TWI464635B - Portable electronic device and control method of the same - Google Patents

Description

Handheld electronic device and control method thereof

The present invention relates to the application of a software keyboard (SIP), and more particularly to a handheld electronic device providing a software keyboard and a control method thereof.

With the rapid development of touch sensing technology, more and more electronic devices have begun to use touch screens to replace traditional screens and physical keyboards, and at the same time serve as an interface for displaying images and allowing users to input messages. According to the touch sensing technology, a software input panel (SIP) technology is developed for the user to directly input characters or symbols into an electronic device through a touch screen.

However, unlike the physical keyboard, when the user presses the button on the software keyboard, the touch of the fingertip is less able to feel the feedback of the button, so it is difficult for the user to know whether the button is correctly touched. Moreover, in the case of handheld electronic devices that are light, thin, short, and small, the size of the touch screens that are provided is often limited, and the software keyboard is more difficult to operate. In other words, since the touch screen disposed on the handheld electronic device is already small, the display screen of the software keyboard is smaller, and the virtual keys on the software keyboard are so small that the user cannot touch the user correctly. In this case, it is not only difficult to recognize the character pattern on the virtual button. If the touch of the virtual button is compared, the user cannot feel the feedback of the button, which may cause the user to be inconvenient in inputting the character. . Therefore, how to improve the convenience of character input of a handheld electronic device is one of the topics of the industry.

The invention relates to a handheld electronic device and a control method thereof, which can improve the recognition degree of a character pattern, increase the convenience of use of the handheld electronic device, and provide a simple and efficient character input mode for the handheld electronic device. .

According to an aspect of the invention, a flow chart of a method of controlling a handheld electronic device is presented. This method involves multiple steps. Controlling one of the touch screens of the handheld electronic device to display a software keyboard, the software keyboard having at least one virtual button, the virtual button corresponding to a plurality of characters in the input method, the patterns of the characters being adapted to be in the first format or The second format is displayed on the virtual button. The pattern of the first character of the characters is displayed on the virtual button in a first format. The pattern of the second character of these characters is displayed on the virtual button in the second format. The first character is output when the virtual button is touched. In response to the switching signal, the pattern of the first character is switched from the first format to the second format and displayed on the virtual button, and the pattern of the second character is switched from the second format to the first format and displayed on the virtual button on.

According to another aspect of the present invention, a handheld electronic device is provided, including a touch screen, a control unit, and a switching unit. The touch screen is used to display a software keyboard. The software keyboard has at least one virtual button. The virtual button corresponds to a plurality of characters in an input method. The patterns of the characters are adapted to be displayed on the virtual keys in a first format or a second format. The control unit is configured to display the pattern of the first character of one of the characters on the virtual button in a first format, and display the pattern of the second character of the characters in the second format on the virtual button . The first character is output when the virtual button is touched. The switching unit is configured to provide a switching signal for the control unit to switch the pattern of the first character from the first format to the second format and display the pattern on the virtual button, and switch the pattern of the second character from the second format to the first format The format is displayed on the virtual button.

In order to provide a better understanding of the above and other aspects of the present invention, the preferred embodiments of the present invention are described in detail below.

The following is a detailed description of the embodiments, which are intended to be illustrative only and not to limit the scope of the invention. In addition, the drawings in the embodiments omit unnecessary elements to clearly show the technical features of the present invention.

Please refer to FIG. 1 , which is a flow chart of a method for controlling a handheld electronic device according to an embodiment of the invention. This method involves multiple steps. In step S110, the touch screen of one of the handheld electronic devices is displayed to display a software keyboard. The software keyboard has at least one virtual button, and the virtual button corresponds to a plurality of characters in the input method, and the patterns of the characters are suitable for The first format or the second format is displayed on the virtual button. In step S120, the pattern of the first character of one of the characters is displayed on the virtual button in a first format, and the pattern of the second character of the characters is displayed in the second format on the virtual button. The first character is output when the virtual button is touched. In step S130, in response to a switching signal, the pattern of the first character is switched from the first format to the second format and displayed on the virtual button, and the pattern of the second character is switched from the second format to the first format. The format is displayed on the virtual button.

