WO2009074278A1

WO2009074278A1 - Device and method for inputting combined characters

Info

Publication number: WO2009074278A1
Application number: PCT/EP2008/010394
Authority: WO
Inventors: Ying Liu; Jari Alhonen; Diya Gangopadhyay
Original assignee: Nokia Corporation
Priority date: 2007-12-11
Filing date: 2008-12-08
Publication date: 2009-06-18

Abstract

A device that has touch input means which comprises a plurality of key areas. The key areas are each associated with a base character. A key area is identified and a base character is selected. The device also comprises control means for combining a further character input received through touch input means with the base character associated with said identified key area into an input character and appending said character input to a text string.

Description

Title: DEVICE AND METHOD FOR INPUTTING COMBINED CHARACTERS

The following specification particularly describes the nature of this invention and the manner in which it is to be performed. The present application relates to a device and a method for inputting characters , and in particular to a device and a method for inputting characters in an alphabet having many characters or character combinations .

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION

More and more electronic devices such as mobile phones , MP3 players, Personal Digital Assistants (PDAs) are becoming smaller and smaller while having more and more information stored and/or accessible through them. Users are relying on these devices and becoming all the more dependant on them.

The environments in which these devices are used are also becoming more and more hectic with higher demands on fast access and multitasking, and not only in a professional environment but also in private and social environments . For example a user should be able to read a book, while holding a grocery bag in a rattling subway train and still be able to access the information stored in the device for the device to live up to the many requirements posed upon it by a user buying and using the device.

The input means , such as keypads and touchpads , have traditionally been designed for Latin based languages and due to this the overall design of the mobile device follow the same design making it difficult to implement text input for languages using alphabets having more characters than the Latin alphabet. One common way to arrange the characters of the Latin alphabet is by assigning a number of characters to a single key as is commonly done for ITU-T keypads having twelve keys with the character groups ^λabc' , ^Λdef' , ^Λghi' , ^λ jkl' , ^Λmno' , ^Λpqrs' , ^λtuv' , ^Λwxyz' assigned to the keys ^X2', ^y3' , ^Λ4' , '5', ^λ6' , ^yT , ^λ8' and ^λ9' respectively. The remaining three keys ^Λl' , ^λ*' and ^Λ#' are used for special characters or functions . This type of keyboard commonly uses input methods such as multi-tapping, where a certain character is input by repeated taps on the corresponding key, or through the use of predictive text input engines such as Tegic's® T9®. This has the draw back that only a limited number of characters can be assigned to each key for reasons such as labelling (too many characters would not fit on a single key) and fast input (too many characters on each key would either require too many multi-taps or produce too many candidates that need to be scrolled through) .

Another way is to use a QWERTY (or AZERTY) style keyboard where the characters are assigned to one key each making it faster to input each character. This has the drawback that for an alphabet having many characters the keypad has to be very large which is not suitable for devices that are to be portable and carried around close to a person and give quick and easy access to data stored thereon .

There exist many languages having many more characters than the Latin alphabet and that can be combined or has different forms making number of the possible characters to be input much higher.

Devnagari

The writing script Devnagari, which is used for several Indo-Aryan languages including Sanskrit, Hindi, Marathi, Sindhi , Bihari , Bhili , Marwari , Konkani , Bhojpuri , Santhali, Nepali, Newari and Tharu, has 12 svara (vowels) and 34 vyaήjana (consonants) making a total of 46 characters .

The vowels can exist in two forms , the actual vowel and its corresponding matra. A matra refers to the sound of the vowel. As a matra is combined with a consonant the matra associates the sound of the vowel or matra with the consonant.

The consonants can also exist in two forms, one complete and one partial . The partial form is used to create conjunct letters comprising two or more consonants called ligatures .

When writing Hindi for example, a consonant is written followed by the vowel or matra to form words or text strings . Several attempts have been made to enable Devnagari script input using handwriting recognition (HWR) engines. It has, however, proven to be difficult to attain a high reliability and speed of recognition as there are many different rules as to how the different forms should be converted and often a hand writing recognition engine produces results that simply make no sense at all to some users .

A handwriting word processor for Indian languages, PATRAM™, developed by Kamesh Madduri, K. H. Aparna, V. S. Chakravarthy of HT Madras presents a solution. This solution however suffers from the drawback that it requires a very large screen making it difficult to implement on small portable devices .

Thai Thai or phasa thai being a Tai kadai language has an alphabet that has 46 consonants and 31 vowels. Thai also uses many accents and tone markers or diacritics that need to be easily accessible to input text quick and efficiently. Due to the large numbers of characters a keypad designed to accommodate all letters and signs would need to be very big.

Even though there exists a Romanisation or transliteration into the Roman alphabet for each character developed by the Royal Thai Institute most users are not well-versed in this . The transliteration is mostly intended for and used for academic use. The common public doesn' t generally learn this transliteration and use any of a number of different rules for transliterate the Thai letters into English letters making it very difficult to set up a system of rules that are easy to understand for all users for typing Thai text using

English letters in portable devices .

As the Thai alphabet is derived from the Khmer and possibly also the Lao alphabets that use similar scripts these languages also suffer from the same problems .

