KR20070074652A - A method and device for performing ideographic character input - Google Patents

Abstract

A method (300) for performing ideographic character input via a user interface in the form of a touch screen (105) of an electronic device (100) comprises receiving (302) a series of scribed alphabetical letters (200) scribed in a scribing area (201) of the touch screen (105), the series of letters representing at least one ideographic character. The method comprises identifying (303) a group of candidate words from the series of alphabetical letters and displaying (304) representative candidate ideographic characters (203) in a first display area (202) of the user interface, each one of the representative candidate ideographic characters corresponding to a different one of the candidate words. The method comprises displaying (305) alternative ideographic characters (205) in a second display area (204) of the user interface, the alternative ideographic characters corresponding to one of the candidate words, and receiving (307) a selection request to thereby input one of the candidate ideographic characters to the electronic device (100).

Description

A method and device for performing ideographic character input}

The present invention generally relates to a method and a device for performing ideographic input. The invention is particularly useful for automatically recognizing, but not necessarily limited to, a series of letters representing at least one ideographic letter written on a touch screen of an electronic device.

Electronic devices increasingly include small electronic devices such as touch screen-type user interfaces, in particular mobile phones and personal digital assistants (PDAs). In addition to displaying information, touch screens allow a user to enter information, for example, with character recognition or virtual buttons. In the case of character recognition, the character is hand scribed to the writing area of the touch screen, and the character recognition software determines one or more candidate characters corresponding to the written character. These techniques are particularly useful for entering complex ideographic characters that appear in languages such as Chinese, Japanese, and Korean.

In addition to their complexity, ideograms are numerous. For example, one known Chinese standard prescribes over 6700 simplified Chinese characters used in mainland China, while another standard prescribes over 13,000 traditional characters used in Taiwan. Therefore, even an educated person can make it difficult to remember all letters or even a subset of relatively small letters.

In addition, sometimes the touch screen is relatively small, especially for mobile phones and PDAs, and because the writing area is typically smaller than the size of the touch screen, the user may have a number of strokes, especially strokes, in the writing area. It can be difficult to write as many compound characters as you can. In addition, recognition errors may occur when letters or ideograms are written on the touch screen.

)을 나타낸다. 그러므로, 사용자는 다수의 후보 표의문자들 중에서 원하는 표의문자를 찾아내야 하는 또다른 어려움에 부닥친다. It is known to use input methods such as PinYin and ZhuYin to assist in the input of ideographic characters. In PinYin, for example, a series of alphabet letters represent at least one ideographic letter. Therefore, the user can enter a character into the electronic device in the PinYin mode when he or she cannot remember or want to write the ideographic character in the ideographic input mode of the electronic device. However, a series of alphabetic characters may represent one or more ideographic characters. For example, in PinYin, the series of alphabet letters "shuang" means ideograms (

). Therefore, the user is faced with another difficulty in finding the desired ideogram among a number of candidate ideograms.

In this specification, including the claims, the terms “comprises”, “comprising” or similar terms refer to other elements that are not listed, such that a method or device comprising a series of elements does not include only these elements. Non-exclusive inclusions that may include.

Accordingly, one aspect of the present invention is a method for performing tabular text input via a user interface of an electronic device, the method comprising:

Receiving at least one indicia written in a writing area of the user interface, the indication representing at least one ideograph;

Identifying a group of candidate words from the representation;

Displaying representative candidate table characters in a first display area of the user interface, wherein each representative candidate table character corresponds to one of the different candidate words;

Displaying alternative ideograms in a second display area of the user interface, wherein the alternative ideograms correspond to one of the candidate words; And

Receiving a selection request, and accordingly inputting one of the candidate voters to the electronic device.

Suitably, the indication may be a series of written alphabet letters.

However, the indication may be a representation of a ideogram.

Identifying a group of candidate words may include performing character recognition on the indication.

Alternative ideographic characters may be displayed in a predetermined order determined by statistical analysis.

