "hm 6 d" using the "modify/fix" function key are described below. As shown in fig. 9, the user moves the cursor along the candidate list of "modify/Fix" (Fix) line, when the candidate list displays the letters "g, h, i, 4" in step 801, where the user moves the cursor to the letter "h" and fixes the 1 st letter with the clockwise stroke 25 confirming "h". In step 802, the user moves the cursor along a candidate list of "modify/Fix" (Fix) lines, where the candidate list displays the letters "m, n, o, 6", and in this step, the user moves the cursor to the letter "m" and confirms "m" with a clockwise stroke. In step 803, the user moves the cursor along the candidate list of the word "modify/Fix" (Fix) line, at which point the candidate list displays the letters "m, n, o, 6", the user moves the cursor to the letter "6", and confirms "6" with a clockwise stroke. In step 804, the user moves the cursor along the candidate list of the word "modify/Fix" (Fix) line, where the candidate list displays the letters "d, e, f, 3", and in this step, the user moves the cursor to the letter "d" and confirms "d" with a clockwise stroke. In this process, the user processes each letter/data in the character string order. If the previously fixed letter needs to be changed again, the user can select and initiate "Back" to reverse to the previous letter position and then sequentially modify and fix the corresponding letter. In the above process, when the user selects a letter in the candidate list, the user does not need to press a key on the touch screen with a finger, but uses the clockwise circle stroke 25, so that the user does not need to shift the position of the hand or look for another key, and can keep the same gesture and exertion. The clockwise stroke 25 may be small in diameter, such as a half inch, which eliminates the need for the user to move the hand position significantly to the other side of the touch screen to press the "select/confirm" button. In step 805, the user may select data "hm 6 d" or original string "4663" via clockwise stroke 25, or exit the "modify/fix" function mode by initiating "Return" (Return) and enter other text.

Instead of using the straight and clockwise strokes 25, the user can use any eight hook strokes to move and actuate an adjacent letter/data.

On a 3 x 4 keyboard, the user may wish to enter other language modes, entering other languages. As shown in fig. 1, the user can switch the language mode using the "mode" function key on the virtual key 121. As shown in fig. 7, the 3 × 4 keyboard may be displayed in a syllable type mode rather than an alphabetic type mode; in a 3 x 4 keyboard in syllable mode, syllables may represent hiragana symbols, roman pinyin or ASCII letters; the keyboard below fig. 7 illustrates the origin of the layout of a 3 x 4 keyboard; when a syllable is entered, the word stock generates a predicted word. As shown in fig. 8, the kodi keyboard of a general computer may also be laid out on a 3 × 4 keyboard in an alphabet type pattern. The language input mode can be automatically changed by moving the cursor to the mode function key on the outer circle; the keyboard below fig. 8 shows the origin of the layout of the kodi keyboard in alphabetical mode onto a 3 x 4 keyboard. Fig. 11 shows a chinese input mode, and the user can use the chinese pinyin list 807 as if using the english mode list.

After being familiar with and remembering the layout of the 3 x 4 keyboard, the user can close the display of the virtual keyboard so that the stroke gestures can be performed overlappingly on the interface displaying the application program, thereby saving space and increasing the visual range of the application program. In this case, the cursor and the keyboard layout are not visible, and the cursor may reappear only when the outer function key is activated, e.g., when the "list of words" function is activated for selection by the user, the cursor may reappear as a visual guide.

In the invention, the display screen for displaying the virtual keyboard can be another display screen independent of the screen of the personal electronic device, and can also be the same display screen with the screen of the personal electronic device; for example, for a smart tv with a larger size, a display screen arranged in a tv remote controller can be used to display a virtual keyboard, and the display screen in the tv remote controller is dedicated to displaying the virtual keyboard and is independent from a screen displaying tv programs; for smaller cell phones, the same cell phone screen can be used to display the virtual keyboard and the user application.