Logogram scripts

Logogram scripts such as the various input scripts used for Chinese, Japanese (Kanji) , and Korean (Hanja) all suffer from that the icons used are relatively complex sometimes having many details and that most users who input them do so in different order and due to personal skill the details will differ. This leads to a poor recognition rate and also requires a high skill level from the user to obtain an acceptable recognition rate. This makes input difficult and slow. These difficulties have led to that most manufacturer use Latin characters to input the non-Latin alphabet mainly based on the pronunciation of the characters . These systems are difficult to use for users not well-versed in English.

One common problem with hand writing recognition is to correctly identify smaller strokes. It is difficult to decide whether they are part of a letter, a diacritic for the letter or a punctuation mark.

The solutions thus suffer from the drawbacks of requiring a big keypad or touch screen area, giving slow recognition or producing results that make no sense.

DISCLOSURE OF THE INVENTION

On this background, it is an object of the present application to provide a device and a method that overcomes or at least reduces the drawbacks indicated above by providing a device having a fast, easy and intuitive way to input written text in a script having many characters possibly existing in more than one form.

The objectives above are achieved by providing a device comprising touch input means for identifying a key area, said touch input means comprising a plurality of key areas, wherein at least one key area is associated with a base character, said device also comprising control means for combining a further character input received through said touch input means with a said base character associated with said identified key area into an input character and appending said character input to a text string.

By identifying some base characters in an alphabet that when combined with other further characters forms a syllable, ligature or other part of a word a reduced key area or key pad can be achieved while still allowing a user to type in all the characters of an alphabet in a quick and efficient way.

In one embodiment the further character is a supplemental character .

In one embodiment said supplemental character is received through said identified key area. If a user keeps on writing in the same area that was identified a movement is saved, making the input more efficient.

In one embodiment said supplemental character is received through a default key area. By having a default area for input it becomes more intuitive for a user to input text as there is always a default area that can be used.

In one embodiment the device further comprises control means for combining further supplemental characters with said base character. In some languages or scripts it can be possible to further subdivide a base character into characters that possibly need to be supplemented by more than one other character, mark or sign to complete it. This allows for a further reduced keypad.

In one embodiment the text string is null before appending said input character. By having a text string that is null the character input is in effect a standard input of one character that can be used in some applications not requiring a longer text.

In one embodiment the base character is a vowel and in one embodiment the base character is a matra. The number of vowels and matras are generally lower than the number of consonants, esp. in Devnagari , and as these are to be combined with a consonant or other, such as a diacritic, to form the correct character they are well suited for being base characters for a keypad that is small in physical size yet easy to use and providing access to a full writing script.

In one embodiment the supplemental character is consonant.

In one embodiment the supplemental character is a diacritic. Simply identifying a base character and quickly adding a diacritic on top of it makes the input very quick and easy to use and intuitive to learn.

In one embodiment the touch input means are a touch display. Using a touch display makes it easy for a user to identify the correct key area.

In one embodiment the device further comprises means for combining a base character with another base character or input character.

By realizing that a reversal of the order that characters or letters are input according to syntactical and other rules the relationship between components of a character can be better understood thus reducing the number of keys necessary to enable a fast and accurate HWR engine for complex characters .

By reversing the input order of the consonant and the vowel or in a consonant-vowel/matra pair the device can be made much smaller as there are far fewer vowels and even matras than there are consonants .

The objectives above are also achieved by providing a method for inputting text in a device comprising touch input means comprising a plurality of key areas where at least one key area is associated with a base character, wherein said method comprises identifying a key area and associated base character by user selection through said touch input means , receiving a further character input through said touch input means , combining said further character input with said base character associated with said key area into an input character through combining means and appending said input character to a text string through appending means .

This method has the same advantages as the device described above.

In one embodiment the further character is a supplemental character .

In one embodiment the step of receiving said supplemental character through said touch input means further comprises receiving a graphical trace of the supplemental character in the key area through said touch input means . Using hand writing recognition or other pen tracing techniques makes it easy for a user to input supplemental character as no further keys have to be displayed. If this pen trace is received in the key area the input becomes more efficient as further movements are not needed .

In one embodiment the step of receiving said supplemental character through said touch input means further comprises receiving a graphical trace of the supplemental character starting in the key area through said touch input means . If the graphical pen trace is only required to start in the identified key area the key areas can be made smaller thus either reducing the size of the total key area or keypad or allowing further base characters to be displayed. It also allows the user to make bigger graphical traces which are easier to make correct and easier to recognise, especially if the contain small details .

In one embodiment the step of identifying said key area further comprises displaying an enlarged key area on said display means . By temporarily displaying a larger key area the user can make a larger pen trace which is easier to make correctly and to recognise.

In one embodiment the step of receiving said supplemental character through said touch input means further comprises receiving a graphical trace of the supplemental character in a default key area through said touch input means . A default area is very intuitive to use and makes the method easier to learn.

In one embodiment the step of appending said input character to a text string further comprises creating a text string which is null for the input character to be put into through the appending means . As for the device above there are some possibilities for what the base and supplemental characters represent in the script that is being implemented with the method.

In one embodiment the steps of receiving a further character through said touch input means and combining said further character with said base character into a an input character by said combining means are repeated whereby more than one further character is combined with said base character into an input character by said combining means . This allows for characters having a more basic form and thus fewer base characters that can be completed by supplementing with more than one further character thus allowing the method to be used for languages having very large alphabets or character collections.

