TWI468986B - Electronic device, input method thereof, and computer program product thereof - Google Patents

Description

Electronic device, input method thereof and computer program product

The present invention relates to an input method, and more particularly to a method, an electronic device, and a computer program product for integrating a keyboard and handwriting input.

With the advancement of mobile technology, the appearance of mobile devices is not only thinner and lighter, but also the types of functions integrated in them are increasing. Since the mobile device is easy to carry, the size and weight of the product are also highly valued by consumers.

In order to further reduce the size of the product, but also to have a larger screen display, manufacturers have begun to replace the traditional buttons with touch screens, and then as input and output tools for mobile devices. When the user wants to input text through the touch screen, he/she must switch to the corresponding Software Input Panel (SIP) according to the desired language. In detail, since the software keyboards of different input languages are different, and each software keyboard has its own key arrangement, the user not only needs to memorize the key arrangement of the software keyboard corresponding to various input languages. When you need to intersperse texts or symbols into other languages, you must constantly switch back and forth between multiple software keyboards, which is easy to cause low input efficiency.

The present invention provides an input method and an electronic device and a computer program product using the same method, so that a user can input a plurality of symbols by hand when inputting through a software keyboard.

The present invention provides an input method for an electronic device having a touch screen. The method includes displaying a Software Input Panel (SIP) on the touch screen, wherein the software keyboard supports multiple language input in a keyboard layout. When the software keyboard is displayed on the touch screen, the handwriting input is received from the touch screen, and the auxiliary symbol is generated according to the track of the handwriting input.

From another point of view, the present invention provides an electronic device including a touch screen, a detection module, and an identification module. The touch screen is used to display a software keyboard, and the software keyboard supports multiple language input in a keyboard layout. The detection module is coupled to the touch screen for receiving handwriting input from the touch screen when the software keyboard is displayed on the touch screen. The identification module is coupled to the touch screen and the detection module for generating auxiliary symbols according to the trajectory of the handwriting input.

From another point of view, the present invention provides a computer program product comprising at least one program command for loading an electronic device having a touch screen, the program command being capable of executing the input method after loading the electronic device.

Based on the above, when the touch screen displays the software keyboard to receive the key input, the present invention can also receive the handwriting input through the touch screen, thereby correspondingly generating a plurality of auxiliary symbols. Accordingly, the number of times the user switches between different software keyboards can be reduced, thereby increasing the convenience of inputting data to the electronic device.

The above described features and advantages of the present invention will be more apparent from the following description.

FIG. 1A is a block diagram of an electronic device according to an embodiment of the invention. Referring to FIG. 1A , the electronic device 100 includes a touch screen 110 , a detection module 120 , and an identification module 130 . The electronic device 100 is, for example, a mobile phone, a personal digital assistant (PDA), a personal digital assistant mobile phone, a smart phone, a computer, a music player, a game device, a digital camera, or any other through the touch screen 110. An electronic device that operates.

The touch screen 110 can be a resistive touch screen or a capacitive touch screen for use as an input and output interface of the electronic device 100. In this embodiment, the touch screen 110 is used to display a software keyboard (SIP). The software keyboard supports multiple language input in a keyboard layout. That is, even if the user switches to select a different input language, the appearance of the software keyboard does not change.

2 is a schematic diagram of a software keyboard according to an embodiment of the invention. In this embodiment, the software keyboard 200 has 28 buttons, which are displayed on the touch screen 110 in a manner of being distributed in 7 columns and each column includes 4 buttons. A corresponding flag is displayed on each of the keys of the software keyboard 200. The 26 keys are marked with the English letter AZ, and the keys 210 and 220 located in the last column are the function keys with the clear function and the switching language function respectively. The buttons 210 and 220 also display the icons representing their functions. . In this embodiment, the keys having the English alphabetic characters are sequentially displayed on the software keyboard 200 in accordance with the order of the English alphabets.

If the electronic device 100 can provide three input languages of English, Chinese, and Japanese, the software keyboard 200 will remain the same as the keyboard layout of FIG. 2 regardless of the input language to which the user switches. For example, when the user switches the language to be input to Chinese, the electronic device 100 provides, for example, a pinyin-based input method, thereby allowing the user to input the Chinese language using the software keyboard 200. In an embodiment, the pinyin-based input method provided by the electronic device 100 is to determine the correspondence between the phonetic symbols and the English letters according to the pronunciation and/or shape of the phonetic symbols (this correspondence may be as shown in FIG. 3, However, it is not limited to this, so that the user can input Chinese through the software keyboard 200. Since the software keyboard 200 supports input in multiple languages in a keyboard layout, the user only needs to memorize the configuration of one button, and does not need to individually memorize the corresponding keyboard layout for different input languages.

