Touchscreen user interface with multi-language support
A touchscreen-based system for data entry using a language conversion is provided. The system may access a mapping database including mappings between character strings in a first language (e.g., English alphabet characters) and character objects in a second language (e.g., Chinese logograph characters). A touchscreen may display a user interface including (a) virtual input scroll wheels that display first language characters and which can be virtually scrolled by touch input to select a string of first language characters, and (b) a virtual results scroll wheel that displays second language character objects mapped to the user-selected string of first language characters, and allows the user to select (by scrolling) a particular second language character object. The selected second language character object may then be entered, e.g., by a touch-based command, into a displayed string of second language characters or into memory or to a related data processing system for further processing.
1. A user interface system for language-based data selection and entry, the user interface system comprising:
a mapping database including mappings between (a) first language character strings including at least two first language characters and (b) second language character objects including at least one second language character, wherein each first language character comprises a linguistic character of a first language or script, and each second language character comprises a linguistic character of a second language or script; and
a processor configured to:
display a user interface via a touchscreen, the displayed user interface including:
at least two virtual input scroll wheels displaying a plurality of first language characters, each virtual input scroll wheel configured to selectively display multiple different first language characters and being scrollable via user touch input; and
a virtual results scroll wheel configured to automatically and selectively display at least one second language character and being scrollable via user touch input;
receive user touch input for virtually scrolling each of the virtual input scroll wheels to select a first language character on each respective virtual input scroll wheel by positioning the selected first language character on each respective virtual input scroll wheel in a predefined character selection location for each respective virtual input scroll wheel;
wherein the user-selected first language characters, displayed in the respective predefined character selection locations after virtual scrolling based on the user touch input, collectively define a particular first language character string;
access the mapping database to identify at least one second language character object mapped to the particular first language character string;
automatically display, via the virtual results scroll wheel, multiple second language character objects mapped to the particular first language character string; and
receive user touch input for virtually scrolling the virtual results scroll wheel to select one of the multiple displayed second language character objects by positioning the selected second language character object in a predefined result selection location for the virtual results scroll wheel.
2. The user interface system of claim 1 , wherein the first language characters comprises English language characters, and the second linguistic characters comprises Chinese language characters.
3. The user interface system of claim 2 , wherein the mapping database comprises a pinyin database.
4. The user interface system of claim 1 , wherein at least some second language character objects include multiple second language characters.
5. The user interface system of claim 1 , wherein:
the displayed user interface further includes:
a confirmation interface for user-confirmation of the selected second language character object positioned in the predefined result selection location after virtual scrolling based on the user touch input at the virtual results scroll wheel; and
a results display component configured to display a string of second language character objects selected by the user via user touch input at the virtual input scroll wheels and the virtual results scroll wheel and confirmed via the confirmation interface; and
the processor is configured to:
receive, via the confirmation interface, a user input confirming the at least one second language character object; and
in response, display the confirmed at least one second language character object via the results display component of the displayed user interface.
6. The user interface system of claim 1 , wherein:
the displayed user interface further includes a results display component configured to display a string of confirmed second language character objects; and
the processor is configured to identify a confirmation event for confirming the at least one second language character object identified from the mapping database and displayed via the virtual results scroll wheel; and
display the confirmed at least one second language character object via the results display component of the displayed user interface.
7. The user interface system of claim 1 , wherein the predefined character selection location for each respective virtual input scroll wheel and the predefined result selection location for the virtual results scroll wheel are aligned in a linear row.
8. A user interface system for language-based data selection and entry, the user interface system comprising:
a touchscreen device including a touchscreen display;
a mapping database including mappings between (a) first language character strings including at least two first language characters and (b) second language character objects including at least one second language character, wherein each first language character comprises a linguistic character of a first language or script, and each second language character comprises a linguistic character of a second language or script; and
a processor configured to:
display, via the touchscreen display, a user interface including:
at least two virtual input scroll wheels displaying a plurality of first language characters, each virtual input scroll wheel configured to selectively display multiple different first language characters and being scrollable via user touch input; and
a virtual results scroll wheel configured to automatically and selectively display at least one second language character and being scrollable via user touch input;
receive user touch input for virtually scrolling each of the virtual input scroll wheels to select a first language character on each respective virtual input scroll wheel by positioning the selected first language character on each respective virtual input scroll wheel in a predefined character selection location for each respective virtual input scroll wheel;
wherein the user-selected first language characters, displayed in the respective predefined character selection locations after virtual scrolling based on the user touch input, collectively define a particular first language character string;
access the mapping database to identify at least one second language character object mapped to the particular first language character string;
automatically display, via the virtual results scroll wheel, multiple second language character objects mapped to the particular first language character string; and
receive user touch input for virtually scrolling the virtual results scroll wheel to select one of the multiple displayed second language character objects by positioning the selected second language character object in a predefined result selection location for the virtual results scroll wheel.
9. Non-transitory computer-readable media storing computer instructions executable by a processor to:
access a mapping database including mappings between (a) first language character strings including at least two first language characters and (b) second language character objects including at least one second language character, wherein each first language character comprises a linguistic character of a first language or script, and each second language character comprises a linguistic character of a second language or script;
display a user interface via a touchscreen, the displayed user interface including:
multiple virtual input scroll wheels, each virtual input scroll wheel being scrollable via user touch input to scroll through a plurality of first language characters to select a particular first language character;
a virtual results scroll wheel (a) configured to automatically display a plurality of second language characters in response to user selections of first language characters via the multiple virtual input scroll wheels and (b) being scrollable via user touch input to scroll through the plurality of second language characters to select a particular second language character:
receive user touch input via at least two virtual input scroll wheels to select a particular first language character at each respective virtual input scroll wheel by positioning the selected first language character at each respective virtual input scroll wheel in a predefined character selection location for that respective virtual input scroll wheel;
identify, from the mapping database, multiple second language character objects mapped to the at least two particular first language characters selected by the user via the at least two virtual input scroll wheels;
automatically display the multiple second language character objects via the virtual results scroll wheel; and
receive user touch input via the virtual results scroll wheel to select a particular one of the multiple second language character objects by positioning the selected second language character object in a predefined result selection location for the virtual results scroll wheel.