KR100934780B1 - Method and apparatus for providing recognized handwriting pattern - Google Patents

Abstract

A display method of handwriting pattern recognition according to the present invention includes detecting a handwriting pattern written by a user in an input area on a screen, and recognizing the detected handwriting pattern. The recognizing step provides an optimal interpretation of the handwritten pattern and an alternative interpretation of at least one of the handwritten pattern. The method further includes providing the best interpretation for the display area on the screen, wherein the display area overlaps the input area, and providing the display area with the at least one alternative interpretation. The apparatus for recognizing a handwriting pattern according to the present invention includes a screen for interaction with a user, including a handwriting sensitive input area, and a display area overlapping the input area.

Description

Method and apparatus for providing recognized handwriting pattern {PRESENTATION OF A RECOGNITION OF A HANDWRITTEN PATTERN}

The present invention relates to a method of providing a recognized handwritten pattern. The present invention also relates to an apparatus for handwriting pattern recognition. The device includes a screen for interaction with a user, the screen comprising a handwriting sensitive input area.

The invention also relates to a method and apparatus for providing a pattern, in particular a method and apparatus for providing a pattern on a background.

Today, portable data processing devices are becoming increasingly popular. Such data processing devices are, for example, PDAs (personal digital terminals), mobile phones and portable computers. In order to write data to such a portable device, a text insertion device is required.

Text insertion devices have long been implemented as keyboards. However, since these devices are limited to the minimum size of a portable device, another way of inserting text into the device was needed to enable smaller devices.

In such a device, the keyboard can now be replaced by some kind of device for handwritten text recognition. A common solution is to arrange pressure-sensitive areas on the screen where the user can write characters. The text is then decrypted and processed by the portable device. Of course, it is important to replace the keyboard of a typical stationary computer.

The screen displays a user interface for entering text. The screen has an input area in which the user can write handwritten characters and a presentation area in which the recognition result of the handwritten characters is displayed to the user.

In US Pat. No. 5,732,152, a user interface is disclosed. The input area includes character entry boxes, which form an area for writing handwritten characters. The handwritten characters are written into the box, and the result of the recongnition then replaces the handwritten characters in the box. The result is also shown in the second display field.

According to US Pat. No. 5,732,152, characters representing non-recognition are displayed when recognition of handwritten characters fails. Then, the user will have to re-write the character so that the character can be recognized correctly. As a result, the user may have to enter the character several times before the character is recognized by the device. This is a waste of time and annoys the user. There is also no guarantee that the characters recognized by the device are correct. The device may have recognized it incorrectly. The user will of course have to re-write the characters even in this case.

In Chinese character recognition, as shown in Fig. 1, it is common to show candidates of recognition in the display area. The user will then have to select the correct candidate for the character to be correctly recognized. As a result, the process of entering characters involves two steps. First, the user enters a character, and secondly, the user selects the correct recognition of the character. This is a waste of time and is much slower than writing on paper.

It is also known for computer displays to use special characters with specially designated meanings to distinguish characters that are similar in form and can be easily confused.

"는 문자 오(O)와 숫자 영(0)을 구별하기 위해 사용되어 왔다. 이러한 방법은 각각 쉽게 혼동되는 문자에 대해 특별히 지정된 의미를 갖는 특수 문자를 사용하는 것이 필수적이며, 사용자가 각각의 상기 특별히 지정된 의미를 추가로 배워야 하는 단점을 가진다. 일부 언어는 수천 개의 문자를 사용하기 때문에, 상기 방법은 그러한 언어에 대해서는 실용적이지 못하다.For programming purposes, circles with diagonal lines "

"Has been used to distinguish between the letter O and the number 0. It is essential that these methods use special characters that have specially designated meanings for the characters that are easily confused each other. The disadvantage of having to learn additionally the specified meaning is that some methods use thousands of characters, so the method is not practical for such languages.

Examples of such languages are Chinese and Japanese. Modern Japanese uses mixed characters including Japanese kanji (hieroglyphs with Chinese etymology), hiragana and katakana (phonic), Latin letters, and Arabic numerals.

In conjunction with handwriting recognition (HWR), the user is preferably provided with information about the character being recorded. This is particularly important when, for example, recording a user ID or password, or when submitting a query to a database.

