CN102279652A - Electronic device and input method thereof - Google Patents

Abstract

An electronic device and an input method thereof are provided. The method includes displaying a software keyboard on a touch screen of the electronic device, the software keyboard supporting multiple language input with one 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. Therefore, the electronic device can simultaneously support keyboard input and handwriting input, and convenience of inputting data into the electronic device is improved.

Description

Electronic device and its input method

technical field

The invention relates to an input method, in particular to a method and an electronic device for integrating keyboard and handwriting input.

Background technique

With the advancement of mobile technology, the appearance of mobile devices is not only becoming thinner and thinner, but also more and more types of functions are integrated therein. Since the mobile device is required to be portable, the size and weight of the product are also highly valued by consumers.

In order to further reduce the size of the product and at the same time have a larger screen display, manufacturers have begun to replace traditional buttons with touch screens, and then use them as input and output tools for mobile devices. When the user wants to input text through the touch screen, he must switch to the corresponding software keyboard (Software Input Panel, SIP) according to the required language. In detail, since the software keyboards corresponding to 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 it is necessary to interspersely input sentences or symbols in other languages, it is necessary to constantly switch back and forth between multiple software keyboards, which will easily cause a drop in input efficiency.

Contents of the invention

The invention provides an input method and an electronic device using the method, so that the user can also input various symbols by handwriting when inputting through a software keyboard.

The invention provides an input method for an electronic device with a touch screen. The method includes displaying a software keyboard (Software Input Panel, SIP) on the touch screen, wherein the software keyboard supports multi-language input with one keyboard layout. When the software keyboard is displayed on the touch screen, the handwriting input is received from the touch screen, and auxiliary symbols are generated according to the trajectory 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. Wherein the touch screen is used to display a software keyboard, and the software keyboard supports multi-language input with one keyboard layout. The detection module is coupled to the touch screen, and is used for receiving handwriting input from the touch screen when the software keyboard is displayed on the touch screen. The recognition module is coupled to the touch screen and the detection module, and is used to generate auxiliary symbols according to the trajectory of the handwriting input.

Based on the above, when the touch screen displays a software keyboard to receive key input, the present invention can also receive handwriting input through the touch screen, and then correspondingly generate various auxiliary symbols. Accordingly, the number of switching between different software keyboards for the user can be reduced, thereby increasing the convenience of inputting data into the electronic device.

In order to make the above-mentioned features and advantages of the present invention more comprehensible, the following specific embodiments are described in detail with reference to the accompanying drawings.

Description of drawings

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

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

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

FIG. 3 is a schematic diagram showing the corresponding relationship between English letters and phonetic symbols of the keys of the software keyboard according to an embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 4 is a flowchart of an input method according to an embodiment of the present invention.

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

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

Description of reference symbols

100: Electronics

110: Touch screen

120: detection module

130: Identification module

140: Control module

200: Software keyboard

210, 220: buttons

410-430: each step of the input method described in an embodiment of the present invention

510: Operation screen

610-650: each step of the input method described in another embodiment of the present invention

Detailed ways

FIG. 1A is a block diagram of an electronic device according to an embodiment of the present invention. Please refer 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 (smart phone), a computer, a music player, a game device, a digital camera, or any other An electronic device that operates.

The touch screen 110 may be a resistive touch screen or a capacitive touch screen, and is used 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 (Software Input Panel, SIP), and the software keyboard supports multi-language input with a keyboard layout. That is, even if the user switches and selects different input languages, the appearance of the software keyboard will not change.

FIG. 2 is a schematic diagram of a software keyboard according to an embodiment of the present invention. In this embodiment, the software keyboard 200 has 28 keys and is displayed on the touch screen 110 in a manner of distributing 7 columns and each column includes 4 keys. Each key of the software keyboard 200 is displayed with a corresponding symbol. English letters A-Z are marked on the 26 keys, and the keys 210 and 220 in the last column are function keys with clearing function and language switching function respectively, and icons representing their functions are also displayed on the keys 210 and 220 . In this embodiment, the keys with English letters are arranged and displayed on the software keyboard 200 according to the sequence of English letters.