The method may further comprise displaying alternative ideograms corresponding to different candidate words when different representative candidate ideograms are selected.

In another aspect, the present invention provides an electronic device for performing tabular character input, the electronic device comprising:

A processor identifying a group of candidate words from at least one representation;

A user interface coupled to communicate with the processor,

The user interface is:

A writing area for receiving the written indication, the series of letters representing at least one ideographic character;

A first display region for displaying representative candidate table characters, each of the representative candidate table characters corresponding to one of the different candidate words;

A second display area for displaying alternative ideograms corresponding to one of the candidate words; And

And a third display area for displaying one of the candidate table queries entered into the electronic device in response to the processor receiving the selection request.

Suitably, the processor performs character recognition on the indication to identify a group of candidate words.

Suitably, the indication may be a series of written alphabet letters.

However, the indication may be a representation of the ideogram.

Suitably, the second display area displays the alternative ideographic characters in a predetermined order determined by statistical analysis.

Suitably, the second display area displays alternate table letters corresponding to different candidate words when different representative candidate table letters displayed in the first display area are selected.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF DRAWINGS To make the present invention easier to understand and practice, the following exemplary embodiments are described with reference to the accompanying drawings, wherein like reference numerals refer to like elements.

1 is a diagram schematically illustrating an embodiment of an electronic device according to an embodiment of the present invention.

2 schematically illustrates an embodiment of a user interface when a series of alphabet letters is written on the screen 105 of the device of FIG. 1.

3 is a flow chart illustrating a method of performing tabular text input via the user interface of FIG.

4 schematically illustrates the user interface of FIG. 2 illustrating another method when a series of alphabetic characters is written on the screen of the device of FIG. 1.

FIG. 5 is a schematic illustration of the user interface of FIG. 2 illustrating another method when an indication representing a ideogram is written on the screen 105 of the electronic device of FIG. 1.

Referring to FIG. 1, an electronic device 100 is schematically illustrated in the form of a mobile station or mobile phone that includes a radio frequency communication unit 102 coupled to communicate with the processor 103. The electronic device 100 also has a user interface in the form of a touch screen 105 coupled to communicate with the processor 103. As will be apparent to those skilled in the art, a keypad 106 may also be provided coupled to communicate with the processor 103.

The processor 103 may include an encoder / encoder with an associated code read only memory 112 that stores data for encoding and decoding voice or other signals that may be transmitted or received by the mobile phone 100. The decoder 111 is included. The processor 103 also uses the instruction data and address bus 117 to generate an encoder / decoder 111, a character ROM 114, a random access memory (RAM) 104, a static programmable memory (116). And a microprocessor 113 coupled to the Removable User Identity Module (RUIM) interface 118. Each of the static programmable memory 116 and RUIM card 119 (generally referred to as a Subscriber Identity Module (SIM) card) coupled to operate with the RUIM interface 118 is, among other things, a preferred roaming list. Named fields for Prefered Roaming Lists (PRLs), subscriber authentication data, selected incoming text messages, and identifiers associated with one of the telephone numbers in the number field and name field for telephone numbers. A telephone number database (TND (Telephone Number Database) phonebook) may be stored. For example, one entry in the telephone number database may be 91999111111 (enter in the number field) for the associated identifier "Steven C! At work" in the name field. The RUIM card 119 and the static memory 116 may also store passwords that enable access to password protected functions on the mobile phone 100.

The microprocessor 113 typically has ports for coupling to an alarm 115, a keypad 106, and a touch screen 105 that include an alarm speaker, a vibration motor, and associated drivers. The microprocessor 113 also has ports for coupling to the microphone 135 and the communication speaker 140. Character ROM 114 stores code for decoding or encoding text messages that may be received by communication unit 102. In this embodiment, the character ROM 114, the RUIM card 119, and the static memory 116 are also functions associated with an operating code (OC) for the microprocessor 113 and the mobile phone 100. You can store the code to do this.