In one embodiment the method further comprises a step of receiving a second base character through said touch input means and a step of combining said base character with said second base character into a base character through said combining means .

This makes it possible to combine more than one base character which is useful for stroke based languages and allowing this new base character to be combined with a supplemental character .

In one embodiment the further character is a base character .

In one embodiment the method further comprises a step of receiving a second base character through said touch input means and a step of combining said input character with said second base character into an input character through said combining means . By allowing two base characters to form a complete input character allows for input of language script structures such as ligatures and some logograms or iconic characters having few strokes in a quick and efficient manner.

In one embodiment the display means are the same as said touch input means .

According to another aspect of this application the objectives above are achieved by providing a computer readable medium including at least computer program code for controlling a device comprising touch input means comprising a plurality of key areas where at least one key area is associated with a base character, said computer readable medium comprising software code for identifying a key area and associated base character by user selection through said touch input means , software code for receiving a further character input through said touch input means , software code for combining said further character input with said base character associated with said key area into an input character through combining means and software code for appending said input character to a text string through appending means .

In one embodiment the further character is a supplemental character .

In one aspect the objectives are achieved by a device incorporating and implementing a computer readable medium according to above. In one aspect the objectives above are achieved by a module comprising touch sensitive input means for identifying a base character associated with a key area, display means for displaying a plurality of key areas, receiving means for receiving a further character, combining means for combining said identified base character with said received further character into an input character and appending means for appending said input character to a text string.

This module and the embodiments disclosed below have the same advantages and benefits as the device disclosed above.

In one embodiment said further character is a supplemental character .

In one embodiment said supplemental character is received through said identified key area.

In one embodiment said supplemental character is received through a default key area.

In one embodiment the module further comprises control means for combining further supplemental characters with said base character.

In one embodiment said text string is null before appending said input character.

In one embodiment said supplemental character is a diacritic . In one embodiment said supplemental character is consonant.

In one embodiment said base character is a vowel.

In one embodiment said base character is a matra.

In one embodiment said touch input means is a touch display .

In one embodiment the module further comprises means for combining a base character with another base character or input character.

By realizing that many of the Thai language's characters have the same base character the teachings of the present application can beneficially be used for Thai . The base characters could be the similar graphical presentations of the letters and the supplemental characters could be the accent marks or diacritics a combination of which would produce a complete input character. Other possibilities are also possible such as having the diacritics being the base characters and writing the letter on top of them.

The writing script for Vietnamese, called Chύ Quόc Ngϋ or quόc ngϋ, is a Romanised writing script based on the Latin alphabet and has 29 letters, 10 digraphs, 1 trigraph and 9 accent marks or diacritics. Of these 29 characters many of them share the same base character and as the digraphs and trigraphs are combinations of two or three characters the teachings of this application can beneficially be used for Vietnamese reducing the number of characters needing assigned keys (virtual or physical) . To input a digraph the user could write the second or following character on top of the first. For example to input ^λCH' a user would draw an ^λH' on top of the ^λC thereby form the digraph ^λCH' . Alternatively for digraphs the ^ΛH' could be dragged onto the ^λC or vice versa to be combined as a CH.

In logogram scripts such as used for Chinese, Japanese or Korean the alphabet or collection of available characters is very large . Each character is constructed by one or more pen strokes forming graphical symbols or structures. Many of the characters share some of these structures that are part of the complete character and can be changed into the complete character by supplementing with further strokes or structures . Each supplemental pen stroke can only be in a few of places thus making the number of candidates relatively small and easy for a user to select. If the base characters are the most common structures a user can quickly input a complete character by identifying and selecting a base character and then draw one or more supplemental characters which are combined with the base character to form a complete input character. In one embodiment it is possible to combine more than one base character into a more complex base character that can either for a complete input character or be combined with further supplemental or base characters .

The objectives above are also achieved by a device comprising touch input means having a plurality of key areas, wherein at least one key area is associated with a base character, said touch input means being arranged to identify a key area upon user selection and thereby also the associated base character, wherein said touch input means being further arranged to receive a further character, said device being arranged to combine said base character with said further character into an input character .

The objectives above are also achieved by providing a device comprising a touch input comprising a plurality of key areas, wherein at least one key area is associated with a base character, for identifying a key area, said device also comprising a controller adapted to combine a further character input received through said touch input with said base character associated with said identified key area into an input character.

In one embodiment the further character is a supplemental character .

In one embodiment said supplemental character is received through a default key area

In one embodiment the device further comprises control means or a controller for combining further supplemental characters with said base character.

In one embodiment the input character is appended to a text string which can be null before appending said input character to it.

In one embodiment said supplemental character is a diacritic. In one embodiment said supplemental character is consonant.

In one embodiment said base character is a vowel .

In one embodiment said base character is a consonant.

In one embodiment said base character is a matra.

In one embodiment said touch input is a touch display.

In one embodiment the device is further arranged to combine a base character with another base character or input character.