According to the control method of the handheld electronic device proposed in the above embodiment of the present invention, the format of the character pattern can be switched and displayed on the virtual button, so that the recognition degree of the character pattern can be improved, and the convenience of use is increased. advantage. Further description of the handheld electronic device using one of the control methods is as follows.

Please refer to FIG. 2, which is a block diagram showing an example of a handheld electronic device according to an embodiment of the invention. Please also refer to FIGS. 3A and 3B, which respectively show a front view and a side view of an example of the handheld electronic device of FIG. 2. The handheld electronic device 200 includes a touch screen 210, a control unit 220, and a switching unit 230. The actuation relationship between the units is as follows.

The touch screen 210 is used to display a software keyboard SIP. The software keyboard SIP has at least one virtual button. The virtual button is, for example, one of 12 virtual buttons on the software keyboard SIP in the example shown in FIG. 3A. However, the software keyboard SIP with 12 virtual buttons is only for explanation. The invention is used, and the invention is not limited thereto. The virtual button KP is taken as an example for illustration. The virtual button KP corresponds to a plurality of characters in an input method, for example, four characters "2", "a", "b", and "c" in the English input method. The patterns "2", "a", "b", and "c" of these characters are suitable for being displayed on the virtual button in the first format or the second format.

The control unit 220 controls the touch screen 210 to display a pattern of a first character from the characters "2", "a", "b", and "c" on the virtual button KP in a first format, and A pattern of one of the characters of the second character is displayed on the virtual button KP in a second format. For example, as shown in FIG. 3A, the first character is the character "2", and the pattern is displayed on the virtual key KP in the first format. The second character is, for example, one of the characters "a", "b", and "c", and is displayed on the virtual button KP in the second format. At this time, the character "2" is generated and displayed on the touch screen 210 when the virtual button KP is touched.

Since the format of the character "2" on the virtual button KP can be different from the display format of the characters "a", "b", and "c", the present embodiment can increase the recognition of the character pattern and improve the user. Convenience. For example, as shown in FIG. 3A, the pattern of the character "2" can be displayed in the first display area DR1 of the virtual button KP, and the patterns of other characters "a", "b", and "c" are It can be displayed in the second display area DP2 of the virtual button KP. Alternatively, as shown in FIG. 3A, on the virtual button KP, the font size of the character "2" may be larger than the font size of the characters "a", "b", and "c". Or, you can make the font or color of the character "2" different from the other characters "a", "b", "c", or the character "2" so that it can be clearly marked with other characters. The characters "a", "b", and "c" differ. In other words, in this embodiment, the characters on the virtual button are displayed in different formats, such as different positions, different sizes, or different colors, or may be implemented in other ways that the characters can be clearly recognized. In this way, the handheld electronic device 200 of the present embodiment can improve the ease of use by allowing the user to recognize the character of the current virtual button KP that is generated by being touched.

The switching unit 230 is configured to provide a switching signal SGL to cause the control unit 220 to switch the pattern of the first character "2" to a pattern of a second character of the characters "a", "b", and "c". Please refer to FIG. 3C and FIG. 3D respectively, which are schematic diagrams showing an example of a software keyboard provided by the handheld electronic device of FIG. 3A after receiving the switching signal. When the switching unit 230 is triggered to generate the switching signal SGL, in response to the switching signal SGL, the control unit 210 switches the pattern of the first character "2" in the virtual button KP to the second character "a" for the input method. The pattern is as shown in Figure 3C, and the other virtual buttons are switched in a similar manner. At this time, if the user presses the virtual keyboard KP, the handheld electronic device 200 generates the second character "a". Alternatively, if the switching unit 230 is triggered again, the pattern of the second character "a" is changed to the pattern of the third character "b", as shown in FIG. 3D, and so on. Thus, when the user wants to input other characters on the virtual button KP, the switching unit 230 can be triggered to generate the switching signal SGL to correspond to the characters "2", "a", and "" corresponding to the virtual button KP. Find a desired character in b" and "c" for input.

When switching the pattern of the first character "2" to the pattern of a second character in the characters "2", "a", "b", "c", for example, switching to the second character " a", the switching unit 230 is configured to display the pattern of the second character "a" in the first display area DP1 of the virtual button KP, and display the pattern of the first character "2" on the second display of the virtual button KP In the area DP2. In other words, the position of the characters in the virtual button KP changes with the switching signal SGL, so that the pattern of one character that is generated when touched is displayed on a clear area for the user to review and use. .