One method of highlighting the differences between different types of characters has been provided in connection with an input method editor (IME) available on the Toshiba Pocket PC Genio e550X, for example for Japanese. The difference between hiragana and katakana is indicated at the time of recording in addition to the candidates identified by the HWR software used. See FIG. 1 for explanation.

There are some problems with this method. First, a large area of available screen space is essential for displaying various types of character candidates. Thus, if the reserved screen space is small, only few candidates can be provided at a time. Also, the correct candidate is not easily found in the list because the user first finds the candidate with the correct form and then checks the record next to the candidate to control the candidate to belong to the correct type of character.

There is a need for an improved method of showing the provided character type on the screen, with the possibility of identifying the provided character type without wasting the screen area.

In devices for Chinese character recognition, character entry boxes are also common. The text entry box generally covers the entire input area. The user must write the text inside the text entry box. This may result in the user writing small characters to confirm that the entire character is written in the box. As a result, the demand for precision of handwriting becomes higher. This is especially a problem when the user is using the device in a shaky environment, for example while traveling in a car or when the user records quickly. In such an environment, recognition may fail if the user writes characters that are too small to reach the precision limits of the device.

It is an object of the present invention to provide an improved user interface for a device for handwriting pattern recognition. Another object of the present invention is to provide a user interface that simplifies the input of handwritten characters.

The object of the invention is achieved by a method according to claim 1 and an apparatus according to claim 28. Preferred embodiments of the invention are defined by the dependent claims 2 to 27 and 29 to 34.

Accordingly, the present invention provides a method for providing a recognized handwriting pattern. The method includes detecting a handwritten pattern written by a user in an input area on the screen and recognizing the detected handwritten pattern. The recognizing step finds the best interpretation of the handwritten pattern and at least one alternative interpretation of the handwritten pattern. The method further includes providing a best interpretation in the display area that overlaps the input area on the screen and providing at least one alternative interpretation in the display area.

The present invention also provides a device for recognizing handwriting patterns, wherein the device includes a screen for interaction with a user. The screen includes an input area sensitive to handwriting and a display area overlapping the input area and arranged to provide the best interpretation of the pattern written in the input area and to provide an alternative interpretation of at least one of the written patterns.

Due to the present invention, the best interpretation of the handwritten pattern is initially provided to the user. If the user does not disagree with the interpretation, this interpretation can be regarded as correct perception. Thus, if the best interpretation is correct, the user can immediately continue writing new patterns. Thus, the writing step of the pattern only includes the step of writing the characters. As a result, the input speed of the pattern is increased. Also, if the best interpretation is not correct, the present invention offers the possibility of choosing an alternative interpretation.

In addition, the user will focus on the input area when the user records the handwritten pattern and then look at the display area to know the interpretation of the pattern.

Since the display area overlaps with the input area, the user will not need to constantly change the focus between the input area and the display area. The interpretation will be presented to the user at a location on the screen that the user already focuses on. Thus, the user will not wander during the input, which will further increase the input speed and make the input more convenient.

In the context of the present application, the word "pattern" is defined as any pattern that can be interpreted by the device. Thus, the pattern can be a letter, latin, chinese or any other kind of letter, sign, picture or any other symbol. The pattern can also be a symbol or gesture that is interpreted as a space, deletion or return. The symbol may also be an abbreviation for a longer, generally written phrase or word. For example, a symbol of two coalesced letters, a person's initials, may represent the person's full name.

According to one embodiment, the at least one alternative interpretation is provided simultaneously with the best interpretation. Then, if the best interpretation is not correct, an alternative interpretation, which may be correct, is immediately provided to the user during recognition. As a result, the user can easily select an alternative interpretation for controlling the interpretation of the written pattern. Therefore, the best interpretation is easily corrected. Also, because an alternative interpretation is provided for the display area that overlaps with the input area, the user can still focus on the same area.

Preferably, the best interpretation is provided on a larger scale than the at least one alternative interpretation. This means that the best interpretation is clearly displayed to the user so that if the user does not calibrate, the device knows which interpretation to use.