However, it must be particularly noted that the software keyboard 200 shown in FIG. 2 is merely an example for convenience of explanation, and the present invention does not limit the style of the keyboard layout.

The detection module 120 is coupled to the touch screen 110. When the user operates the touch screen 110 with a finger or a stylus, the detection module 120 receives the user-triggered input signal from the touch screen 110. At the same time, the detection module 120 can also obtain the location information of the input signal.

The identification module 130 is coupled to the detection module 120. The identification module 130 is used to identify the user's input and generate corresponding text and/or symbols.

FIG. 1B is a block diagram of an electronic device according to another embodiment of the present invention. As shown in FIG. 1B , in addition to the touch screen 110 , the detection module 120 , and the identification module 130 , the electronic device 100 further includes a control module 140 .

The control module 140 is coupled to the identification module 130. After obtaining the characters and/or symbols generated by the recognition module 130, the control module 140 can control the touch screen 110 to display the characters and/or symbols.

4 is a flow chart of an input method according to an embodiment of the present invention. Please refer to FIG. 1A and FIG. 4 at the same time.

First, as shown in step 410, a software keyboard is displayed by the touch screen 110 of the electronic device 100. This software keyboard will support multiple language input in a single keyboard layout. In the embodiment, the touch screen 110 displays the software keyboard in a full screen and translucent manner, for example. Taking FIG. 5 as an example, assuming that the software keyboard 200 has 50% transparency, the touch screen 110 displays the software keyboard 200 in a full screen manner above the currently displayed operation screen 510. Displaying the software keyboard 200 in a full screen manner can increase the display area of each button to reduce the user's accidental pressing of the button, and since the software keyboard 200 is displayed in a translucent manner, even if the software keyboard 200 is full The screen shows that the user can still see the operation screen 510 displayed under the software keyboard 200 through the software keyboard 200.

When the software keyboard is displayed on the touch screen 110, then as shown in step 420, the detection module 120 receives a handwriting input from the touch screen 120. In the present embodiment, handwriting input can occur anywhere in the touch screen 120. For example, the handwriting input may be within the area where the touch screen 120 displays the software keyboard or another area outside the software keyboard display area.

Next, as shown in step 430, the recognition module 130 generates an auxiliary symbol based on the trajectory of the handwritten input. The auxiliary symbol may be a punctuation mark and/or any symbol that may be needed when inputting data under the input language selected by the user. For example, when the electronic device 100 is set to the Japanese input mode, the auxiliary symbols generated by the recognition module 130 in response to the trajectory of the handwriting input may include voiced symbols and semi-voiced symbols. In more detail, when the recognition module 130 recognizes that the trajectory of the handwriting input is two consecutive points, the corresponding auxiliary symbol generated is a voiced symbol in Japanese; when the recognition module 130 recognizes that the trajectory of the handwriting input is a circle, corresponding The auxiliary symbols produced are semi-voiced symbols in Japanese. For another example, when the electronic device 100 is set to the Chinese input mode, the auxiliary symbol generated by the recognition module 130 in response to the trajectory of the handwriting input may include the phonetic symbol. In more detail, when the recognition module 130 recognizes that the trajectory of the handwriting input is a circle, the corresponding auxiliary symbol generated is a soft sound symbol in the phonetic; when the recognition module 130 recognizes that the trajectory of the handwriting input is two consecutive points, the corresponding generation occurs. The auxiliary symbol is a symbol in the phonetic; when the recognition module 130 recognizes that the trajectory of the handwriting input is a line obliquely to the upper right, the corresponding auxiliary symbol is a two-symbol symbol; the recognition module 130 recognizes When the handwriting input track is a tick line, the corresponding auxiliary symbol is a three-symbol symbol in the phonetic; and when the recognition module 130 recognizes that the handwriting input track is a line obliquely to the lower right, the corresponding auxiliary symbol is generated. It is the four symbols in the phonetic.