If the electronic device 100 can provide three input languages: English, Chinese, and Japanese, no matter which input language the user switches to, the software keyboard 200 will still maintain the same keyboard layout as shown in FIG. 2 . For example, when the user switches the desired input language to Chinese, the electronic device 100 will provide a Pinyin-based input method, so that the user can use the software keyboard 200 to input Chinese. In one embodiment, the pinyin-based input method provided by the electronic device 100 is to formulate the corresponding relationship between the phonetic symbols and English letters according to the pronunciation and/or shape of the phonetic symbols (the corresponding relationship can be shown in FIG. 3 , But not limited thereto), so that the user can input Chinese through the software keyboard 200 . Since the software keyboard 200 supports multilingual input with one keyboard layout, the user only needs to memorize one key layout, and does not need to memorize the corresponding keyboard layouts for different input languages.

However, it must be noted that the software keyboard 200 shown in FIG. 2 is only an example for convenience of description, 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 an input signal triggered by the user from the touch screen 110 . At the same time, the detection module 120 can also obtain the position information of the input signal.

The identification module 130 is coupled to the detection module 120 . The recognition module 130 is used to recognize user 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 this embodiment, the electronic device 100 further includes a control module 140 in addition to the touch screen 110 , the detection module 120 and the identification module 130 .

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

FIG. 4 is a flowchart 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 multilingual input with a single keyboard layout. In this 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 a transparency of 50%, the touch screen 110 will display 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 mode can increase the display area of each button, so as to reduce the situation that the user presses the button by mistake. The screen display, the user can still see the operation screen 510 displayed below 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 this embodiment, handwriting input can occur anywhere on the touch screen 120 . For example, the handwriting input can be within the area where the software keyboard is displayed on the touch screen 120 , or in another area outside the area where the software keyboard is displayed.

Next, as shown in step 430, the recognition module 130 generates auxiliary symbols according to the trajectory of the handwriting input. Wherein, the auxiliary symbols may be punctuation marks and/or any symbols that may need to be used when inputting data in 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 symbols generated are voiced symbols in Japanese; when the recognition module 130 recognizes that the trajectory of the handwriting input is a circle, the corresponding auxiliary symbols generated are The auxiliary symbols are semi-voiced symbols in Japanese. For another example, when the electronic device 100 is set to the Chinese input mode, the auxiliary symbols generated by the recognition module 130 in response to the trajectory of the handwriting input may include the tone symbols of Zhuyin. In more detail, when the recognition module 130 recognizes that the trajectory of the handwritten input is a circle, the corresponding auxiliary symbol generated is the soft voice symbol in Zhuyin; when the recognition module 130 recognizes that the trajectory of the handwritten input is two consecutive points, the corresponding auxiliary symbol generated is The symbol is a symbol of one sound in Zhuyin; when the recognition module 130 recognizes that the track of the handwritten input is an oblique upper right line, the corresponding auxiliary symbol produced is the two-tone symbol in Zhuyin; the track of the handwritten input is recognized in the recognition module 130 When it is a ticked line, the corresponding auxiliary symbol generated is the three-tone symbol in Zhuyin; and when the recognition module 130 recognizes that the trajectory of the handwritten input is a line inclined to the lower right, the corresponding auxiliary symbol generated is the four-tone symbol in Zhuyin. sound symbol.

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 punctuation marks according to the user's handwriting input, the control module 140 will control the touch screen 110 to display the punctuation marks in the input field of the application program currently executed by the electronic device 100, and use The punctuation marks are used as input data. 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 will control 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 regard the candidate auxiliary symbol as an electronic device 100 input data.

FIG. 6 is a flowchart of 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 touch screen 110 of the electronic device 100 displays a software keyboard, and the software keyboard supports multiple language input with a single keyboard layout. For the convenience of description, in this embodiment, it is assumed that the software keyboard supports 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, allowing the user to input Chinese according to the corresponding relationship between phonetic symbols and English letters shown in FIG. 3 .

Then in step 620 , the detection module 120 receives at least one key input from the software keyboard, and receives handwriting input from the touch screen 110 . In step 630 , the recognition module 130 obtains the phonetic symbols represented by each key input, and generates auxiliary symbols according to the trajectory of the handwriting input. Wherein, the auxiliary symbols generated by the recognition module 130 are, for example, tone symbols of Zhuyin.

Next in step 640, the recognition module 130 generates at least one candidate character according to the key input and auxiliary symbols (ie, the tone symbols of Zhuyin). Finally, as shown in step 650 , the control module 140 controls the touch screen 110 to display the above candidate characters for the user to select.

