Adaptive touch keyboard
View Patent ↗A method, system, and medium are provided for improving the accuracy of keystroke detection by determining what finger position a person is using to type. The finger, or fingers, used to contact the keys may define a finger position. Once the finger position is detected, hot spots for individual keys may be positioned according to a profile associated with the finger position. The hot spot is the portion of the touch screen that needs to be contacted in order to register a keystroke for the associated key. Each key has its own hot spot. The hot spot for a key may change without the display of the key on the touch-screen keyboard changing.
1. A method that improves keystroke detection on a touch-screen keyboard, the method comprising:
determining a user's finger position by analyzing contact characteristics of at least one keystroke made on the touch-screen keyboard, wherein the contact characteristics describe a finger's contact with the touch screen made during the keystroke;
positioning a touch-screen keyboard's key hotspots based on the user's finger position, wherein a key hotspot is an area on the touch screen, contact with which is interpreted as selecting a corresponding key on the touch-screen keyboard; and
wherein the user's finger position comprises one of touching the touch-screen keyboard with only a right-hand thumb, touching the touch-screen keyboard with only a left-hand thumb, touching the touch-screen keyboard with both the right-hand thumb and the left-hand thumb, touching the touch-screen keyboard with one finger, and touching the touch-screen keyboard with one right-hand finger and one left-hand finger.
2. The method of claim 1 , wherein the touch-screen keyboard's key hotspots are positioned to fit a usage pattern within a finger-position profile that corresponds with the user's finger position.
3. The method of claim 1 , wherein the method further comprises:
determining that a user has changed to a different finger position on the touch-screen keyboard by analyzing contact characteristics of one or more additional keystrokes; and
repositioning the touch-screen keyboard's key hotspots to fit a usage pattern within a finger-position profile that corresponds with a user's different finger position.
4. The method of claim 1 , wherein the contact characteristics comprise one or more of an angle of contact and a size of an area of the touch-screen keyboard contacted during a keystroke.
5. The method of claim 4 , wherein the contact characteristics further comprise a shape of the area of the touch-screen keyboard contacted during the keystroke.
6. The method of claim 1 , wherein positions of the key hotspots change without changing an appearance of keys displayed on the touch-screen keyboard.
7. One or more non-transitory computer-readable media having computer-executable instructions embodied thereon that when executed by a computing device perform a method of adjusting key hotspots based on a finger-position profile, the method comprising:
displaying a touch-screen keyboard on a touch screen;
receiving a first keystroke through the touch-screen keyboard, wherein the first keystroke has contact characteristics;
determining that the contact characteristics are consistent with one or more finger positions;
selecting a presumptive finger position that corresponds to one of the one or more finger positions;
positioning a touch-screen keyboard's key hotspots to fit a usage pattern within a finger-position profile that corresponds to the presumptive finger position; and
wherein the presumptive finger position comprises one of interacting with only a right-hand thumb, interacting with only a left-hand thumb, interacting with both the right-hand thumb and the left-hand thumb, interacting with one finger, interacting with one right-hand finger and one left-hand finger.
8. The media of claim 7 , wherein the finger-position profile describes a user's pattern of key interaction when a user is interacting with the touch-screen keyboard with a particular finger position corresponding to the finger-position profile.
9. The media of claim 8 , wherein the user's pattern of key interaction indicates where on the touch screen the user touches when the user intends to select a key on the touch-screen keyboard.
10. The media of claim 8 , wherein the presumptive finger position is selected because a user profile indicates that the presumptive finger position is used more often than other finger positions in the one or more finger positions.
11. The media of claim 9 , wherein the method further comprises:
receiving a second keystroke with contact characteristics that are not consistent with the presumptive finger position, but are consistent with a different finger position within the one or more finger positions; and
repositioning the touch-screen keyboard's key hotspots based on the finger-position profile that corresponds to the different finger position.
12. The method of claim 7 , wherein the touch screen is a capacitive screen.
13. One or more non-transitory computer-readable media having computer-executable instructions embodied thereon that when executed by a computing device perform a method of positioning key hotspot locations based on an active finger-position profile, the method comprising:
displaying a touch-screen keyboard on a touch screen;
receiving a first keystroke on a right side of the touch-screen keyboard, wherein the first keystroke has a first set of contact characteristics;
receiving a second keystroke on a left side of the touch-screen keyboard, wherein the second keystroke has a second set of contact characteristics;
determining that the first set of contact characteristics and the second set of contact characteristics indicate that a user is addressing the touch-screen keyboard using a first finger position;
building a finger-position profile that corresponds to the first finger position, wherein the finger-position profile describes a user's pattern of key interaction when the user is interacting with the touch screen with a particular finger position corresponding to the finger-position profile; and
wherein the first finger position comprises one of interacting with only a right-hand thumb, interacting with only a left-hand thumb, interacting with both the right-hand thumb and the left-hand thumb, interacting with one finger, and interacting with one right-hand finger and one left-hand finger.
14. The media of claim 13 , wherein the method further comprises positioning a touch-screen keyboard's key hotspots based on the finger-position profile that corresponds to the first finger position.
15. The media of claim 13 , wherein the first set of contact characteristics comprise one or more of an angle of contact and a size of an area of the touch screen contacted during a keystroke.
16. The media of claim 15 , wherein the contact characteristics further comprise a shape of the area of the touch screen contacted during a keystroke.
17. The media of claim 13 , wherein the method further comprises:
monitoring keystrokes for a keystroke with contact characteristics that are not consistent with the first finger position;
repositioning a touch-screen keyboard's key hotspots to a default position; and
determining that the user has switched to a second finger position by analyzing one or more additional keystrokes; and
building a second finger-position profile that corresponds to the second finger position.