According to an aspect the objectives above are achieved by providing a method for inputting text in a device comprising a touch input or touch input means comprising a plurality of key areas where at least one key area is associated with a base character, wherein said method comprises identifying a key area and associated base character by user selection, receiving a further character input, combining said further character input with said base character associated with said key area into an input character.

In one embodiment the further character is a supplemental character .

In one embodiment the method further comprises appending said input character to a text string. 1

In one embodiment the step of receiving said supplemental character further comprises receiving a graphical trace of the supplemental character in the key area .

In one embodiment the step of receiving said supplemental character further comprises receiving a graphical trace of the supplemental character starting in the key area.

In one embodiment the step of identifying said key area further comprises displaying an enlarged key area on said display.

In one embodiment the step of receiving said supplemental character further comprises receiving a graphical trace of the supplemental character in a default key area.

In one embodiment the step of appending said input character to a text string further comprises creating a text string which is null for the input character to be put into.

In one embodiment the supplemental character is a diacritic.

In one embodiment the supplemental character is a consonant .

In one embodiment the base character is a vowel .

In one embodiment the base character is a matra.

In one embodiment the steps of receiving a supplemental character and combining said supplemental character with said base character into a an input character are repeated whereby more than one supplemental character is combined with said base character into an input character .

In one embodiment the method further comprises a step of receiving a second base character and a step of combining said base character with said second base character into a base character.

In one embodiment the method further comprises a step of receiving a second base character and a step of combining said input character with said second base character into an input character.

In one embodiment the display means are the same as said touch input means, alternatively they are a touch display.

Further objects, features, advantages and properties of device, method and computer readable medium according to the present application will become apparent from the detailed description.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

In the following detailed portion of the present description, the invention will be explained in more detail with reference to the example embodiments shown in the drawings , in which :

Fig. 1 is an overview of a telecommunications system in which a device according to the present application is used according to an embodiment, Fig. 2 is a plane front view of a device according to an embodiment,

Fig. 3 is a block diagram illustrating the general architecture of a device of Fig. 1 in accordance with the present application,

Fig. 4a, b and c are flow charts describing methods according to embodiments,

Fig. 5 is a plane front view of a device according to an embodiment, Fig. 6 is a plane front view of a device according to an embodiment, and

Fig. 7 is a plane front view of a device according to an embodiment .

Fig. 8 is a plane front view of a device according to an embodiment .

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF EMBODIMENTS

In the following detailed description, the device, the method and the software product according to the teachings of this application in the form of a cellular/mobile phone will be described by the embodiments. It should be noted that although only a mobile phone is described the teachings of this application can also be used in any electronic device and especially in portable electronic devices such as laptops , PDAs , mobile communication terminals , media players, game consoles, watches, video and photo cameras electronic books and notepads and other electronic devices offering access to information.

FIG. 1 illustrates an example of a cellular telecommunications system in which the invention may be applied. In the telecommunication system of FIG. 1, various telecommunications services such as cellular voice calls, www/wap browsing, cellular video calls, data calls, facsimile transmissions, music transmissions, still image transmissions, video transmissions, electronic message transmissions and electronic commerce may be performed between a mobile terminal 100 according to the present invention and other devices, such as another mobile terminal 106 or a stationary telephone 132. It is to be noted that for different embodiments of the mobile terminal 100 and in different situations, different ones of the telecommunications services referred to above may or may not be available; the invention is not limited to any particular set of services in this respect.

The mobile terminals 100, 106 are connected to a mobile telecommunications network 110 through RF links 102, 108 via base stations 104, 109. The mobile telecommunications network 110 may be in compliance with any commercially available mobile telecommunications standard, such as GSM, UMTS, D-AMPS, CDMA2000, FOMA and TD-SCDMA.

The mobile telecommunications network 110 is operatively connected to a wide area network 120, which may be Internet or a part thereof. An Internet server 122 has a data storage 124 and is connected to the wide area network 120, as is an Internet client computer 126. The server 122 may host a www/wap server capable of serving www/wap content to the mobile terminal 100.

A public switched telephone network (PSTN) 130 is connected to the mobile telecommunications network 110 in a familiar manner . Various telephone terminals , including the stationary telephone 132, are connected to the PSTN 130 .

The mobile terminal 100 is also capable of communicating locally via a local link 101 to one or more local devices 103. The local link can be any type of link with a limited range, such as Bluetooth, a Universal Serial Bus

(USB) link, a Wireless Universal Serial Bus (WUSB) link, an IEEE 802.11 wireless local area network link, an RS-

232 serial link, etc. The local devices 103 can for example be various sensors that can communicate measurement values to the mobile terminal 100 over the local link 101.

An embodiment 200 of the mobile terminal 100 is illustrated in more detail in FIG. 2. The mobile terminal 200 comprises a speaker or earphone 202, a microphone 206, a main or first display 203 which is a touch display having a set of virtual keys 204. A virtual key is a dedicated key area on the display and any touch input in that area is interpreted as being an input relating to that key. Thus, a virtual key can be used much in the same way as a normal physical key by identifying the virtual key by pressing or touching on the associated key area with a finger or stylus . In some embodiments a touch could also be detected without actual touching by using proximity sensors . These sensors are adapted to detect if an object is in close proximity to a surface. If such an object is detected, possibly for a preset time, a touch is detected. The key areas are indicated on the display with some graphics indicating the associated character, letter, number or function and possibly including a marked border that makes it easier for a user to see the borders of the key making identification of the key easier. The device also includes certain other keys such as soft keys 205 and a joystick 213 or other type of navigational input device .