The at least one alternative interpretation may be provided concurrently with the best interpretation only when it is difficult to discern between the best interpretation and the at least one alternative interpretation during the recognizing step. If multiple interpretations are provided at the same time, it may not be apparent to the user which interpretation is best. Thus, if the user does not calibrate the interpretation, the user may not know which interpretation to select. Thus, it may only be appropriate to show alternative interpretations that provide two or more interpretations where the recognizing steps are almost equally likely to be correct interpretations.

If the two patterns are very similar, such as "0" (zero Arabic numeral) or "O" (latin uppercase letter O), it is very difficult to discern between these handwritten patterns and correctly recognize them. In this case, if one of these patterns is found as the best interpretation, the other pattern can be automatically provided as an alternative indication at the same time that the best interpretation is provided. As a result, if a wrong pattern is provided as the best interpretation, the user can quickly switch to the correct interpretation.

According to another embodiment, the step of providing at least one alternative interpretation is made at the request of the user. Preferably, the apparatus further comprises means for requesting an indication of an alternative interpretation of at least one of the written patterns. The user can then request the display of an alternative interpretation, which allows the user to select the correct interpretation from the alternative interpretation provided. Thus, rewriting of characters can be prevented. In addition, when handwritten patterns are recognized, only the best interpretation is initially presented to the user, whereby the user will not be confused by the representation of a number of alternative interpretations. If recognition usually finds the correct interpretation, this is a very efficient way of providing interpretation to the user.

In a preferred embodiment of the method, providing an alternative interpretation replaces the best interpretation provided. Preferably, the display area is arranged to provide an alternative interpretation to the user's request via the requesting means. When the user requests the provision of an alternative interpretation, the best interpretation is not correct and no longer needs to be provided. Since the alternative interpretation replaces the best interpretation, only the information needed by the user is provided. In addition, the user can still focus on the same place on the screen. As a result, the interaction with all the users takes place in the same place, which makes input efficient and makes the device easier to handle.

Preferably, providing an interpretation replaces the written handwriting pattern. This also results in that only the information needed by the user is provided. When the user writes the pattern, the user only needs to know how the written pattern is interpreted. Thus, only relevant information is provided to the user and all the information is provided in the same place on the screen. Thus, the input process is simple.

The method may include providing a proposal for at least one pattern that follows or precedes the recognized handwriting pattern. This means that the user will not need to fill in the next pattern by handwriting. Instead, the user can accept a suggestion that the device provides as a likely pattern to follow the interpreted handwritten pattern. In addition, incorrectly accepted preceding patterns do not need to be re-written. In this way, the device can provide a pattern that is likely to precede the recently interpreted handwritten pattern. Many of the above suggestions can be determined through bigram statistics, whereby the suggestions can be answered and provided as an alternative interpretation. A bigram statistic is a statistic about the probability that a particular pattern or character follows another specific pattern. Bygram statistics may vary depending on, for example, which language is used. The user can select a range of bigram statistics that best fit the text to be entered. The suggestion may be provided upon request from the user, such as activating a button on the screen or drawing a specific gesture.

According to a preferred embodiment, the step of recognizing finds a number of alternative interpretations, and the step of providing an alternative interpretation provides all alternative interpretations found. As a result, the user will know a number of alternative interpretations. Then the correct awareness will be provided to the user. Then the user will be able to quickly identify the correct recognition and will not have to re-write the pattern. According to one embodiment, many alternative interpretations will be provided only at the request of the user. Thus, one possible alternative interpretation will be provided at the same time as the best interpretation, while multiple interpretations will not be provided until the user explicitly requests it. As such, the user will rarely need to provide an indication of a number of alternative interpretations.

According to another preferred embodiment, the method further comprises providing a guidance line in the input area to guide the user where to write the pattern. The guide line forms the main writing area, which covers only a portion of the input area so that the user writes the pattern portions outside the area formed by the guide line. Thus, the screen further includes guide lines provided in the input area for guiding the area where the user will write the pattern. Since the guide line does not limit the area in which characters can be written, the user does not need to align the characters inside the main writing area, and thus will be able to record large characters. As the user is encouraged to write outside the area defined by the guide line, the user will use the entire input area when writing text. Thus, the written characters will be large and the recognition of the characters may be improved.

