KR20060003916A - 5button alphabet input system using fractal array - Google Patents

Abstract

The present invention relates to an apparatus and method for inputting alphabets, numbers, and special characters (hereinafter referred to as "letters". How to arrange possible characters according to a certain rule, how to display a part of the arrangement on the screen, change the displayed characters through the up, down, left and right direction buttons and OK button, and select one of the displayed characters to enter the characters And a five-button (up, down, left, right arrow keys and confirmation button) input device for implementing the method.

Direction Key, Direction Button, 5 Buttons, Text Input, Fractal, Input Device, Text Input Device

Description

5 button character input system using fractal array {5BUTTON ALPHABET INPUT SYSTEM USING FRACTAL ARRAY}

Figure 1. Full key matrix arranged in a fractal manner.

FIG. 2. A table showing characters corresponding to cell numbers of FIG. Uppercase character set

3. A table showing characters corresponding to the cell numbers of FIG. Lowercase character set.

Fig. 4. A figure for explaining the names of parts of the key matrix displayed on the screen.

Left key matrix: Number 3: Selected cell (root)

1,2,4,5: cell going down

Right key matrix: Number 8: Selected cell (Letter A)

Number 9: Cell Going Up

6, 7, 10: cell going down

5. All key matrices that can be displayed on the actual screen

A. Key Matrix in the Initial State

B. All key matrices that can appear with a single button press

(When you press the buttons displayed in the initial state in order, the key matrix of the picture is displayed on the screen.)

-B1: ↑, B2: →, B3: ↓, B4: ←

C.D.E.F Button Input Any key matrix that can appear twice.

-C1: ↑ ←, C2: ↑↑, C3: ↑ →

-D1: → ↑, D2: →→, D3: → ↓

-E1: ↓ →, E2: ↓↓, E3: ↓ ←

-F1: ← ↓, F2: ←←, F3: ← ↑

6. Schematic diagram of a five-button character input device used in the present patent.

7. When the patent is applied to a login box of a web page suitable for viewing on TV

A: The focus is displayed on the character input area.

B: Key matrix in the initial state. (When OK button is pressed in Fig. 7A)

C: When you select a cell with the letter (A) you want to enter

(In case of pressing the up direction button in B. of Fig. 7)

D: The situation after entering the characters in the selected cell through the OK button. The text input focus automatically shifts to the next space.

(When confirm button is pressed in C. of Fig. 7)

8. Flowchart of character input process.

9. Application of the five-button character input device.

A. When applied to the remote control

B. When applied to a mobile phone (key input keyboard disappeared and liquid crystal became larger)

C. Applied to PDA

The present invention relates to a button structure, a button input device, and a character input method in a device for inputting characters, and in particular, a method for implementing all character inputs that can be expressed in a 3 * 4 key input method using a small number of button input devices. It is about.

With the spread of the Internet, users are getting used to interactive environments. Along with this trend, systems for surfing the web through TV are emerging. Microsoft, for example, has developed an operating system for a computer next to a TV with the "Window XP Media Center Edition". While using the input device of the TV, they require input such as login and registration, which is difficult to implement with the input device of the TV.

Among the input methods that can be used in the above situation, 3 * 4 key input method, display type key input method, 2-way slide key can be applied to the above-mentioned "character" (alphabet, number, special character) input. Input method, 4-way key input method, and the like.

The conventional 3 * 4 key input method requires at least 10 buttons. In addition, when this method is applied to the interactive TV, the user must check the position of the button on the remote control to input text, press a button to input text, and check the input text on the TV screen. This shift in gaze inhibits the viewer's concentration on the screen and significantly impedes the real-time responsiveness in surfing the Internet using a TV.

In addition, in the case of a mobile phone, the space occupied by input buttons is a big obstacle to miniaturization. This is because the conventional 3 * 4 key input method requires 12 buttons and a blank space for distinguishing buttons between the buttons.

In addition, the problem of text entry also exists in PDAs. The PDA itself has been reduced in size and weight, and it can be lifted with only one hand. However, when inputting a character into the PDA, it is inevitably bound to use two hands. This is because you have to hold the PDA in one hand, enter text using the stylus fan with the other hand, or install an optional device such as a keyboard on the PDA, hold the machine with both hands, and enter the text.

It solves the problem of the user's eyes staying on the text input device, the problem of using two hands for text input, the problem that the text input device has to occupy a certain size or more, and at the same time the input speed similar to the existing text input method. It is an object of the present invention to provide an apparatus and method capable of providing the same.

In order to enable a user to input correct characters without having to look at the character input apparatus, first, the number of buttons should be small. Second, the placement of the buttons should be intuitive. In order to satisfy the above requirements, a five-button character input device using only up, down, left, and right direction buttons and confirmation button is implemented.

These five-button character input device can be controlled with just a thumb. Therefore, you can hold a device with one hand and use the thumb of that hand to enter text on the device.

However, if the button of the character input device is reduced, the input speed of the character becomes slow. As an example, it is difficult to obtain the character input speed of the conventional 2-way slide key input method and the 4-way key input method as in the conventional 3 * 4 key input method. The present invention is designed to achieve a character input speed similar to that of a conventional 3 * 4 key input method by using a sequence of characters that a user already knows (or assumed to know) and a predetermined arrangement rule.

