Techniques for predicting user input on touch screen devices

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-9372829-B1
Application number	US-201113327446-A
Country	US
Kind code	B1
Filing date	Dec 15, 2011
Priority date	Dec 15, 2011
Publication date	Jun 21, 2016
Grant date	Jun 21, 2016

Abstract

Techniques for determining user input on a touch screen of a user device are disclosed. In some situations, the techniques include: receiving information about a user input provided to a touch screen of a user device, the touch screen displaying two or more selectable objects, wherein each of the selectable objects, if selected, initiates a response corresponding to the selection of the object, determining a selectable object among the selectable objects that has a highest likelihood of being an object that a user intended to select with the user input, and providing a response corresponding to a selection of the determined selectable object. In one situation, a selectable object is a button or a hyperlink included in a Web page displayed on the screen of the device, and the response includes content associated with the selected button or hyperlink.

First claim

What is claimed is:

1. A computer-implemented method for determining user input on a touch screen of a user device, comprising:
under control of one or more computer systems configured with executable instructions,
receiving information about a user input provided by a user touching a touch screen of a user device, the user input indicating an area on the touch screen that is proximate to at least two selectable objects displayed on the touch screen, wherein each of the at least two selectable objects, if selected, initiates a response corresponding to the selection of the object by the user;
determining, in response to the user input and based on aggregated data reflecting prior user behavior of multiple users in previously selecting user interface objects, that the user input indicates an intention of the user to select one of the at least two selectable objects;
determining, based on the aggregated data, a first selectable object from among the at least two selectable objects that has a highest probability of being the object that the user intended to select with the user input, and a second selectable object from among the at least two selectable objects that has a second highest probability of being the object that the user intended to select with the user input, wherein the determined second selectable object is distinct from the determined selectable object;
providing a response to the user corresponding to a selection by the user of the determined first selectable object on the touch screen of the user device;
receiving feedback from the user indicating that the determined first selectable object was not the object that the user intended to select with the user input, wherein the received feedback does not indicate any of the at least two selectable objects that the user intended to select with the user input; and
in response to the feedback and without further input from the user, providing a second response to the user corresponding to a selection by the user of the determined second selectable object on the touch screen of the user device.

2. The computer-implemented method of claim 1 , wherein the determined first selectable object is at least one of a hyperlink, a button, or a key on a virtual keyboard that is displayed on the touch screen, and wherein the response corresponding to the selection of the determined first selectable object is at least one of providing first content associated with the hyperlink, providing second content associated with the button, or providing a symbol corresponding to the key on the virtual keyboard.

3. The computer-implemented method of claim 1 , wherein the determining that the user input indicates an intention of the user to select one of the at least two selectable objects includes determining that a type of the user input is not a mistouch and is not a scroll.

4. The computer-implemented method of claim 1 further comprising, before the receiving of the information about the user input, generating the aggregated data by aggregating user behavior data for the multiple users, and wherein the user behavior data includes user input pattern data corresponding to transaction patterns for the multiple users.

5. A computer-implemented method comprising:
under control of one or more computer systems configured with executable instructions,
receiving information about a user input provided by a user touching a touch screen of a user device, the touch screen displaying two or more selectable objects, wherein each of the two or more selectable objects, if selected, initiates a response corresponding to selection of the object by the user;
retrieving aggregated data reflecting prior user behavior of multiple users in previously selecting objects using prior user input;
determining, in response to the user input and based at least in part on the retrieved aggregated data, a selectable object from among the two or more selectable objects that has a highest likelihood of being an object that the user intended to select with the user input, and a second selectable object from among the two or more selectable objects as the object has a second highest likelihood of being the object that the user intended to select with the user input, the determined second selectable object being distinct from the determined selectable object;
providing a response to the user corresponding to selection by the user of the determined selectable object;
receiving feedback from the user indicating that the determined selectable object was not the object that the user intended to select with the user input, wherein the received feedback does not indicate which of the two or more selectable objects that the user intended to select with the user input; and
in response to the feedback and without further input from the user, providing a second response to the user corresponding to selection by the user of the determined second selectable object.

6. The computer-implemented method of claim 5 further comprising, before the receiving of the information about the user input, generating the aggregated data by aggregating user behavior data from prior actions of the multiple users.

7. The computer-implemented method of claim 6 , wherein the user behavior data includes user input pattern data corresponding to transaction patterns for the multiple users.

8. The computer-implemented method of claim 5 wherein the two or more selectable objects include multiple selectable objects that are each one of multiple keys on a virtual keyboard provided on the touch screen of the user device, and
wherein the determining of the selectable object includes, based on at least one of a personal dictionary associated with the user and a statistical analysis of spelling words in a language associated with the user device, identifying a symbol most likely to follow a sequence of symbols corresponding to keys already selected by the user on the virtual keyboard, the sequence of symbols forming at least a part of a word that the user intends to enter; and
wherein the providing of the response includes causing the identified symbol to be displayed on the touch screen of the user device as a next symbol in the sequence of symbols.

9. The computer-implemented method of claim 5 wherein the two or more selectable objects include multiple selectable objects that each correspond to one of multiple hyperlinks included in a Web page displayed on the touch screen of the user device, and
wherein the determining of the selectable object includes determining a first hyperlink that the user most likely intended to select;
wherein the determining of the second selectable object includes determining a second hyperlink that the user most likely intended to select if the first hyperlink was not intended to be selected by the user;
wherein the providing of the response includes providing content associated with the determined first hyperlink for display to the user on the user device; and
wherein the provided second response includes providing second content associated with the determined second hyperlink for display to the user on the user device.

10. The computer-implemented method of claim 5 wherein the determining of the selectable object is further based in part on information specific to the user that reflects preferences of the user in selecting content.

11. The computer-implemented method of claim 5 wherein the one or more computer systems include the user device.

12. The computer-implemented method of claim 5 wherein the two or more selectable objects include three or more selectable objects displayed on the touch screen, and wherein the provided user input indicates an area on the touch sc

Assignees

• Rahmani Rouhollah
• Thirumalai Srikanth
• Pope Elmore Eugene
• Amazon Tech Inc

Inventors

• Rahmani Rouhollah
• Thirumalai Srikanth
• Pope Elmore Eugene

Classifications

• G06F17/00 Primary

  Digital computing or data processing equipment or methods, specially adapted for specific functions (information retrieval, database structures or file system structures therefor G06F16/00) · CPC title

• G06F3/0488 Primary

  using a touch-screen or digitiser, e.g. input of commands through traced gestures · CPC title

• 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

• G06F3/04842

  Selection of displayed objects or displayed text elements (G06F3/0482 takes precedence) · CPC title