Also, while certain characters will generally extend outside the main entry area in a particular manner, different characters will extend outside the main entry area in different ways. Thus, information of how the handwritten pattern will extend out of the guide line may be used for better recognition.

The expression that the guide line forms the main writing area does not mean that the guide line necessarily includes the area. It may be a region formed by two opposing lines, and may be virtual lines connecting these lines to form a write region.

Preferably, providing the guide line mimics the shape of the recording paper. As a result, the user is familiar with the form of the input area. Thus, writing of characters will be natural to the user.

For Chinese characters, the present invention is preferred by allowing input outside the main writing area. This is due to the fact that it is common to extend somewhat from the general writing of Chinese characters to outside the box on the paper. The guide line will then form a box for entering the text, and the user can enter the text in the same manner as used for writing on the paper. This will bring better recognition of the characters.

According to one embodiment of the present invention, a method for providing a pattern while providing pattern type information is provided.

According to an embodiment of the present invention, a method of providing a pattern in a display area of a screen is provided, wherein the pattern is provided on a pattern background visible on a portion of the display area of the screen, and the pattern background is Associated with a pattern, wherein the combination of the pattern and the associated pattern background is provided in a masked form, and the masking of the combination is selected according to the type of the provided pattern.

In the application of the method, the masking or alternative of the combination may only be applied for some of the provided patterns.

As long as other types of masking are applicable to other types of patterns, the masking may or may not include a change in the form of the combination depending on the type of pattern to be provided. This allows visual differences between different similar patterns to be enhanced by applying different kinds of masking. For discrimination between different patterns, it may be sufficient to change one of a pair of similar patterns.

The correspondence between the masking type and the pattern type can be predetermined and can be changed.

As noted above, handwriting recognition is often associated with uncertainty about the correct decision or interpretation of the intended pattern. Thus, the user will need to feed back to confirm that the pattern is correctly identified. The method according to the invention, wherein the masking of the associated pattern background and the combination of patterns is selected according to the provided pattern type, may help in emphasizing other types of patterns as feedback to the user.

In many cases, different patterns can be recorded in the same or almost the same way. Thus, when using only information from a particular pattern, it may be difficult or even impossible to identify the correct pattern intended by the user. Here, providing the user with an overview of the candidates can help with the correct pattern, since the user can then choose between the candidates.

According to another aspect of the invention, each pattern is associated with a pattern background, and the combination of each pattern and each associated pattern background is masked according to the respective pattern type.

For fast and easy recognition and interpretation, when many patterns are provided, it may be useful to provide the user with information regarding the pattern types provided. This embodiment is particularly used when an error in the input should be detected.

According to another aspect of the invention, provided patterns are displayed along horizontal or vertical lines. Horizontal and / or vertical pattern alignment assists the user in interpreting any semantic or symbolic meaning implied in the pattern.

According to another aspect of the invention, the sizes of the relevant background areas are the same or different. The method can be applied not only to the case where the patterns are not proportionally spaced but also to the case where the patterns are proportionally spaced. The method can be used with patterns of similar and / or dissimilar width and / or height. Thus, the method can be used, for example, to emphasize the difference between full-width and half-width characters. Optionally, the width and / or height of the pattern can be adjusted for masking.

According to another aspect of the invention, the method comprises the following steps:
a) identifying a provided pattern type;
b) selecting a masking type corresponding to the pattern type;
c) applying appropriate masking to the combination while providing a combination of the relevant pattern background and pattern on the screen

The masking procedure may be performed by the method according to the present invention and may be performed by those skilled in the art.

According to another aspect of the present invention, the viewer of the provided pattern may select a masking type associated with the pattern type. According to this aspect, the viewer or the user can select the masking type associated with each pattern type to improve the discernment of the pattern and to satisfy the personal taste or to fit the present method to the screen used.

According to a further aspect of the invention, the masking step comprises changing the form of the combination. For display on the screen, a visual change of the combination is readily applicable. However, for example, sound may be used so that a user may notice that a particular type of pattern is provided.

According to another aspect of the invention, the masking step includes enhancing or decreasing the contrast between the relevant pattern background and the pattern. This provides for easily identifiable masking. Enhancement of the contrast can be combined with inverting the color of the pattern with the relevant pattern background.