The present invention comprises a character input device consisting of up, down, left, and right direction buttons and a confirmation button, a key matrix displayed on the screen in the form of a cross, a predetermined rule for arranging the key matrix, a method for transforming a key matrix according to an input, and a method for inputting a character It is about.

The character input device arranges a confirmation button in the center so that the user can intuitively operate without giving a gaze, and arranges the respective direction keys on the top, bottom, left and right sides thereof (Fig. 6).

The entire key matrix is arranged according to the fractal method as shown in FIG. 1, and when a character input is started, five cells composed of “selected cells” of one of the entire key matrices and cells above, below, left and right are displayed on the screen. These five cells are referred to as key matrices below. (In Fig. 1, the size of the cells varies depending on convenience, but when the actual screen is displayed, they are all displayed in the same size.)

The key matrix displayed on the screen in the form of a cross consists of five cells, each cell containing a letter in a rectangular box. These are largely divided into "selected cell", "top cell" and "bottom cell".

A "selected cell" is a cell located in the middle of the cross key matrix (cells 3 and 8 of FIG. 4). In the current key matrix, this cell is input when the OK button is pressed. There is only one cell. When the "selected cell" is determined, a key matrix is formed by arranging the selected cells and cells located above, below, left and right of the "selected cell" in the entire key matrix in a cross shape.

The "top cell" is the cell closest to the root of the entire key matrix (Fig. 1) among the outer cells of the key matrix currently displayed on the screen (none of the left key matrix of Fig. 4, no. 9 of the right key matrix). . It can be selected through up, down, left, and right buttons, and there must be one in the key matrix. (Except when root is selected there is no "top cell"-left side of Figure 4). The "going up cell" is represented by an empty state without an internal character to distinguish it from the "going down cell" (No. 9 on the right side of FIG. 4).

The "going down cell" is a cell other than the "going up cell" among the outer cells of the key matrix currently displayed on the screen (1, 2, 4, 5, 6, 7, 10 of FIG. 4). Selectable via up, down, left, and right buttons, there must be three in the key matrix. (Exceptionally, four are present if root is selected. On the left side of FIG. 4)

The screen displays the cells selected above, below, left, and right of the "selected cell" and the entire key matrix (Fig. 1). The relative positions between the cells in the entire key matrix (Fig. 1) are preserved in the key matrix displayed on the screen. In the entire key matrix, the cell sizes are different, but in the actual user view, all the cells are the same size.

When the user presses the OK button in a column where a character is to be input (A in FIG. 7), a key matrix appears on the screen on which the focus was given when the OK button was pressed (B in FIG. 7). The initial state of the key matrix is always root as the "selected cell". If you press the OK button while root is selected, the key matrix disappears and no text entry event occurs.

Pressing the up, down, left, or right arrow buttons selects cells in the direction corresponding to each button. The "selected cell" is located in the center of the key matrix, and the key matrix based on the "selected cell" is displayed on the screen. The new key matrix is also a five-headed cross, which consists of a "selected cell" and its top, bottom, left and right cells in the entire key matrix. If there is a "going up cell," the cell is displayed empty.

After selecting a desired cell with a direction button (C of FIG. 7) and pressing the confirm button, a character in the cell is input (D of FIG. 7). If you do not press any button for 2 seconds, it will have the same effect as pressing the OK button. If you select the wrong cell, go up one level and select again. If the outermost cell is selected in the entire key matrix array, the characters in the outermost cell are automatically entered. The position where the character is entered is the position where the focus was before pressing the OK button to display the key matrix. The key matrix disappears after the character is entered.

The character input process is represented in a flowchart form in FIG. 8.

In the Internet environment using a remote control or gamepad, users can input text without turning their eyes on the screen, and when using a mobile phone, the size of the input keyboard can be reduced to 1/2 or less, and the PDA can be held in one hand. You can enter the character with the thumb of the hand holding it. In addition, it is possible to input characters with a speed similar to the existing 3 * 4 key input method (average number of button inputs for one character: 2.5 times, maximum number of button inputs: 4 times).

(In the method of claiming a patent, when a user enters a character through a 2-second delay while accustomed to the character array.

Average number of button presses for one character: 2.6

Characters that can be input at one time: No. 14, No. 27, No. 40, (cell number in Fig. 1)

Characters that can be entered twice, 2, 6, 10, 15, 19, 23, 28, 32, 36, (cell number in FIG. 1)

Characters that can be entered 3 times: 36 other characters in total, see FIG.

-Maximum number of button presses: 3 times)

Claims (4)

In the five-button character input device Receives user input using up, down, left, right and OK buttons, displays and transforms a key matrix consisting of five cells on the screen according to the input. Finally, when the input is completed, the key matrix disappears and characters are entered. Character input system. (A, B, C, D of Figure 7) The method of claim 1, further comprising: arranging characters in a fractal form based on a sequence of characters already known to a user to form an entire key matrix. The character input method according to claim 1, wherein, when the entire key matrix is given, the user inputs, modifies the cross key matrix displayed on the screen, and inputs the selected character according to the process described with reference to FIG. Create a plurality of "all key matrices" (see Figs. 2 and 3), change the selected "all key matrix" according to the user's input, and based on the selected "all key matrices", the characters of Fig. 8 System implementing the input method.

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