In the present invention, the input area 41 of the stroke detecting device 40 may be disposed on the display screen displaying the virtual keyboard, or may be disposed outside the display screen displaying the virtual keyboard. In addition, when the input area 41 of the stroke detection device 40 is disposed on the display screen displaying the virtual keyboard (in this case, the display screen has a touch function, and is a touch display screen), the input area 41 and the area displaying the virtual keyboard (hereinafter, referred to as a virtual keyboard area) are on the same touch display screen, and the input area 41 and the virtual keyboard area may be two separate and independent areas or two areas overlapping each other. For example, in fig. 7, the top right stroke 23 entered by the user into the input area 41 is superimposed on the virtual keyboard area, in which case the strokes are in contrasting colors so that the user can easily see the direction of the strokes performed.

When the input area 41 and the virtual keyboard area of the stroke detection device 40 are two areas overlapping each other on the touch screen, the user will move a finger on the virtual keyboard of the touch screen, and this movement will not activate any virtual key unless the user performs a circular stroke or a hook stroke. This seems counterintuitive, because it seems to be common that the user simply presses the desired key on the virtual keyboard, rather than having to move the cursor through the strokes. However, in the case where the screen is small and the fingers are large, and it is not easy for the user to correctly press the key position desired to be pressed, it is more suitable to adopt a mode in which the input area 41 of the stroke detecting means 40 is overlapped on the virtual keyboard area.

The invention is designed for use with personal electronic devices, for example, the invention is implemented in an application software that can run on an existing hardware device.

In summary, the multi-language universal stroke input system provided by the embodiment of the invention has the following beneficial effects:

(1) directional strokes are adopted for input, the direction of the strokes is not influenced by the direction or the position of an input area, and a user can define and distinguish reference directions in the up-down, left-right directions by himself or adopt historical strokes as the reference directions;

(2) the input area may overlap the virtual keyboard area, thereby reducing the need for screen size;

(3) by adopting 18 general strokes with simple and high identification degree, a user can execute functions by using a smaller or shorter stroke sliding distance, so that the operation is light;

(4) the operation of the user with one hand becomes possible;

(5) the user can perform input by 18 general strokes according to the familiar virtual keyboard (such as a 3 × 4 keyboard and a 5 × 5 keyboard), and can achieve the purpose of data touch typing input without staring at the virtual keyboard, for example, the user can move a cursor from the initial position, and perform various directional stroke combination input to start each number key of 0-9, various characters (such as "+" or "#"), and other various outer circle function keys;

(6) the input area and the virtual keyboard area can be separated, so that the problem that the sight of a user finger is blocked when the existing touch screen is input is solved; the virtual keyboard only plays a role in visual guidance, and the area size of the virtual keyboard is reduced, for example, in the invention, a 3 × 4 keyboard or a 5 × 5 keyboard only plays a role in visual guidance, and a large-size virtual key does not need to be designed to adapt to a larger finger;

(7) the invention is suitable for various languages without depending on a specific language family, and a set of universal 18 strokes is suitable for multinational language input; different from the existing stroke input method depending on a specific language family;

(8) the character prediction input function and the multi-click input function can be operated simultaneously without switching the input modes; the word prediction function can predict a plurality of possible representative words according to data information input by a user; the multi-tap input function can start one of a plurality of data corresponding to the virtual key according to the number of repetitions of repeated click operations performed by the user on the input area.

The above-mentioned embodiments are intended to illustrate the objects, technical solutions and advantages of the present invention in further detail, and it should be understood that the above-mentioned embodiments are only exemplary embodiments of the present invention, and are not intended to limit the scope of the present invention, and any modifications, equivalent substitutions, improvements and the like made within the spirit and principle of the present invention should be included in the scope of the present invention.