The radio frequency communication unit 102 is a combined receiver and transmitter with a common antenna 107. The communication unit 102 has a transceiver 108 coupled to the antenna 107 via a radio frequency amplifier 109. The transceiver 108 is also coupled to a combined modulator / demodulator 110 that couples the communication unit 102 to the processor 103.

Electronic device 100 may be any electronic device, including a wireless telephone, a conventional type of telephone, a laptop computer, a tablet personal computer (PC), or a PDA. The user can select an application by traversing menus displayed on the touch screen 105 or selecting icons.

The touch screen 105 may be a necessity or an accessory to the electronic device 100. The touch screen 105 has an integrated driver that is controllable by the microprocessor 113. The touch screen 105 is typically an interactive user interface for enabling data entry, performing device applications and commands, traversing a menu, displaying text, displaying graphics, and displaying menus. Data entry and other user input requests to the touch screen 105 typically include using a stylus and may include writing characters on the touch screen 105 as will be apparent to those skilled in the art. . Further, in this embodiment, the user interface is in the form of a touch screen 105, but the user interface inputs an indicia written on the electronic device 100, such as a tablet or an electronic touch sensitive pad. May be any means.

1 and 2, the electronic device 100 performing ideographic input identifies a group of candidate words from written (handwritten) marks, which may be a series of alphabetic characters 200. And a processor 103 for the purpose of doing so. The user interface in the form of a touch screen 105 coupled to communicate with the processor 103 includes a writing area 201 for receiving a series of written alphabetic characters 200. The series of alphabet letters 200 represents at least one ideogram. The touch screen 105 also includes a first display area 202 for displaying representative candidate interrogators 203. Each representative candidate descriptor 203 corresponds to one of different candidate words. The touch screen 105 includes a second display area 204 for displaying alternative descriptors 205 corresponding to one of the candidate words. The touch screen 105 also includes a third display area 206 for displaying one of the candidate table interrogators entered into the electronic device 100 in response to the processor 103 receiving the selection request. Therefore, this third display area 206 displays text containing the selected candidate characters. Those skilled in the art will understand that the arrangement of writing area 201, first, second and third display areas 202, 204, 206 shown in FIG. 2 is merely one possible arrangement available from many alternatives.

2 and 3, there is shown an embodiment of the method 300 of the present invention for performing ideographic input via a user interface in the form of a touch screen 105. The method 300 is basically performed by the processor 103 and includes a start step 301 which is typically generated by an interrupt when the user selects a handwriting input mode. As shown, the handwriting (indication or indications) is in the form of a series of alphabet letters 200, and in one entry mode the handwriting input mode employs the PinYin input method. In one alternative entry mode, the handwriting input mode employs the ZhuYin input method or any other similar method apparent to those skilled in the art.

The method 300 includes receiving 302 a series of alphabetic characters 200 written in the writing area 201 of the touch screen 105. A series of letters represents at least one ideogram. The method includes identifying 303 a group of candidate words from the series of alphabet letters 200. Identifying 303 the group of candidate words includes a processor 103 that performs character recognition for the series of alphabet letters 200. This character recognition of each character in the series of alphabet letters 200 not only detects when the user completes the operation of writing the series of alphabet letters 200 using a timeout routine or the like. Template matching, segmentation, and normalization. Character recognition is well known to those skilled in the art, and a detailed description thereof is not required herein for the sake of simplicity.

As shown in FIG. 2, in the PinYin handwriting input mode, the series of alphabet letters 200 represents "shuang". However, due to careless, untidy or peculiar handwriting, for example, the series of alphabet letters 200 is identified as another candidate word. In this example, the group of candidate words that can be identified may be "shuang", "shuan", "zhuang", "zhuan" and "huang". Referring to Table 1, each candidate word in the left column has at least one corresponding candidate table letter in the right column.