The internal component, software and protocol structure of the mobile terminal 200 will now be described with reference to FIG. 3. The mobile terminal has a controller 300 which is responsible for the overall operation of the mobile terminal and may be implemented by any commercially available CPU ("Central Processing Unit") , DSP ("Digital Signal Processor") or any other electronic programmable logic device. The controller 300 has associated electronic memory 302 such as RAM memory, ROM memory, EEPROM memory, flash memory, or any combination thereof. The memory 302 is used for various purposes by the controller 300, one of them being for storing data used by and program instructions for various software in the mobile terminal . The software includes a real-time operating system 320, drivers for a man-machine interface (MMI) 334, an application handler 332 as well as various applications . The applications can include a calendar application 350, a notepad application 360, as well as various other applications 370, such as applications for voice calling, video calling, sending and receiving Short Message Service (SMS) messages, Multimedia Message Service (MMS) messages or email, web browsing, an instant messaging application, a phone book application, a calendar application, a control panel application, a camera application, a text input application , a Hand Writing Recognition (HWR) engine, one or more video games, a notepad application, etc.

The MMI 334 also includes one or more hardware controllers, which together with the MMI drivers cooperate with the touch display 336/203 including the virtual keypad 204, and the special keys 338/205 as well as various other I/O devices such as microphone, speaker, vibrator, ringtone generator, LED indicator, etc. Alternatively the MMI includes drivers for a touchpad 340. As is commonly known, the user may operate the mobile terminal through the man-machine interface thus formed.

Instead of a touch display a normal display and a touchpad could be used. The touchpad may then be arranged with labels indicating different writing and/or key areas and their associated characters and/or functions .

The software also includes various modules , protocol stacks, drivers, etc., which are commonly designated as 330 and which provide communication services (such as transport, network and connectivity) for an RF interface 306, and optionally a Bluetooth interface 308 and/or an IrDA interface 310 for local connectivity. The RF interface 306 comprises an internal or external antenna as well as appropriate radio circuitry for establishing and maintaining a wireless link to a base station (e.g. the link 102 and base station 104 in FIG. 1) . As is well known to a man skilled in the art, the radio circuitry comprises a series of analogue and digital electronic components , together forming a radio receiver and transmitter. These components include, band pass filters, amplifiers, mixers, local oscillators, low pass filters, AD/DA converters , etc .

The mobile terminal also has a SIM card 304 and an associated reader. As is commonly known, the SIM card 304 comprises a processor as well as local work and data memory . Returning to figure 2 with simultaneous reference to figure 4 an embodiment of the invention is displayed. The mobile phone 200 is adapted for Devnagari input and the touch display 203 is arranged with ten virtual keys or key areas 204, and each of these key areas 204 are associated with a base character which in this embodiment is a matra. The associated matra is displayed or indicated 211 on the key area 204 within border markers 210. It should be understood that using vowels (requiring 11 key areas) is also feasible. The touch display 203 is also arranged with a default key area 207 which is used as a default writing area 207. The touch display 203 is further arranged with a candidate display area 209 and a text display area 208.

A user who wants to input Hindi text using the Devnagari script can either input each character directly in the default character area 207 or by using the key areas 204. As each consonant is paired with a matra to form words or part of words when using Devnagari the user can reverse the order in which the characters are input. As there are many fewer vowels/matras than consonants the number of keys necessary can be slightly reduced.

A user identifies or selects a key area 204 in step 410 by clicking on the key area 204 on the touch display 203 with a stylus or a finger and the associated base character is received by the controller 300 (not shown in fig 2) in step 420. The user can then either move his hand to the default key area 207 or keep it by the identified key area 204 in step 430 and write a supplemental character, in this embodiment a consonant. As the user writes on the touch display a graphical trace is recognised and stored by the driver 336. This graphical trace is then sent to the controller 300 where it is converted into graphical data constituting a pen stroke which is used by the HWR engine 370 to recognise which character or other sign that has been input through the touch display 203. This pen stroke originating from the graphical trace constitutes the supplemental character .

The supplemental character is received by the controller in step 440 and combined with the base character already received into an input character in step 450, in this embodiment a consonant-matra pair.

The input character is then appended to a text string being displayed in the text display area 208 in step 460 by the controller 300. As the first input character is created the text string is naturally empty or null and as the first character is appended to it the text string will gain a length or size. It should be noted that a text string of length 1 could be used for some applications only requiring 1 character, such as initiating a phone book search for example.

If the combination of the base character and the supplemental character can result in more than one input character, the different possible candidate characters are displayed in the candidate display area 209. The user can then write in further supplemental characters either on the identified key area 204 or the default key area 207 as indicated by arrow 455. Or the user can select one of the candidate characters displayed in the candidate display area 209. As the user writes with a stylus or finger on top of the identified key area 204 a hand writing recognition (HWR) engine or other input means 370 (not shown in fig 2) interprets the strokes made and recognizes a supplemental character. The HWR engine only has a limited number of possible supplemental characters so the recognition is relatively simple as a skilled person would realize.