According to another aspect of the invention, the masking step includes changing the associated pattern background, wherein the change may be selected from the group consisting of changes in color, shading and hatching. This provides for an easily applicable and easily recognizable masking, which does not need to include any change in the pattern itself.

According to another aspect of the invention, the masking step comprises changing the pattern, wherein the change is selected from the group consisting of changes in color, shading and hatching. As such, the shape of the pattern may remain unaffected by the change. The combination of the relevant pattern background and the change of the pattern may be used for masking, for example by inverting the colors of both the relevant pattern background and the pattern.

According to another aspect, the type associated with each pattern may be user defined. This aspect allows the user to determine which patterns should be distinguished by the present method.

According to another aspect of the invention, the handwritten pattern and the interpretation provided thereby comprise a character. The method is particularly suitable for reinforcing the differences between easily confused characters. Thus, the pattern may include or consist of letters.

According to one aspect, the character is selected between a group consisting of Chinese characters, Japanese Kanji, Hiragana, Katakana, Latin characters, Greek characters, Arabic numerals and punctuation marks. These characters are examples of widely used characters, which can be confusing because of similar form in certain cases.
According to one aspect, the masking is selected according to the type of the character, the type being between a group consisting of Chinese characters, Japanese Kanji, Hiragana, Katakana, Latin characters, Greek characters, Arabic numerals and punctuation marks. Is selected. Providing information identifying the type can help reduce the likelihood of incorrect selection, input, or character identification.

As illustrated in the table below, there are a number of easily confused characters between the mentioned types.

Table I

Examples of easily confused characters

According to one embodiment, the masking chosen depends on the type of encoding form of the character. For example, when using a database of a specific language, it is often worthwhile to be able to identify the type of encoding that is applied or applicable. Examples of encoding forms include EUC-JP, Shift-JIS for Japanese; Big5, EUC-TW for Traditional Chinese; EUC-CN, simplified Chinese GBK; EUC-KR, integrated Hangul code, Johab for Korean; And UTF-8, 4-byte EACC for multiple languages. However, this is not applicable when using Unicode, which is an encoding form that includes characters from different languages and alphabets.

According to one aspect, the masking step includes changing the font or font style of the character. Examples of fonts are Courier New, Times New Roman, MS Gothic, and MS Mincho. Examples of font styles are italic, bold and underline.

The screen may be, for example, a screen area of a computer screen, display or portable data processing device. Masking is particularly suitable for such screens or some low resolution screens where confusion of pattern or character type may occur.

According to another aspect, according to any method according to the invention, the invention relates to an apparatus for providing a pattern in a display area of a screen. The method can be suitably carried out using suitable software or hardware which one of ordinary skill in the art can readily provide.

According to one aspect of the device according to the invention, the screen allows the display of a pattern on a pattern background, the pattern background being associated with the pattern, and the screen being masked in combination with the associated pattern background and the pattern. It is configured to provide, the masking is selectable according to the pattern type provided.

The apparatus may further comprise hardware, and optionally software, to allow the method described in the present application to be executed.

Other features and advantages of the present invention will become apparent from the following detailed description of the presently preferred embodiments with reference to the accompanying drawings.

1 is a screen view showing a method of providing an analysis candidate according to the prior art.

2 is a flow chart of a method according to the invention.

3 is a schematic diagram of a device according to the present invention with a handwritten pattern written in the input area of the device.

4 is a schematic diagram of the device of FIG. 2 with the best interpretation provided in the display area of the device.

5 is a schematic diagram of the device of FIG. 2 with an alternative interpretation provided in the display area of the device.

6 is a screen view illustrating a method of masking the display of a pattern in accordance with the present invention.

1 shows a screen view according to the prior art. Box 98 shows that many candidates for input are made between Hiragana "ko" and Katakana "ko".

With reference to FIG. 2, a method according to the invention for the presentation of handwritten pattern recognition will be described. First, the user writes the handwriting pattern (step 2). The user writes the handwriting pattern in the input area on the pressure-sensitive screen. The user uses the pen to record the pattern by applying pressure on the screen. As the user moves the pen on the screen, the portion on the screen that is exposed to pressure is highlighted. Thus, the user can see what the user records.