In another embodiment, after the recognition module 130 generates the auxiliary symbol according to the trajectory of the handwriting input, the control module 140 shown in FIG. 1B can control the touch screen 110 to display the auxiliary symbol. For example, when the recognition module 130 generates a punctuation mark according to the user's handwriting input, the control module 140 controls the touch screen 110 to display the punctuation mark in the input field of the application currently executed by the electronic device 100. And use the punctuation as input material. For another example, when the recognition module 130 generates one or more candidate auxiliary symbols according to the trajectory of the handwriting input, the control module 140 controls the touch screen 110 to display the candidate auxiliary symbols for the user to select. After the user makes a selection, the control module 140 controls the touch screen 110 to display the candidate auxiliary symbol selected by the user in the input field of the application currently executed by the electronic device 100, and regards the candidate auxiliary symbol as Input data of the electronic device 100.

FIG. 6 is a flow chart showing an input method according to another embodiment of the present invention. Please refer to FIG. 1B and FIG. 6 at the same time.

First, as shown in step 610, the software keyboard is displayed by the touch screen 110 of the electronic device 100. The software keyboard supports multiple language input in a single keyboard layout. For convenience of description, in the present embodiment, it is assumed that the software keyboard can support Chinese input, and the input language of the electronic device 100 is set to Chinese. At this time, the input method provided by the electronic device 100 is, for example, a user's input of Chinese according to the correspondence between the phonetic symbols and the English letters shown in FIG. 3.

Next, in step 620, the detection module 120 receives at least one key input from the software keyboard and receives the handwriting input from the touch screen 110. In step 630, the recognition module 130 obtains the phonetic symbols respectively represented by the respective button inputs, and generates auxiliary symbols according to the trajectory of the handwriting input. The auxiliary symbol generated by the identification module 130 is, for example, a phonetic symbol.

Next, in step 640, the recognition module 130 generates at least one candidate word based on the key input and the auxiliary symbol (ie, the phonetic symbol of the phonetic). Finally, as shown in step 650, the control module 140 controls the touch screen 110 to display the candidate words for selection by the user.

In an embodiment, the control module 140 controls the touch screen 110 to display the candidate words in a full screen manner, thereby presenting the candidate words on a larger screen for the user to select. In another embodiment, the candidate words displayed on the touch screen 110 have transparency, for example, so that the user can still see the operation screen located below the candidate words. After the user completes the selection action, the selected candidate word is displayed in the input field of the application currently executed by the electronic device 100, and is regarded as the input data of the electronic device 100.

Continuing the foregoing embodiment, when the user sets the input language of the electronic device 100 to Chinese and enters the Chinese character "I" through the software keyboard 200 as shown in FIG. 2, the user only needs to press the software keyboard 200 to indicate that The keys of the English letters "W" and "O" are marked with a tick gesture on the touch screen 110. Through the operation of the detection module 120 and the identification module 130, three candidate words "I", "婐" and "捰" can be generated for the user to select. In addition, when the user needs to input punctuation marks, the user only needs to input by handwriting on the touch screen 110, and the punctuation marks can be input to the electronic device 100.

As shown in the above, since the electronic device 100 can simultaneously support the handwriting input when the keyboard input is provided, when the user inputs a word by using the software keyboard displayed on the touch screen 110, the user can input the desired word directly by handwriting. Punctuation without having to switch to another symbol keyboard. When the user inputs Chinese using the software keyboard, the tone symbol can also be input directly by handwriting to complete the input of the Chinese character. In other words, since there is no need to set the tone symbol on the software keyboard, the space that is needed to display the tone symbol button can be used for other purposes, and the support for handwriting input of various symbols can also make the input action more intuitive. convenient.

The invention further provides a computer program product, which is basically composed of a plurality of program instructions. After the program instructions are loaded and executed by the electronic device having the touch screen, the steps of the above input method can be completed, and at the same time, the electronic device can implement the functions described in the above embodiments. The computer program product can be stored in any data storage device (including read-only memory, random access memory, tape, floppy disk, hard disk, optical disk, transmission media, etc.), or directly via the network. Transmission is provided and is not limited in scope here.

In summary, the electronic device, the input method thereof and the computer program product of the present invention can also detect and recognize the user's handwriting input when the touch screen displays the software keyboard for the user to input the key, and correspondingly Generate auxiliary symbols. In this way, the user can simultaneously input data into the electronic device by using the keyboard and handwriting, thereby greatly improving the convenience of input.

