VISUALLY EMPHASIZING PREDICTED KEYS OF VIRTUAL KEYBOARD

1 . A computing system, comprising:

a touch display; and

a virtual keyboard visually presented by the touch display, the virtual keyboard including a plurality of touch-selectable keys each having a visual appearance that dynamically changes such that a touch-selectable key has a deemphasized visual appearance if the touch-selectable key is not predicted to be a next selected key and the touch-selectable key has a prediction-emphasized visual appearance if the touch-selectable key is predicted to be a next selected key.

2 . The computing system of claim 1 , where the touch-selectable key is smaller with the deemphasized visual appearance than with the prediction-emphasized visual appearance.

3 . The computing system of claim 1 , where the touch-selectable key is more chromatically muted with the deemphasized visual appearance than with the prediction-emphasized visual appearance.

4 . The computing system of claim 1 , where the deemphasized visual appearance includes a default visual appearance and a withdrawn visual appearance, where all of the plurality of touch-selectable keys are presented with the default visual appearance when no touch-selectable key is predicted to be a next selected key, and where one or more of the plurality of touch-selectable keys are presented with the withdrawn visual appearance when another of the plurality of touch-selectable keys is predicted to be a next selected key.

5 . The computing system of claim 4 , where the touch-selectable key is smaller with the withdrawn visual appearance than with the default visual appearance.

6 . The computing system of claim 4 , where the touch-selectable key is more chromatically muted with the withdrawn visual appearance than with the default visual appearance.

7 . The computing system of claim 4 , where all of the plurality of touch-selectable keys that are not predicted to be a next selected key are presented with the withdrawn visual appearance when one or more other of the plurality of touch-selectable keys are predicted to be a next selected key.

8 . The computing system of claim 4 , where touch-selectable keys that are not predicted to be a next selected key and are adjacent to a touch-selectable key that is predicted to be a next selected key are presented with the withdrawn visual appearance, while touch-selectable keys that are not predicted to be a next selected key and are not adjacent to a touch-selectable key that is predicted to be a next selected key are presented with the default visual appearance.

9 . The computing system of claim 4 , where a touch-selectable key that is predicted to be a next selected key occupies space that is otherwise occupied by an adjacent touch-selectable key with the default visual appearance but is vacated by the adjacent touch-selectable key with the withdrawn visual appearance.

10 . The computing system of claim 1 , further comprising a language model prediction module configured to predict one or more next selected keys.

11 . The computing system of claim 10 , where the language model prediction module uses an N-Gram language model to identify one or more touch-selectable keys with a threshold probability of being a next selected key based on a sequence of previously entered keys.

12 . A method of reducing tapping errors on a virtual keyboard including a plurality of keys, the method comprising:

tracking a sequence of keys entered on the virtual keyboard;

identifying one or more keys having a threshold probability of being a next selected key based on the sequence of keys; and

visually emphasizing the one or more keys having a threshold probability of being a next selected key.

13 . The method of claim 12 , where identifying one or more keys having the threshold probability of being a next selected key includes analyzing the sequence of keys using an N-Gram language model.

14 . The method of claim 12 , where visually emphasizing the one or more keys includes enlarging the one or more keys.

15 . The method of claim 12 , where visually emphasizing the one or more keys includes shrinking keys other than the one or more keys.

16 . The method of claim 15 , where all keys other than the one or more keys are shrunk.

17 . The method of claim 15 , where only keys adjacent to the one or more keys are shrunk.

18 . The method of claim 12 , where visually emphasizing the one or more keys includes chromatically enhancing the one or more keys.

19 . The method of claim 12 , where visually emphasizing the one or more keys includes chromatically muting keys other than the one or more keys.

20 . A computing system, comprising:

a touch display;

a virtual keyboard visually presented by the touch display, the virtual keyboard including a plurality of touch-selectable keys;

a touch-detection module configured to recognize which of the plurality of touch-selectable keys is being touched;

a touch-to-key assignment module configured to enter a touch-selectable key that is touched;

an N-Gram language model prediction module configured to predict one or more next selected keys based on a sequence of previously entered keys; and

a visual-feedback module configured to visually indicate that a touch-selectable key is predicted to be a next selected key by increasing a size of that touch-selectable key relative to other touch-selectable keys that are not predicted to be next selected keys and/or by chromatically enhancing that touch-selectable key relative to other touch-selectable keys that are not predicted to be next selected keys.