Systems and methods for implementing a dynamic and contextual on screen keyboard

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-11194470-B2
Application number	US-202016833634-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Mar 29, 2020
Priority date	Mar 29, 2020
Publication date	Dec 7, 2021
Grant date	Dec 7, 2021

Abstract

Systems and methods are provided that may be implemented to detect placement and/or force of a users' fingers on a touch surface of a touchscreen display of an information handling system, and to present an on-screen keyboard or onscreen keypad according to the user needs and/or desires (keyboard or keypad size, keyboard or keypad type, keyboard or keypad location) based on the detected finger placement and/or finger force to optimize usage of the displayed on-screen keyboard.

First claim

What is claimed is:

1. A method, comprising performing the following as a routine that executes immediately after booting an information handling system, immediately upon loading a given foreground user application on the information handling system, and/or upon a user command received via a displayed keyboard or keypad currently displayed on an active display area of a touchscreen display of the information handling system:
sensing a presence and location of each of one or more touch points applied by a user to the touchscreen display of the information handling system, each of the user touch points corresponding to a location of a user finger touching the touchscreen;
sensing a magnitude of force applied to the touchscreen display at each of the user touch points;
determining a key size for displaying each of the keys of a selected keyboard or keypad having multiple keyboard keys based on the sensed magnitude of force; and
displaying the selected keyboard or keypad on the touchscreen display with all of the multiple keyboard keys of the displayed selected keyboard or keypad having the key size that has been determined based on the sensed magnitude of force.

2. The method of claim 1 , further comprising:
receiving and saving at least one user-specified pre-defined keyboard or keypad configuration to be displayed when executing a given foreground user application;
executing a foreground user application on a processing device of the information handling system;
determining an identity of the executing foreground user application; and
automatically selecting and retrieving a type of the displayed keyboard or keypad and/or an identity and/or layout of individual keys of the displayed keyboard or keypad from the at least one saved user-specified pre-defined keyboard or keypad configuration based on the determined identity of the executing foreground application.

3. The method of claim 1 , further comprising:
determining a number of the user touch points applied by the user to the touchscreen display; and
then displaying the selected keyboard as:
a two-handed keyboard only if the determined number of sensed user touch points is greater than six; and
a one-handed keyboard only if the determined number of sensed user touch points is five or less.

4. The method of claim 1 , where there are multiple sensed user touch points; and where the method further comprises:
sensing individual locations of each of the multiple sensed user touch points on the touchscreen display;
determining a separation distance between individual touch points of each pair of adjacent sensed user touch points;
determining an average touch point separation (ATPS) by averaging the determined separation distances of each pair of adjacent sensed user touch points; and
selecting a type and/or size of the displayed keyboard or keypad based on the determined ATPS.

5. The method of claim 1 , further comprising:
detecting a location of a user's left hand as a group of leftmost touch points and detecting a location of a user's right hand as a group of rightmost touch points;
determining a separation distance between the detected user's left hand and the detected user's right hand; and then:
displaying the selected keyboard as a unitary full text keyboard only if the determined separation distance is less than a predefined hand separation threshold value, and
displaying the selected keyboard as a split text keyboard only if the determined separation distance is greater than or equal to the predefined hand separation threshold value.

6. The method of claim 1 , further comprising:
selecting original keyboard keys and keyboard or keypad size dimensions to display;
determining outer size dimensions of an active display area of the touchscreen display;
determining if the selected original keyboard or keypad keys and keyboard or keypad size dimensions fit entirely within the outer size dimensions of the display area of the touchscreen display; and then:
displaying the keyboard or keypad with the selected original keys and keyboard or keypad size dimensions on the touchscreen display only if it is determined that the selected original keyboard or keypad keys and keyboard or keypad size dimensions fit entirely within the outer size dimensions of the display area of the touchscreen display, and
displaying a reduced size keyboard or keypad with a reduced number of keys that fits entirely within the outer size dimensions of the display area of the touchscreen display only if it is determined that the selected original keyboard keys and keyboard size dimensions do not fit entirely within the outer size dimensions of the display area of the touchscreen display.

7. The method of claim 6 , where the reduced size keyboard or keypad only includes a defined subset of the selected original keys that are identified as being more frequently-used.

8. The method of claim 1 , further comprising:
displaying the selected keyboard or keypad at a first location on the touchscreen display;
detecting a prescribed motion of one or more user fingers in contact with the touchscreen display at one or more second locations that are positioned apart from the displayed keyboard or keypad;
responding to the detected prescribed motion by re-positioning the displayed keyboard to a position on the touchscreen display that is beneath the second location.

9. The method of claim 8 , where the selected displayed keyboard or keypad is a QWERTY or Dvorak text keyboard; where the prescribed motion is made simultaneously by a user's left and right index fingers; and where the method further comprises responding to the detected simultaneous prescribed motion of the user's left and right index fingers at the second locations by re-positioning the displayed keyboard to the position on the touchscreen display on the touchscreen display so that the home row guide keys “J” and “F” are automatically displayed in respective new positions on the touchscreen display that are directly beneath the corresponding second locations of the left and right index fingers making the prescribed motion in contact with the touchscreen display.

10. The method of claim 1 , further comprising:
determining a touch point density of the user touch points; and
determining a key size based on the sensed magnitude of force and determined touch point density.

11. A method, comprising:
sensing a presence and location of each of one or more touch points applied by a user to a touchscreen display of an information handling system, each of the user touch points corresponding to a location of a user finger touching the touchscreen;
sensing a magnitude of force applied to the touchscreen display at each of the user touch points;
determining a key size based on the sensed magnitude of force; and
displaying a selected keyboard or keypad having multiple keyboard keys of the determined key size on the touchscreen display;
where there are multiple sensed user touch points, and where the method further comprises:
sensing individual locations of each of the multiple sensed user touch points on the touchscreen display,
determining a separation distance between individual touch points of each pair of adjacent sensed user touch points,
determining an average touch point separation (ATPS) by averaging the determined separation distances of each pair of adjacent sensed user touch points, and
selecting a type and/or size of the displayed keyboard or keypad based on the determined ATPS; and

where the selecting comprises comparing the determined ATPS to at least one predefined separation threshold distance value; and then:
displaying the selected keyboard with a first size only if the de

Assignees

• Dell Products Lp

Inventors

• Guerrero Fernando L
• Iyer Hariprasad J
• Tan Danilo O

Classifications

• G06F3/04886 Primary

  by partitioning the display area of the touch-screen or the surface of the digitising tablet into independently controllable areas, e.g. virtual keyboards or menus · CPC title