Although the present invention has been disclosed in the above embodiments, it is not intended to limit the invention, and any one of ordinary skill in the art can make some modifications and refinements without departing from the spirit and scope of the invention. The scope of the invention is defined by the scope of the appended claims.

100. . . Electronic device

110. . . Touch screen

120. . . Detection module

130. . . Identification module

140. . . Control module

200. . . Software keyboard

210, 220. . . button

410～430. . . Each step of the input method described in one embodiment of the present invention

510. . . Operation screen

610 ~ 650. . . Steps of the input method according to another embodiment of the present invention

FIG. 1A is a block diagram of an electronic device according to an embodiment of the invention.

FIG. 1B is a block diagram of an electronic device according to an embodiment of the invention.

2 is a schematic diagram of a software keyboard according to an embodiment of the invention.

FIG. 3 is a schematic diagram showing correspondence between English letters and phonetic symbols of a software keyboard button according to an embodiment of the invention.

4 is a flow chart of an input method in accordance with an embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 5 is a schematic diagram of a touch screen display software keyboard of an electronic device according to an embodiment of the invention.

FIG. 6 is a flow chart of an input method according to another embodiment of the present invention.

410～430. . . Each step of the input method described in one embodiment of the present invention

Claims (14)

An input method for an electronic device having a touch screen, the method comprising: displaying a software input panel (SIP) on the touch screen, wherein the software keyboard supports multiple language input with a keyboard layout When the software keyboard is displayed on the touch screen, receiving a handwriting input from the touch screen, and receiving at least one key input from the software keyboard; generating at least one candidate auxiliary symbol according to the handwriting input track; Displaying the at least one candidate auxiliary symbol on the control screen; generating at least one candidate word according to the at least one key input and an auxiliary symbol selected from the at least one candidate auxiliary symbol; and displaying the at least one candidate word on the touch screen . The method of claim 1, wherein the auxiliary symbol comprises a punctuation mark. The method of claim 1, wherein the auxiliary symbol comprises a tone symbol when the software keyboard supports Chinese input. The method of claim 1, wherein when the software keyboard supports Japanese input, the auxiliary symbol includes a voiced symbol, a half voiced symbol, and an arpeggio symbol. The method of claim 1, further comprising: displaying the auxiliary symbol on the touch screen. The method of claim 1, wherein the step of displaying the software keyboard further comprises: The software keyboard is displayed in a transparent manner. An electronic device includes: a touch screen for displaying a software keyboard, wherein the software keyboard supports multi-language input with a keyboard layout; a detection module coupled to the touch screen for use in the software keyboard Displaying on the touch screen, receiving a handwriting input from the touch screen and receiving at least one key input from the software keyboard; and an identification module coupled to the detection module for inputting the handwriting according to the handwriting input The trajectory generates at least one candidate auxiliary symbol, and generates at least one candidate word according to the at least one key input and an auxiliary symbol selected from the at least one candidate auxiliary symbol; and a control module coupled to the identification module The at least one candidate auxiliary symbol and the at least one candidate word are displayed by controlling the touch screen. The electronic device of claim 7, wherein the auxiliary symbol comprises a punctuation mark. The electronic device of claim 7, wherein when the selected input language is Chinese, the auxiliary symbol further includes a tone symbol. The electronic device of claim 7, wherein when the selected input language is Japanese, the auxiliary symbol further includes a voiced symbol, a half voiced symbol, and an arpeggio symbol. The electronic device of claim 7, further comprising: the control module coupled to the identification module for controlling the touch screen to display the auxiliary symbol. An electronic device as claimed in claim 7, wherein the touch The control screen displays the software keyboard in a transparent manner. A computer program product comprising at least one program command for loading an electronic device having a touch screen to perform at least the following steps: displaying a software keyboard on the touch screen, wherein the software keyboard is A keyboard layout supports multi-language input; when the software keyboard is displayed on the touch screen, receiving a handwriting input from the touch screen, and receiving at least one key input from the software keyboard; generating at least one according to the handwriting input trajectory a candidate auxiliary symbol; displaying the at least one candidate auxiliary symbol on the touch screen; generating at least one candidate word according to the at least one key input and an auxiliary symbol selected from the at least one candidate auxiliary symbol; and the touch screen The at least one candidate word is displayed on the top. The computer program product of claim 13, wherein the step of loading the electronic device to perform the step further comprises: displaying the auxiliary symbol on the touch screen.