Table 1

) 각각은 서로 다른 후보 워드들 중 하나에 대응한다. 도 2에 도시된 실시예에서, 제 1 디스플레이 영역(202)에 디스플레이된 대표적인 후보 표의문자들(203) 각각은 표 1의 각 후보 워드에 대한 제 1 후보 표의문자에 대응한다. 2 and 3, the method 300 includes displaying 304 representative candidate questionnaires 203 in the first display area 202 of the touch screen 105. Representative candidate voters (203) (

Each corresponds to one of the different candidate words. In the embodiment shown in FIG. 2, each of the representative candidate table questions 203 displayed in the first display area 202 corresponds to the first candidate table letter for each candidate word of Table 1. As shown in FIG.

The method 300 includes displaying 305 alternate descriptive words 205 in the second display area 204 of the touch screen 105, wherein the alternate descriptive words 205 are candidate words. Corresponds to one of Referring to the embodiment shown in FIG. 2 and Table 1, in the second display area 204, alternative table queries 205 correspond to the candidate word "shuang".

In one embodiment, alternative descriptors 205 are displayed in the second display area 204 in a predetermined order determined by statistical analysis. For example, statistical analysis of a language database may yield words that are frequently used in a particular language. Therefore, in one embodiment, the most frequently used ideograms are displayed in the first display area 202 as representative candidate ideograms 203, and the alternative ideograms 205 are second in their frequency of use order. Displayed in display area 204. In the embodiment shown in FIG. 2, the representative candidate acronyms 203 displayed in the first display area 202 are also displayed in the second display area 204 as one of the alternative table arithmetic characters 205.

In an alternative embodiment, the frequencies at which ideographic characters are entered by the user into the electronic device 100 are recorded. The order in which the alternative descriptors 205 are displayed in the second display area 204 can be determined by the frequency with which they are used by the user.

If none of the alternative ideograms 205 displayed in the second display area 204 are the desired ideograms, scrolling arrows 207 of the touch screen are displayed in the alternative display area 204. It may be selected to further display descriptive characters 205. The scrolling arrows 207 may be selected when the second display area 204 cannot display all of the alternative table letters 205 corresponding to the candidate word (in this example, of the alternative table for shuang) Characters 205 are displayed in FIG. 2).

The user determines in test block 306 whether the desired candidate ideogram is displayed in the second display area 204. If the desired candidate character has not been displayed in the second display area 204, the user can select another desired candidate character by touching the appropriate candidate character 203 in the first display area 202. Therefore, referring to FIG. 4, if the desired candidate ideogram was not initially displayed in the display area 204 after selectively operating the scrolling arrow, the method 300 may be selected by different representative candidate ideograms 208. And displaying (309) alternative ideograms corresponding to the different candidate words. The alternative table queries 205 displayed in the second display area 204 shown in FIG. 4 correspond to the second candidate word " shuan "

When the desired candidate table letter is displayed in the second display area 204 in the test block 306, the user selects the desired candidate table letter by touching the appropriate letter in the second display area 204. Eventually, the selection request occurs at block 306, the method responsive to the processor 103 receiving the selection request, such that the selected ideographic character is displayed on the third display area 206 of the touch screen 105 of the electronic device 100. , Proceed to block 307, which is input to an ideographic character string, such as a text message. This selection request automatically clears the write area 201 in anticipation of another set of write alphabet letters 200 being written. Subsequently, the user may select to input another character by simply writing another series of alphabet letters 200 in the writing area 201. If such a write is detected in test block 310, the method 300 returns to receiving step 302. Alternatively, the user may activate the key 212 on the screen 105 to complete the text entry in the third display area 206 and terminate the method 300 at block 311, thereby causing the test block 310 to fail. You can choose a finish entering option.

If the desired candidate ideogram is not displayed in the display area 204 even after the selection operation of the scrolling arrows 207 due to inadvertent writing of the series of written alphabet letters 200 in the writing area 201, the scrolling area ( 201, the first display area 202, and the second display area 204 are refreshed (cleared). Areas 201, 202, 204 are refreshed by a user selecting refresh button 210 on screen 105 which essentially performs a refresh interrupt that may occur in any block of method 300. As a result of this refresh interrupt, the method 300 returns to block 302 where it is performed to receive the new series of alphabetic characters 200 written, preparing display areas 201 and 202 to display ideographic characters.