In one embodiment, the control module 140 controls the touch screen 110 to display the candidate characters in a full-screen manner, and then presents the candidate characters on a larger screen to facilitate selection by the user. In another embodiment, the candidate characters displayed on the touch screen 110 have transparency, for example, so that the user can still see the operation screen below the candidate characters. After the user completes the selection action, the selected candidate word will be displayed in the input field of the application program currently executed by the electronic device 100 and regarded as 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 wants to input the Chinese character "I" through the software keyboard 200 shown in FIG. There are buttons with English letters "W" and "O", and a tick gesture is drawn on the touch screen 110 . Through the operation of the detection module 120 and the recognition module 130, three candidate characters "I", "婐" and "捰" can be generated for the user to choose. In addition, when the user needs to input punctuation marks, he only needs to input the punctuation marks by handwriting on the touch screen 110 , and then the punctuation marks can be input into the electronic device 100 .

As shown above, since the electronic device 100 can support handwriting input while providing keyboard input, when the user uses the software keyboard displayed on the touch screen 110 to input words, he can directly input the desired text by handwriting. Punctuation marks without switching to other symbols keyboard. And when the user utilizes the software keyboard to input Chinese, he can also directly input the tone symbols by handwriting to complete the input of Chinese characters. In other words, since there is no need to set tone symbol keys on the software keyboard, the space originally required to display tone symbol keys can be used for other purposes, and support for handwriting input of various symbols also makes input actions more intuitive. convenient.

To sum up, the electronic device and its input method according to the present invention can also detect and recognize the user's handwriting input and correspondingly generate auxiliary symbols when the software keyboard is displayed on the touch screen for the user to perform key input. In this way, the user can simultaneously use the keyboard and handwriting to input data into the electronic device, thereby greatly improving the convenience of input. Although the present invention has been disclosed above with the embodiments, it is not intended to limit the present invention. Those skilled in the art can make some changes and modifications without departing from the spirit and scope of the present invention. Therefore, this The protection scope of the invention shall be determined by the claims of the present invention.

Claims (14)

1. An input method for an electronic device with a touch screen, the method comprising: displaying a software keyboard on the touch screen, wherein the software keyboard supports multilingual input with one keyboard layout; receiving a handwriting input from the touch screen when the software keyboard is displayed on the touch screen; and An auxiliary symbol is generated according to the trajectory of the handwriting input. 2. The method of claim 1, wherein the auxiliary symbol comprises a punctuation mark. 3. The method of claim 1, wherein when the software keyboard supports Chinese input, the auxiliary symbol includes a tone symbol. 4. The method as claimed in claim 1, wherein when the software keyboard supports Japanese input, the auxiliary symbols include a voiced sound symbol, a half-voiced sound symbol, and an obtrusive sound symbol. 5. The method of claim 1, further comprising: The auxiliary symbol is displayed on the touch screen. 6. The method of claim 1, further comprising: generating at least one candidate auxiliary symbol according to the trajectory of the handwriting input; and The at least one candidate auxiliary symbol is displayed on the touch screen. 7. The method of claim 1, further comprising: receiving at least one key input from the software keyboard; generating at least one candidate word according to the at least one key input and the auxiliary symbol; and Displaying the at least one candidate character on the touch screen. 8. An electronic device comprising: A touch screen for displaying a software keyboard, wherein the software keyboard supports multilingual input with one keyboard layout; a detection module, coupled to the touch screen, for receiving a handwriting input from the touch screen when the software keyboard is displayed on the touch screen; and A recognition module, coupled to the detection module, is used to generate an auxiliary symbol according to the trajectory of the handwriting input. 9. The electronic device as claimed in claim 8, wherein the auxiliary symbol comprises a punctuation mark. 10. The electronic device as claimed in claim 8, wherein when the selected input language is Chinese, the auxiliary symbol further includes a tone symbol. 11. The electronic device as claimed in claim 8, wherein when the selected input language is Japanese, the auxiliary symbols further include a voiced sound symbol, a half-voiced sound symbol, and an obtrusive sound symbol. 12. The electronic device of claim 8, further comprising: A control module, coupled to the identification module, is used to control the touch screen to display the auxiliary symbol. 13. The electronic device according to claim 12, wherein the recognition module generates at least one candidate auxiliary symbol according to the trajectory of the handwriting input, and the control module controls the touch screen to display the at least one candidate auxiliary symbol. 14. The electronic device as claimed in claim 12, wherein the detection module receives at least one key input from the software keyboard, the recognition module generates at least one candidate word according to the at least one key input and the auxiliary symbol, and the control module controls the The touch screen displays the at least one candidate word.

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