Mikey Campbell
In an elegant solution to the problem of entering text on a mobile device's small screen, Apple's U.S. Patent No. 8,232,973 for a "Method, device, and graphical user interface providing word recommendations for text input" enlarges the effective area of the virtual keyboard's buttons based on a predictive input system without resizing the visual keyboard asset.
For example, a user entering the word "ELEPHANT" would begin by hitting the "E" key followed by the "L" key, the "E" key and so on. The system begins to narrow down what the user is attempting to spell, dynamically increasing the size of the next expected key icon which in this example would be the "P" key. Instead of representing the next key's larger hit area visually, the keyboard retains its normal size which makes the system completely invisible to the user.
The '973 patent most likely leverages technology from Apple's U.S Patent No. 8,074,172 for a "method, system, and graphical user interface for providing word recommendations" or predictive text.
Working in concert with the enlarged image users see above an iOS keyboard's key when a touch event is recorded, the predictive technology provides for a smooth and user-friendly solution to typing on a small device.
Apple notes the invention is an attempt at a more efficient method of entering text into small portable devices. The company points out that the capabilities of "portable communications devices have increased dramatically," alluding to an increasing reliance on text messaging services like SMS, instant messaging or e-mail.
"However, the size of these portable communication devices also restricts the size of the text input device, such as a physical or virtual keyboard, in the portable device," the patent reads. "With a size-restricted keyboard, designers are often forced to make the keys smaller or overload the keys. Both may lead to typing mistakes and thus more backtracking to correct the mistakes. This makes the process of communication by text on the devices inefficient and reduces user satisfaction with such portable communication devices."
The '973 patent was first filed for in June of 2008, less than two weeks prior to the debut of Apple's second-generation handset, the iPhone 3G.
Illustration of Apple's predictive text input UI patent. | Source: USPTO
From the abstract:
A portable electronic device having a touch screen display performs a set of operations, including displaying a plurality of key icons, each having an adjustable size hit region, and receiving a sequence of individual touch points input by a user on the touch screen display. The operations performed by the device further include processing the received individual touch points by: forming a user-input directed graph for the sequence of individual touch points received so far, determining a character corresponding to a last received individual touch point in accordance with the adjustable hit regions of the displayed key icons, displaying a sequence of characters corresponding to the sequence of individual touch points, and updating sizes of the adjustable hit regions for a plurality of the key icons in accordance with the sequence of individual touch points input by the user.
Among those credited as inventors is Apple Senior Vice President of iOS Software Scott Forstall.
Andrew Orr
Amber Neely
William Gallagher
Christine McKee
AppleInsider Staff
22 Comments
The big question is: does Android use a similar implementation of predictive text on its keyboard? If so then I guess this will just provide further ammunition to Apple's many patent infringement cases. What would typing on a soft keyboard be like if this wasn't in place? I guess it would mean you'd have to be much more specific with key presses & therefore not be able to type as quickly.
[quote name="AppleInsider" url="/t/151633/apple-granted-patent-for-predictive-text-input-ui#post_2158087"]Apple on Tuesday was granted a U.S. patent for the graphical user interface used in iOS which changes the "hit region" size of a virtual keyboard's buttons based on predictive text data.
For example, a user entering the word "ELEPHANT" would begin by hitting the "E" key followed by the "L" key and so on. The system begins to narrow down what the user is attempting to spell, dynamically increasing the size of the next expected key icon which in this example would be the "E" key. Instead of representing the next key's larger hit area, the keyboard retains its normal size which makes the system completely invisible to the user.
Among those credited as inventors is Apple Senior Vice President of iOS Software Scott Forstall. [/quote]
1. Gotta love a company that tinkers on these things, implementing them with surgery-precision and then not even showing it. Not by increasing the letters/buttons, not in their marketing, It All Just Works.
2. When I saw that picture I thought Apple had patented SameSong Swipe.
[IMG]http://forums.appleinsider.com/content/type/61/id/9386/width/500/height/1000[/IMG]
I'd like to see anyone try to argue that this is an "obvious" extension of previous touchscreen technology, and that "there's only so many ways you can make a keyboard". This is pure Apple genius at work, and I wouldn't be at all surprised if every Android keyboard rips off this idea, or at least all the ones that are any good do. They'll probably all just switch to using Swype instead if Apple start litigating on this patent, but that's a *good thing* - all Apple have ever asked is that Android phones try to do something *different* from iPhone instead of wholesale ripping it off.
[quote name="sjhlangley" url="/t/151633/apple-granted-patent-for-predictive-text-input-ui#post_2158091"]The big question is: does Android use a similar implementation of predictive text on its keyboard? If so then I guess this will just provide further ammunition to Apple's many patent infringement cases. What would typing on a soft keyboard be like if this wasn't in place? I guess it would mean you'd have to be much more specific with key presses & therefore not be able to type as quickly.[/quote] Windows Phone already has this. http://research.microsoft.com/en-us/news/features/wp7keyboard-042811.aspx [QUOTE]By combining statistical models of language patterns and touch points, the keyboard dynamically changes the virtual size of the likely next letter, so that it has a larger target area—the area where tapping the keypad results in a particular letter, symbol, or number. “We don’t show that visually,” Paek says. “It all happens behind the scenes.” The keypad software analyzes what a user is typing, decides which letter is most likely to be typed next, and enlarges the virtual key area, so that hitting a “T” results in a T, not a Y or an R. [/QUOTE]
http://research.microsoft.com/en-us/news/features/wp7keyboard-042811.aspx
The patent application was filed in Jan 2008 and implemented on the iPhone 3G. It predates Windows Phone 7 by quite some time.