를 제 3 디스플레이 영역(206)에 입력하도록 표시를 기입할지라도 도 2에 도시된 표의문자들과는 다를 것이다. 2 and 4, the written indication or indications are a series of alphabet letters 200. However, as shown in FIG. 5, the indication is a ideogram 500, not a series of alphabetic characters 200. Accordingly, ideograph recognition is performed at block 303, and most representative candidate idioms 203 in the first display area 202 shown in FIG.

Even if the indication is entered to enter in the third display area 206, it will be different from the tables shown in FIG.

Therefore, the present invention provides a table letter input through a user interface of an electronic device that enables a user to enter table letters by writing a series of alphabetic characters representing at least one table letter in a writing area of a user interface in which candidate words are identified. An electronic device and a method for performing the same. The user does not need to remember all of the table letters because the method and device display representative letter tables identified from a series of alphabetic letters written, each representative candidate table letter corresponding to one of the different candidate words. do. In order to facilitate the selection of the desired ideogram, alternative ideograms corresponding to one of the candidate words are also displayed. Alternative ideograms corresponding to different candidate words are displayed when different representative candidate ideograms are selected to provide additional choices to the user. Therefore, the input of correct ideographic characters to electronic devices is simplified and more effective.

The foregoing detailed description provides only exemplary embodiments, and is not intended to limit the scope, applicability, or configuration of the present invention. Rather, the detailed description of the exemplary embodiments provides those skilled in the art with a possible description for implementing the exemplary embodiments of the invention. As disclosed in the appended claims, it should be understood that various changes may be made in the function and arrangement of elements and steps without departing from the spirit and scope of the invention.

Claims (12)

In a method for performing ideographic character input through the electronic device's user interface: Receiving at least one indicia written in a writing area of the user interface, the indication representing at least one ideograph; Identifying a group of candidate words from the representation; Displaying representative candidate table characters in a first display area of the user interface, wherein each representative candidate table character corresponds to one of the different candidate words; Displaying alternative ideograms in a second display area of the user interface, wherein the alternative ideograms correspond to one of the candidate words; And Receiving a selection request, and accordingly inputting one of the candidate voters to the electronic device. 2. The method of claim 1, wherein identifying the group of candidate words comprises performing character recognition on the indication. The method of claim 1, wherein the indication is a series of alphabetical letters. The method of claim 1, wherein the indication is a representation of a ideographic character. The method of claim 1, wherein the alternative ideographic characters are displayed in a predetermined order determined by statistical analysis. 2. The method of claim 1, further comprising displaying alternative ideograms corresponding to different candidate words when different representative candidate ideograms are selected. In an electronic device for performing ideographic input: A processor identifying a group of candidate words from at least one representation; And A user interface coupled to communicate with the processor, The user interface is: A writing area for receiving the written indication, the marking representing at least one ideographic character; A first display area for displaying representative candidate table characters, each of the representative candidate table characters corresponding to each of the different candidate words; A second display area for displaying alternative ideograms corresponding to one of the candidate words; And And a third display area for displaying one of the candidate table queries entered into the electronic device in response to the processor receiving the selection request. 8. The electronic device of claim 7, wherein the processor performs character recognition on the at least one indication to identify the group of candidate words. 8. The electronic device of claim 7, wherein the indication is a written series of alphabet letters. 8. The electronic device of claim 7, wherein the indication is a representation of a ideogram. 8. The electronic device of claim 7, wherein the second display area displays the alternative tabular characters in a predetermined order determined by statistical analysis. 8. The electronic device of claim 7, wherein the second display region displays alternative ideographic characters corresponding to different candidate words when different representative candidate ideographic characters displayed in the first display region are selected.

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