In an embodiment, the switching unit 230 can be a volume controller 232 disposed on a side of the handheld electronic device 200. In the example shown in FIG. 3A, the volume controller 232 includes an upper volume key 232a and a lower volume key 232b. Each of the volume keys 232a and 232b can be used to generate the switching signal SGL and switch the characters "2", "a", "b", and "c" corresponding to the virtual button KP. The two volume keys 232a and 232b can be designed such that the switching directions of the characters "2", "a", "b", and "c" are different. For example, the upper volume key 232a can be designed to switch the characters "2", "a", "b", and "c" in a clockwise direction, that is, sequentially from "2" and "a". , "b", "c" select one to display; and the down volume key 232a can be designed to switch the characters "2", "a", "b", "c" counterclockwise, ie Select one from "c", "b", "a", and "2" to display it. However, the present invention is not limited thereto, and the switching order of characters should be designed according to different needs.

Please refer to FIGS. 4A and 4B , which are respectively a front view and a side view of another example of the handheld electronic device of FIG. 2 . In this example, the volume control 230 includes a turntable 232c. The turntable 232c can also be used to generate the switching signal SGL and switch the characters "2", "a", "b", and "c" corresponding to the virtual button KP. According to the rotation direction of the turntable 232c, the switching directions of the characters "2", "a", "b", and "c" may be different. The above-described switching unit 230 that can provide the switching signal SGL is implemented by the volume controller 232 of the handheld electronic device 200, but the present invention is not limited thereto. The switching unit 230 can also be a physical button or virtual button that is present on the handheld electronic device 200 known to those skilled in the art, or can be a separately added button or interface.

Compared with the conventional multi-tap method, if the handheld electronic device only provides the software keyboard as shown in FIG. 3A, and the user wants to input the character "a", the user needs to The virtual button KP is touched twice to complete the input. However, this method may not allow the user to feel the feedback of the button due to the touch of the virtual button, and there is a problem of inconvenience in operation. In this embodiment, if the user wants to input the character "a", the switching unit 230 can switch the character of the virtual button KP to the character "a" of the 3A image, and then touch the virtual button KP. Generate this character. In this way, the user can conveniently switch the required characters by the switching unit 230, thereby improving the usability. Moreover, in the embodiment of the volume controller 232 described above, the volume controller 232 disposed on the side of the handheld electronic device 200 allows the user to switch characters with one hand and enter with the other hand. Touch the input. In this way, the efficiency and convenience of the user input characters can be greatly improved.

Further, as shown in FIG. 3A, the software keyboard SIP further has an input method switching button TKP. The input method switching button TKP is used to switch the software keyboard SIP from the current input method to another input method when touched, thereby changing the character corresponding to the virtual button. For example, the input method switching button TKP can be used to switch the software keyboard SIP from the English input method to the Chinese input method. Thus, for the virtual key SIP2, the corresponding character is, for example, a character of the phonetic symbol.

Please refer to FIG. 5, which is a detailed flowchart of a method for controlling a handheld electronic device according to an embodiment of the invention. Before entering the control method, a preset data table may be created, the data table records a plurality of characters corresponding to each virtual button, and one of the characters is preset as an output character for The corresponding virtual button is output when it is touched. In step S510, after the software keyboard is activated, a temporary data table is created by the handheld electronic device. The temporary data sheet is obtained by accessing the preset data sheet. In step S520, the handheld electronic device can write the preset data table into the temporary data table in the memory, and display the software keyboard according to the associated information of each virtual button and the corresponding character in the temporary data table. Next, in step S530, the handheld electronic device determines that the input signal is a touch signal of the virtual button or a switching signal of the switching unit. If the input signal is the touch signal on the virtual button, the process proceeds to step S540, and the preset output character on the touched virtual button is output according to the temporary data table. If the input signal is the switching signal of the switching unit, proceed to step S550 to change the output character preset in the temporary storage data table. Then, the process proceeds to step S560, and the software keyboard is displayed according to the changed temporary storage data table.