Alternatively a first candidate can be displayed in the display area 208 simultaneously with the candidate characters being displayed in the candidate display area 209. The candidate characters being displayed in the candidate display area 209 can either include or exclude the first candidate character. Should another candidate character be selected this candidate character is made to be the first candidate character.

In one embodiment switching from the key area 204 to the default key area 207 after a supplemental character has been input will be recognized by the controller 300 as an accept of the input character.

In one embodiment the mobile phone has a switch key 214 which can be used to switch the base characters associated with the key areas 204. This would enable a base character set up with consonants as base characters as well which is useful for ligature input. A user wanting to input a ligature could then press the switch key area 214 which causes the touch display 203 to display consonants associated with the key areas 204 as indicated by the graphical indications 211. The user would identify one key area 204 associated to the base character wanted and then either drag and drop the next base character if visible or draw a supplemental character which will be combined with the base character into a complete ligature. Alternatively the switch key 214 could be used to scroll between different sets of consonants . Also a halant can be a supplemental character .

In one embodiment the base character set is user definable so that the user can add, remove or delete base characters from the set thereby creating a base character set well-suited for personal or regional use.

In one embodiment the mobile phone 200 is adapted for Chu Quoc Ngu or Vietnamese input and the base characters are the letters {A B C D E G H I K L M N O P Q R S T U V X Y} and the supplemental characters are diacritics used to complete the alphabet. The complete alphabet is {A A A B C D D E E G H I K L M N O ό σ P Q R S T U U V X Y CH GH GI KH NG NGH NH PH QU TH TR} .

To further reduce the size of the keypad or total key area, the diacritics could be the base character and a user would then input the characters without a diacritic in the default key area 207 and the ones with a diacritic in the corresponding key area 204. Optionally the digraphs could have a special key area for indicating that it is a digraph that is being input whereupon two graphical pen traces would be received and combined into a complete input character.

In another embodiment the mobile phone 200 is adapted for Thai, Khmer and/or Lao input, the base characters are the diacritics and the user simply writes a letter of the alphabet on top of the key area 204 with the selected or identified diacritic forming an input character consisting of the letter (being the supplemental character) and the diacritic (being the base character) .

Should there be a need to enter more than one base character for an already selected base character the second base character can be dragged and dropped on to the first identified base character. This is possible in all languages having such a need. For the Thai embodiment above it is possible that more than one diacritic (such as an accent and a tone marker) should be input for the same character . For Vietnamese this would be useful when inputting diagraphs or trigraphs .

Figure 4b shows a method where a base character can be combined with both supplemental characters and further base characters. In step 410 a base character key area 204 is identified by the user tapping it with a stylus and the corresponding base character is received by the controller. The user then continues by selecting further characters, base or supplemental by dragging and dropping other key areas 204 to the identified one or by writing on the touch display 203 as explained above, step 435. These characters are thus received by the controller 300, step 445, and combined in step 450 and displayed 260.

Figure 4c shows a method where a user selects a key area 204 470 and the associated base character is received by the controller 300 in step 471. The key area 204 or the associated base character is then dragged and dropped in step 472 on a second key area 204. The second key area 204 is identified in step 473 and a second base character is received 474. In the next step 475 they are combined into one base character. This base character can then either be the finished input character or be further supplemented with supplemental characters and possibly also further base characters . In figure 4c the input character is complete and displayed in step 476.

In an alternative embodiment an identified key area 204 is enlarged so that it is easier for a user to input a supplemental character in the area. See figure 5 where the border markers 210 have been expanded to indicate an enlarged key area 204. The identification of a key area 204 can be done either as the pen touches the key area 204 or by using proximity sensors common in the field when the stylus or finger comes close to a key area 204. As the stylus moves over the key areas 204 different key areas 204 will be identified or selected and subsequently de-selected as the stylus moves on.

Alternatively the key area identified 204 becomes the starting point for any subsequent input of a supplemental character. See fig 6 in which a pen trace 212 over many of the key areas 204 is shown. A user identifies a key area 204 by placing the stylus in the key area 204 on the touch display 203 which also selects a base character associated with the key area 204. To input a supplemental character the user draws on the whole virtual key area using all the key areas 204, including the default key area 207 and possibly the whole display area of the touch display 203. In this manner a user can use much more of the touch display for the input which makes it easy to input the supplemental characters, as the movements can be larger and more precise in detail and faster to process the display updates and the image recognition as no rescaling is needed as the display does not change. This is especially useful for languages using many diacritics . To input a letter without a diacritic the default writing area 207 is used, either to input the whole character or as a starting point. And to input a character with a diacritic the key area 204 associated with the diacritic is used as a starting area. Depending on the placement and sizes of the key areas 204 and the default key area 207 the input can thus be made very similar to conventional character input using HWR. See fig 7 for an example adapted for Latin or Roman input. Here the default writing area 207 is made large so as to occupy most of the lower half of the touch display 203. Four key areas 204 area arranged above the default key area 207 each having base characters ^λ~' , ^ΛA' , ^λ'' and Λ^* ' assigned to it respectively as indicated by the graphical indicator 211. To input "A maήana!" a user would simply write as normal, but when it came time for the ^λfi' the user would start in the key area 204 and draw an ^Λn' . Instead of simply clicking the ^Λ~' symbol and then writing the ^λn' the user can save time and effort by not having to lift and move his hand and the input becomes one single swift movement.