Next, the handwriting pattern is detected (step 4). The detection step digitizes the written handwriting pattern. Thereafter, the detected handwriting pattern is recognized (step 6). The recognition is performed in a conventional manner, where the detected pattern is compared with a database of reference patterns to find a matching pattern. The recognition finds the best interpretation of the handwritten pattern and a number of alternative interpretations. The best interpretation is the reference pattern, where the recognition finds the one most similar to the handwritten pattern. Alternative interpretations are reference patterns that are less like handwriting patterns.

After that, the best interpretation is provided on the screen (step 8). The best interpretation is provided in the display area that overlaps with the input area. Thus, the handwriting pattern display is replaced with the display of the best interpretation. At the same time, a request button is provided for requesting an indication of an alternative interpretation.

If the user activates the button, an alternative interpretation is provided (step 10). It will then replace the best interpretation, which is an alternative interpretation. The indication of the alternative interpretation will then also show a cancel button. If the cancel button is pressed, the pattern will be deleted and the user will have to rewrite the pattern. Alternative interpretations are provided in a smaller format than the best interpretation to occupy the same space on the screen. If an alternative interpretation is pressed, it is accepted as correct recognition of the handwriting pattern. This correct recognition is then provided in the same size as the best interpretation was provided in step 8. In addition, the request button is provided again so that the user can change the interpretation of the pattern.

When the user has accepted the handwriting pattern recognition, the user can continue to write the new handwriting pattern in the input area and the method returns to step 2. However, multiple patterns can be written in the input area. The user can then enter a number of patterns before correcting the interpretation of the pattern.

When the pattern is recognized, the pattern is also provided in the second display area for providing the entire written text. This second display area provides the recognized pattern in a small size. Thus, the second display area can provide a larger amount of the written pattern. This display area can be scrolled to show the written pattern faster.

In Figures 3 to 5, the device according to the invention for the recognition of the handwriting pattern is shown during different steps of the method. The apparatus 20 will be described with respect to Chinese character recognition. Device 20 includes a pressure sensitive screen 22. Screen 22 provides a user interface to a user of device 20. The apparatus 20 further includes a database of reference patterns and means for comparing the handwritten pattern with the reference pattern to recognize the handwritten pattern. Thus, the device 20 includes a central processing unit, which handles the handwriting pattern recognition and input and output through a user interface.

The user interface includes an input area 24 through which a user can write handwritten patterns, and a display area 26 provided with interpretation of the handwritten pattern. The display area 26 and the input area 24 overlap each other. Thus, the user can fix the eye at the same place on the screen 22 when writing the pattern and studying the interpretation of the pattern. The user interface also includes a second display area 28 in which written text is provided and in which a large amount of patterns can be provided simultaneously.

The input area 24 includes a guide line 30, which is provided to the user to guide the user where to write the handwritten pattern. The guide line 30 forms the main writing area in the form of squares 32 for writing one character into each square 32. However, the user can write some of the characters outside the square 32. This corresponds to the way in which the user typically writes Chinese characters. Guide line 30 is green to further mimic the form of a regular Chinese writing paper.

Referring to FIG. 3, an apparatus is shown during steps 2 and 4 of the method. The user writes the handwriting pattern 34 in the square 32 of the input area 24. The written pattern 34 is highlighted on the screen 22 so that the user can see the pattern 34 that he or she writes.

The written pattern 34 will then be recognized by the device 20. 4, the device 20 is shown during step 8 of the method. The best pattern interpretation 36 is provided in the square 32 in which the pattern is written. In the lower right corner of the square 32, a small tip 38 is provided. This indicates that an alternative interpretation may be provided if the best interpretation 36 is not correct.

If the user clicks on the tip 38, a number of alternative interpretations 40 are provided as shown in FIG. 5 corresponding to step 10 of the method. An alternative interpretation 40 is provided for the patterned square 32. The user can then click on any of the alternative interpretations 40, whereby the clicked alternative interpretation is selected as the correct recognition of the pattern. A cancel button 42 is also provided as an alternative interpretation 40. If the cancel button 42 is activated, the device 20 concludes that no correct interpretation has been provided. The input square 32 is then empty and the user can rewrite the pattern.