In the handheld electronic device and the control method thereof according to the embodiment of the present invention, the format of the character is switched and displayed on the virtual button, so that the character that is generated when one of the characters is touched is clearly displayed. . In this way, the recognition of the character pattern can be improved, thereby improving the convenience of character input of the handheld electronic device.

In conclusion, the present invention has been disclosed in the above preferred embodiments, and is not intended to limit the present invention. A person skilled in the art can make various changes and modifications without departing from the spirit and scope of the invention. Therefore, the scope of the invention is defined by the scope of the appended claims.

200. . . Handheld electronic device

210. . . Touch screen

220. . . control unit

230. . . Switching unit

232. . . Volume controller

232a. . . Upper volume button

232b. . . Lower volume button

232c. . . Turntable

DR1, DR2. . . Display area

KP. . . Virtual Key

SIP. . . Software keyboard

SGL. . . Switching signal

S110~S130, S510~S560. . . Process step

TKP. . . Input method switching button

FIG. 1 is a flow chart showing a control method of a handheld electronic device according to an embodiment of the invention. .

FIG. 2 is a block diagram showing an example of a handheld electronic device according to an embodiment of the invention.

3A and 3B are respectively a front view and a side view showing an example of the handheld electronic device of FIG. 2.

3C and 3D are respectively schematic diagrams showing an example of a software keyboard provided by the handheld electronic device of FIG. 3A after receiving the switching signal.

4A and 4B are respectively a front view and a side view of another example of the handheld electronic device of FIG. 2.

FIG. 5 is a detailed flowchart of a method for controlling a handheld electronic device according to an embodiment of the invention.

S110~S130. . . Process step

Claims (10)

A control method for a handheld electronic device, the control method comprising: controlling a touch screen of the handheld electronic device to display a software keyboard, the software keyboard having at least one virtual button, the virtual button corresponding to an input method a plurality of characters, the patterns of the characters being adapted to be displayed on the virtual button in a first format or a second format; and the first format of the one of the characters is in the first format Displayed on the virtual button, and when the pattern of the second character of the characters is displayed on the virtual button in the second format, the first character is output when the virtual button is touched; and the response is Displaying the pattern of the first character from the first format to the second format and displaying the pattern on the virtual button, and switching the pattern of the second character from the second format to the first A format is displayed on the virtual button. The control method of claim 1, wherein the virtual button comprises a first display area and a second display area, and the pattern of the first character is displayed in the first display area, and the A pattern of the second character is displayed in the second display area. The control method of claim 2, wherein the step of responding to the switching signal further comprises: displaying a pattern of the second character in the first display area of the virtual button; and displaying the A pattern of one character is in the second display area of the virtual button. The control method of claim 1, wherein after the step of responding to the switching signal, the second character is output when the virtual button is touched. A handheld electronic device includes: a touch screen for displaying a software keyboard, the software keyboard having at least one virtual button, the virtual button corresponding to a plurality of characters in an input method, and the patterns of the characters are suitable Displaying on the virtual button in a first format or a second format; a control unit, configured to display a pattern of the first character of the characters in the first format on the virtual button, And displaying a pattern of the second character of the characters in the second format on the virtual button, the first character is output when the virtual button is touched; and a switching unit is provided a switching signal causes the control unit to switch the pattern of the first character from the first format to the second format and display the pattern on the virtual button, and switch the pattern of the second character from the second format to the second format The first format is displayed on the virtual button. The handheld electronic device of claim 5, wherein the virtual button comprises a first display area and a second display area, and the control unit displays the pattern of the first character on the first display In the area, the pattern of the second character is in the second display area. The handheld electronic device of claim 6, wherein the control unit is configured to display a pattern of the second character in the first display area of the virtual button after the control unit receives the switching signal And displaying a pattern of the first character in the second display area of the virtual button. The handheld electronic device of claim 5, wherein when the control unit receives the switching signal, the second character is output when the virtual button is touched. The handheld electronic device of claim 5, wherein the software keyboard further has an input method switching button for switching the software keyboard from the input method to another input method when touched, thereby Change the characters corresponding to the virtual button. The handheld electronic device of claim 6, wherein the switching unit is a volume controller disposed on a side of the handheld electronic device.