In one embodiment the mobile phone 200 (see also below for fig 8) is adapted for logogram or iconic input, such as the scripts used for Chinese et.c. By realizing that most characters, icons or signs consist of some basic components common to many icons one can assign these as base components and then further supplement the base components with supplemental characters or pen strokes that the controller can combine .

The key areas 204 will thus have one basic pen stroke associated with it and as a key area 204 is identified the base character is received by the controller. Further strokes in either the default writing area 207 or on top of the key area 204, starting in the key area 204 or in an enlarged version of the key area 204 as explained above, are sent to the controller 300 as supplemental characters and they are combined by the controller 300 into an icon or input character. Most often more than one supplemental character is required and the user continues to input them as above .

Alternatively a further basic pen stroke can be used to complete a base character and the user can simply drag and drop this further base character on top of the identified key area 204.

Alternatively for all embodiments a pen-trace can be left for a short time interval possibly up until acceptance of an input character to show to the user what has been input and where . This is especially useful as some characters might need more than one stroke.

It should also be understood that any predictive text input engine could be coupled with the character input described in this application to provide a faster input of whole words or even phrases and sentences .

It is also possible to automatically detect which language is used by starting with a large default key area in which the user inputs the first candidate. A HWR engine will then recognize which character is being input and to which language and/or alphabet it belongs and possibly automatically alter the layout of the touch display' s 203 to display key areas 204 that are associated with base characters for the alphabet recognised. In one embodiment, especially if a personalised base character set as discussed above is used, a HWR engine could be used to detect which user is currently using the device and change the base character set accordingly to the preferred language or personalised base character set if such exists .

Furthermore special key areas could be assigned to special functions or characters, signs such as the operation delete, punctuation marks or other operation keys such as the switch key 214.

As explained above the teachings of this application can advantageously be used for logograms. Each base character is a common pen-stroke or combination of pen-strokes i.e. a structure. These base characters are indicated 211 on the key areas 204. To input a character a user identifies a base character 211 by clicking or tapping on the associated key area 204. The base character is thus received by the controller 300. The user can then proceed with either combining more base characters to the first or writing or drawing some supplemental characters on the touch display in the key area 204 in the default area 207 or over a bigger area of the touch display 203 as is shown in figure 8 with the graphical trace 212. Indications as to how the supplemental character is to be combined with the base character can be given by the position of the supplemental character input in the key area 204 or 207 or display portion used. For example if the supplemental character is to be combined with the base character in the upper half of the base character, the supplemental character is drawn on the upper portion of the key area 204 or 207 used. If the identified key area 204 is enlarged this becomes easier as it is easier to indicate exactly where on or in relation to the base character the supplemental character belongs . The relative position can also be indicated by a quick tap on the displayed base character before or after the supplemental character is input. Which input method that is easiest to use depends on the screen size, the number of base characters displayed and the size of the key area 204 in relation to the stylus being used. As only a limited number of base character-supplemental character pairs exist a text input engine can quickly recognise which are the most likely candidates for a complete input character and display these in the candidate display area 209. The more supplemental characters and/or base characters that are input the higher the accuracy of the recognition.

The various aspects of what is described above can be used alone or in various combinations . The teaching of this application may be implemented by a combination of hardware and software, but can also be implemented in hardware or software . The teaching of this application can also be embodied as computer readable code on a computer readable medium. It should be noted that the teaching of this application is not limited to the use in mobile communication terminals such as mobile phones, but can be equally well applied in Personal digital Assistants (PDAs) , MP3 players, personal organizers or any other device designed for providing information while maintaining low power consumption .

The teaching of the present application has numerous advantages. Different embodiments or implementations may yield one or more of the following advantages. It should be noted that this is not an exhaustive list and there may be other advantages which are not described herein. One advantage of the teaching of this application is that all characters and combination of characters are available for reliable input using only a small display are making it suitable for small portable devices .

Another advantage of the teaching of the present application is that it is quick to use and easy to learn.

It should be noted that the teachings of this application can also be used for other languages even languages based on the Latin alphabet. For example, if the teachings herein were to be applied to Swedish the unique characters ^ΛA' , ^ΛA/ and ^λO' could be input by inputting a ring or an umlaut respectively on top of the base characters ^λA' and ^ΛO' . Likewise any accents or diacritics could be input by directly making them on top of the base character. French having many diacritics is one language that would benefit from this. Inputting ^Λe' for example would be done by making the acute accent ^Λ ' ' directly on the base character ^λe' producing ^λe' .

Although the teaching of the present application has been described in detail for purpose of illustration, it is understood that such detail is solely for that purpose, and variations can be made therein by those skilled in the art without departing from the scope of the teaching of this application.

For example, although the teaching of the present application has been described in terms of a mobile phone, it should be appreciated that the invention may also be applied to other types of electronic devices, such as music players, palmtop computers and the like. It should also be noted that there are many alternative ways of implementing the methods and apparatuses of the teachings of the present application.

The term "comprising" as used in the claims does not exclude other elements or steps. The term "a" or "an" as used in the claims does not exclude a plurality. A unit or other means may fulfil the functions of several units or means recited in the claims .