An alternative interpretation 40 may be provided concurrently with the best interpretation 36. For example, the best interpretation 36 may be provided in the center of the display area 26, while the alternative interpretation 40 is provided in a smaller size along the edge of the display area 26. Thereafter, one or more alternative interpretations 40 may be provided concurrently with the best interpretation 36. The best interpretation may be combined with the possibility of requesting an alternative interpretation 40 so that additional alternative interpretations 40 may be provided.

6 is a screen view according to the invention. Here different types of characters are marked with different shades 100.

In a preferred embodiment, the method according to the invention is carried out on a portable PDA device with a color screen. The device is configured to allow display of the pattern on the screen. Patterns are characters commonly used in Japanese recording systems; It will include Arabic numerals, Latin letters, hiragana, katakana, Japanese Kanji, and other symbols.

Masking will be provided as follows. Latin characters and other symbols may be displayed as black on a white background, black numbers on a gray background, black hiragana on a green background, black katakana on a blue background, and finally black Japanese Kanji on a yellow background. will be. Thus, the user of the device will be able to immediately identify the particular type of text. The characters provided are written with similar spacing between the characters along the horizontal line; All pattern backgrounds are square and have the same area.

When masking is used, the user can choose between the candidates and can easily distinguish between different types of similar characters. Even after the selection of the correct candidate, the already recorded character type will still be indicated by the masking applied. If desired, the user can change the masking type applied to various types of text.

It should be emphasized that the preferred embodiments described herein are not intended in a limiting manner, and that many alternative embodiments are possible within the scope of protection defined by the appended claims. For example, the request button or tip may be provided in a number of different ways. Alternatively, an indication of an alternative interpretation may be requested by drawing a particular gesture in the input area.

There will also be a possibility to request the next pattern proposal to be filled out. In this way, the user does not need to fill in the pattern by handwriting at all. Instead, the device suggests a pattern according to the pattern that was written and recognized earlier. Such a suggestion may be based on a bigram statistic, i.e., the probability of a particular pattern following a particular pattern. The device may in this way respond with the encoding of one word as an entire word or a suggestion. It can also be used to change the interpretation of the pattern preceding the most recently written pattern. In this way, the user will not have to re-write the incorrectly accepted pattern with the correct interpretation.

The handwriting pattern may be a symbol representing a formatting or editing function. Thus, the pattern can represent space, delete, return, caps lock, and the like. The interpretation of the handwritten pattern can be canceled via the cancel button when any alternative interpretation is incorrect. However, the delete symbol can be used to delete a character whose interpretation is accepted through that character.

Claims (34)