Claims (12)

1. A multi-lingual universal stroke input system, comprising: the device comprises a display screen, a virtual keyboard module, a stroke detection module, a cursor module and an input display module; wherein,

the virtual keyboard module is used for displaying a virtual keyboard on the display screen, and the virtual keyboard consists of a plurality of arranged virtual keys;

the stroke detection module is used for detecting straight line strokes, hook strokes and loop strokes input into the input area by a user; the straight line stroke includes: an upper left stroke, an upper right stroke, an upper left stroke, a right stroke, a lower left stroke, a lower right stroke, and a lower right stroke; the hook stroke includes: a left upper hook stroke, an upper hook stroke, a right upper hook stroke, a left hook stroke, a right hook stroke, a left lower hook stroke, a lower hook stroke, and a right lower hook stroke; the loop stroke includes: clockwise needle loop strokes and counterclockwise needle loop strokes;

the cursor module is used for displaying a cursor arranged on the virtual keyboard and driving the cursor to move according to the strokes detected by the stroke detection module;

the input display module is used for starting corresponding functions and determining data information input by a user according to the strokes detected by the stroke detection module and displaying the data information on the display screen;

when the stroke detection module detects a straight stroke, the cursor module drives the cursor to move to the position of an adjacent virtual key along the direction of the straight stroke;

when the stroke detection module detects a clockwise needle ring stroke, the input display module starts a function corresponding to a virtual key at the current position of the cursor;

when the stroke detection module detects the stroke of the counterclockwise hand ring, the input display module starts the input canceling function;

when the stroke detection module detects a hook stroke, the cursor module drives the cursor to move to the position of an adjacent virtual key along the direction of the hook stroke, and the input display module starts the function corresponding to the virtual key at the current position of the cursor.

2. The multi-national language universal stroke input system according to claim 1, wherein said input area and an area where said virtual keyboard is displayed are two separate areas.

3. The multi-national language universal stroke input system according to claim 1, wherein the input area and the area where the virtual keyboard is displayed are two areas that overlap.

4. The multi-lingual universal stroke input system according to claim 1, further comprising: and the character prediction module is used for predicting at least one word represented by the data information according to the data information input by the user and determined by the input display module.

5. The multi-lingual universal stroke input system of claim 1, wherein the stroke detection module is further configured to detect repeated click operations by a user on the input area;

the multi-lingual universal stroke input system further comprises: and the multi-click input module is used for starting one of the data corresponding to the virtual key according to the repeated click operation detected by the stroke detection module.

6. The multi-lingual universal stroke input system of claim 1, wherein the virtual keyboard is a universal 3 column x 4 row telephone keyboard, each virtual key in the universal 3 column x 4 row telephone keyboard being named with an associated letter and number.

7. The multi-lingual universal stroke input system according to claim 1,

the virtual keys in the first row, the first column and the last column of the virtual keyboard are outer circle function keys, and when a cursor reaches the outer circle function keys, the functions corresponding to the outer circle function keys are automatically started;

in the virtual keyboard, at least one outer ring functional key corresponds to a language mode switching function.

8. The multi-national language universal stroke input system according to claim 7, wherein said input area and an area where said virtual keyboard is displayed are two separate areas.

9. The multi-national language universal stroke input system according to claim 7, wherein said input area and an area where said virtual keyboard is displayed are two areas that overlap.

10. The multi-lingual universal stroke input system of claim 7, further comprising: and the character prediction module is used for predicting at least one word represented by the data information according to the data information input by the user and determined by the input display module.

11. The multi-lingual universal stroke input system of claim 7, wherein the stroke detection module is further configured to detect repeated click operations by a user on the input area;

the multi-lingual universal stroke input system further comprises: and the multi-click input module is used for starting one of the data corresponding to the virtual key according to the repeated click operation detected by the stroke detection module.

12. The system of claim 7, wherein the virtual keyboard is a 3 column x 4 row universal telephone keyboard and a 5 column x 5 row universal functional keyboard, each virtual key in the 3 column x 4 row universal telephone keyboard being named with an associated letter and number.