It should also be noted that the order of the steps recited in the claims below is not to be construed as fixed.

Claims

CLAIMS :

1. A device comprising touch input means comprising a plurality of key areas , wherein at least one key area is associated with a base character, said device also comprising means for identifying a key area and thereby an associated base character and control means for combining a further character input received through said touch input means with said base character associated with said identified key area into an input character and appending said input character to a text string.

2. A device according to claim 1 , wherein said further character is a supplemental character.

3. A device according to claim 2 , wherein said supplemental character is received through said identified key area.

4. A device according to claim 2 , wherein said supplemental character is received through a default key area

5. A device according to claim 2 , further comprising control means for combining further supplemental characters with said base character.

6. A device according to claim 1 , wherein said text string is null before appending said input character.

7. A device according to claim 2 , wherein said supplemental character is a diacritic.

8. A device according to claim 2 , wherein said supplemental character is consonant.

9. A device according to claim 1 , wherein said base character is a vowel .

10. A device according to claim 1, wherein said base character is a matra.

11. A device according to claim 1, wherein said touch input means are a touch display.

12. A device according to claim 1 further comprising means for combining a base character with another base character or input character.

13. A method for inputting text in a device comprising touch input means comprising a plurality of key areas where at least one key area is associated with a base character, wherein said method comprises

identifying a key area and associated base character by user selection through said touch input means ,

receiving a further character input through said touch input means,

combining said further character input with said base character associated with said key area into an input character through combining means and

appending said input character to a text string through appending means.

14. A method according to claim 13 , wherein the further character is a supplemental character.

15. A method according to claim 14, wherein the step of receiving said supplemental character through said touch input means further comprises receiving a graphical trace of the supplemental character in the key area through said touch input means .

16. A method according to claim 14, wherein the step of receiving said supplemental character through said touch input means further comprises receiving a graphical trace of the supplemental character starting in ^' the key area through said touch input means.

17. A method according to claim 14, wherein the step of identifying said key area further comprises displaying an enlarged key area on display means.

18. A method according to claim 14, wherein the step of receiving said supplemental character through said touch input means further comprises receiving a graphical trace of the supplemental character in a default key area through said touch input means.

19. A method according to claim 13, wherein the step of appending said, input character to a text string further comprises creating a text string which is null for the input character to be put into through the appending means .

20. A method according to claim 14, wherein the ^■ supplemental character is a diacritic.

RECTIFIED SHEET (RULE 91) ISA/EP

21. A method according to claim 14, wherein the supplemental character is a consonant.

22. A method according to claim 13, wherein the base character is a vowel.

23. A ^' method according to claim 13, wherein the base character . is a matra.

24. A method according to claim 14, wherein the steps of receiving a supplemental character through said touch input means and combining said supplemental character with said base character into a ^' an input character by said combining means are repeated whereby more than one , supplemental character is combined with said base character into an input character by said combining means .

25. A method according to claim 13 further comprising a step of

receiving a second base character through said touch input means and a step of

combining said base character with said second base character into a base character through said combining means .

26. A method according to claim 12 wherein said further character is a base character.

27. A method according to claim 12, wherein said display means are the same as said touch input means.

RECTIFIED SHEET (RULE 91) ISA/EP . 2,8. A computer readable medium including at least computer program code for controlling a device comprising touch input means comprising a plurality of key areas where at least one key .area is associated with a base 5 character, said computer readable medium comprising: software code for identifying a key area and associated base character by user selection through said touch input means, software code for receiving a supplemental character 10 input through said touch input means, software code for combining said supplemental character input with said base character associated with said key area into an input character through combining means and

15 software code for appending said, input character to a text string through appending means.

29. A device incorporating and implementing a computer readable medium according to claim 28.

20

30. A module comprising

touch sensitive input means for identifying a base character associated with a key area, '25 display means for displaying a plurality of key areas,

receiving means for receiving a further character,

30 combining means for combining said identified base character with said received further character into an input character and

RECTIFIED SHEET (RULE 91) ISA/EP appending means for appending said input character to a text string.

31. A module according to claim 30_r wherein said further character is a supplemental character.

32. .A module according to claim 31, wherein said supplemental character is received through said identified key area.

33. A module according to claim 31, wherein said supplemental character is received through a default key- area.

34. A module according to claim 31, further comprising control means for combining' further supplemental characters with said base character.

35. A module according to claim 30, wherein said text string is null before appending said input character.

36. A module according to claim 31, wherein said supplemental character is a diacritic.

37. A module according to claim 31, wherein said supplemental character is consonant.

38. A module according to claim 30, wherein said base character is a vowel.

39. A module according to claim 30, wherein said base character is a matra. . . .

RECTIFIED SHEET (RULE 91) ISA/EP

40. A module according to claim 30, wherein said touch input means is a touch display.

41. A module according to claim 30, further comprising means for combining a base character with another base character or input character.

42. A device substantially as herein described with reference to the accompanying drawings.

43. A method using means substantially as herein ■ described with reference to the accompanying drawings.

44. A module substantially as herein described with reference to the accompanying drawings-.

RECTIFIED SHEET (RULE 91) ISA/EP