A method of providing a recognized handwritten pattern, Detecting a handwritten pattern written by the user in an input area on the screen; Recognizing the detected handwriting pattern from a database of reference patterns, wherein the recognizing includes recognizing a first interpretation of the handwriting pattern among the reference patterns and the handwriting pattern among the reference patterns Recognizing at least one alternative interpretation of the first interpretation, wherein the first interpretation includes a reference pattern most similar to the handwritten pattern written by the user from the database of reference patterns; An alternative interpretation includes a reference pattern most similar to the handwritten pattern, except for the pattern corresponding to the first interpretation in the database of reference patterns; Providing the first interpretation in a presentation area on the screen, the display area overlapping the input area; And, Providing said at least one alternative interpretation in said display area. Including, the method of providing a recognized handwriting pattern. The method of claim 1, And said at least one alternative interpretation is provided concurrently with said first interpretation. The method of claim 2, And wherein said first interpretation is provided in a larger size than said at least one alternative interpretation. The method of claim 2 or 3, The at least one alternative interpretation is provided simultaneously with the first interpretation only if it is difficult to distinguish between the first interpretation and the at least one alternative interpretation during the recognition step. How to Provide. The method of claim 1, And providing the at least one alternative interpretation is at the request of a user. The method of claim 5, wherein Providing the alternative interpretation replaces the provided first interpretation. The method according to any one of claims 1 to 3, And providing the interpretations replaces the written handwritten pattern. The method according to any one of claims 1 to 3, And providing at least one pattern similar to the pattern following or preceding the recognized handwriting pattern. The method of claim 8, Several similar patterns are determined via bigram statistics, the similar patterns being provided as alternative interpretations. The method according to any one of claims 1 to 3, Wherein the recognizing step finds several alternative interpretations and the providing of alternative interpretations provides all alternative interpretations found. The method according to any one of claims 1 to 3, Providing guidance lines in the input area to guide the user to a place to write the pattern, the guide lines being part of the pattern outside the area defined by the guide lines by the user. Defining a main writing area that covers only a portion of the input area to allow writing of them. The method of claim 11, Providing the guide lines mimic the shape of a writing paper. The method according to any one of claims 1 to 3, The providing steps include providing a pattern on a pattern background visible on a portion of the display area of the screen, the pattern background associated with the pattern and the associated pattern The combination of the background and the interpretation pattern is provided in a masked form, and the combination masking is selected according to the provided pattern type. The method of claim 13, Each provided pattern is associated with a pattern background, and each combination of each of the pattern and each of the associated pattern backgrounds is masked according to each of the pattern types. The method of claim 13, The provided patterns are displayed along horizontal or vertical lines. The method of claim 13, And the sizes of the relevant background area are the same or different. The method of claim 13, a) identifying a pattern type to be provided; b) selecting the masking type corresponding to the pattern type; And c) providing a combination of the pattern and the associated pattern background on the screen while applying appropriate masking for the combination Method of providing a recognized handwriting pattern comprising a. The method of claim 13, A method of providing a recognized handwriting pattern, characterized in that the viewer of the provided pattern can select the masking type associated with the pattern type. The method of claim 13, And wherein said masking comprises varying the appearance of said combination. The method of claim 13, And said masking comprises enhancing or decreasing contrast between said associated pattern background and said pattern. The method of claim 13, Said masking comprises changing said associated pattern background, wherein said change is selected from the group consisting of a change in color, shading, and hatching. The method of claim 13, Said masking comprises changing said pattern, said change being selected from the group consisting of a change in color, shading and hatching. The method of claim 13, And the type associated with each pattern is user definable. The method of claim 13, And said handwriting pattern and said provided patterns comprise a character. The method of claim 24, The character is selected from the group consisting of Chinese characters, Japanese kanji, hiragana, katakana, Latin characters, Greek characters, Arabic numerals, and punctuation marks. Method of providing a recognized handwriting pattern. The method of claim 24, The masking is selected according to the character type, and the type is selected from a group consisting of Chinese characters, Japanese Kanji, Hiragana, Katakana, Latin characters, Greek characters, Arabic numerals, and punctuation marks. Method of handwritten handwriting pattern. The method of claim 24, And said masking comprises changing a font or font style of said character. delete A handwritten pattern recognition device comprising a screen for interaction with a user, wherein the screen includes: A handwriting sensitive input area configured to detect a handwriting pattern of a user; A processor configured to search a database of reference patterns and to recognize a first interpretation of the detected handwritten pattern from the database of reference patterns and at least one alternative interpretation of the detected handwritten pattern from the database of reference patterns; And A display area arranged to provide the first interpretation of the pattern written in the input area and to provide at least one alternative interpretation of the written pattern, the display area overlapping the input area Wherein the first interpretation comprises a reference pattern most similar to the detected handwriting pattern, and wherein the alternative interpretation is the handwriting pattern, except for the pattern corresponding to the first interpretation in the database of reference patterns. Handwriting pattern recognition device comprising a reference pattern most similar to the. The method of claim 29, And a means for requesting an indication of said at least one alternative interpretation of said written pattern. The method of claim 30, Wherein said display area is arranged to provide said alternative interpretation in accordance with a user's request via said means for requesting. The method according to any one of claims 29 to 31, The screen further includes guidance lines provided in the input area for guiding a user to where to write a pattern and defining a major writing area, wherein the main writing area is defined by the guide lines. Handwriting pattern recognition apparatus, characterized in that it covers only a part of the input area to allow a user to write parts of the pattern outside the area. The method of claim 32, And the guide lines mimic the shape of a recording paper. The method according to any one of claims 29 to 31, The screen allows for display of a pattern on a pattern background, the pattern background associated with the pattern, and the screen configured to provide the associated pattern background and the combination of the pattern in a masked form, the masking provided Handwriting pattern recognition device characterized in that the selectable according to the pattern type.

Images